[alpacaboy]

They are a game to me like bingo. Now, after the first 5 or 10 minutes, I can pretty much call most of them - the 1:45 conflict and the resolve. I think I've almost cracked the formula. It's great though when they surprise me.

Hmm... an artist reluctant to show their work... and the other is in charge of a marketing campaign... I wonder if the artist's work will be used to save the day?
She starts the movie with a boyfriend or maybe a fiance... hmm... what's his shelf life going to be? He seems a little controlling... oh! he's a real estate developer - kiss of death! Take a drink if the starting boyfriend tries to sell the lead woman's business without her consent.

70 movies surveyed(so far), mostly produced by Hallmark, and a lot from Lifetime...
- Most Hallmark movies pass the Bectel Test, and many pass the reverse. But I'm pretty generous - sometimes, it comes down to one 2-line conversation. But since they're mostly RomComs or RomDrams, most of the scene pairings tend to be male-female, and the same-sex scenes tend to be about the potential romantic partner.
- 18 involve magic, 7 involve fate/destiny/coincidence
- 8 star Lacey Chabert, 5 Alicia Witt, 3 Danica McKellar, and 3 feature Cynthia Gibb
- 16 have, or imply Santa, 4 have Mrs. Clause
- 7 have a lead character named Holly, and 1 has a secondary named Holly
- 8 involve a conflict with real estate sales or development. Consistently, real estate developers tend to be evil.
- 16 one or both leads are writers/journalists/bloggers. I guess "write what you know," right?
- 11 plots involve celebrities or royalty
- 10 involve marketing or advertising
- 5 involve a chef or cook
- 4 involve designing or manufacturing clothing
- 4 involve lawyers

and I haven't been tracking concealed identity, but i gotta say: lots of those!

 

[alpacaboy]

You left out Candace Cameron Bure (her fans call her "CCB"), who's done at least 12 movies. (I'm not sure, though, if that number includes the Aurora Teagarden Mysteries.)

I haven't seen the CCB movies. But yeah, I see she's advertised in a lot.

Like I know Cynthia Gibb has been in more like 8, but I haven't been able to access all of them.

 

[alpacaboy]

Taylor Cole, Erin Krakow, Lori Loughlin and Brooke D'orsay are in quite a few too.

I only saw 2 Lori Loughlin Christmas movies: "Every Christmas Has a Story"(liked it) and "Northpole: Open For Christmas"(thought it was just okay).

I thought that was it. Are there any others you'd recommend?

 

[alpacaboy]

Tonight featured Meadow Soprano herself (in a repeat from prior years). That was in the "repeat" slot, not the original/premiere slot.

Was that "The Christmas Note"? I like that one.

 

[alpacaboy]

I thought this was really mediocre even for a Hallmark movie. And IMO Maggi Lawson was terrible.

I agree. This was one of the movies that I let play in the background while doing other things.

I too was disappointed. I really wanted to like it because I adored Maggie Lawson on Psych.
It ticked the boxes for passing Bectel, passing reverse Bectel, had a conflict involving real estate(though secondary), and a celebrity.
I think I sort of called some but not all of the conflict/resolution early.

Spoiler: plot spoilers

Knew "is he involved with Samantha?" would be one.
I thought maybe the Chicago job would be a bigger issue.
Didn't anticipate the real estate one, didn't guess the resolution.(though I should have)

I thought, "I think it will involve <plot point>, but how are they going to make it interesting?" and as it turns out, they didn't.

 

[alpacaboy]

After watching more than 80 Christmas movies (57 of them Hallmark), I have to say: that SNL Hallmark trailer - IT'S ALL TRUE!

 

[alpacaboy]

So anyone else continuing to watch the Hallmark movies post-Christmas?
(Royal New Years Eve, Love on the Slopes, ...)

I kinda liked Royal, but didn't really like Slopes.
Both were standard formula. Both got an extra point because I liked the lead actress.

 

[alpacaboy]

these hallmark mystery movies. But they seem to have watched them all.
Is there a good list of them and when the newer ones are coming?
Any other channels or suggestions for similar movies or even tv shows of past that might be worth watching!

Wow, "all" is pretty darned impressive - there's a ridiculous amount of them.

Good list on wikipedia:
List of Hallmark Channel Original Movies - Wikipedia
Differentiation is basically: Movies&Mysteries is where the mysteries are,
Hallmark Channel is formulaic romance, often season/holiday themed.

Of the mysteries, I think the only ones that I got hooked into were Garage Sale Mysteries, but that's because of a long time crush on Lori Loughlin. I think Hallmark has been running ads that there will be a few more of these coming in August.

 

[alpacaboy]

I like the Hallmarkies podcast. They acknowledge all the tropes, and sometimes even discuss them with the stars and writers.
They put together bingo cards for the Christmas movies:
BINGO

I kept meaning to do something like that, but they actually had the follow-through to do it!

