Hallmark Mysteries: Mysterious Small Town Hijinks Ensue - General Discussion

[BlackberryJam]

The male lead in the Ruby Herring mysteries has a weirdly high pitched voice that is super annoying.

[GaT]

I just watched the Matchmaker movie. Boy was that bad. LOTS of bad acting, no chemistry between the leads, & the the whole "matchmaker" thing is just stupid IMO.

[Irlandesa]

I didn't hate it.  It wasn't a great debut but I rarely like the very first outing of any mystery series.  I think Murder She Baked, Gourmet Detective and Mystery 101 are the exceptions. 

The matchmaking thing is a little silly and the culprit a bit out of thin air but I thought Boxleitner was terrific and some of the dialogue was fun. (Though there was bland dialogue too.)

[Ashforth]

Danica McKellar is just not a good actress. Her repertoire seems pretty limited to scrunching up her eyebrows, followed by a slack-jawed expression of confusion or concern.

[MerBearHou]

2 hours ago, Ashforth said:

Danica McKellar is just not a good actress. Her repertoire seems pretty limited to scrunching up her eyebrows, followed by a slack-jawed expression of confusion or concern.

Totally agree about Danica.  I can't watch anything she's in except the quirky, charming "Love at the Christmas Table" but that's because I love Dustin Milligan from "Schitt's Creek".  Victor Webster is someone I always enjoy so I'm sorry he got stuck with this series.  

Edited October 7, 2019 by MerBearHou

[ShelleySue]

2 hours ago, Ashforth said:

Danica McKellar is just not a good actress. Her repertoire seems pretty limited to scrunching up her eyebrows, followed by a slack-jawed expression of confusion or concern.

I think that a lot of the problem can be blamed on Hallmark casting.   I've always thought that Hallmark puts her in clothing and make up that are for a younger person.  I'm not saying that 44 is old, but that she isn't a young ingenue anymore.  Earlier this year she was in Love and Sunshine (Hallmark Channel) and she looked terrific.  I'm not sure what the difference was, but she just seemed more "appropriate."  But in this matchmaker movie she, once again, was wearing way too much makeup and her voice had that squeekiness to it.

I thought that the opening of the movie was cute.  It gave the movie more of a series than a movie feel to it.  But it was down hill from there.  I just didn't get the premise.  She is a tv matchmaker who has couples meet on camera and then she picks the perfect match for them?  Plus she has a great power of observation that she may have picked up from her retired police officer father?  Maybe she should ditch the matchmaking and pretend to be a  psychic and consult for the police.

The plots were different and the leads were different, but I thought it was strange that Hallmark had a matchmaker lead the night before this movie.

Edited October 7, 2019 by ShelleySue

[rainsmom]

Caved and decided to watch the Matchmaker movie. 

"You don't kill your perfect match." Um, yeah, sweetie. Happens every day. Every. Damn. Day.

[kirinan]

I liked Victor Webster and Bruce Boxleitner, but Danica McKellar and her friend just seemed over the top to me—too much mugging. And Angie came off as ridiculously pushy. I would have told her to get a damn warrant. Of course, they weren’t helped by the script, which seemed way overwritten; the language was too formal and Basil Exposition-ish. I’d watch another one, but at this point it would only be for Victor and Bruce.

Edited October 7, 2019 by kirinan

[TVFan17]

I think I'm with Irlandesa on Matchmaker Mysteries.  I didn't hate it, but also didn't quite love it.   It wasn't terrible (for me), and it wasn't amazing -- but I think there is enough there to make me return to watch a 2nd and 3rd installment, especially now that I am expanding my Hallmark horizons more to allow for some mystery viewing. 

I was not correct at all in my initial guess of the killer's identity.  Of course, these movies throw so many people at us in the first 20 minutes, and each character either seems suspicious or just in the movie for no reason other than to be up to no good somehow.   So I was thinking the killer was going to end up being one of those people, and it was actually a different one.

I did chuckle at Danica's hair color incident at the salon, and at her stunt with opening the car door to stop a guy (after Victor told her to stay in the car).   That was funny.

The guy at the center of the story -- the one with the black eye -- was in hot demand with the ladies, wasn't he?   He seemed to be quite the stud.

[Happywatcher]

Finishing Matchmaker Mystery off DVR.

