Hallmark Mysteries: Mysterious Small Town Hijinks Ensue - General Discussion

[statsgirl]

6 hours ago, rainsmom said:

I think Jill and Kristopher are my favorite mysteries couple. I love how their relationship is directed. It's professional when it needs to be, respectful always -- without emasculating him or victimizing her, and convincingly friendly. The flirting is appropriate and not over-the-top. Neither is falling over themselves because they're suddenly tongue-tied in the presence of a crush. They're NORMAL.

I love her dad too!

Same here. I also think that the movies are better written than most of the romance/mystery movies out there.

The initial trope of the cop who hasn't read any mystery books vs the mystery prof is a good one, and I really like that he got close to her father before he got close to her.

It feels like the Aurora Teagarden movies have gone on too long and run out of originality. That may be affected by the fact that I liked her better with Martin than Nick, and don't know why they dropped Martin suddenly in the middle of a jungle.

[EyewatchTV211]

6 hours ago, statsgirl said:

Same here. I also think that the movies are better written than most of the romance/mystery movies out there.

The initial trope of the cop who hasn't read any mystery books vs the mystery prof is a good one, and I really like that he got close to her father before he got close to her.

It feels like the Aurora Teagarden movies have gone on too long and run out of originality. That may be affected by the fact that I liked her better with Martin than Nick, and don't know why they dropped Martin suddenly in the middle of a jungle.

Well, they might have dropped Martin off in the jungle because 

Spoiler

in the books, Martin is much older and is killed off. They might have decided to somewhat stick with his character no longer being around but decided not to go the route of having him die. 

 

[rainsmom]

10 hours ago, VMepicgrl said:

Well, they might have dropped Martin off in the jungle because 

  Reveal spoiler

in the books, Martin is much older and is killed off. They might have decided to somewhat stick with his character no longer being around but decided not to go the route of having him die. 

 

My guess is that's why, though they're following the books so loosely that it doesn't necessarily have to be that. It could also be because the actor didn't want to continue or they wanted Aurora to have a love interest rather than a husband. 

[TVFan17]

Yannick Bisson definitely wanted to leave the Aurora Teagarden series.  Candace said they were sad to lose him but he wanted to go.  And you can tell that the ties between Yannick and Hallmark must have been severed, as he doesn't even seem to be in the Hallmark "family" anymore.  He's not popping up in any random Christmas movies or movies of other themes.  He hasn't been on Home & Family to promote any of his other non-Hallmark work. 

Much like Brooke Shields vanished after the final Flower Shop Mystery movie, I guess Hallmark's relationship with Yannick just abruptly ended too.  Maybe he didn't like working for them, or maybe they didn't like working with him, or both.  But I suppose they felt it was easier to just bring a new love interest into the Aurora movies instead of trying to recast Martin.

Edited April 1, 2020 by TVFan17

[EyewatchTV211]

Yeah, I think Yannick to leave. But the book character also stopped being in later books for a different reason. So they made the choice to change the on screen reasoning for why he was gone. 

[Cherpumple]

I guessed the killer in this one pretty quickly too, but there were enough puzzle pieces to keep me intrigued about how everything fit together, which I liked. But I kept getting tripped up by the Mark Twain chapters, and was disappointed that, in the end, it didn't even matter that they were forgeries. I was convinced that they would come into play more. Specifically, once they mentioned the plagiarist, I thought it would be discovered that the pages were authentic and the murderer, a plagiarist/forger, created a forged version, then put the forged version in the safe and sold the real copies for a ton of money. Oh well, I guess that was just a red herring.

I also love the chemistry between the leads, especially when Jill is wearing her giant reading glasses. She looks so cute and nerdy in them. And I loved all her bump-hiding ponchos. They seemed to getting bigger and flowier as the movie progressed, and it made me laugh.

And as goofy as the choreography was in the final confrontation with the murderer, I liked seeing the two leads save each other. Bless their hearts, but sometimes I think Hallmark tries too hard to get away from the "damsel in distress" trope and have inadvertently created their own trope of showing their female leads getting themselves out of highly dangerous situations, moments before the professionally-trained male lead arrives on the scene, and having her explicitly say, "I don't need you to save me. I saved myself." Yeah, we get it, you're not a damsel in distress. I'm all for female agency, but I prefer seeing the crime-solving partners working together to save each other.

