Garage Sale Mysteries - General Discussion

[Meredith Quill]

Your Garage Sale Mysteries Topic!

[callie lee 29]

So has anyone watched this on Hallmark mystery channel?? The only person I recignize is Lori Laughlin from Full House. I actually do like it, though you can see the bad guy a mile away. The writing, well... it's Hallmark. The cast is fairly charming, but it's running purely on Lori and her side kick played by Sarah Strange.

[rainsmom]

Yep, I have. It's like all most of the mystery series they do -- the TV movie equivalent of a cozy. Light, generally entertaining, not especially dark/scary, with likable characters.

I like this one better than many of the others, honestly. Lori really is likable.

[Happywatcher]

I said this in the Hallmark mystery main thread: The shop assistant's hair is jarring, and I checked IMDB and Sarah is a decade younger than Lori, so it makes sense they do it to make them look the same age.

[callie lee 29]

I had no clue who she was until I watched this, there is something jarring about her hair (I think it's the color - it seems to dark for her), but it's growing on me. What I find hysterical is that she is supposed to be "quirky" and "artsy", but everything about her dress and hairstyle screams suburban soccer mom to me. 

One thing I appreciate about this show is there is no subtext between Jennifer and the detective. And no jealousy from the husband. 

[MerBearHou]

I love the Garage Sale series.  It’s super light but so enjoyable to me.  I adore the slightly-but-not-annoyingly-so quirky business partner, Dani.  She has tiny, almost throwaway lines and facial expressions that are a delight.  Lori Loughlin is perfect in the role and wow, she looks amazing.  I like her kids (the current Logan and Hannah) and the husband is ok.  

Edited June 18, 2018 by MerBearHou

[Neal Caffrey]

I’m a big-time GSM fan. Lori does a great job... doing Frank’s job. (He’s the incredibly lazy cop). Dani is great too.

[peacheslatour]

On 6/17/2018 at 6:22 PM, callie lee 29 said:

I had no clue who she was until I watched this, there is something jarring about her hair (I think it's the color - it seems to dark for her), but it's growing on me. What I find hysterical is that she is supposed to be "quirky" and "artsy", but everything about her dress and hairstyle screams suburban soccer mom to me. 

One thing I appreciate about this show is there is no subtext between Jennifer and the detective. And no jealousy from the husband. 

That's the main thing I like about it aside from Lori's winning personality. I usually hate Hallmark movies because the whole rom-com thing bores me to death. I'm glad they decided to make the character married so there is no chance of a will they/won't they romance as subtext. Just get on with the crime solvin'!

[LennieBriscoe]

I can barely abide the schlubby and fugly Kevin O'Grady! Not even a pleasing voice in compensation! 

[david gideon]

Liked Sunday's. Seemed like the mystery plot was a little trickier than usual.

[peacheslatour]

1 hour ago, david gideon said:

Liked Sunday's. Seemed like the mystery plot was a little trickier than usual.

I actually had trouble following it and went to bed. Probably just tired.

[GaT]

11 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

I actually had trouble following it and went to bed. Probably just tired.

I had trouble following it too, & I wasn't tired. First, that whole puzzle box thing was just too convoluted, second, there were too many plots. I don't give a damn about the kids, they don't need their own storylines, and then third, the whole filming of the TV show was just unnecessary & added nothing. Also, why does she keep walking into people's houses whenever she finds an open door? Who does that? 

[callie lee 29]

There was way too much going on in that. And, oh my gosh, can we please get rid of the kids. The soon is relatively okay, but dear heaven I just can't work the daughter. I have no clue as to why she has scenes, it's so disconnected to the rest of the show.

[peacheslatour]

Last night was another disjointed mess. If the rest of the season is like this then I don't think there should be another season.

[MerBearHou]

The good:  I liked the mystery.  Am a fan of Frank and the storage facility manager was a proper witch to deal with.  Hilarious to me that one of the aspects of the mystery was the labyrinth that is a storage facility -- I LOL'd because I've been lost and turned around in one of those things many times.  I love Dani -- her style and her facial expressions and reactions are endearing to me -- I think the story with her old high school flame is sweet.  Liked that the cranky old waitress smiled when they were dancing in the diner.  Liked that he bought the vintage poster on the spot and Jenn/Dani made things look hopeful for the man who lost his business.  Logan and his gaming obsession seemed spot-on (at least he's just like my son anyway).