1. Love Bruce, since Tron and B5.

2 I liked the detective, he was business and only let her tag along  when he was backed into it.

3. Danica is always cute. She is also really good at showing a range of emotions-- she and Candace are probably the best at Hallmark at that.

4. They gave her super people reading powers to justify the plot and it mostly worked.

5. I way prefer the show inserting a placement ad for adopting a rescue pet, instead of Balsam Hill

6. The adoption angle of Angie was nice, glad they insert a thing like this as opposed to the 'blood is the most important thing ever' in most romances.

I also thought Angie and her sidekick were over the top a little around the show within a show, but maybe real TV shows are like that. I liked this less than 101 but a little more than the new Ruby and lot more than the first Ruby and Darrow.

The movie surprised me on the murderer. Nice job

[Irlandesa]

3 hours ago, Happywatcher said:

The movie surprised me on the murderer. Nice job

One more thing that this movie did for me that a lot of these movies don't is make me feel on edge during the suspenseful denouement. 

[TimetoShine]

On 10/7/2019 at 10:10 AM, kirinan said:

I liked Victor Webster and Bruce Boxleitner, but Danica McKellar and her friend just seemed over the top to me—too much mugging. And Angie came off as ridiculously pushy. I would have told her to get a damn warrant. Of course, they weren’t helped by the script, which seemed way overwritten; the language was too formal and Basil Exposition-ish. I’d watch another one, but at this point it would only be for Victor and Bruce.

Exactly this. Every time Danica was on screen I was wondering if she thought she was in a different movie, maybe on Disney or something. She was particularly bad. Unfortunately, it was hard to enjoy the rest of the movie because she was in so much of it. Also, it felt like Victor was barely in any of it.

I'm not sure I'll watch if they somehow decide to make another one.

[roctavia]

Caught up on the Matchmaker Mystery, I agree with a lot of what's been said above....  Danica's acting wasn't great, though I thought it did settle in better as the movie went on. 
The premise with the matchmaking TV show is a little far fetched but I did like the multiple motives and not a completely easy to guess killer in the end... though once we knew there was embezzlement going on, it was clear there was something shady with the work people. 

I didn't get much chemistry between the lead, but these movies do tend to do that slowly. 

I do wish we had a different set up instead of again having a male detective and a random wannabe detective... The Gourmet Detective series flips that, which is nice, but so are the other series like Garage Sale and Chronicle mysteries where the police are involved peripherally but not meant to be main characters/ love interests. Too many of the new movies are pairing cutesy "Lady Job" with big strong police man.... 

But I suppose it's sort of what to expect with this type of movie. I'm sure I'll keep tuning in since we've got new mysteries and wouldn't refuse to watch another Matchmaker one... but my standards are low :P

On 10/6/2019 at 8:26 PM, BlackberryJam said:

The male lead in the Ruby Herring mysteries has a weirdly high pitched voice that is super annoying.

Also, does his character have like, any personality?? I mean I guess we saw he bakes in the newest movie and met his mom? but he still seems like a blank to me... and especially in the first mystery he seemed like just a body there to stand in for a detective guy.... 

[Kitty Redstone]

So I watched the last 45 minutes of the Matchmaker Mystery because 1) there wasn't anything else on and 2) I wasn't sure I'd like Lacey C. in Crossword Mysteries but was utterly charmed by her, so I thought it only fair to give Danica's series a chance. 

She wasn't very good.  At all.  Since I've not seen her in anything since The Wonder Years, it's not clear whether her acting has gotten worse or if the matchmaker character was so vapid that even a great actress would have trouble with the part.  Also, some of the dialog was clunky.  It was funny when the woman on the date slammed the door in her face after giving her the dusty box, though.

Anyway, are they making another one of these?  If so, I wonder why.

On 10/6/2019 at 2:54 PM, TVFan17 said:

I must say -- I really have no idea what Hallmark was thinking by ending the Gourmet Detective series in the first place.  ( I know they're making a 5th movie, but that one will once again probably be the end of the series for a long time, if not forever.)   I think they're crazy to end it.  

Totally agree with this.  Why they're ending a series with a strong, smart and accomplished woman as the lead, who happens to have great chemistry with her co-stars, is beyond me.  I'd extend this to Emma Fielding, too.  I'm disappointed they made the silly matchmaker movie instead of another GD or EF.