Also, I enjoyed seeing a brooding and shaggy Steve Bacic. He looks like he's lost a little weight since the Garage Sale movies and I hope to see him in more films playing different kinds of characters now that he's free of his role as the milquetoast husband of LL.

[rainsmom]

27 minutes ago, Cherpumple said:

Also, I enjoyed seeing a brooding and shaggy Steve Bacic. He looks like he's lost a little weight since the Garage Sale movies and I hope to see him in more films playing different kinds of characters now that he's free of his role as the milquetoast husband of LL.

I enjoyed seeing him too. I noticed that this particular movie was FILLED with actors I recognized from other mysteries -- at least THREE from Garage Sale Mysteries. 

[roctavia]

15 hours ago, Cherpumple said:

Also, I enjoyed seeing a brooding and shaggy Steve Bacic. He looks like he's lost a little weight since the Garage Sale movies and I hope to see him in more films playing different kinds of characters now that he's free of his role as the milquetoast husband of LL.

Thank you!! I spent half the movie trying to figure out why he was so familiar!!! 

[TVFan17]

There have been updates since I last updated!  lol  Almost every time I post an update on something, it changes soon after.

Danica McKellar posted something about doing her ADR/sound work from home too (on her MatchMaker Mysteries: A Fatal Romance movie), so at least it is going forward in some way.  She can't film the 3rd movie yet, but at least she can get the ADR done on the 2nd movie so it can premiere.

Right now, as of today, and it could change again... MatchMaker Mysteries: A Fatal Romance is back on the schedule for Saturday, April 25th, on both the Hallmark Channel and the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries Channel.  It had been removed from that date, but it's back in place.

Meanwhile, Aurora Teagarden: Heist and Seek has been moved from its April 12th slot to a Sunday, May 17th premiere, according to the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries website.

And J.L. Family Ranch 2, which had been scheduled to air on April 25th on both the Hallmark Channel and the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries Channel in place of MatchMaker Mysteries, now has no premiere date at all, of any kind.  🤣

Since Hallmark doesn't have a springtime Hall of Fame movie to air this year (as they had in 2019 and 2018), I actually wonder if they are planning to turn J.L. Family Ranch 2 into a Hall of Fame movie due to the veteran actors who are in it.  The only weird thing about that -- IF they were trying to make it a Hall of Fame movie -- is that I don't think the first J.L. Ranch installment from a few years ago was a Hall of Fame movie.  It would be strange for a sequel to be Hall of Fame when the original one was not Hall of Fame.  But... they may try to do it anyway because they've got nothing else for a spring Hall of Fame slot!

 

Edited April 4, 2020 by TVFan17

[Starscream]

On 4/1/2020 at 4:08 PM, VMepicgrl said:

Yeah, I think Yannick to leave. But the book character also stopped being in later books for a different reason. So they made the choice to change the on screen reasoning for why he was gone. 

What I don't understand is why they bothered to bring back Robin Daniels only to dump him for this Nick character.  I personally think Niall Matter is the posterboy for bland Hallmark leading men and would have preferred to stick with the Robin Daniels character.

[TVFan17]

I'd have to say that I quite enjoyed tonight's new Ruby Herring movie.  I think it was the best of the 3 Ruby movies.  They've done a good job of fixing certain weaknesses and making it better with each installment.  The chemistry between Taylor Cole and Stephen Huszar is getting better too.  I'm glad Hallmark stuck with it, and I think this one should be enough to warrant doing a 4th movie down the road.  It was pretty good!  At the very least, it was a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours. 

Edited April 6, 2020 by TVFan17

[LuvMyShows]

3 minutes ago, TVFan17 said:

I'd have to say that I quite enjoyed tonight's new Ruby Herring movie.  I think it was the best of the 3 Ruby movies.  They've done a good job of fixing certain weaknesses and making it better with each installment.  The chemistry between Taylor Cole and Stephen Huszar is getting better too.  I'm glad Hallmark stuck with it, and I think this one should be enough to warrant doing a 4th movie down the road.  It was pretty good!  At the very least, it was a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours. 

