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Hallmark Mysteries: Mysterious Small Town Hijinks Ensue - General Discussion


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Please keep the discussion here to Hallmark Mystery Movies - discussion of general Hallmark movies or news should be done in the Hallmark Movie Channel topic. Thank you.

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I just watched the latest Aurora Teagarden, I see they changed her wig to a longer one. It looks less real than the previous one, are they going to do a new wig every movie?  As for the movie, it was really contrived how they got the whole town to go to the mystery conference. Also, why is Phillip a main character?

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13 hours ago, Veronica said:

I fell asleep and missed the ending of last night’s AT. The last thing I remember seeing is the the scene where Andrew was creepily watching Sally research in the library. 

I'll try, but I'm really not sure what order all of this should be in, and I know I'm probably leaving things out but it at least gets at the gist:

Police ultimately arrested Andrew for some sort of white collar crime that he performed for that developer guy (the father of the ex-boyfriend)....and in my opinion they missed a very real chance for a serious warning about going to meet unknown Internet 'boyfriends'.

Famous author had gone to the theater (which was supposedly shut down) to retrieve his coat, and when Ro also arrived, she saw the murder weapon fall from his coat.  He of course said he didn't know how it got there.  Then the author lost his balance and fell into the panel of switches, which caused a big lights cluster to fall and almost kill Ro (Nick had arrived and pushed her out of the way).  So it was suspected that he had tried to kill her cause she saw the knife fall out.

While Philip was on house arrest in the hotel for the murder of that actress, he had received a note in his hotel room and he texted Ro that he was leaving to go to that developer's house.  When he got there, the man was dead.  Naturally the police thought he did it, but I think there was video footage from the house that cleared him (but I can't remember how) and his fingerprints weren't on the candlestick that was the murder weapon.  The video showed the son running out of the house, which made him a suspect.

It was discovered that the actress woman had used to work for the developer guy, and Ro and Nick found out that she still came by the office once a week to bring the guy breakfast (?).  So they figured that she was a plant in the play to try to convince owner woman to sell to developer guy.

The famous writer's fingerprints were on the candlestick.  Plus as people were leaving the conference, the woman who owned the theater and ran the conference, saw Ro in the lobby and was holding a box that she said had been left behind in the room of the famous author.  It had a manuscript in it and she 'accidentally' dropped it and all the pages fell all over the floor.  She said she was very busy so Ro offered to clean it up and deliver it.  As she was picking up the pages, it just so happened that the two pages she picked up were describing the murders that had occurred.  Looking further at the pages (or maybe there was also a computer search involved?), they saw that the book described everything exactly as it had been happening, but the ending had not been written.  Also, owner woman was being all excited about how many people now wanted to come to the theater because of all that had been going on.

For a change, Lynn was working with the murder club folks.  Ro said she knew who did it and I think Lynn convinced the local PD to wire Ro.  Ro went to the theater and met with the owner woman.  As they were talking, Ro began laying out the facts.  Famous author's fingerprints had been on the candlestick because owner woman had asked him to carry them.  She had planted the knife in the author's coat and she had been the one to write the manuscript and intentionally staged that whole spill thing to put suspicion on the author.  I'm still a little unclear on the motive, but I think she was tired of being bugged by the actress and the developer about selling, so she killed then, and she probably also figured she'd get good publicity for the theater, which was in danger of going under.

The very end with Nick and Ro confused me.  I think that Nick took Ro to the supposedly romantic-setting place where the son and the actress had the picture taken that was on the wall at the dad's business.  (It basically looked like a gazebo in a construction site to me.)  I think Ro said something like, "You're not going to propose, are you?"  He didn't, but he alluded to moving in that direction with her.

All are welcome to correct/critique my summary as needed!

  • Love 3

Love at Sea is on regular Hallmark. Alexa and Carlos Penavega are fine on it as the couple on a regular romance arc on ship.

I think the Picture Perfect mystery stiffness could have been because she was pregnant. I googled and they had the new baby on July 2. Hopefully they can get them in at least one new one by the end of the year.

