Hallmark Mysteries: Mysterious Small Town Hijinks Ensue - General Discussion

[hiisa]

I've been watching the Mystery 101 marathon today and every commercial break has an ad for a Hallmark romcom  where some tiny blond fitness trainer is calling some Hollywood actor fat and then they fall in love. It feels like it should be a mystery though. As in it's a mystery something so awful was made. I dunno. Maybe it'll be good. I have no intention of watching it because I 100% with all of my heart hate the woman.  " maybe you *used* to be fit but now...." girl get off my TV before a house falls on you. Or a fat person. 

[MerBearHou]

9 minutes ago, hiisa said:

I've been watching the Mystery 101 marathon today and every commercial break has an ad for a Hallmark romcom  where some tiny blond fitness trainer is calling some Hollywood actor fat and then they fall in love. It feels like it should be a mystery though. As in it's a mystery something so awful was made. I dunno. Maybe it'll be good. I have no intention of watching it because I 100% with all of my heart hate the woman.  " maybe you *used* to be fit but now...." girl get off my TV before a house falls on you. Or a fat person. 

That actress is disliked by many on this forum so you’re in good company.  I can promise you I won’t be watching!

[Guest]

3 hours ago, MerBearHou said:

That actress is disliked by many on this forum so you’re in good company.  I can promise you I won’t be watching!

I haven’t seen the preview and have no clue what is upcoming but these posts were enough for me to know it was Cindy Busby. Probably with Christopher Russell as the male lead. Does she have the absolute worst taste in projects or is she so annoying she only gets offered awful plots? For whatever reason I’m just glad her movies are so completely skippable in every aspect that I am never tempted to watch. 

Edited May 2, 2022 by Guest

[Kitty Redstone]

It'd be great if HMM would just recast CCB in Aurora Teagarden so those could continue.  It was always the supporting cast that I tuned in for anyway.  But, since they don't have any interest in mysteries anymore ...

I pay extra for the cable package that includes HMM specifically so I can have this channel. And we didn't switch to a certain streaming service when cable rates went up because it didn't include HMM.  That's how much I love mysteries.  Obviously I need to rethink this decision since HMM is no longer interested in mysteries or mystery viewers.

[ctlady]

On 5/1/2022 at 11:16 PM, MerBearHou said:

" maybe you *used* to be fit but now...."

This is the main reason I won't watch this.  If the situation were reversed......wait, no - it wouldn't be.  Forget pearl clutching, there's be downright outrage from the body shaming police of a male fitness instructor chastising a female actress for letting herself go

It seems there's always some kind of exception when it comes to men.  I feel that way on Blue Bloods with all the cracks about Anthony's weight.  The writers are disgusting for doing that and I can't believe the actor goes along with it

[LuvMyShows]

3 hours ago, ctlady said:

It seems there's always some kind of exception when it comes to men.  I feel that way on Blue Bloods with all the cracks about Anthony's weight.  The writers are disgusting for doing that and I can't believe the actor goes along with it

And not just on TV/movies but in the comics as well.  I really enjoy the strip Dustin, but the dad struggles with his weight and the mom gets in digs sometimes.  If it was the other way around, people would be calling for the artist's strip to be cancelled.  Likewise, there is still supposed humor in comics as well as TV/movies, with remarks about a wife chasing her husband around with a frying pan, to hit him.  No way on earth could you do that if it were the other way around.  Not funny for either sex.

[Jaded]

It's not a mystery. It's also another movie set and filmed in Italy which will air on the Movies & Mysteries Channel.

Hallmark’s Mahogany Label Sets First Movie, ‘Unthinkably Good Things,’ Starring Karen Pittman

[Jaded]

The only movie seemingly premiering on the Movies and Mysteries Channel in June.

HALLMARK MOVIES & MYSTERIES

Color My World With Love 

Starring: Lily D. Moore, Erica Durance, Benjamin Ayres and David DeSanctis
Premieres: Sunday, June 12
Kendall (Moore) is a talented artist with Down syndrome who, thanks to the support of her mother, Emma (Durance), and grandmother, Bev (Karen Kruper), Kendall is happy and thriving. Her life takes an exciting turn when she meets Brad (DeSanctis) in a cooking class at the local center for diverse learners and romance blooms. Emma has spent the last 22 years trying to protect her daughter and has reservations about this new relationship, especially when it quickly moves in a serious direction. With the help of Nic (Ayres), a longtime family friend of Brad’s, Emma slowly accepts that Kendall is ready to -- and should -- live her own life.