I wish I could agree, but I still see absolutely no chemistry between Taylor and Stephen.  Since I haven't seen either of them in anything else, I don't know if it's her, him, or them together that is lacking.  This movie just seemed to drag along, without anything in particular of interest.  I wonder if I must have dozed off at one point, because at the very end, she asks him what her favorite ice cream is, and he says vanilla.  That must have been in reference to something, but I have no idea what.

[Callietwo]

15 minutes ago, LuvMyShows said:

.  I wonder if I must have dozed off at one point, because at the very end, she asks him what her favorite ice cream is, and he says vanilla.  That must have been in reference to something, but I have no idea what.

I must’ve dozed at the same time, because I also had no idea what that was in reference to, either and I’d caught myself nodding off a couple times that last 45 minutes.
 

There are some good things in the last episode such as Taylor’s hair looks less like a  cheap wig from the dollar store.   She also seems more relaxed in the role though she continues to have a bit of the stiffness about her acting In general. 
 

I’ve seen her in quite a few other movies and she tends towards decent enough chemistry with many of her many leading men but Steven Huzar has just never has done it for me in any of his roles.  

[MerBearHou]

Couldn’t agree more with the lack of chemistry between Taylor and Steven.  I like her very, very much but not with Steven in a potential romance.  Sometimes it seems like he is barely going through the motions.  And I am not a fan of the guy playing her dad — wow, he is a stiff, odd actor IMO.  I love Derek.  The story was entertaining enough so I enjoyed the movie as a Sunday night diversion, despite the Taylor+Steven / her dad negatives.

I also thought the old fiancée situation was ridiculous.  He basically left her on the altar and after quite a bit of time and with absolutely no build-up, wanted to try again, even though he lives 1000 miles away.  Again, zero chemistry with Luke, the surgeon.  

Big improvement on Ruby’s wig so that’s a good thing!

Edited April 6, 2020 by MerBearHou

[LuvMyShows]

13 minutes ago, MerBearHou said:

 And I am not a fan of the guy playing her dad — wow, he is a stiff, odd actor IMO.  

From the way-back machine...I remember him from the soap opera Guiding Light in the early 80s.  He played a guy named Kelly, and i thought he was pretty good-looking at the time.  That was the era of the fierce Guiding Light vs General Hospital battles, and I was Guiding Light all the way!

[roctavia]

1 hour ago, LuvMyShows said:

I wish I could agree, but I still see absolutely no chemistry between Taylor and Stephen.  Since I haven't seen either of them in anything else, I don't know if it's her, him, or them together that is lacking.  This movie just seemed to drag along, without anything in particular of interest.  I wonder if I must have dozed off at one point, because at the very end, she asks him what her favorite ice cream is, and he says vanilla.  That must have been in reference to something, but I have no idea what.

The ice cream thing was because the ex didn't know what her favorite flavor was and tried to order her strawberry when they met up "for a quick bite".   So I guess that was their way to show us that Jake is better than doctor ex. 

This one was fine, it wasn't quite as obvious from the start who the killer was, so that was good. This series also makes a little more sense than some why Ruby is involved with solving crimes since she's an investigative reporter whatever...  Its better than some of the random jobs the female leads usually have, yet constantly stumble on to murders. 

I don't mind the pairing, but I think they are going to slowly with this particular couple and that's part of why they have so little chemistry... their dialogue, especially early in the movie was really weird and stilted, like not the way normal people talk to each other... especially not people who may be headed down the path to a relationship. 

I liked that they showed Jake being interested- like he had to sit down when she invited him to the reunion as his date and he got her a corsage... but it was so weird to have Ruby even considering wanting to get back together with her ex, they broke up for a reason...

