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1. You really can just pick one at random.
2. Pick some.
3. Sling TV has a bunch of them (not all) available on-demand.
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Hallmark Channel's Countdown To Christmas |OT| - Assembly Line Holiday Cheer
- Thread starter DrForester
- Start date
1. You really can just pick one at random.
2. Pick some.
3. Sling TV has a bunch of them (not all) available on-demand.
1. You really can just pick one at random.
2. Pick some.
3. Sling TV has a bunch of them (not all) available on-demand.
"Child star from the 90s" is understated. It seems like if you were a child/teen star back in the day and you either didn't strike it BIG or fade away to a life of drugs and controversy, Hallmark's SUPER welcoming to bringing them aboard for their original movies. Hell, even Melissa Gilbert and a few of the former "Brady kids" have made appearances in their movies. I've been noticing a lot more TGIF kids, former Disney kids and late 90s-early 00s teen movie stars appearing in a lot of these Hallmark movies.
There are a few missing from that bingo that I've noticed in my years of watching these sorts of movies (yeah, I'm a sucker!):
1. Some sort of Holiday Themed competition event: Either is a competition to win the local winter festival's annual ice sculpting competition, the local Christmas cooking baking competition, the local gingerbread house building competition, the local neighborhood decoration competition... Hell, I don't remember but there could've been a snowman building competition in there somewhere.
2. Showboating kids: Some instances where the kids of one of the main characters has a talent, almost always singing, and they hit you on the head with it. This always results in the kids performing at the local Christmas pageant on stage as everybody in the audiences is, like, TOTALLY into it and holiday cheer is ramped up to 100%.
3. Magical angels interfere with someone's holiday sorrow to bring cheer: Self-explanatory. Angels, be them Christmas angels or guardian angels, focus on some poor soul to make them happy. I've noted, there's a few where the angel falls in love with the person and gives up their angelic powers to become human. In mostly all cases, they angels take human form to befriend the main character and help steer their lives in a more positive direction, or help them right a wrong in their community. No doubt inspired by the angelic interference in "It's a Wonderful Life".
4. Magical Christmas item: An ornament, a stocking, some sorta Christmas knick-knack has powers to grant wishes, bring two lovers together and change lives.
And I've been seeing these ones more recently:
5. Dogs and Cats bringing people together over the holidays: Animals bringing Christmas cheer to their masters, helping them find lovers and such.
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This one's a Twilight Zone episode...
DJ is a successful medical student, trying to get a big fellowship in Boston, but she's only able top get one in a tiny Alaska town. The town is hiding a secret, that involves the love interests father (a fat man with a white beard who runs a shipping company that get's busy at Christmas). The town plots and schemes to take her there, right down to Santa having a timely heart attack as she's on her way out of town. Turns out it's Santa's village AND SHE CAN NEVER LEAVE!!!!!!
That reminds me of another story theme: Santa Claus is REAL, his North Pole workshop, flying reindeer and elves are also REAL, and Santa has kids that go off into the world of the "mortals" and falls in love with someone.
This one's a Twilight Zone episode...
DJ is a successful medical student, trying to get a big fellowship in Boston, but she's only able top get one in a tiny Alaska town. The town is hiding a secret, that involves the love interests father (a fat man with a white beard who runs a shipping company that get's busy at Christmas). The town plots and schemes to take her there, right down to Santa having a timely heart attack as she's on her way out of town. Turns out it's Santa's village AND SHE CAN NEVER LEAVE!!!!!!
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Only thing I will remember about this film is the sudden appearance of Michael Hogan. Stared at him for a minute before realizing it was Colonel Tigh.
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Aww man, I think LeAnn Rimes is going to drop a new world exclusive Christmas single during the tree lighting ceremony.
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Those are edible?
Also, lol at the people in this movie sitting outside in 30 degree weather and watching a movie.
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I didn't know we had a thread for the most hellish season of the year.
That's a good way to get alcohol poisoning.Saw this on twitter.
No, this is very serious business.
On the topic of tonight's movie, LeAnn Rimes's new songs weren't rootin' tootin' enough. It was bullshit. The phony antagonism between the two main characters was a little worse than usual too. Hopefully the next 20 movies are better.
Oh this is goodSaw this on twitter.
Especially hey that actor
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Tom Skeritt will always be "that creepy guy from Contact" to me.
Tom Skerritt is a great man who helps Maverick navigate the trials and tribulations of adolescence to become a mature US Naval Avaitor who prevents WWIII by applying the lessons he learned under Skerritt's tutelage.
Tom Skeritt is a leader.
Tom Skerritt is a patriot.
Tom Skerritt is Viper.
This fall on CBS
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The Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Battlestar Galactica crossover we all wanted!
Six is a single mother, and her boyfriend, Riley, is being deployed around Christmas
I swear Hallmark must spend their entire year prepping these Christmas movies. I thought they would stop, but there are new ones every year!
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I would love for Hallmark to pick one of their Christmas movies to just have the bad ending. No love, store shut down, etc.
