Field Day: Hallmark Film
Cable provides a variety of channels while often not reducing the "nothing is on" complaint that much.
There are multiple channels with old movies, Westerns, classical shows, sports, slightly weird programming on odd channels, and more.
We also have a lot of Hallmark Channel movies. There is even a new-ish channel (Great American Family), which these days seems to have a lot of Columbo mysteries on. Oh. I see it looks like the Christmas season is here. A few Hallmark actors have transferred over. The channel is a sort of lower-grade Hallmark with a few more "family values" comments.
The Christmas season (Canadian Thanksgiving did pass and many of these actors are Canadian after all) brings a lot of movies. A LOT. You will see days where there are films on five or more channels and I am not really even counting the multiple Hallmark channels separately (one channel has a lot of "cozy" style mysteries). You have Lifetime getting into the mix and whatever PAX is called these days. CBS even dropped a film a few times. CBS used to be the channel with "Hall of Fame" Hallmark films that are sort of elite dramatic efforts.
[ETA: Worried about the strike? 2023 is covered.]
All of these films have a certain comfort food quality to them. I have been watching them for a number of years now though I am not someone who is a fan fanatic. I know them enough that certain actors (not just former Full House cast members) are very familiar. The latest film that aired last night and will re-air later today has two of them in the main romantic storyline.
Rachel Boston has a very wholesome look. Her eyes are her most dominant feature. She can have “mom” vibes. She is actually from Tennessee. I have not really enjoyed her films too much from what I have seen of them. I wanted to include a picture but many of them don’t really do her justice. Here’s a classy one from Wikipedia:
Nonetheless, her two latest were good. They had an interesting serious twist to them that was handled well. The channel overall is trying, including bringing more gay and lesbian content, and some Jewish films.*
On that front, the graphic book The Jewish Deli is an enjoyable exploration though it does seem a lot of recipes are non-vegan, especially with the eggs in non-meat dishes. The book references one vegan deli in a list of locations. They should have tossed in a few more pages of vegan-friendly content. Dorf on Law comes to mind. Michael Dorf is vegan as was his wife Sherry Colb.]
Field Day concerns three moms from varying backgrounds (a widow with a web business, a lawyer mom, mom trying to become an influencer/more popular girl vibes) who come together to plan a school event.
Each has their own issues but the main focus is on Rachel Boston's character trying to move on from her husband's death [recommend: The Color of Rain, made into a Hallmark Channel film ... the first half is fairly true to the book, then it feels compelled for some stock complication business].
The film covers some serious ground and does so respectfully. Boston's last Hallmark film was even more interesting. The More Love Grows concerns a mom whose daughter goes off to college [and struggles to adapt, in a subplot] and is blindsided when her husband says he wants a separation. She has to handle being on her own and there is a cute dog subplot too [Guiding Emily, a Hallmark film about someone who goes blind, is also recommended ... again, I respect Hallmark for mixing in the series with the sugar].
These films have another good aspect that does not always occur -- overall good pacing. There are various things behind a good film, especially a two-hour Hallmark Channel film, including good supporting roles. Some good Hallmark Channel movies provide some subplot material that helps.
The basic plot is not really deep here though again the films I cited are (somewhat atypically) serious too. Different people have different tastes there. Still, a good pace is important. Also, there are standard devices, including some unfortunate complication. Some of the best ones really tone that down. But, you can handle that gently too.
So, don't judge me ... I like myself a good Hallmark Channel (or Up TV or ...) film now and then. And, not to play "Hey there's that person ..." I took Holiday Engagement out of the library, for instance, because "Mona" from Friends was in it. And, she wasn't even the only Friends guest star. The film turned out to be passable and I turned it off when the complication came. But, nice to see "Mona."
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Note: The traditional Hallmark Channel film has a white woman as the primary lead. The plot tends to take place in a small town. Divorce is not really a thing. She has a person of color friend/colleague/authority figure. It is not really religious though of course there is a ton of Christmas content. There are a lot of little kingdoms in Europe that you don't know about. And so on.
There are so many of these films that this is really just a median thing but I stick by it. The films again are working on that. Actually, Up TV (which is also more religious) was ahead of the game with people of color leads.
Anyway, now you have a film like The Secrets of Bella Vista (a farm) with the woman having a lesbian couple as friends as they even ask her to be the godmother of their child. An openly gay Hallmark actor even was able to be in a film where one of the two romances was same-sex.
And so on. Even the co-host of Gay USA who loves to watch television (including reality programming) joked about the number of gay people. A gay character is almost as required now as a person of color!
I kid a bit. Hallmark still is not too big on city life though I'm sure those more into these things than me can cite a few examples there too.