[Irlandesa]

25 minutes ago, MerBearHou said:

Couldn’t agree more with the lack of chemistry between Taylor and Steven.  I like her very, very much but not with Steven in a potential romance.  Sometimes it seems like he is barely going through the motions.  And I am not a fan of the guy playing her dad — wow, he is a stiff, odd actor IMO.

They replaced the original actor who played her dad, Shawn Christian and it's a shame because they actually had really great romantic chemistry.  It's probably not what you want in a Hallmark mystery movie but at least it made things interesting.

This new movie is not great but it's decent background.  Better background than the first one. I think I skipped the second.

[rainsmom]

I enjoyed this one, personally. I guessed the killer when we first saw her in the gym, because she is too familiar to be used for a bit part. Once I guessed the killer, it was pretty easy to figure out the motive.

But, as I've said before, I don't watch these movies for the plotting. I watch them because they're fun and comfortable. I enjoyed all the characters -- and the plot in general. I don't love how they're writing/acting their burgeoning relationship, but it's pretty stereotypical of a police detective/amateur detective pairing, so I don't let it bug me too much.

[LuvMyShows]

16 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

They replaced the original actor who played her dad, Shawn Christian and it's a shame because they actually had really great romantic chemistry.  It's probably not what you want in a Hallmark mystery movie but at least it made things interesting.

This comment reminded me that when I first started watching one of the new series, I remember being confused about whether a male lead was the father or a love interest.  Maybe it was this one, and maybe I wasn't the only one confused by that!

[Kitty Redstone]

On 3/14/2020 at 12:10 PM, rainsmom said:

THRILLED to hear this! Filming will likely be postponed, but fingers crossed it is rescheduled. I think these were my favorite!

Same here.  I love the Emma Fielding series and all the characters.  Hopefully it will get back on track as soon as it's safe to do so.

[TVFan17]

Director Ron Oliver said (on the Deck the Hallmark podcast) that the 3rd Picture Perfect Mysteries installment (called Exit Stage Death) is now likely to air in August.  It was initially supposed to air in May.  Production on it should have wrapped up around March 10th or so, but everything has been shut down so I suppose the post-production work isn't getting done.  Ron Oliver said that Hallmark moved it to August.

So after the 2nd MatchMaker Mysteries movie airs later this month, then we've got the next Aurora Teagarden/Heist and Seek movie in May, and then Christmas movies, and then Picture Perfect Mysteries #3 in August.  

As always, these plans can and probably will change again!

 

As we know, even before a virus came along and shut down the world, Hallmark was already not filming a lot of movies anyway -- for any of their channels.  They had slowed way down on all productions after the debacle with pulling the Zola ad at the end of last year and then losing their CEO this year.  They still had not gotten a new CEO, but they were finally starting to pick up a little steam with the production activity... and then COVID-19 came along and threw everything off track. 

Last year was a good year for Hallmark viewers because there was lots of new content on both the Hallmark Channel and the Hallmark Movies and Mysteries Channel.  This year is quite a different story.  Then again, there's not going to be a lot of new content on most channels in the near future.  It's going to take a while for everyone to get caught up on their various productions when things finally get back to some semblance of normalcy.

Edited April 9, 2020 by TVFan17

[GaT]

6 hours ago, TVFan17 said:

So after the 2nd MatchMaker Mysteries movie airs later this month, then we've got the next Aurora Teagarden/Heist and Seek movie in May, and then Christmas movies, and then Picture Perfect Mysteries #3 in August.  

Why are there going to be Christmas movies in June/July?

Edited April 10, 2020 by GaT

[TVFan17]

2 hours ago, GaT said:

Why are there going to be Christmas movies in June/July?

That's what they do every year.  The summer event on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries is called Gold Crown Christmas, and the one on the Hallmark Channel is called Christmas Keepsake. 

They usually start the Gold Crown Christmas marathon at the end of June on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, and then start Christmas Keepsake a week or two later on the Hallmark Channel.  But this time around, since they don't have any new content ready to air in June or July, I wouldn't be shocked if they started the Christmas movies on HMM a bit earlier in June.  That schedule is a bit too far away for them to make any announcements about it yet, but it is something they do every year.