Because most of the people watching this stuff unironically are conservative white folk.
Again I ask, where is my Steve Lund x Ryan Paevey cheesy gay holiday romance movie?!?
Studly Steve Lund is a big shot NY lawyer who has to move back home to Vermont to help save his family's woodworking business. His spitfire of a mother and wacky father have hearts of gold, but can barely make ends meets anymore because a big boxstore has opened just 10 minutes away in "insert large city here". The family's only employee is Ryan Paevey, a charming but unorthodox hunk who can fashion anything out of wood but works at his own pace. Can Ryan melt Steve's cold heart, hardened by life in the big city, and can Steve help Ryan and his parents save the family business just in time for the holiday rush??? And what's this secret project Ryan is working on? (Spoiler: IT'S SANTA'S FUCKING SLEIGH!)
You're welcome Hallmark.
Studly Steve Lund is a big shot NY lawyer who has to move back home to Vermont to help save his family's woodworking business. His spitfire of a mother and wacky father have hearts of gold, but can barely make ends meets anymore because a big boxstore has opened just 10 minutes away in "insert large city here". The family's only employee is Ryan Paevey, a charming but unorthodox hunk who can fashion anything out of wood but works at his own pace. Can Ryan melt Steve's cold heart, hardened by life in the big city, and can Steve help Ryan and his parents save the family business just in time for the holiday rush??? And what's this secret project Ryan is working on? (Spoiler: IT'S SANTA'S FUCKING SLEIGH!)
You're welcome Hallmark.
1. You really can just pick one at random.
2. Pick some.
3. Sling TV has a bunch of them (not all) available on-demand.
The bingo chart is missing 'Lacey Chabert is in this one'.
Watching Snow Bride and it is pretty good.
Katrina Law is great and the male lead is decent, Andrew from Buffy/Angel is here, there is a dog reaction shot, and most importantly it feels like it was actually thought out and, you know, written.
Having now finished this I will proudly proclaim this is the best Hallmark Channel X-Mas movie I have ever seen. I can't stress enough that this one feels like it was made by actual people, that they wrote it, presumably read over what they wrote, and then presumably gave it another draft. It is still a cheesy Hallmark movie but the things coming out of people's mouths sound like something someone would actually say(the strong cast also helps), the events unfold and make sense, and the "villain" of the piece, the wonderfully named Klaire Sinclaire, is too great. The mandated happy ending strains things a bit but all in all it works the way a piece of fiction should.
And now...
Notes on all the halves up there:
*
Katrina Law is great and the male lead is decent, Andrew from Buffy/Angel is here, there is a dog reaction shot, and most importantly it feels like it was actually thought out and, you know, written.
Having now finished this I will proudly proclaim this is the best Hallmark Channel X-Mas movie I have ever seen. I can't stress enough that this one feels like it was made by actual people, that they wrote it, presumably read over what they wrote, and then presumably gave it another draft. It is still a cheesy Hallmark movie but the things coming out of people's mouths sound like something someone would actually say(the strong cast also helps), the events unfold and make sense, and the "villain" of the piece, the wonderfully named Klaire Sinclaire, is too great. The mandated happy ending strains things a bit but all in all it works the way a piece of fiction should.
And now...
Notes on all the halves up there:
- Big city corporate-type visits charming small town: Surprisingly there isn't much of a small town element here but our heroine is a tabloid reporter from LA.
- Stranded because of snow: The levels of subterfuge in this particular story run deep. Our heroine's car does break down in the snow but it happens at the place she intends to be anyway and uses it in a ploy to stick around.
- Ethnically diverse best friend: We get two friend characters, one as white as white can be and the other an asian-american actress. But more shockingly, Katrina Law herself is ethnically diverse but I guess her beauty and fairly light complexion fooled the bigwigs at Hallmark.
- Obnoxious rich girl/boyfriend: Klaire Sinclaire is a marvel of a character but I'm not sure how well she fits into this particular category due to some plot related stuff.*
- Tacky Christmas decorations on every surface: They were there but it didn't feel as oppressive as usual.
- Royal family: The family in question are a Kennedy-esque political dynasty.
- Stunt double used for ice skating/sledding: No skating or sledding but we do get a tumble down a snowy hill in a wedding dress.
*
Klaire Sinclaire ends up being some type of political fame whore, prior to the beginning of the story she was dating the male lead but they broke up, she shows up during the story having now started to date the male lead's brother(while still gunning for male lead), and we learn towards the end that Klaire Sinclaire had also propositioned the father of this family. No joke, the word "propositioned" is used in this Hallmark movie, with the mother explaining that Klaire tried to fuck her husband in the past. Burst out laughing at that one.
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I'm so proud of this thread.
I feel like there is voodoo magic with these movies. My wife can't stand them, I still somehow always stop and watch one or two of them.
I watched one last week, fairly sure it had Roger Moore in it, and an actress from Supergirl, honestly it was not the worst one of those I have watched.
I'm so glad I'm not the one the only who is fascinated by this every year. (And in July too)
I feel like there is voodoo magic with these movies. My wife can't stand them, I still somehow always stop and watch one or two of them.