--------------------
Here's news about a movie that's supposed to air sometime in the Summer which isn't a mystery either...

Holly Robinson Peete, 'Legacies' Star Kaylee Bryant to Lead Hallmark Road Trip Movie
 

Quote

The upcoming HM&M movie follows Madeline (Peete), a famous Hollywood actress, and Sarah (Bryant), a wilderness expert, who embark on a cross-country trip together. The road trip has a rocky start, but as the two get to know one another they soon discover some common ground and unexpectedly help each other face their past mistakes through support and unconditional love.

 

[Kitty Redstone]

None of these sound the least bit interesting to me. 

Except for reruns, this channel is out of the mystery business.

[rainsmom]

Yeah, I'm not interested in these either -- and I don't watch the reruns anymore either. I LOVED their mysteries, but I can't tell you the last time I turned this channel on. Looks like I won't have to ever again.

[Crs97]

I just watched Color, Cut, Murder.  Heroine is supposed to own a beauty salon, but her pretending to cut hair was so laughably bad that I couldn’t stop thinking about that to focus on the mystery.  Then when murderer ties her up and sets the building on fire and love interest saves her, not only does she still looks perfect but they race back to the pageant and no one seems to notice or ask her why she smells like smoke.  Wow was it bad.

[ECM1231]

No comments on the new movie this weekend starring Nikki DeLoach and Andrew Walker? I quite enjoyed "Curious Caterer:Dying for Chocolate." 

[MerBearHou]

4 minutes ago, ECM1231 said:

No comments on the new movie this weekend starring Nikki DeLoach and Andrew Walker? I quite enjoyed "Curious Caterer:Dying for Chocolate." 

I enjoyed it too and hope there are more!  

[Jaded]

12 minutes ago, ECM1231 said:

No comments on the new movie this weekend starring Nikki DeLoach and Andrew Walker? I quite enjoyed "Curious Caterer:Dying for Chocolate." 

In the US it first aired on April 10th. 

[ECM1231]

13 hours ago, Jaded said:

In the US it first aired on April 10th. 

Oh wow. I saw 2022 as its air date and just assumed it was new this weekend. Somehow, I missed its original air date.

[LegalParrot81]

Didn't even know they were a couple.  Congrats to them.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/hallmark-stars-chris-mcnally-julie-171704192.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall

[LexieLily]

Now that CCB is gone, are the Aurora movies scrubbed from the channel? I needed to binge/get caught up on the last few.

[KAOS Agent]

So Kristoffer Polaha's comments about Mystery 101 are interesting. Something must be going on at Hallmark.

Quote

Mystery 101 is, for all intents and purposes, on a very long hiatus. We will find out about the future of Mystery 101. That's not to say it's canceled, but I have no dates as to when we're going to do No. 8.

I got this random call from my co-star in October and she was like, "Yeah, we're not going to shoot Mystery 101 in November, it might get pushed to January." And I got on the phone with everybody at Hallmark and said, "Hey, what's going on?" My Spidey senses were tingling, and I was like, "I don't know that we're gonna film this one any time soon.

[GaT]

I think Hallmark is going to remove "mysteries" from "Hallmark Movies & Mysteries" & just show an occasional (if any) mystery movie.

[Jaded]

3 minutes ago, GaT said:

I think Hallmark is going to remove "mysteries" from "Hallmark Movies & Mysteries" & just show an occasional (if any) mystery movie.

At this point it wouldn't surprise me. Whomever it is within Hallmark that's advising to do this is an idiot unless they want to tank the channel intentionally so they'd be left with original recipe Hallmark Channel and have this channel combine with Hallmark Drama. The Drama channel hasn't served much purpose since it started except hours of reruns of old shows in blocks that last longer than the other two channels with old Hallmark movies scattered around the schedule. 

[Clawdette]

I saw this article about Lily D. Moore who is starring in The Color of Love on HMM tonight.  She just graduated from high school and is going to Clemson in the fall.

[Kitty Redstone]

On 6/12/2022 at 2:55 PM, GaT said:

I think Hallmark is going to remove "mysteries" from "Hallmark Movies & Mysteries" & just show an occasional (if any) mystery movie.

Yes, that's my feeling as well.  The original Hallmark looks like it'll be all the love story junk and HMM will be what Hallmark used to be, with mystery reruns during the day and late night.  It's pretty disappointing as this channel has a long history in the mystery genre.  Maybe some other channel will come along and pick up some of the series that HMM longer values? 