Edited April 10, 2020 by TVFan17

[rainsmom]

7 hours ago, GaT said:

Why are there going to be Christmas movies in June/July?

There always are. I HATE it. I love this channel, but there are MONTHS every year where they destroy the content and send me elsewhere. Bah humbug! They need to make an effing Christmas channel and stop violating this one with their wholesomeness.

[Irlandesa]

With the lack of production, Christmas movies will be all they have they feel will reliably perform in repeats for the rest of the year.

It is so tired. I can barely tolerate all the months in December, I don't think  I can...

oooh, Crown for Christmas is on now.  (Temporarily putting my vent on hold to watch.)

Edited April 10, 2020 by Irlandesa

[Coffeewinewater]

I'm finally getting around to watching Ruby Herring Mysteries 3rd episode.  I think I missed the second episode and only half paid attention to the first episode.  I'm so glad they replaced her dad from the first episode.  They looked the same age, I thought he was her love interest,  lol as I said I wasn't paying  close attention. 

I want to enjoy this series.  I like the idea of a crime reporter.  

[TVFan17]

55 minutes ago, Coffeewinewater said:

I'm finally getting around to watching Ruby Herring Mysteries 3rd episode.  I think I missed the second episode and only half paid attention to the first episode.  I'm so glad they replaced her dad from the first episode.  They looked the same age, I thought he was her love interest,  lol as I said I wasn't paying  close attention. 

I want to enjoy this series.  I like the idea of a crime reporter.  

Shawn Christian looks younger than he is, and it really threw people off.  I think he and Taylor Cole probably thought it would be fun to work together since they are family in real life.  But I don't think they considered that just because they are stepfather-stepdaughter in real life, it is not going to necessarily translate well on camera.  The average viewer was not going to know right off the bat that they were actually family, playing family.  Instead, viewers just wondered why this young-ish guy was playing her dad.  lol  

I suppose the hair and make-up people could have made Shawn look a bit older, though, and possibly changed the hair color.  Maybe that would have helped a bit.  Or.... I wonder if viewers would have had a better time accepting Shawn's character being related to Ruby Herring if he had maybe played her uncle instead of her dad?

In any case, I suspect that's the reason Shawn was replaced with the guy from Dawson's Creek.  Hallmark probably realized that Ruby's dad was miscast after they saw all of the negative feedback, but they didn't want to abandon the series, and they couldn't suddenly put Shawn in a different role and pretend he had never played her dad, so they got someone else in there and hoped the change would be well-received.

Edited April 10, 2020 by TVFan17

[Coffeewinewater]

3 hours ago, TVFan17 said:

Shawn Christian looks younger than he is, and it really threw people off.  I think he and Taylor Cole probably thought it would be fun to work together since they are family in real life.  But I don't think they considered that just because they are stepfather-stepdaughter in real life, it is not going to necessarily translate well on camera.  The average viewer was not going to know right off the bat that they were actually family, playing family.  Instead, viewers just wondered why this young-ish guy was playing her dad.  lol  

I suppose the hair and make-up people could have made Shawn look a bit older, though, and possibly changed the hair color.  Maybe that would have helped a bit.  Or.... I wonder if viewers would have had a better time accepting Shawn's character being related to Ruby Herring if he had maybe played her uncle instead of her dad?

In any case, I suspect that's the reason Shawn was replaced with the guy from Dawson's Creek.  Hallmark probably realized that Ruby's dad was miscast after they saw all of the negative feedback, but they didn't want to abandon the series, and they couldn't suddenly put Shawn in a different role and pretend he had never played her dad, so they got someone else in there and hoped the change would be well-received.

Thank you for the info, very interesting. 

I remember Shawn Christian from way back in the  "As The World" days.

[MerBearHou]

Kristoffer Polaha has long been my favorite guy on Hallmark Movies and Mysteries (by quite a long shot).  I follow him on Instagram and tonight I got a notification that he was doing a live video.  I didn’t have anything going on so thought “why not?”  I thought it would just be a fun video with Kris — he has such a cute personality.  Turns out it was Kris sharing a story of a near-death experience in NYC when he was in his 20s and then a Easter mini-sermon that he shared.  It was AMAZING.  Just from his heart in the living room with his wife filming — really something special.