[Irlandesa]

22 hours ago, Kitty Redstone said:

I'm disappointed they made the silly matchmaker movie instead of another GD or EF.

It all comes down to ratings but GD and EF didn't light the ratings fires. They are making another GD movie, thankfully.

I will say that for those that hadn't seen Danica in anything, in addition to the Thanksgiving movie, A Crown For Christmas is worth watching.  Good chemistry with Rupert Penry-Jones who has more gravitas than most of the Hallmark male leads put together.

ETA: One more thing about Hallmark Drama. The show movies where there is sex.  Pre-marital and marital sex.  Not explicit but bed sharing.  Shocker.

Edited October 10, 2019 by Irlandesa

[mikeb]

It doesn't look like Matchmaker Mysteries did that well in the ratings.  It had 1.11 million viewers - given Danica is suppose to be one of their top stars, guessing they were expecting more.  For comparison, the two recent new Mystery 101 movies each had more than 1.4 million, while the latest Ruby Herring only had 0.90 million, which is around what Morning Show Mysteries usually gets.  It will be interesting how the two new Crossword Mysteries do the next two weeks.

[Kemper]

I have liked some of the new mystery movies...but all of them.  Just my opinion, but Hallmark is following the same formula (some would say "tired" formula) ... bland Ken Doll male leads and actresses who are maybe not the best suited for the format (let's not forget the awful hairdos).  I don't mind being able to guess the killer in the first 15 minutes;  if the story is fun/interesting and the leads have at least some chemistry and ability I am okay with it.  Plus I get them confused...Ruby Herring, then the ones with Allison Sweeney, etc.  It was better when they had names like "Fixer Upper"  "Garage Sale" ... you get the gist.  Oh, the ones with Allison Sweeney are The Chronicle ones?  Newspaper.  Which could blend with the Crossword ones; Except I don't care for Lacy Chabert and I do like Allison Sweeney; her acting is better. 

Sorry, I don't mean to sound so critical; it is just that Hallmark is churning these and the Christmas movies out way too fast.  I don't expect top-tier quality...I just want to be entertained.  But it almost seems the network doesn't care...they just have to get an x number of movies out...with the same actors and actresses.  

[GaT]

3 hours ago, Kemper said:

I have liked some of the new mystery movies...but all of them.  Just my opinion, but Hallmark is following the same formula (some would say "tired" formula) ... bland Ken Doll male leads and actresses who are maybe not the best suited for the format (let's not forget the awful hairdos).  I don't mind being able to guess the killer in the first 15 minutes;  if the story is fun/interesting and the leads have at least some chemistry and ability I am okay with it.  Plus I get them confused...Ruby Herring, then the ones with Allison Sweeney, etc.  It was better when they had names like "Fixer Upper"  "Garage Sale" ... you get the gist.  Oh, the ones with Allison Sweeney are The Chronicle ones?  Newspaper.  Which could blend with the Crossword ones; Except I don't care for Lacy Chabert and I do like Allison Sweeney; her acting is better. 

Sorry, I don't mean to sound so critical; it is just that Hallmark is churning these and the Christmas movies out way too fast.  I don't expect top-tier quality...I just want to be entertained.  But it almost seems the network doesn't care...they just have to get an x number of movies out...with the same actors and actresses.  

Part of the problem is the source material. These are all based on "cozy" mystery series, and they all have the same basic formula, so the movies do too.

[Irlandesa]

13 hours ago, Kemper said:

Just my opinion, but Hallmark is following the same formula (some would say "tired" formula) ... bland Ken Doll male leads and actresses who are maybe not the best suited for the format (let's not forget the awful hairdos). 

The funny thing about that is that they've been following a stricter formula* for a few years now that our complaints about how formulaic they are have started to become formulaic as well because they aren't giving us any different to complain about.

*Most genre movies have a formula but those in the past used to be a little more interesting.