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2 hours ago, Kitty Redstone said:

I wonder why the Darrow movies got low ratings?  I've enjoyed them and really like the cast.

I've enjoyed them too, as you said, the cast is quite fun. I guess the mysteries have been a little predictable? but not any more so than the others. I'm looking forward to more of these.

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I love Allison Sweeney...have liked her in just about anything.  I liked the Murder She Baked mysteries.  But "Chronicles" last night was a snooze.  It seems like the actors were sleepwalking most of the time and the dialogue was flat.  Just me?  It was harmless enough; I like all the actors involved, even the vanilla Ken romantic lead.  I wonder if Hallmark is churning out so many of these mysteries (maybe due to no Garage Sale?) that they are as predictable as the romance movies.  I am not saying last night's movie was bad....I just expected a little more.

I am in for just about any of the mystery series on Hallmark; but with the 24/7 Christmas movies coming up, I may cancel the part of my cable package that carries HMM and Hallmark Drama.  Sadly, this would include Turner Classics, Sundance and Lifetime Movies, which are included in this block.

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Kemper, I was coming here to post the exact same thing about last night's Chronicles mystery.  Alison Sweeney is in my top 3 favorites of Hallmark actresses (Autumn Reeser and Jill Wagner are the others and then the list REALLY drops off) so I was looking forward to another Chronicles movie, but this one was flat, flat, flat.  They are trying to rush the romance angle between her and the lead (who I do like) and their "oops, I said something that could be construed as romantic" just felt off -- their vibe is almost like siblings to me rather than love interests.  Alison did not look good and the overall energy of this one was OFF.  Of course, I knew immediately who would end up as the killer because 9 times out of 10, that persona turns out to be the guilty one.  I missed Chuck and his awesome humor and his Swiss-army-knife versatility that was much needed.  So disappointed and would only rewatch while folding laundry.

Edited by MerBearHou
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I was let down a bit by last night's movie too, especially since the Chronicle Mysteries have been pretty solid so far. It seemed like a lot of exposition and I thought the killer was pretty obvious from the start. 

I'm sad that Darrow won't be rerun soon if they're moving them to the app. I really like those and like the cast a lot! I'm not sure why they haven't caught on with more people. 

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Spotify bought out Parcast, the podcast network--which has some shows I enjoy--a few months ago. Now in this new movie Alison's podcast within the show is mentioned twice as being on Parcast.

Interesting because prior to the purchase Alison went on the real podcast Real Crime Profile to talk about her movie series, and it is on Stitcher, not Parcast

Edited by Happywatcher
15 hours ago, MissyPoo said:

Looks like we may have lost another series to the app. 

Darrow & Darrow

Darrow & Darrow: In the Key of Murder

Darrow & Darrow: Body of Evidence 

are HMN exclusives as well as Wedding Planner Mystery.

I don't know anything about an app (didn't even know Hallmark had one), but I noticed that the new Darrow & Darrow movies are no longer called Darrow & Darrow, they're just called A Darrow Mystery.

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26 minutes ago, GaT said:

I don't know anything about an app (didn't even know Hallmark had one), but I noticed that the new Darrow & Darrow movies are no longer called Darrow & Darrow, they're just called A Darrow Mystery.

Maybe they are the process of rebranding the series going forward?

Here are the old ones posted. Maybe they'll change them to the new name after they are in the catalog for a bit.

https://www.hmnow.com/films/darrow_and_darrow_pilot

https://www.hmnow.com/films/darrow_key_of_murder

8 hours ago, MerBearHou said:

 so I was looking forward to another Chronicles movie, but this one was flat, flat, flat.  They are trying to rush the romance angle between her and the lead (who I do like) 

12 hours ago, Kemper said:

I like all the actors involved, even the vanilla Ken romantic lead

There is absolutely no romantic spark between them.  And I love the description "vanilla Ken romantic lead"...that's really what he is.  Plotwise, I don't understand why Alison's character would ask 'Ken' to be her co-host.  It's always been her podcast, and she can keep having him help her with her sleuthing even without having him be her co-host

I also was very confused when he went back to that poker game.  First of all, there wasn't any plot explanation beforehand, whereas with almost all of the action in these movies, there is something said by the actors to set up the action that comes next.  And, given that the game took place in very close quarters, the 'mystery woman' Claire would undoubtedly have noticed the Ken doll when he and Alison were at the game the first time...but when he went back, she acted like she had never seen him before.  And this was especially weird because when he came back to the game, it looked like it was over and everyone else had gone home, but Claire didn't seem to think it was weird that he had just arrived. 