Edited April 11, 2020 by MerBearHou

[Kitty Redstone]

On 4/10/2020 at 6:36 AM, rainsmom said:

There always are. I HATE it. I love this channel, but there are MONTHS every year where they destroy the content and send me elsewhere. Bah humbug! They need to make an effing Christmas channel and stop violating this one with their wholesomeness.

Agreed!  Or at least keep the 24/7 Christmas movies to the regular Hallmark channels.  I really hope when things return to some semblance of normal that HMM recommits to making lots of new mystery movies.  I love almost all of them.  Still need to catch the newest Ruby so hopefully they will re-air it again next week or weekend.

[TVFan17]

On 4/10/2020 at 5:18 PM, MerBearHou said:

Kristoffer Polaha has long been my favorite guy on Hallmark Movies and Mysteries (by quite a long shot).  I follow him on Instagram and tonight I got a notification that he was doing a live video.  I didn’t have anything going on so thought “why not?”  I thought it would just be a fun video with Kris — he has such a cute personality.  Turns out it was Kris sharing a story of a near-death experience in NYC when he was in his 20s and then a Easter mini-sermon that he shared.  It was AMAZING.  Just from his heart in the living room with his wife filming — really something special.

I saw that he was doing that live Instagram chat, and I tuned in for about 2 seconds and then it started to buffer and freeze up for me (as it does almost anytime I try to watch a live Instagram chat from anyone).  So I tuned out and didn't get to hear what he was talking about.  I love Kristoffer, though!  He is always interesting to watch and listen to.   Plus, for all intents and purposes, from what I can tell, he seems to be an all-around good guy.

[MerBearHou]

2 hours ago, TVFan17 said:

I saw that he was doing that live Instagram chat, and I tuned in for about 2 seconds and then it started to buffer and freeze up for me (as it does almost anytime I try to watch a live Instagram chat from anyone).  So I tuned out and didn't get to hear what he was talking about.  I love Kristoffer, though!  He is always interesting to watch and listen to.   Plus, for all intents and purposes, from what I can tell, he seems to be an all-around good guy.

I’m so sorry that happened to you!  I saw in the comments that the freeze was happening to other people too — darn!  Agreed — he just seems to be a really good fellow IRL.

[LuvMyShows]

A Fatal Romance was not bad.  Danica still makes weird facial expressions but she didn't sound as wooden.  She and the new publisher guy have way more chemistry than with the detective.

I missed a few things in the episode:

- After Angie tried to get the hotel clerk to let her into the room that Beatrice had been in, how did she get a maid's cart/outfit and the key to the room?

- What did Angie see in the hotel room that caused her to remove something (the air control panel?) and find the cufflink?

[roctavia]

1 hour ago, LuvMyShows said:

A Fatal Romance was not bad.  Danica still makes weird facial expressions but she didn't sound as wooden.  She and the new publisher guy have way more chemistry than with the detective.

I missed a few things in the episode:

- After Angie tried to get the hotel clerk to let her into the room that Beatrice had been in, how did she get a maid's cart/outfit and the key to the room?

- What did Angie see in the hotel room that caused her to remove something (the air control panel?) and find the cufflink?

I do think it was better than the first one, but still some stuff is a little ridiculous (like always in these movies) I wish, if they have to have a romantic pairing in these movies, that they would move it along just a little faster... like I don't need them to fall in love immediately, but this type of setting means they can build a more meaningful relationship, but some still seem to go from those longing looks but nobody can say anything or actually ask someone on a date to they are suddenly together (or they don't get any more movies and it never happens 😛 )  But that's a minor nitpick with a lot of the mysteries. 

We don't have an explanation for how she got the maid's cart, just that she eyeballed a maid and then poof was dressed like one. 

I think she saw a reflection from the metal cuff link when she was shining her light around that made her look closer in the air conditioner.

 

The mystery was pretty good here, lots of red herrings. I'm glad it wasn't the sister... though I kind of didn't want it to be the other author, since he was so cute with his wife and his "car trouble" awkwardness seemed too obvious.... 