[Irlandesa]

On 6/12/2022 at 9:06 PM, Clawdette said:

I saw this article about Lily D. Moore who is starring in The Color of Love on HMM tonight.  She just graduated from high school and is going to Clemson in the fall.

She is so great in Never Have I Ever and I liked her in this too.  She has real charisma.

[luvthepros]

On 4/22/2022 at 7:29 PM, Joe Bacigaloop said:

I know the guy you mean. My wife and I laugh about him when we see him on so many movies and even commercials. His name is Peter Benson and he has been in 147 movies in his career and he is just getting started!

This dude is everywhere!

Benson had a cameo in Just One Kiss.

[Jaded]

Did anyone watch that Heart of the Matter movie? I was thinking of watching it due to one of the actors in it but the constant commercials that aired during every break sometimes more then once during other stuff I was watching on the channel at the time annoyed me so bad that I didn't want to give in to view it. I know how petty that sounds...😄

[kirinan]

Not a lot of answers, but some hints of what may be to come for the Movies & Mysteries channel.

[Kitty Redstone]

On 8/10/2022 at 3:37 PM, kirinan said:

Not a lot of answers, but some hints of what may be to come for the Movies & Mysteries channel.

From that link:

"As for the movie mystery franchises (like Mystery 101) on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, while we haven’t seen much of that as of late versus one-offs, that’s about to change. “We actually have several new movie mystery franchise in the making, and we are hoping to be able to announce those very shortly,” Daly said."

That's good news.  There are several other franchises I hope they bring back in addition to any new ones, though.

[KAOS Agent]

On 8/18/2022 at 2:03 PM, Kitty Redstone said:

That's good news.  There are several other franchises I hope they bring back in addition to any new ones, though.

Lacey Chabert and Brennan Elliot were at some kind of convention and she indicated that the Crossword Mysteries had ended its last episode in a good place. It didn't sound like they planned on any more.

[luvthepros]

I watched Groundswell today on this Hallmark Movies and Mysteries Channel that wasn't a mystery at all. It was a Lacey Chabert movie about surfing in Hawaii. Her romantic lead looks like a Puerto Rican Sammy Davis Jr.

I did like the movie but didn't keep it on my DVR like I do all movies that I wish to watch again and again as "back round company" in the house while I do other stuff like cleaning or cooking.

Scenery was gorgeous and Lacey only wishes she looked that good in a bathing suit (those long shots of her on and falling off a surf board).

Edited August 30, 2022 by luvthepros

[ctlady]

20 hours ago, luvthepros said:

Scenery was gorgeous and Lacey only wishes she looked that good in a bathing suit (those long shots of her on and falling off a surf board).

Thank you for mentioning that.  I noticed the same thing.  I get it - she's VERY curvy on the bottom  and the wetsuit didn't do anything to hide it.  I wished she would've thrown caution to the wind and wore a nice, flattering one piece without having to wrap up her bottom half.  If she's that self conscious, then maybe not take roles that require you to show your body without the use of a body double

[TimetoShine]

@ctlady, I don't understand that criticism at all. "Don't take roles where you have to choose to cover up your body if you want to or not show your body if you don't want to? 

[Chippings]

This Irish movie that was on tonight, about the painting?  I'd walk a mile to see something filmed in Ireland, and this had a lot of shots of the towns and countryside.  

But Jeepers, the writing was so prodigiously stupid from start to finish.  I hardly saw any reasonable human behavior ..  The heroine's starting her visit without finding a hotel .. then when she needed one, thinking she'd borrow a bicycle and head off into the night in a strange town?  And how about a hero who seems to have no actual career except being one-half of a postmaster in a wee village -- and he's a "painter" but hasn't actually painted in a long time?  Does he have any other training or skill?  And then the emotional decisions she makes toward the end, no sense there either.  The discussions about 'fate' and 'soulmates' were just vague, to me anyway, and didn't help the story.  Maybe I needed Cliff notes.

Too harsh, or did I miss something? Lovely scenery. 

[SonofaBiscuit]

I more or less enjoyed Love’s Portrait. I was happy to see different leads than are normally used, and I was thrilled that they used actual Irish actors/actresses (there have been a few Hallmark movies with a lead doing a terrible job working his/her way through a fake accent 😂).