Edited October 12, 2019 by Irlandesa

[Ashforth]

23 hours ago, Kemper said:

I have liked some of the new mystery movies...but all of them.  Just my opinion, but Hallmark is following the same formula (some would say "tired" formula) ... bland Ken Doll male leads and actresses who are maybe not the best suited for the format (let's not forget the awful hairdos).  I don't mind being able to guess the killer in the first 15 minutes;  if the story is fun/interesting and the leads have at least some chemistry and ability I am okay with it.  Plus I get them confused...Ruby Herring, then the ones with Allison Sweeney, etc.  It was better when they had names like "Fixer Upper"  "Garage Sale" ... you get the gist.  Oh, the ones with Allison Sweeney are The Chronicle ones?  Newspaper.  Which could blend with the Crossword ones; Except I don't care for Lacy Chabert and I do like Allison Sweeney; her acting is better. 

Sorry, I don't mean to sound so critical; it is just that Hallmark is churning these and the Christmas movies out way too fast.  I don't expect top-tier quality...I just want to be entertained.  But it almost seems the network doesn't care...they just have to get an x number of movies out...with the same actors and actresses.  

Arrrgggghhh the awful wigs. Why? WHY? I get that wigs theoretically help with continuity when editing. Okay. But for the love of all that's holy, spend a few bucks on a realistic-looking wig and a professional to glue it to the actress's forehead and style it so that it doesn't look like glued on, obviously fake hair. 

I'll hand it to Allison Sweeney (watching a Chronicle movie right now), her hair and her face both look natural and great. She's also definitely one of the best, if not the best actress in the very limited Hallmark troupe.

And speaking of the troupe, the re-use of the same actors (male and female) over and over bugs me. I know that they have their fans, and good for them for being able to get the work in their crazy competitive industry, and it is efficient for Hallmark, but it makes the shows all blend together. There are plenty of fish in the sea, Hallmark! Plus, when I don't care for one who shows up time and again, ugh.

All of that being said, I do enjoy the cozy mystery genre, and I think that Hallmark does it pretty well. They could just do it a lot better with only a little more effort.

[GaT]

I watched the latest Crossword Mysteries, & thought it was better than the 1st one. Also, Lacey Chabert's voice wasn't as annoying. They had a commercial for the Crossword Mystery next week, & it said it was the last mystery of the year :-(. I guess it's all Christmas for the rest of the year, see you all in January!

[MerBearHou]

9 hours ago, GaT said:

I watched the latest Crossword Mysteries, & thought it was better than the 1st one. Also, Lacey Chabert's voice wasn't as annoying. They had a commercial for the Crossword Mystery next week, & it said it was the last mystery of the year :-(. I guess it's all Christmas for the rest of the year, see you all in January!

I enjoyed it too.  I laughed out loud when she was with Brennan Elliott in the car, talking about growing up, and she said she’d spent time on her family’s farm and knew how to milk a goat.  Fun little wink to their prior series together.

[Kitty Redstone]

I also enjoyed last night's Crossword Mystery.  The part I laughed out loud about was when she asked for a copy of the code and he said no, she started to memorize it.  Also, I hadn't heard of a book cipher before so that was something new.  LC and BE have a nice chemistry, too.

Like @GaT, I'm not looking forward to 24/7 Christmas for the rest of the year.  I so wish HMM would adhere to their regular schedule, or at least keep the majority of it and keep the holiday movies to prime time.  Apparently even Lifetime is jumping on the bandwagon and going 24/7 Christmas, according to the commercials they're running on HMM (I don't watch anything on Lifetime). 

[Mabinogia]

10 minutes ago, Kitty Redstone said:

Like @GaT, I'm not looking forward to 24/7 Christmas for the rest of the year.  I so wish HMM would adhere to their regular schedule, or at least keep the majority of it and keep the holiday movies to prime time. 

They seem to do it earlier and earlier each year. They just need to make a dedicated Christmas Channel and be done with it, like they have the Mystery channel now, which is the only one I actually watch. (PS: I'm already sick of Christmas and it's barely mid October!)

I am really enjoying the Mystery 101 movies. The leads have great chemistry, though I am already sick of the "dance". Just freaking ask him or her out! (She seems like a strong enough woman that she wouldn't need the man to ask her out so I say have her go for it, ask him out.) Though I assume the writing staff just isn't strong enough to pull off an actual relationship between them. 

[TVFan17]

3 hours ago, Mabinogia said:

They seem to do it earlier and earlier each year. They just need to make a dedicated Christmas Channel and be done with it, like they have the Mystery channel now, which is the only one I actually watch. (PS: I'm already sick of Christmas and it's barely mid October!)