I'd still watch another if they make more of this series...

[MerBearHou]

I actually enjoyed tonight’s Matchmaker Mystery and truthfully I just overlook the total lack of chemistry between Danica and Victor.  They are so not a match and I wish they’d just be detective/meddling matchmaker friends and go solve crimes.  But the story was fun to follow and I like a mystery.  Is Bruce Boxleitner making a mini-career out of being the dad on Hallmark movies now?  I was bummed who the killer was because I thought he and his wife seemed genuinely tight and I really liked his wife.

[GaT]

Was this Matchmaker Mystery new? It got recorded like it was, but I thought that the first two movies were already on. Also, it was on a Saturday, not a Sunday as usual. I watched it, but it didn't seem familiar at all.

[roctavia]

11 hours ago, GaT said:

Was this Matchmaker Mystery new? It got recorded like it was, but I thought that the first two movies were already on. Also, it was on a Saturday, not a Sunday as usual. I watched it, but it didn't seem familiar at all.

It was new, but they aired it on both Hallmark Channels on Saturday first for some reason?  I guess trying to push it more on the regular channel too. 

[statsgirl]

The first time I saw Kristopher Polaha he was playing a cyclist on House and a real jerk. I never thought I would like him so much on these movies but he's got a style that I  would swoon for. The dialogue on the Mystery 101 movies reinforces this -- I loved that when Amy said that she could have handled the retired cop herself, he replied "Yeah, I know but I wanted to do it.:

On 4/5/2020 at 11:32 PM, LuvMyShows said:

I wish I could agree, but I still see absolutely no chemistry between Taylor and Stephen.  Since I haven't seen either of them in anything else, I don't know if it's her, him, or them together that is lacking.

I've seen Stephen Huszar in other movies and he has moments of being fairly dreamy. But i have a problem with the Ruby Herring mysteries in general because I find her too much of a Mary Sue.

[MerBearHou]

The “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” movie series is showing today on HMM.  How have I never, ever heard of this?  Looks like they’ve made about 8 of these SSD movies.  It’s kind of entertaining on a quiet Saturday.  Nice to stumble across a unique premise on HMM.

[GaT]

6 hours ago, MerBearHou said:

The “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” movie series is showing today on HMM.  How have I never, ever heard of this?  Looks like they’ve made about 8 of these SSD movies.  It’s kind of entertaining on a quiet Saturday.  Nice to stumble across a unique premise on HMM.

They also made a series, but it didn't last long. I really miss these movies/show

[catrice2]

Oh my lord I just saw John Wesley Shipp on this mystery and I guess I have not seen him in a while because I was shocked at his appearance. 

[MerBearHou]

14 minutes ago, catrice2 said:

Oh my lord I just saw John Wesley Shipp on this mystery and I guess I have not seen him in a while because I was shocked at his appearance. 

I wasn’t that familiar with him — maybe Dawsons Creek was the last time I saw him?  His looks are jarring / unappealing to me.  

[Irlandesa]

I liked this one but there were things I hated.   I hate the trope of a person wanting to tell another character something but constantly getting interrupted.  

And the person who did it was pretty obvious.

I never trust the character

Spoiler

who talks about a spouse who doesn't appear. 

 

[freddi]

2 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

I liked this one but there were things I hated.   I hate the trope of a person wanting to tell another character something but constantly getting interrupted.  

And the person who did it was pretty obvious.

I never trust the character

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who talks about a spouse who doesn't appear. 

 

If this is about the Aurora Teagarden new release, I agree -- but glad that arc of plot finally got its questions asked and answered!  I am a recent watcher of the Hallmark mysteries (some series, not all yet), and they are easy on the mind, which seems to suit me right now!   

Also enjoying the Mystery 101 with Jill Wagner, and hope there will be more of those down the road.  Her short video with her impending baby was very cute, and she looks great with barely any makeup!  