I watched one last week, fairly sure it had Roger Moore in it, and an actress from Supergirl, honestly it was not the worst one of those I have watched.
I'm so glad I'm not the one the only who is fascinated by this every year. (And in July too)
Oh man, my wife and I usually spend our Christmases in the mountains with nothing to do but eat, drink and watch TV and these are EVERYWHERE on French TV. Definitely a tradition here.
An OT for this, really? Wow. These are so bad and all the same. Two single people find each other by Christmas and then they understand what love truly is. Or the single person who is all business and no play finally understands what Christmas is really about and just like that, a partner falls into his/her lap. I've seen at least 2 or 3 like this and never finished any of them. I only know this because these replaced I Love Lucy for the holidays and I used to watch that show before work every morning.
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Watching Snow Bride and it is pretty good.
Katrina Law is great and the male lead is decent, Andrew from Buffy/Angel is here, there is a dog reaction shot, and most importantly it feels like it was actually thought out and, you know, written.
Having now finished this I will proudly proclaim this is the best Hallmark Channel X-Mas movie I have ever seen. I can't stress enough that this one feels like it was made by actual people, that they wrote it, presumably read over what they wrote, and then presumably gave it another draft. It is still a cheesy Hallmark movie but the things coming out of people's mouths sound like something someone would actually say(the strong cast also helps), the events unfold and make sense, and the "villain" of the piece, the wonderfully named Klaire Sinclaire, is too great. The mandated happy ending strains things a bit but all in all it works the way a piece of fiction should.
And now...
Notes on all the halves up there:
- Big city corporate-type visits charming small town: Surprisingly there isn't much of a small town element here but our heroine is a tabloid reporter from LA.
- Stranded because of snow: The levels of subterfuge in this particular story run deep. Our heroine's car does break down in the snow but it happens at the place she intends to be anyway and uses it in a ploy to stick around.
- Ethnically diverse best friend: We get two friend characters, one as white as white can be and the other an asian-american actress. But more shockingly, Katrina Law herself is ethnically diverse but I guess her beauty and fairly light complexion fooled the bigwigs at Hallmark.
- Obnoxious rich girl/boyfriend: Klaire Sinclaire is a marvel of a character but I'm not sure how well she fits into this particular category due to some plot related stuff.*
- Tacky Christmas decorations on every surface: They were there but it didn't feel as oppressive as usual.
- Royal family: The family in question are a Kennedy-esque political dynasty.
- Stunt double used for ice skating/sledding: No skating or sledding but we do get a tumble down a snowy hill in a wedding dress.
*Klaire Sinclaire ends up being some type of political fame whore, prior to the beginning of the story she was dating the male lead but they broke up, she shows up during the story having now started to date the male lead's brother(while still gunning for male lead), and we learn towards the end that Klaire Sinclaire had also propositioned the father of this family. No joke, the word "propositioned" is used in this Hallmark movie, with the mother explaining that Klaire tried to fuck her husband in the past. Burst out laughing at that one.
This one had legit drama, and wasn't terrible.
Also, mom from Home Improvement.
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These films often have very little to no religious angle in them. There might be a church or a priest, but usually in a "people gettin' married!" way.
My wife lives for this time of year.. just for the Hallmark channel. I couldn't believe they started Christmas movies.. BEFORE HALLOWEEN! Ugh.
Anyway.. the worst (absolute worst) part of this all isn't that she has them on our TV basically 24/7, but that she doesn't even WATCH THEM. She just likes having it on in the background. Okay, fine. However.. I end up sitting there and watching the whole thing and by the end I can explain all the plot and characters and everything and she just smiles and nods and has no idea what it was about other than vaguely Christmas.
Outside of the new programming they're replaying all the other holiday movies they've made over the last... half decade? AND I KNOW THEM ALL TOO.
The movies are all.. just so mildly okay. None of them are bad, not nearly bad enough to be "enjoyably bad", and they're not engrossing enough to be considered good. Maybe my wife is right to just have them on in the background to keep things tepidly festive.
Anyway.. the worst (absolute worst) part of this all isn't that she has them on our TV basically 24/7, but that she doesn't even WATCH THEM. She just likes having it on in the background. Okay, fine. However.. I end up sitting there and watching the whole thing and by the end I can explain all the plot and characters and everything and she just smiles and nods and has no idea what it was about other than vaguely Christmas.
Outside of the new programming they're replaying all the other holiday movies they've made over the last... half decade? AND I KNOW THEM ALL TOO.
The movies are all.. just so mildly okay. None of them are bad, not nearly bad enough to be "enjoyably bad", and they're not engrossing enough to be considered good. Maybe my wife is right to just have them on in the background to keep things tepidly festive.
No chance people watch these movies unironically and without being on drugs or alchohol. No chance.
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Looks like they have another sequel this Sunday. "Christmas in Evergreen: Letters to Santa". Appears to be 2 different leads though, so maybe more a spinoff. .