The lead guy was a bit odd at times, and maybe too serious, but he did have a young Stuart Townsend look about him, which I enjoyed. 

The mystery around how the painting made its way to the museum was an interesting enough plot point. It was a bit silly that everyone immediately recognized museum lady as the woman in the painting, but oh well. I mean, portrait lady kind of resembled Erin Cahill as well, in my mind…

It was also a bit silly that the leads fell in love after like a week or two, but that’s typical Hallmark.

Random, but for some reason, I did not realize that Americans can drive in Ireland with their US license. When she was driving herself around, I was like, “…is that legal? 😒” (Google says it is.)

How was painting doppelgänger lady not curious about postmaster sister’s tip sending them to the church? You would think she would wonder how the sister had info that the painting ended up there??

Wish the scene in the rain had been sexier, but it’s Hallmark, so I guess that’s wishful thinking!

Enjoyable enough. Please make more movies in Ireland with Irish casts, Hallmark!

[Irlandesa]

I liked it too.  It was gentle.  I think that's what I'd have to say about it. And it had great scenery. 

On 8/31/2022 at 12:25 PM, ctlady said:

If she's that self conscious, then maybe not take roles that require you to show your body without the use of a body double

I think the body double was there  because Lacey doesn't surf.  It was a stunt double.

[Clawdette]

Luke MacFarlane says that this year's Christmas movie will likely be his last with Hallmark.

[Irlandesa]

I am excited.  There was an ad for the next mystery series, Francesca Quinn P.I. tonight during the To Her with Love.  I hope this is good and becomes a series because I love Mallory Jensen. 

September 25th!

[MerBearHou]

16 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

I am excited.  There was an ad for the next mystery series, Francesca Quinn P.I. tonight during the To Her with Love.  I hope this is good and becomes a series because I love Mallory Jensen. 

September 25th!

That is very good to hear — I love Mallory Jensen too.  I will definitely watch on 9/25!  

[Clawdette]

Hallmark is really turning around the time between shooting a film and showing it.  A crew was in Salisbury, NC this summer and news of the filming was carried a couple of times in the area newspapers.  The movie was To Her, With Love that aired tonight.  

I guess when you have a template, everyone knows what to do.

[GaT]

Just finished watching Francesca Quinn P.I., & boy, was that convoluted. I still don't know why the first 6 murders happened.

[MerBearHou]

GaT, agreed — so convoluted.  I was looking forward to this one — I tend to really enjoy all of the Hallmark Mysteries and I’m such a fan of Mallory Jansen.  But the tone of this was so blah and her monotone voiceovers in an attempt at film noir made it way too low-energy.  A waste of the vibrant Mallory.  Zero spark to the entire episode and it was almost boring at times.  I applaud them trying a new mystery and the leads have talent, but this whole vibe needs to be rethought.  Go back to the drawing board before you come back with Francesca Quinn part 2.  

[Irlandesa]

7 hours ago, GaT said:

Just finished watching Francesca Quinn P.I., & boy, was that convoluted. I still don't know why the first 6 murders happened.

By far the most interesting part of the movie.  I was laughing out loud when they were going through a whole murder mystery in the first five minutes of the movie and thought that maybe this is movie that should have aired first.  It sounds kind of exciting even if there was no motive assigned.

And having this all boil down to the ex-stepmother wanting revenge for being caught, was both lame and predictable.  It was predictable because there is no other reason why that background would be part of the story.

First mystery movies tend be kind of meh for me anyway so I'd look forward to a second outing.

Edited September 26, 2022 by Irlandesa

[Mittengirl]

19 hours ago, MerBearHou said:

Go back to the drawing board before you come back with Francesca Quinn part 2.  

Wait, this wasn’t part 2?  I thought I missed part 1 and that is why is was confused.  So the guy that was killed was supposed to be Frankie’s fiancé?  At the party she acted like she hated him, which confused me immensely.  She seemed to hate the cop, as well.

Why can’t writers realize that there is a difference between strong & confident and obnoxious & arrogant?  I couldn’t stand Frankie and can’t imagine anyone wanting to be around her, let alone be engaged to her.  She even treated her father rudely.

Edited September 27, 2022 by Mittengirl

[GaT]

Has anybody figured out why the step mother killed people? I still don't get it.

17 hours ago, Mittengirl said:

Wait, this wasn’t part 2?  I thought I missed part 1 and that is why is was confused.  So the guy that was killed was supposed to be Frankie’s fiancé?  At the party she acted like she hated him, which confused me immensely.  She seemed to hate the cop, as well.