I am really enjoying the Mystery 101 movies. The leads have great chemistry, though I am already sick of the "dance". Just freaking ask him or her out! (She seems like a strong enough woman that she wouldn't need the man to ask her out so I say have her go for it, ask him out.) Though I assume the writing staff just isn't strong enough to pull off an actual relationship between them. 

I love the dance.   I think I commented in an earlier post that these mysteries are giving me the kind of romances I want to see in the actual romance movies!  lol  

I love that Kristoffer Polaha and Jill Wagner have not gotten together in the Mystery 101 movies (yet).  They will get together soon enough, but the slow burn of the relationship is something we don't get to see in the usual rushed Hallmark romance movies.    I've already seen them get together in under 2 hours in Pearl in Paradise, and, while I absolutely adore that movie, I like seeing the same two actors in a different story with a different romantic structure.

These mysteries provide a scenario in which the lead couples can take time to flirt, banter and enjoy the build-up over several installments.  I think it's fantastic.   Quite a few of the all-time great TV couples have taken a long time to get together, so it is a formula that works.

But I also love the annual last-weekend-in-October start to the Christmas movie events, so I might be on my own little island with my opinions.  Oh well!  lol

Edited October 14, 2019 by TVFan17

[AnnaRose]

34 minutes ago, TVFan17 said:

I love the dance.   I think I commented in an earlier post that these mysteries are giving me the kind of romances I want to see in the actual romance movies!  lol  

I love that Kristoffer Polaha and Jill Wagner have not gotten together in the Mystery 101 movies (yet).  They will get together soon enough, but the slow burn of the relationship is something we don't get to see in the usual rushed Hallmark romance movies.    I've already seen them get together in under 2 hours in Pearl in Paradise, and, while I absolutely adore that movie, I like seeing the same two actors in a different story with a different romantic structure.

These mysteries provide a scenario in which the lead couples can take time to flirt, banter and enjoy the build-up over several installments.  I think it's fantastic.   Quite a few of the all-time great TV couples have taken a long time to get together, so it is a formula that works.

I will join you on your island.  I totally agree with your entire post!  So much!!

[MissyPoo]

On 10/9/2019 at 6:27 PM, Irlandesa said:

ETA: One more thing about Hallmark Drama. The show movies where there is sex.  Pre-marital and marital sex.  Not explicit but bed sharing.  Shocker.

Those movies from Hallmark of yore were pretty daring back in the day.  One of my faves that recently aired on that channel had the lead character coming off a relationship in the beginning where she lived with her ex for years. 

As for the mystery channel, I agree they need to change the formula up a bit. I really loved how in Jane Doe the lead female character was an ex agent turned puzzle designer still working with the agency and a former colleague while still married and juggling a family. They balanced her home life and her secret job with the mysteries nicely. I wouldn't mind seeing something like that again in a future series. Or better yet, they could bring back Jane Doe. 🙂

[mikeb]

19 hours ago, MissyPoo said:

Those movies from Hallmark of yore were pretty daring back in the day.  One of my faves that recently aired on that channel had the lead character coming off a relationship in the beginning where she lived with her ex for years. 

As for the mystery channel, I agree they need to change the formula up a bit. I really loved how in Jane Doe the lead female character was an ex agent turned puzzle designer still working with the agency and a former colleague while still married and juggling a family. They balanced her home life and her secret job with the mysteries nicely. I wouldn't mind seeing something like that again in a future series. Or better yet, they could bring back Jane Doe. 🙂

Or they do a spin-off starring Jessy Schram, who played Jane Doe's daughter.  Lea Thompson could make guest appearances.

[MissyPoo]

1 hour ago, mikeb said:

Or they do a spin-off starring Jessy Schram, who played Jane Doe's daughter.  Lea Thompson could make guest appearances.

Yes! I would love that! It'd be awesome to see her follow in her mom's footsteps. 

Edited October 15, 2019 by MissyPoo

[roctavia]

Caught up on the new Crossword mystery. I liked it better than the first one... and although the eventual bad guys were suspicious throughout, it wasn't a cut and dried here's the bad guy you guessed immediately. 

It also worked as an okay way to get her involved in the murder, since it would be hard to have another murder all about the crossword puzzle. 