[MerBearHou]

On 5/9/2020 at 11:00 PM, GaT said:

They also made a series, but it didn't last long. I really miss these movies/show

So I have now watched all of the Signed, Sealed, Delivered episodes / movies in order.  Laughed, cried, loved the lost letter stories, loved the unique, endearing characters and their journeys together, cheered for the love stories.  I’ll always remember SSD as a real treasure I stumbled upon in Quarantine.  One of my favorites of all time. 

[catrice2]

I am trying to watch the latest Aurora Teagarden and realized I've missed several.  What happened to Harvey? I think the name is wrong, but he was the weird younger guy that used to be in the Real Murders club.  I thought they brought the writer back as her love interest after Martin left?  What happened to the older black man that was in the club? 

[AAEBoiler]

9 hours ago, catrice2 said:

I am trying to watch the latest Aurora Teagarden ...

Wait, there was a new one released? Did I miss something?

[ctlady]

Just discovered these Hallmark 'mystery' movies.  Well...actually, I knew they existed as I'm a fan of When Calls The Heart, Good Witch and Chesapeake Shores and see all the ads, but when all my fall shows were done, I began scouring On Demand Free Movies and found a bunch of these.  Watched an old Aurora Teagarden (A Bone To Pick), then the Mystery Woman movies (with Kelli Martin) and just began the Morning Show mystery with Holly Robinson-Peete last night.  Looking forward to the Martha's Vineyard ones with Jesse Metcalf (sad to see CS not returning - at least this year - per IMDB)

As with all Hallmark movies, the acting is super-cheesy-smarmy and the plots are very hijinks-y.  Not to mention that these leads who have jobs/businesses to run have time to run around town trying to solve murders.  I'm particularly baffled by the Mystery Woman ones.  I mean, she's barely running her bookstore (I guess that's where Philby comes in) and am really surprised how much the local police lets her get involved.  But.....this isn't exactly CSI, so......

[mikeb]

14 hours ago, catrice2 said:

I am trying to watch the latest Aurora Teagarden and realized I've missed several.  What happened to Harvey? I think the name is wrong, but he was the weird younger guy that used to be in the Real Murders club.  I thought they brought the writer back as her love interest after Martin left?  What happened to the older black man that was in the club? 

The original weird younger guy was Perry Dell, who was replaced for 2 or 3 movies by his cousin Jason Dell, who was a more bland version - I seem to recall in the first one there was a reference to him being 'out of town'.  Have not heard mention of why either are gone now - they have been essentially been replaced by Aurora's cousin Phillip.

The writer only came back for one episode - the last one Martin was in and then disappeared again with no explanation.  Then they introduced the current professor love interest.

The older black man LeMaster disappeared with no explanation around same time they wrote out John, who was  her mother's love interest.  At least John got an explanation - he moved away after realizing her mother would never marry him.  There is a woman Terry, who was the mayor until last movie, and a new club member Davis who seem to be filling their roles in helping with investigating.

As far as newest movie goes, they really portrayed Lynn and Arthur as incompetent in how they allowed the theft to begin with and how they handled two of the suspects.

ETA:  Found a chart in this wikipedia article that shows which movies each character has appeared in:

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

 

Edited May 20, 2020 by mikeb
Added link to table

[Irlandesa]

On 5/9/2020 at 4:20 PM, MerBearHou said:

The “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” movie series is showing today on HMM.  How have I never, ever heard of this?  Looks like they’ve made about 8 of these SSD movies.  It’s kind of entertaining on a quiet Saturday.  Nice to stumble across a unique premise on HMM.

I meant to reply to this earlier but I forgot.  Signed, Sealed, Delivered was/is one the more reliably entertaining franchises, IMO. It's also one of their longest running mystery franchises but mystery in a less bloody way.  I'm a little jealous you could discover it just now.

It also has the unique honor, or will have the unique honor, of being the only franchise to have new movies debut on Hallmark, Hallmark Movies and Mysteries and soon Hallmark Drama if they ever get back to filming. 

It and the Garage Sale Mystery both debuted on Hallmark in 2013 as movies.  SSD became a series on Hallmark the next year before being turned back to a movie series and airing on the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries rebrand from Hallmark in the fall of 2014.