The bad:  hated the absurd scenes of "listen to the silence" while we repeatedly clink our wine glasses with Jenn and her husband.  Their relationship sometimes creeps me out.  His cheeseball, supposedly charming lines were laughable and I kept expecting her to say " oh PLEASE" but she didn't.  They played those scenes straight.  UGH.  I don't mind the daughter's personality at all but her makeup is caked on this season.  Doesn't look good.

I like the GSM movies as Sunday filler, but I prefer the Murder She Baked series and that cast-- so sad they're kaput.

[GaT]

They need to stop with the useless, time wasting, completely boring, family stories. I don't care about the tiny houses.

[Kaiju Ballet]

I liked both of them, although admittedly I was multitasking during the second one so I had to rewind a few times to catch what I had missed.

The writer posted on Twitter that he had based a lot of the Puzzle Box episode on the Shakespearean play, Titus Andronicus (hence the name of the family). I think I caught the name of one of the producers Phoef Sutton on one of the doors in the second movie. I enjoy little touches like that--as well as consistent characters like the coroner with his lame jokes (but sweet delivery) and Dani with her endearing eccentricities. The actress who played the storage unit manager was really good (Chloe or whatever her name was not so much) There were times when I felt I was watching a network procedural, because it seems there's always at least one episode set in a storage unit.

I do like the cop in the first movie was around in this one too. I'm meh about the family stuff, but they're occasionally resources for Jennifer, as in the Puzzle Box where the son searched phone numbers for a major piece of the mystery. Or maybe they're there to keep the 50s vibe of the show going (Jennifer and her husband might as well be in separate twin beds) since the entire Tiny Houses thing had some kind of moral lesson that lost my attention.

[peacheslatour]

Quote

(Jennifer and her husband might as well be in separate twin beds) 

Seriously. Have they ever, even hinted that those two have sex? They come across like brother and sister to me.

[david gideon]

Watching a short-run Canadian series Endgame on Amazon and saw Steven Bacic in one episode as a murder suspect, and the next episode had Sarah Strange as a psychiatrist. Vancouver-based show that only lasted 13 episodes.

[mikeb]

I'm a week behind and just watched the storage unit movie - thought the killer was obvious fairly early.  It seemed odd that in the beginning the detective wasn't sure if the victim's death was murder or if she just fell and hit her head in an accident.  If it was just an accident, how did she end up in a locked storage unit?

Edited August 20, 2018 by mikeb

[peacheslatour]

18 hours ago, david gideon said:

Watching a short-run Canadian series Endgame on Amazon and saw Steven Bacic in one episode as a murder suspect, and the next episode had Sarah Strange as a psychiatrist. Vancouver-based show that only lasted 13 episodes.

I really liked Dani and Jason working together. That was the best thing about last night's episode to me.

Edited August 20, 2018 by peacheslatour

[GaT]

Just watched "Picture A Murder" & I was bored. I guessed the murderer pretty much right away, the crime wasn't interesting,  & I felt that way she figured out who they were was a bit OTT. 

[Seelouis]

I was confused.  Weren’t the photos in black and white?  So wouldn’t a blue suit have looked black anyway?  

[chitowngirl]

It would have been a light shade of grey. Black would have been, black

[QQQQ]

My sister and I spend Sunday evenings giving GSM the MST3K treatment while we eat pizza. Good times! 

[GaT]

Watched Murder in D Minor, was bored. I used to love the Garage Sale mysteries, when did they get so boring? If your put all 4 movies together, you would end up with 2 movies worth of mystery, & 2 movies worth of family drama. I hate family drama movies.

[mikeb]

10 hours ago, GaT said:

Watched Murder in D Minor, was bored. I used to love the Garage Sale mysteries, when did they get so boring? If your put all 4 movies together, you would end up with 2 movies worth of mystery, & 2 movies worth of family drama. I hate family drama movies.