Nope, this is the first movie, it was just badly written, that's why you were confused, not that you missed anything.

[Mittengirl]

I don’t understand why anyone thought it was a good idea to start the Quinn movie 3/4s of the way through the story.  I can’t fathom how that makes any sense.  It is almost like they filmed part 1 and for some reason decided not to air it.

[GaT]

1 hour ago, Mittengirl said:

I don’t understand why anyone thought it was a good idea to start the Quinn movie 3/4s of the way through the story.  I can’t fathom how that makes any sense.  It is almost like they filmed part 1 and for some reason decided not to air it.

That would actually make sense, because I still don't know why the stepmother killed those people

[Clawdette]

Maybe it was because I read this thread before I started the movie but it all made sense to me.  I do agree that a call back to the serial murder would be a great follow up.  I want to know what each of those folks did to tick off Teryl Rothery to the extent she became a serial killer.

I forgot to mention that the voiceover reminded me of William Holden in Sunset Boulevard.  The whole mystery vibe.

Edited September 28, 2022 by Clawdette

[ctlady]

On 9/26/2022 at 2:52 AM, GaT said:

Just finished watching Francesca Quinn P.I., & boy, was that convoluted. I still don't know why the first 6 murders happened.

I wanted to watch this, but I have a petty, personal peeve for female characters in roles that require a lot of action/physical activity and are given that awful pony tail with two long, annoying pieces of hair framing either side.  It bugged the tar out of me on Clarice  All the bending, leaning, running, etc and I'm yelling "get your hair out of your face!"

[Cherpumple]

Guys, I'm worried!

I just listened to the Deck the Hallmark podcast for the Francesca Quinn movie, and they indicated that it was somewhat public knowledge that this one was a reworked script of what would have been the next Mystery 101 movie. As in, the movie that was supposed to address the crazy cliffhanger of the last Mystery 101 where we saw Travis and Amy estranged. Say it isn't so!

I don't really follow Hallmark news, but a brief search yielded an article from June 2022 that had no update about a new Mystery 101, and noted that Kris Polaha had deleted an IG post from last year about being excited to film the next movie in 2022.

I REALLY hope this is wrong, as Mystery 101 is my favorite HMM mystery series and I would hate to lose it. But if I squint, I guess I can see what they mean about the reworking of the script. After the weird intro in Francesca Quinn, the two leads were estranged (just like Travis and Amy at the end of their last movie), and I can see how the explanation for how it happened would have worked for 101. Also, instead of the evil stepmother, I can see the puppet master in the 101-verse being the Wolfman, the serial killer from Travis's past, and the victim being his ex-wife, who was brought in during the last movie. I vaguely recall that the Wolfman died off-screen in the last one, but it seemed weirdly anticlimactic and could easily be a fake out.

Does anyone have more info about this? I don't want to lose Mystery 101!

[Irlandesa]

41 minutes ago, Cherpumple said:

Does anyone have more info about this? I don't want to lose Mystery 101!

Jill was acting weird.  I'm sure someone has more info about this but it sounds like Mystery 101 was a go and then it sounded like Jill backed out. 

All I know is that Kristoffer is doing a Christmas movie for Hallmark and Jill is doing one on GAC.

[Justaguest]

12 hours ago, Cherpumple said:

Does anyone have more info about this? I don't want to lose Mystery 101!

This interview with the writer of both programs discusses it.
https://tvshowsace.com/2022/09/23/john-christian-plummer-hallmark-francesca-quinn-pi/

Quote

First, to put the Mystery 101 fans’ minds at ease, there is a story for #8 which is complex, wildly fun, touching, and fully resolves the cliffhanger at the end of #7. Before I wrote that story, I had some ideas about where to go with #8 that, after some effort, I realized didn’t actually work for Amy and Travis for lots of reasons. So I put all that aside and came up with the story that I have in my unlocked house for #8.

Then, as often happens, I had the realization: the reason that story didn’t work for Amy and Travis is because it’s not their story at all. I then started listening to who it was, and Frankie and Wyn started talking to me, and they took things in even more interesting directions. I pitched this to Hallmark, and they fortunately gave me the green light to write it.

But as people will see on Sunday night, Frankie and Wyn are quite different from Amy and Travis. Not just their jobs, not just where they live, but their personal histories, their shared history, and the current state of their relationship.