I like the male lead more than Lacey Chabert, something about her mouth/teeth? bothers me but it's always been an issue and I can't put my finger on what it is, I get a same feeling when watching Seth McFarlane... but there's a quality that just bothers me a tiny bit... but it's still tolerable to watch her... but they did have good chemistry. 
 

I wouldn't mind if they made more of these, even though it's the same detective man, random quirky lady job pairing... At least Chronicle mysteries and Gourmet Detective are a little different.

[TVFan17]

The Christmas movie season on the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries Channel begins tomorrow night, but it was apparently a sudden decision to switch into 24/7 Christmas mode almost one week earlier than expected, so the updated schedule is still populating and has not appeared on everyone's guides and menus yet, nor has it appeared on the HMM website yet.  (I only know that they are switching to Christmas mode tomorrow night because of their Twitter and Facebook posts.)

I'm sure they are still airing the new Crossword Mysteries movie on Sunday, but I am waiting for that updated schedule to appear -- just to be sure.

Edited October 18, 2019 by TVFan17

[TVFan17]

I was wrong.  Hallmark is NOT airing the new Crossword Mysteries movie on Sunday night.  This is yet another one they announced and promoted, and then removed from the schedule.

Crossword Mysteries will return in January, according to this page - https://www.hallmarkmoviesandmysteries.com/crossword-mysteries-abracadaver

Edited October 18, 2019 by TVFan17

[Guest]

27 minutes ago, TVFan17 said:

I was wrong.  Hallmark is NOT airing the new Crossword Mysteries movie on Sunday night.  This is yet another one they announced and promoted, and then removed from the schedule.

Crossword Mysteries will return in January, according to this page - https://www.hallmarkmoviesandmysteries.com/crossword-mysteries-abracadaver

I’m not all that surprised. The mysteries aired so far this month have not been doing well. The second Crossword Mystery had a big drop from the first.  It might preform better in January. 

Edited October 18, 2019 by Guest

[Kitty Redstone]

I am really, really pissed that they are starting 24/7 Christmas movies already.  It's the middle of freaking October, for crying out loud.  Not only was I looking forward to the new Crossword Mystery, I wanted one more weekend of Murder, She Wrote before it disappeared from the channel for the next two-and-a-half months. 

There is absolutely no reason for both Hallmark Channels to go 24/7 Christmas for two weeks in July, half of October, all of November, all of December, and the first week or two of January.  Overkill is to mild of a word for it.

[TVFan17]

58 minutes ago, Dani said:

I’m not all that surprised. The mysteries aired so far this month have not been doing well. The second Crossword Mystery had a big drop from the first.  It might preform better in January. 

I think I am just surprised at the sudden way in which Hallmark makes these changes to the schedules (including the Fall Harvest fiasco over on the main channel), as though they just expect people to not remember or care about what was announced and promoted.  lol

But other than the frustration of yet another movie being removed from the schedule out of nowhere, I agree with you -- I think that the mysteries might do better in January.   By the time January begins, people will have had more than enough of Christmas movies for a while, and they will be ready to see something that is not holiday-specific.  The mysteries will be a welcome change for a lot of people, for sure.

[MerBearHou]

What also bothers me is the massive overdose of sweetness for weeks on end.  The formulas are so similar in these Christmas movies and very, very few are actually good IMO.  The mystery movies make you think, keep you guessing a bit, aren’t sugary.  I am so disappointed about this excess of early Christmas movies creeping in.  I enjoy all of the mystery series — some more than others — and I strongly prefer them over the pure rom-coms.  

Edited October 18, 2019 by MerBearHou

[Irlandesa]

11 minutes ago, TVFan17 said:

I think that the mysteries might do better in January.   By the time January begins, people will have had more than enough of Christmas movies for a while, and they will be ready to see something that is not holiday-specific. 

The initial mystery movie doesn't always do as well as movies that air a bit later so it's not like viewers run towards the mystery movies (I do gravitate towards the hard stuff so even they don't do it for me after the sugar.) 

It's ridiculous.  They are starting with some good movies tomorrow but I'm just going to consider my next few weekends free before they start airing new movies.

[TVFan17]

I should also point out that, originally -- earlier this year and all the way into July -- it was announced that there would be 3 Crossword Mysteries airing in October.   It was supposed to be  CM movies #2, #3 and #4 in October, and they were scheduled for the first 3 Sundays of the month. 