It is strange that Garage Sale mysteries have so much more family drama filler compared to most of the other HMM movie mystery series which have lesser amounts of relationship filler.  I wonder if it is because they aren't able to expand the mystery plot to fill more time or if they think because they are paying the other actors they might as well use them to reduce Lori Loughlin's workload.

[peacheslatour]

1 hour ago, mikeb said:

It is strange that Garage Sale mysteries have so much more family drama filler compared to most of the other HMM movie mystery series which have lesser amounts of relationship filler.  I wonder if it is because they aren't able to expand the mystery plot to fill more time or if they think because they are paying the other actors they might as well use them to reduce Lori Loughlin's workload.

I think because Jenn is married they don't have the usual will they/won't they dynamic that goes along with HMM lady detectives and the hunky cop guys they have on all of their shows, they need to fill in with family drama.

[MerBearHou]

I didn’t think the family stuff was as syrupy as it has been and the daughter looked 100x better last night with her hair and makeup more age-appropriate for a college girl.   In the past couple of GSM movies, Hannah has looked like an overly made-up Barbie and it aged her IMO.  The wunderkind son doesn’t bother me — I kind of like seeing the good-kid, geeky bright, son.  The husband wasn’t sickeningly Hallmark-card sweet this time around so I didn’t mind him either.

Love Dani and her beau.

I suspected the murderer about halfway through.  

So no more new GSM movies??

Edited August 28, 2018 by MerBearHou

[Pickles]

I didn't realize until last night that the daughter, Hannah, is also on When Calls the Heart. Someone on another thread meantioned that the husband looks like a young Wayne Newton and I agree. The kids look like neither parent.

Mentioned 

[rainsmom]

Is this the end of GSM? Or just the end of new movies for 2018?

Are there new cozy mystery series coming to fill the gap?

[mikeb]

1 hour ago, rainsmom said:

Is this the end of GSM? Or just the end of new movies for 2018?

Are there new cozy mystery series coming to fill the gap?

Lori Loughlin has tweeted there will be 4 new GSM movies next August.   https://twitter.com/LoriLoughlin/status/1033927838813118464

As far as the rest of this year, there are at least 3 new mystery movie series starring Lacey Chabert, Alison Sweeney, and Alexa PenaVega that were announced earlier this year, but not clear whether they will air this year or next.  Christmas movies start on HMM on November 4th, so only a little over 2 months left this year for mystery movies.

[chitowngirl]

There’s a new Darrow & Darrow coming up this Fall.

[statsgirl]

I just saw "Murder by Text" (which it wasn't, it was murder by taser and hanging).  I liked the subplot with Dani and her sister, it was cute and not too saccharine.

However I hated the plot where Hannah tries to keep her father from being able to do his job because she's decide, on no evidence whatsoever, that she wants to keep the old building and thinks that he should just move all the plans and permit and land costs for a condo to another location.  Even worse, I knew she was going to win without any cost to her or natural consequences for her actions. The actress is bad (I miss Sara Canning who originated the role) but the writing is why I truly hate both of Jennifer's kids.

On 8/19/2018 at 5:09 PM, david gideon said:

Watching a short-run Canadian series Endgame on Amazon and saw Steven Bacic in one episode as a murder suspect, and the next episode had Sarah Strange as a psychiatrist. Vancouver-based show that only lasted 13 episodes.

That was such a clever and fun show. It didn't deserve to be cancelled after one season.

[callie lee 29]

12 hours ago, statsgirl said:

I just saw "Murder by Text" (which it wasn't, it was murder by taser and hanging).  I liked the subplot with Dani and her sister, it was cute and not too saccharine.

However I hated the plot where Hannah tries to keep her father from being able to do his job because she's decide, on no evidence whatsoever, that she wants to keep the old building and thinks that he should just move all the plans and permit and land costs for a condo to another location.  Even worse, I knew she was going to win without any cost to her or natural consequences for her actions. The actress is bad (I miss Sara Canning who originated the role) but the writing is why I truly hate both of Jennifer's kids.

