Laura Osnes & Aaron Tveit sing 'Winter Wonderland' to promote their new Hallmark 'Holiday' movie on Oct. 31- Page 3

[KathyNYC2]

SmoothLover said: "Wayman_Wong said: "''As the season progresses the Holly & Ivy movie could very well have a showing or two on the regular Hallmark channel. Just pay attention to scheduling.''

It's possible. But I've already scrolled through the next 3 weeks of programming on the Hallmark Channel, and see no sign of ''Holly & Ivy'' so far.

Scrolling through those dozens ofChristmas films, it's also hard not to notice how snow-blindingly-white the casting is in Hallmark movies. I might've come across one movie that had an African-American lead couple (''Christmas Duet'' ) and another with a Latino couple (''Enchanted Christmas'' ). I've also read that an upcoming Hallmark movie will include a ''prominent LGBTQ storyline.''

Given how prolific this channel is, especially during the holidays, I'd love to see diversity become more of a hallmark of Hallmark movies."

I still think you might download the Hallmark Christmas movie ap. It is another alternative to watching the featured movies. You might look at your cable on demand features.

Hallmark has been very slow to diversity. Lifetime hasmoved a little quicker.

A Christmas Bow premiering this Sunday has a Korean female lead.


The first new 2020 Hallmark Christmas movie to be broadcasted this season was Deliver By Christmas and it was the first time Hallmark has had an interracial couple as the lead couple... white male (Eion Bailey) and black female (Alvina August ) . Their race was not even mentioned or acknowledged as part of the plot .

Eion posted a really interestimg piece at his Instagram account about it and how much it meant to him personally since his real life wife is black.I agree Hallmark (Lifetime has done better) has definitely been slow to diversity but it’s been making a conscious decision to do so and hopefully it will continue.

On another note, as questioned earlier, it’s believe that the Hallmark Channel and the Hallmark Movie & Mystery channel do NOT crossover with their movies.

I agree you can’t look too deeply into the depth and quality of Hallmark movies.  They are what they are. I did enjoy Laura,Aaron, and Victoria’s film because the leads were so charming and heartwarming.

 

[OlBlueEyes]

There was more conflict in Archie comics.

[Wayman_Wong]

Whatever you think of Hallmark and LIfetime's holiday movies, they supply plenty of work and a welcome paycheck for their actors. What's more, these channels clearly know their audiences, who tune in year after year for the latest crop of crowd-pleasing Christmas stories. Even during a COVID-19 pandemic, TheWrap.com reports that these two networks have pulled off a ''Christmas miracle'': producing just as many holiday films this year as they did last year: 40, which will air on the Hallmark channels, and 30, at Lifetime. 

[OlBlueEyes]

I have nothing against light escapist fare. People can't plunge themselves into tragedy all the time, especially when almost all will have real tragedy in their lives from which they need to escape.

I don't like to see talented actors and actresses spending too much of their peak years working in films that require only a fraction of the talent that they worked very hard to acquire. This is a special year, of course.

I don't see it as a reason to boast that Hallmark churns out 30 or 40 cookie cutter films each year and proceeds to show each a dozen or more times. They could insert some simple lessons of life that all agree upon but all often forget. As now constituted, the Hallmark films make Disney's The Parent Trap resemble Crime and Punishment.

[Wayman_Wong]

On a lighter note, here's ''Every Hallmark Movie Ever'' ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fa7baSCfl4U

[Sutton Ross]

I don't like to see talented actors and actresses spending too much of their peak years working in films that require only a fraction of the talent that they worked very hard to acquire. This is a special year, of course.

I agree with this completely, and the quality of the movies have nothing to do with the amount of people it employs. That's great of course but the movies are garbage, and that's not really an unpopular opinion. 

[SmoothLover]

One has to believe in the magic of Christmas and put their critical hats aside in order to enjoy Hallmark movies. If you are cynical in spirit the movies are not for you.  But if you enjoy overly attractive people finding love at Christmas in a place off the map....the movies could do the trip.

[Sutton Ross]

I'm not cynical in spirit, I deeply love the holidays. I guess I just like good movies better. *shrug* 

I guess Hallmark isn't for me, and that's okay. I hope everyone else enjoys them. I enjoy the Christmas movies on Netflix a lot, so that's good enough for me. 

[Wayman_Wong]

Speaking of Christmas fare on Netflix, anyone seen ''Dash & Lily''? Austin Abrams and Midori Francis star in this adorable, new teen rom-com series.

It was created by Joe Tracz, the bookwriter of ''Be More Chill'' and ''The Lightning Thief,'' and is produced by Nick Jonas, last seen on Broadway in ''How to Succeed.'' The delightfully diverse cast includes Nick Blaemire (''Godspell'' ), Troy Iwata (''Be More Chill'' ), Jodi Long (''Flower Drum Song'' ), Michael Park (''Dear Evan Hansen'' ), James Saito (''The King and I'' ), Patrick Vaill (''Oklahoma!'' ) and NaTasha Yvette Williams (''Waitress'' ).