Somewhere along the line, it was established that movie #4 was not going to be filmed in enough time to get it on the air in Oct., so then the plan changed so that only movie #2 and movie #3 would air.   And now movie #3 has gotten bumped to January.

So the Crossword Mysteries really got the short end of the stick, all the way around.

That's really too bad.  I mean, I have said before that I am fine with Christmas movies starting on the last weekend in October because that's what I am used to and I have come to expect it. 

BUT that doesn't mean that  I wanted the Christmas movies to start one week early (especially if they are not premiering a new one until 10/25) and bump the last new mystery of the year to January!  I was planning to watch Crossword Mysteries: Abracadaver!  I was looking forward to it.

I have no idea if there is someone new in the Crown Media programming offices this year, but they have been doing some crazy things with their schedules in 2019.  It's more out of control and disorganized than it has been at other times.

Edited October 18, 2019 by TVFan17

[Guest]

40 minutes ago, TVFan17 said:

I think I am just surprised at the sudden way in which Hallmark makes these changes to the schedules (including the Fall Harvest fiasco over on the main channel), as though they just expect people to not remember or care about what was announced and promoted.  lol

But other than the frustration of yet another movie being removed from the schedule out of nowhere, I agree with you -- I think that the mysteries might do better in January.   By the time January begins, people will have had more than enough of Christmas movies for a while, and they will be ready to see something that is not holiday-specific.  The mysteries will be a welcome change for a lot of people, for sure.

That last minute changes are surprising me less and less each time. The worst part about it for me is that Hallmark doesn’t address the changes. Sometimes it seems like they’re trying to piss people off. This is the only channel where I feel like I have to do research to know what is going on. 

It be nice to think Hallmark would learn from this and add in some holiday themed mysteries next year as a way to capitalize on both markets. I don’t expect that to actual happen though. 

Edited October 18, 2019 by Guest

[Kitty Redstone]

32 minutes ago, TVFan17 said:

I think I am just surprised at the sudden way in which Hallmark makes these changes to the schedules (including the Fall Harvest fiasco over on the main channel), as though they just expect people to not remember or care about what was announced and promoted.  lol

It's disorganized and weirdly arrogant, isn't it.

[MerBearHou]

As mentioned above, they’d been heavily promoting the last “new mystery” of the fall and I’d been looking forward to it, knowing the holiday movies were just behind it.  I was glad to get two back-to-back Crossword movies and I’m oddly offended on behalf of Lacey and Brennan, though they may not care — they’ve been nicely paid!  I really don’t mind holiday movies starting after Halloween — that makes sense to me but not to Hallmark.  Is this truly all about tying into and hyping up holiday merchandise sales?

Edited October 18, 2019 by MerBearHou

[Irlandesa]

I think a majority of the audience is going to be unaware of the scheduling changes since they probably don't pay attention far out.

The only one that I think is a mistake is moving the Crossword Mystery since they specifically advertised it after the last one and there's a short enough time in between the two movies that people will remember.

[Kitty Redstone]

Does 24/7 Christmas get better ratings than the regular schedule?  It's difficult for me to believe that they do, but I have no idea what else would drive the decision to ram what should be a special time of the year into the ground.

While I don't mind the occasional Christmas movie, I'm not ready for them until late November at the earliest and am certainly not interested in hours upon hours of them.  I'm so annoyed by it all that HMM is off my schedule until January.

[LexieLily]

Wrong forum.

Edited October 18, 2019 by LexieLily

[TVFan17]

4 minutes ago, Kitty Redstone said:

Does 24/7 Christmas get better ratings than the regular schedule?  It's difficult for me to believe that they do, but I have no idea what else would drive the decision to ram what should be a special time of the year into the ground.

While I don't mind the occasional Christmas movie, I'm not ready for them until late November at the earliest and am certainly not interested in hours upon hours of them.  I'm so annoyed by it all that HMM is off my schedule until January.

Well, no network is going to waste time on an event of this magnitude and even make it bigger every year (and expand it to all 3 linear channels) if it is not paying off for them in some way.   It is the most successful of all of their themed events and movies.   They even started a Sirius XM Christmas radio station last year (it is returning this year).  And now Hallmark is sponsoring ChristmasCon -- the big Christmas convention happening in a few weeks.

Christmas is big business for Hallmark.