It also seemed very odd to me that the prosecutor would turn over the case files to a journalist, especially while the trial is still going on.  

And what happened to the neighbor couple, Leonard and his wife?  They made a specific point of mentioning that they had disappeared but it went nowhere.

1 hour ago, susannot said:

Alison's best friend, the defense lawyer, gave her a copy of the case file.

But my question still stands, even though I got the defense/prosecutor part wrong.  Is this a real thing, that even as the trial is underway, a lawyer gives a copy of the case file to a journalist?  The file included detailed financial documents, so it just doesn't seem right to me.

21 hours ago, nokat said:

Was it a different person writing Chronicles this time? Liked the first three. I sometimes want a mystery not too taxing on the old brain. 
 

Same writer -- Melissa Salmons.   Alison Sweeney knew Melissa from the soap opera world, if I recall correctly.    Melissa wrote the last Murder She Baked movie, and I think Melissa has written everything Alison has done for Hallmark since she wrote that final MSB -- so everything from maybe 2016 until now.   Alison is very involved in developing and co-producing all of her projects for Hallmark, so she must prefer working with Melissa over others.

Edited by TVFan17
  • Love 2
16 hours ago, LuvMyShows said:

Bummed that there's no new mystery movie this weekend!!

It was surprising to me when I first saw that there was not going to be a new mystery on Sunday, as the 4th Darrow & Darrow movie had originally been scheduled to premiere on September 1st, but then got bumped to September 8th.

Not only that, but Hallmark specifically advertised (during Christmas in July) that there would be 12 weeks of new mysteries, with 12 new movies starting in early August and stretching all the way to October 20th.   They're still going to air 11 movies, but that promo about the 12 movies was recent.  They should not have advertised that last month if they were not 100% sure they could get 12 mysteries on the air between August and October 20th.

What apparently happened was that it was expected that the 4th Crossword Mysteries movie would be filmed and ready in time to air on October 20th.  Instead, they got the 2nd and 3rd Crossword movies filmed, but -- according to Brennan Elliott -- they realized that there was no way they'd be able to get the 4th movie done and edited in time to air that soon.  (Nor was there any way to rush a movie from a different series into production in that amount of time either, presumably.) 

So when it was established that there would not be 12 movies, they shifted everything forward one week, so that September 1st is being skipped.

Now I can see how it would have been a major rush and time crunch to try to get that 4th Crossword movie (or a totally different movie) on the air in October, seeing that September is almost here.  But Hallmark should have known that they were cutting it too close with the filming schedules to promise 12 new mysteries before the end of October!  

Edited by TVFan17
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While I’d like a new mystery movie every Sunday, with Labor Day on Monday I can see why they bumped this week... very few channels have new content on holiday weekends.

Finally had time for the newest Chronicle Mystery... I enjoyed it since the format was a little different with the court case ongoing... I was highly suspicious of the killer from the start but there were some twists to really get to the motive and all that, so figuring some of that stuff out at least kept me interested. 

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1 hour ago, roctavia said:

While I’d like a new mystery movie every Sunday, with Labor Day on Monday I can see why they bumped this week... very few channels have new content on holiday weekends.

Finally had time for the newest Chronicle Mystery... I enjoyed it since the format was a little different with the court case ongoing... I was highly suspicious of the killer from the start but there were some twists to really get to the motive and all that, so figuring some of that stuff out at least kept me interested. 