 

[alpacaboy]

Interesting... I also have Spectrum(mine used to be Charter before the merge),
and for me, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries is completely non-functional.
Like I go to the station, it plays for about half a second, then freezes.
The cable tech said it was something on their end, and they'd put in a ticket.
Still not resolved.

 

[alpacaboy]

I thought naming the heroine Darcy Fitzwilliam was pretty clever. Luke Bennett was a bit more obvious, but why not Eli Bennett?

Beyond the names of the leads and the town, I didn't see the connections/homages to P&P story elements. Though admittedly, my knowledge of P&P is really just the Wikipedia plot summary.

 

[alpacaboy]

Lifetime gets name actors to be parental units - Bruce Boxleitner and Cheryl Ladd, John Schneider and Sharon Lawrence.

Haha... one of my favorite Hallmarks (Royal New Years Eve) has Cheryl Ladd as a (evil) parental unit.

 

[alpacaboy]

Re: Lifetime movies, I've only seen one this year - Christmas Harmony - and I liked it.
It was nice to see Kelley Jakle play one of the important ones.

"This isn't a Hallmark Christmas fairy tale."
- Harmony, in "Christmas Harmony"

 

[alpacaboy]

Yeah--where are the gay romances?

I know you're kidding, but it's a good question.

In "Road to Christmas", one of the brothers really has a gay vibe. On the Hallmarkies Podcast, they thought so too. At one point, he introduces "this is my partner. ... running the animal shelter." Seriously, watch it and see if you don't get the same interpretation. Though it wasn't the primary storyline.

 

[alpacaboy]

The most evil villains in Hallmark's world? Real estate developers.

They're not too fond of TV reporters, either.

Also, Queens who disapprove of the Prince's romantic interest in a _commoner_ - an American one at that!

In the last few months, I've also noticed a couple with themes of wanting better/steady working conditions (at least one of the Christmas movies where automation was the enemy, and a Winterfest one where their focus was having steady year-round work(but no clear villain)).

It still greatly entertains me when there is a sympathetic Real Estate Developer. Like if Boyfriend-1 is one, he'll be evil and sell out Lead-F. But if Lead-M is one, he'll save the day and find an obscure legal document that saves the day("Christmas at Holly Lodge", "Sharing Christmas"). In "Sharing Christmas", not only is Lead-M sympathetic, but the driving force is his boss(Cynthia Gibb) and _she's_ full of Christmas spirit. And then there's even a couple where Lead-F is the developer ("Love Struck Cafe", "Welcome to Christmas")!
Oh yes. I've thought about this way too much.

 

[alpacaboy]

I was looking for "Megan Markle" (sorry, yes, misspelled) on Wikipedia,
and it redirected me to the page, "Meghan, Duchess of Sussex". Yikes!
Not bad, briefcase #24...

imdb still has her listed as "Meghan Markle",
though the bio starts with "Meghan, Duchess of Sussex ..."

 

[alpacaboy]

(My preference would be to recast Loughlin's character, as long as they don't do it with Candace Cameron Bure. I'd suggest Brenda Lee Strong, who plays Lena and Lex Luthor's evil momma on Supergirl and played Bobby Ewing's new wife on the short-lived Dallas reboot. Apparently she's a regular on Netflix's 13 Reasons Why, but I'm guessing they've finished filming that series.)

I feel like replacing her would feel weird, even more so with Garage Sale Mysteries.
But if it was to happen, I was recently thinking in GSM, Nikki DeLoach has the right personality/energy.
Maybe also for WCtH if she loses the constant giggle(which, btw, usually works for me).
For both, also maybe Kellie Martin would work.
(Just thinking "aloud" - I know both Nikki and Kellie are a bit younger than Lori, and Kellie already has her own Mystery series...)

 

[alpacaboy]

They've been advertising "Bottled With Love" relentlessly all week, even more than usual. Somebody at Hallmark must be inordinately proud of this movie, even though it's not a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie.

Yeah, I've been wondering what's up with that. Like "Think of your favorite movie of all time. This is like that times a thousand! Like 'Citizen Kane' but in color, and it moves faster. Like 'The Godfather 1 and 2' but happy and without all the killy stuff. Modesty aside, this is the greatest film ever made. And fun fact: this is Andrew Walker's 377th Hallmark film!"

That being said, anyone see it? How was it?

 

[alpacaboy]

Oh, and Andrew Walker has done "more than 10" Hallmark movies, but nowhere near hundreds.

Yeah, yeah, a little exaggeration on my part.

But I think at current count, he has been in the most Hallmark rom-coms (I'm not counting mystery series), actually outnumbering Lacey Chabert by one or two.
(I actually like Andrew Walker. I just think it's funny - and impressive.)