As for ratings -- I don't know if it is necessarily that each individual new Christmas movie gets bigger ratings than each new mystery, or each new Fall movie, or each new Summer movie, etc.  I'm sure some of the Christmas movies get higher ratings than other movies, and some of them get lower ratings than other themed movies.

But I think that two key factors in the Christmas events are these:

(1) Up until this year, Hallmark was keeping the Christmas movies contained to Christmas in July, and to late October to the first couple of days of January.   They did show 4 movies for Merry Madness on one single Friday last year, but they were not showing Christmas movies every Thursday and Friday for months.

So, essentially, the Christmas events were more of a novelty because they were not shown every week from February on.   This year, however, Hallmark has made the Christmas movies less of a novelty.   If it is the novelty factor that lures in many of the viewers they get for the Countdown to Christmas and Miracles of Christmas every year, how will those events do this year, when a lot of the novelty has been diminished??

and...

(2) Advertisers.  Sponsors.  There is no getting around the fact that Hallmark probably brings in the ad dollars during the holiday season.  That's when Folgers stakes out its lengthy product placement spots in at least 2 new movies.  That's when Balsam Hill is featured in many of the movies.   The ad dollars alone must be astounding compared to, for example, the June Weddings event, or the Spring Fever event.

So I think that the extensive, 'round-the-clock Christmas events for 2+ months pay off from a combo of viewers, ratings and advertising dollars.  It's probably the most lucrative event for the network, and it probably helps to boost sales of their merchandise.  

But, again, now that they have cut back on the novelty factor, and now that Lifetime is also now going full-Christmas for 2 months, will Hallmark be able to maintain their level of popularity, or will they lose some of their steam?

[Irlandesa]

53 minutes ago, Kitty Redstone said:

Does 24/7 Christmas get better ratings than the regular schedule? 

So I don't follow the daytime ratings closely but I do seem to recall looking at them one time and yes, the daytime movies do perform well.  The Hallmark Channel movies tend to get about a million (or more) viewers than the non-Christmas Hallmark movies that air earlier in the year.  Hallmark Movies and Mysteries doesn't appear to get that much of a bump.  They tend to be on par with their other movies. 

You can see the ratings of the debuts here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Hallmark_Channel_Original_Movies

It also gets them a lot of press and creates hype which probably feeds back into how many people watch--and record, don't forget record--their holiday movies. It's a beast that feeds on itself.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Kitty Redstone said:

Does 24/7 Christmas get better ratings than the regular schedule?  It's difficult for me to believe that they do, but I have no idea what else would drive the decision to ram what should be a special time of the year into the ground.

It actually does. Hallmark’s rating at Christmas are insane. Last year it was the number 1 cable network among women 18-49 and 25-54 for the fourth quarter. During prime time on Saturday’s they also beat the broadcast networks among women. They get similar ratings during Christmas in July. 

Hallmark Channel Once Again Reigns as Indisputable Leader in Holiday Programming

Edited October 18, 2019 by Guest

[chitowngirl]

I was looking forward to watching the repeat of The Crossword Mystery from last Sunday tonight because I missed it and don’t have DVR. Now I have to remember to catch it next year.  ☹️

[Kitty Redstone]

It's understandable how new Hallmark Christmas movies do well on Saturday nights (not much else is on, especially on the networks), or premiers on any other night, and even marathons of them on certain days where people can see their favorites from years past. 

What I don't get is where the audience is for Christmas on two channels for two-plus months a year for 24 hours a day seven days a week.  I mean, it must be there or otherwise they wouldn't do it.  I'm in the demo but have a hard time imagining the millions of people who love Christmas movies so much that they want this avalanche of them every day of the week, every hour of the day, for months at a time.

No matter, really.  I'll find substitutes to entertain, wind down and fall asleep to, but it's not the same.  It's pretty clear HMM doesn't appreciate the part of their mystery-loving audience that isn't in to Christmas movies, and that's a disappointment.

Edited October 18, 2019 by Kitty Redstone

[Jenniferbug]

I'll admit, I work from home and there are definitely days where I have the Christmas movies on all day. But this year for some reason, I'm not feeling it. Maybe closer to November, but right now I'll probably just try to catch my favorites and a few of the more interesting looking new ones. It seems way too early for me, and that's coming from someone who is already half done with Christmas shopping.