That's not the main reason there is no mystery this weekend, as they originally had a new mystery scheduled for this coming Sunday, and they have a new summer movie on the Hallmark Channel premiering on Saturday.    They also premiered new movies on the Hallmark Channel on every weekend (including holiday weekends) from last September 2018 to early July of this year.  They're not trying to do what other channels do -- they're trying to provide new content when the other channels are not providing any, to get people to tune in!  lol

The mystery schedule changed when their 12th movie was not going to be ready in time to air in October, and they had to cut back to 11 movies instead of 12.  That's when most things premiering in Sept-Oct  shifted around.  But if that 4th Crossword movie had been ready to go to camera and then edited in time to premiere on October 20th -- which was the plan until a few weeks ago -- the originally planned premiere for this Sunday would have stayed in place.

Edited by TVFan17
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4 hours ago, TVFan17 said:

That's not the main reason there is no mystery this weekend, as they originally had a new mystery scheduled for this coming Sunday, and they have a new summer movie on the Hallmark Channel premiering on Saturday.    They also premiered new movies on the Hallmark Channel on every weekend (including holiday weekends) from last September 2018 to early July of this year.  They're not trying to do what other channels do -- they're trying to provide new content when the other channels are not providing any, to get people to tune in!  lol

The mystery schedule changed when their 12th movie was not going to be ready in time to air in October, and they had to cut back to 11 movies instead of 12.  That's when most things premiering in Sept-Oct  shifted around.  But if that 4th Crossword movie had been ready to go to camera and then edited in time to premiere on October 20th -- which was the plan until a few weeks ago -- the originally planned premiere for this Sunday would have stayed in place.

I get why they aren’t having one, due to their own scheduling issues, I was just saying that it is less of a hardship for many since it’s a holiday weekend.... without a DVR a lot of people might not be around on a Sunday night of a 3 day weekend anyway. So if they have to skip one weekend, it’s a good option.

Edited by roctavia
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Since the Darrow movies are moving to the app, does that mean there probably won't be any new Darrows after this new one airs?  I really hope not as I enjoy this crew as well as the mysteries.

I didn't mind the latest Chronicle mystery, but I love Aly Sweeney and will watch her in anything (er, as long as it doesn't involve Cameron Matheson).

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42 minutes ago, Kitty Redstone said:

Since the Darrow movies are moving to the app, does that mean there probably won't be any new Darrows after this new one airs?  I really hope not as I enjoy this crew as well as the mysteries.

I didn't mind the latest Chronicle mystery, but I love Aly Sweeney and will watch her in anything (er, as long as it doesn't involve Cameron Matheson).

I wonder about the future of Darrow too.   When I first saw that they were making this 4th movie, my first thought was that Hallmark probably didn't order another set of 3 movies and that this random one will probably be it for the series for a while, until another random one gets made.

But when I saw how the title of the new movie is worded (Witness to Murder: A Darrow Mystery), it kind of made me think that this might be the direction Hallmark is going with it.   Perhaps they want to hang on to the series and keep it going (even if it's just one movie per year), but want to steer it more in the direction of the other mysteries on the HMM channel.

I wonder if Hallmark thought that making Darrow & Darrow more mystery-focused than it was will help the ratings and make it more popular.    This 4th movie's popularity might be the determining factor in whether or not a 5th movie is made.

Dylan Neal thought that Hallmark was completely done with Gourmet Detective after the 4th movie.  I remember him telling people on social media that Hallmark was done with it and had moved on (or something to that effect).   I can't understand why they were moving on, because, based on what I have seen of the Gourmet movies, there is some fun, snappy dialogue between the two leads and the movies are certainly no worse than any of the other mystery series.  And now... there will be a 5th movie in the series after all!  

So, at this rate, anything is possible for these series that "seem" dead, as long as Hallmark doesn't part ways with the actors on bad terms and keeps them in the family.

Edited by TVFan17
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Thank you so much @TVFan17!  I always appreciate your insights and hope you are right about the Darrow movies.  The revival of the Gourmet Detective movies is also happy news.  Hopefully Emma Fielding will get another shot, too.  I liked that crew a lot as well.