Yes! This episode solidified my user dislike and annoyance with Hannah. The single-minded prententious savior attitude was rolling if her privledged little self in waves!!

[UsernameFatigue]

I was surprised (and pleased) to see that this show has a forum. 

I also find these mysteries light, and usually have the mystery solved early on. But I do enjoy them, and also have a second reason why I watch. Parts of the show are filmed in the village where my mom was born and raised. At various times I can see my grandmother's house, and other parts of my grandmother's (now former) property. The diner where Jennifer and Frank often meet is the actual diner where my mom was working when she met my dad in 1949. The antique store in the show is an antique store ILR, and looks pretty much the same even down to some of the same "merchandise".  (And for any fans of the Bates Motel series, the same store was used as Emma's dad's taxidermy shop and their residence.)

I agree with others about the kids though - I don't really care for/about either one, or their storylines.  I like both Jason and Dani and would prefer that they had more airtime. 

Edited September 4, 2018 by UsernameFatigue

[peacheslatour]

Quote

The antique store in the show is an antique store ILR, and looks pretty much the same even down to some of the same "mrechandise".  (And for any fans of the Bates Motel series, the same store was used as Emma's dad's taxidermy shop and their residence.)

I was a huge Bates Motel fan. Thanks for the neat info.

[JanneyGee]

I liked Brendan Meyer as Logan and Sarah Canning as Hannah much better than these other young actors.  Connor Stanhope doesn't have the same chemistry with Lori (his mom) as did Brendan; and Eva Bourne is unconvincing as the daughter.  WHY are they in the show?  It does NOT need their subplot..

[Jaded]

I was watching a streaming marathon of the early to mid 2000's show Andromeda on Twitch.tv a few days ago. I mention it because Steve Bacic who is the husband on Garage Sale Mysteries was a main cast member on the show for the last two seasons. I had forgotten about it since his character is kinda boring and bland in the Garage Sale movies.

Edited October 13, 2018 by Jaded

[LuvMyShows]

I only discovered the Hallmark Mysteries about a month ago, and I've been bingeing on them ever since!  I don't watch them on the Hallmark Channel (no DVR and too tricky to find and be home for a specific broadcast), and now that I've pretty well exhausted You Tube and Amazon, I'm not sure I'll ever get to see the remaining ones that I haven't seen.  I think the Garage Sale Mysteries are my favorite, and I actually ended up buying the DVD sets so I could see the episodes.  I'm on Collection Three, and started with Murder by Text, but I was really, really disappointed. 

I have enjoyed the other Garage Sale episodes a lot, but there were so many problems with this "plot":  no one immediately figuring out that the song lyrics were obviously about the lead singer and the victim; how obvious it was that Danni's sister was here because her marriage was falling apart since she never mentioned her husband at all even though she mentioned her kids; but mainly how everyone, including the police chief, kept referring to the text as some sort of magic proof without ever thinking that someone could have taken the victim's phone and sent the text themselves.  That is Detectiving 101!   

On the petty side, all the make-up that they put on Danni makes her look 20 years older, and frumpier, than she is.  And they've put way too much make-up on Jenn this season.

Finally, I had an old-school thought that maybe nobody will get the reference to...the way that the chief "solves" these crimes with the assistance of Jenn reminds me of how Encyclopedia Brown solved the mysteries that his dad, the chief of police, brought home!

[screengem]

I am glad this is gone because Aunt Becky was too full of herself  and broke the law.  I really like Steve Bacic.  Hopefully he can find something else on Hallmark.  I didn't see him in any of this season's Christmas movies.

[HallmarkHawtie]

LOL I'm late to the party, just started watching them now and just finished Beach Murder. I always held off because I didn't think I could get into it since its Aunt Becky and college scandal mom, but I like it so far. Not my fav especially since I always know the killer, some of these plots make no sense, I don't care about the kids lives and she always tells the wrong person her suspicions, if you pay close attention, she's not very good at this. There is always one person she fully trusts and tells everything to and then they pull a gun on her. Like come on. Another thing I don't like about these movies is how dismissive everyone is about the amateur sleuth, hello she solved like 19 murders, show her some respect.