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On 8/31/2019 at 11:36 PM, LuvMyShows said:

Could someone fill me in on the app?

There is a "Hallmark Movies Now" streaming app similar to Netflix or Hulu that is $6/month that is separate from the cable channels.   https://www.hmnow.com/

A lot of older movies that used to be shown on the Hallmark Channel or HMM have been moved over to only being shown on the app I guess as a way to get more folks to sign up for the app.  It sounds like they are also starting to create some original content just for the app as well.

1 hour ago, mikeb said:

There is a "Hallmark Movies Now" streaming app similar to Netflix or Hulu that is $6/month that is separate from the cable channels.   https://www.hmnow.com/

A lot of older movies that used to be shown on the Hallmark Channel or HMM have been moved over to only being shown on the app I guess as a way to get more folks to sign up for the app.  It sounds like they are also starting to create some original content just for the app as well.

I was looking at supported devices, and my only option (since I wouldn't want to watch on my phone) is the web option with Firefox, but it lists Windows or iOs as required, and I use Linux.  (I'm a recent Windows 7 refugee who refuses to downgrade to Windows 10, so I switched to the superior Linux Mint OS.) 

I wonder if it's just an oversight that they didn't list Linux, since the player would be browser based?  Does anybody here use it with a Linux operating system?

  • Love 1
11 hours ago, mikeb said:

There is a "Hallmark Movies Now" streaming app similar to Netflix or Hulu that is $6/month that is separate from the cable channels.   https://www.hmnow.com/

A lot of older movies that used to be shown on the Hallmark Channel or HMM have been moved over to only being shown on the app I guess as a way to get more folks to sign up for the app.  It sounds like they are also starting to create some original content just for the app as well.

 Ugh... why does everything have to have a streaming app?  I mean, i'd be fine with a streaming service except that I already pay for cable and would have to also pay for the app to get that exclusive content... which is really annoying. It'd be nice if they included it free if you already have the channel...  If I didn't have cable, it'd be one thing... though with all of the separate streaming services it's going to end up costing as much as cable :P 

Thank you for the info, though!! 

Edited by roctavia
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2 hours ago, roctavia said:

 Ugh... why does everything have to have a streaming app?  I mean, i'd be fine with a streaming service except that I already pay for cable and would have to also pay for the app to get that exclusive content... which is really annoying. It'd be nice if they included it free if you already have the channel...  If I didn't have cable, it'd be one thing... though with all of the separate streaming services it's going to end up costing as much as cable 😛

Thank you for the info, though!! 

I totally agree with you!  Which is why I will not be signing up for the app anytime soon.  (I was just gathering information about the app and Linux in case we get rid of the cable channels.  That's the only way I would ever pay for it, and even then probably only for a month or two at the most.)  It really should be included if you already pay for the cable channels.

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We don't have cable, we have Sling. I already pay an extra $5 per month to get the package that has Hallmark channels so I'm definitely not going to pay more for their special app too. The only stuff on the app that I might miss are the Darrow mysteries (why don't they ever rerun these?!) and that In the Key of Love movie that was supposed to be on Hallmark but got bumped to the app instead. 

Still really enjoying the Diagnosis Murder reruns daily. I think I may get my mom the complete series on DVD for Christmas. We used to watch it together when I was in high school.

Edited by Jenniferbug
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I have a couple of Aurora Teagarden mysteries on my DVR. I didn't expect to like the series, but I do.  Bure is a decent enough actress.

@Jenniferbug, I've been thinking of ditching cable. I rarely watch any of the "top" networks anymore, as it seems it's nothing but reality and game shows these days. I would probably pay extra for the hallmark channels too, as it's kind of like comfort food.
 

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On 8/15/2019 at 7:59 AM, LuvMyShows said:

Woohoo...our own thread!  I am actually planning my Sunday evening around the new mysteries, working out a little earlier than usual so I can be sure to be home in time.  [Yeah, I know, get a life, right?]  And I saw that last Sunday, they were going to be playing the old Emma Fielding movies, so we timed our return from vacation so I could catch the last showing!

I have really been enjoying having the launching of all the new mystery franchises, and I am also catching up on the old ones that I've been discovering, like Jane Doe and McBride.  And although they were lame, I really liked Signed, Sealed, Delivered, which I consider in the mystery category.  So I was pleasantly surprised to see 'Norman' (Geoff Gustafson) in one of the Emma Fielding movies shown on Sunday. 

If I read it correctly, someone in the Hallmark Movies thread mentioned that there are going to be more SSD movies...I guess that means they will pick up where they left off, with Norman and Rita being newly married and Shane and Oliver building their relationship?  

Actually the Signed, Sealed, Delivered movies are only being shown on Hallmark Drama channel and they HAVE made more and I think Shane and Oliver got married. I THINK!!

 

On 8/16/2019 at 5:31 PM, Happywatcher said:

The Ruby Herring wasn't horrible. The lead played the character a bit too detached and they tried to cram too much family and back story and events into the first movie, but it may calm down into a good series.

The cross word ones are fun. I would like to see another gourmet detective, all but one of the movies were good. Picture wasn't horrible, and hopefully it gets more personal when the lead isn't pregnant. 

Morning show isn't worth watching

Ruby Herring was terrible!!! I absolutely will not watch anymore of those, and HMM is my favorite channel, so I watch it a lot!!! 

 

On 8/31/2019 at 5:48 PM, Kitty Redstone said:

Since the Darrow movies are moving to the app, does that mean there probably won't be any new Darrows after this new one airs?  I really hope not as I enjoy this crew as well as the mysteries.

I didn't mind the latest Chronicle mystery, but I love Aly Sweeney and will watch her in anything (er, as long as it doesn't involve Cameron Matheson).

Why don't you like her with Cameron Mathison?

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5 hours ago, jlc said:

Actually the Signed, Sealed, Delivered movies are only being shown on Hallmark Drama channel and they HAVE made more and I think Shane and Oliver got married. I THINK!!

WHAT???????? The last SSD movie that I saw Rita & Norman got married. I thought the next one was due in 2020. What other movies have there been?

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6 hours ago, GaT said:

WHAT???????? The last SSD movie that I saw Rita & Norman got married. I thought the next one was due in 2020. What other movies have there been?

11 hours ago, jlc said:

Actually the Signed, Sealed, Delivered movies are only being shown on Hallmark Drama channel and they HAVE made more and I think Shane and Oliver got married. I THINK!!

Ruby Herring was terrible!!! I absolutely will not watch anymore of those, and HMM is my favorite channel, so I watch it a lot!!! 

Why don't you like her with Cameron Mathison?

I really wish we got Hallmark Drama just so I can see the SS&D movies, but Comcast unfortunately doesn't carry it.

I don't think Hallmark Drama is always an extra $6.00 a month.  It is a cable channel just like Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies and Mysteries.  It is up to your cable, satellite or streaming provider whether they carry it and, if so, which package they include it in.  There are a lot of cable providers (including mine, Verizon FIOS) that do not carry it.

It is the streaming-only 'app'  Hallmark Movies Now that is only available for extra $6.00 a month (or $5.00 a month if pay a year at a time).

Hallmark is getting greedy spreading their content across so many channels or app, which may back-fire if they are not careful.

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I don't pay extra for either Hallmark Movies & Mysteries or Hallmark Drama, they are part of  whatever my cable provider (RCN) is calling what used to be the "basic plus" option.

I am annoyed at the amount of content they are shifting over to the fee paid app.  I have a crappy DSL connection.  Streaming really doesn't work for me.

  • Love 6

I did some research and found Hallmark Channel was available in 85 million households as of 2015 and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries was available in 56 million households - couldn't find any more recent numbers.  Hallmark Drama was available in 20 million households as of March of this year while claiming to be on "a quick path to 40 million by year-end".

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Message added by formerlyfreedom

Please keep the discussion here to Hallmark Mystery Movies - discussion of general Hallmark movies or news should be done in the Hallmark Movie Channel topic. Thank you.

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