Shot last Christmas all over NYC (from Macy's to the Morgan Library), it's a valentine to the Big Apple, bookended by scenes at the Strand bookstore.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmW5GO6btMM

[Sutton Ross]

OMG, I absolutely loved it. It was so cute, and so wonderful to see NYC all dressed up for Christmas with people! I have mixed feelings on The Strand but they dressed it up beautifully for the show. The only thing I didn't buy was that they were only 17 years old. Their friends have Christmas parties in their penthouses on Christmas Eve with no parents? Haha. I felt silly loving it being an older millennial but I couldn't help it. It made me so very happy. 

[OlBlueEyes]

One has to believe in the magic of Christmas and put their critical hats aside in order to enjoy Hallmark movies. 

I don't want to be known as the Grinch that stole Hallmark. They have their place, if limited. I'll bet even serial Hallmark watchers tire of them after a couple of years. Nothing unpredictable happens. In pre-Oklahoma musicals there was often no story, but it least they had all those great songs. You got to hear Merman belt out "Anything Goes." 

(I wonder if they've ever found the person who, in moving the Rodgers and Hart musical Babes in Arms to the screen, deleted "My Funny Valentine," "Where or When," "I Wish I Were in Love Again," "Johnny One Note" and "The Lady is a Tramp." That deserved a Lifetime Achievement  Award.)

(Nancy Sinatra on her weekly three hour program for Sirius Satellite often makes the point that her father "saved" for us great R&H tunes like "Where or When" and "The Lady is a Tramp" by recording them on his hit albums and performing them in concert. Any truth to that? What about Ella and her 1956 Rodgers and Hart Song Book?)

For the magic of Christmas how about "A Christmas Carol" and "It's a Wonderful Life." Some I'm sure consider these too sentimental, but I stand with them.

[SmoothLover]

The Paramount channel is showing a gay Christmas cowboy rom com on December 13. Hallmark has a movie this Sunday 11/22 called The Christmas House with a major gay character and the movie also stars the adorable Robert Buckley.

WATCH: Paramount releases trailer for its gay, holidays romance
https://www.queerty.com/watch-paramount-releases-trailer-gay-holidays-romance-20201116

I do not mind the predictability associated with Hallmark movies in fact I can watch some of them repeatedly knowing what is going to happen. There are certain movies where the leads have undeniable chemistry.  I also prefer having them on in the background as opposed to news channels going on about Covid deaths or Donald J Trump.

[Philly Theater Girl]

I do not mind the predictability associated with Hallmark movies in fact I can watch some of them repeatedly knowing what is going to happen. There are certain movies where the leads have undeniable chemistry. I also prefer having them on in the background as opposed to news channels going on about Covid deaths or Donald J Trump."

Agree. If Broadway actors can get some work on Hallmark movies during these tough times, I'm all for it. 

[OlBlueEyes]

I also prefer having them on in the background as opposed to news channels going on about Covid deaths or Donald J Trump.

The wisest statement made on the subject.

 

Everyone is allowed a few guilty pleasures. One of mine is Elizabeth Shue’s Adventures in Babysitting. Love the opening scene where she Dresses for her date accompanied by Phil Spector’s “Then He Kissed Me.”

[Wayman_Wong]

''The Paramount channel is showing a gay Christmas cowboy rom com on Dec. 13. Hallmark has a movie this Sunday 11/22 called The Christmas House with a major gay character & the movie also stars the adorable Robert Buckley.''

The gay Christmas cowboy movie is called ''Dashing in December,'' and actually stars two out actors: Juan Pablo Di Pace and Peter Porte. Also, Lifetime's first holiday movie about a gay romance, ''The Christmas Setup,'' airing Dec. 12, features Blake Lee and Ben Lewis, who are a couple in real life. As for ''The Christmas House,'' it stars the openly gay Jonathan Bennett, and Buckley plays his straight brother. By coincidence, Buckley has a gay brother in real life, too. 

Bravo to all these movies for featuring LGBTQ characters AND LGBTQ actors!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6hBj7IGnkY

[SmoothLover]

I just watched The Christmas Bow and Michael Rady was delicious!

[SmoothLover]

Bump...The Will Kemp Hallmark movie Christmas Waltz was on tonight...what a nimble and charming dancer....

[Wayman_Wong]

For the record, Will Kemp made his Broadway debut as a dancer in Matthew Bourne's 1998 Tony-winning, male version of ''Swan Lake.'' He also wore a wire mask and played the horse Nugget in the 2007 West End revival of ''Equus,'' and carried its star, Daniel Radcliffe, as he was galloping.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8SqYdfEfUo

[SmoothLover]

I thought Kemp was quite sexy and had good chemistry with Chabert.  As far as Hallmark movies go, it was one of the better directed ones and Kemp handled the salute to Singing In The Rain with a sense of spontaneity. He is reminiscent of Tommy Tune, legs for days.

[SmoothLover]

Bump So did anyone watch the gay Christmas Lifetime movie The Christmas Setup? I thought it was pretty woke actually. What was cool was that the gay men were the primary relationship.

[SmoothLover]

Bump So did anyone watch the gay Christmas Lifetime movie The Christmas Setup? I thought it was pretty woke actually. What was cool was that the gay men were the primary relationship.

[Wayman_Wong]

It was a grand and groundbreaking weekend for LGBT holiday movies: ''The Christmas Setup,'' starring Ben Lewis and Blake Lee, debuted Saturday night on Lifetime, and ''Dashing in December,'' starring Peter Porte and Juan Pablo Di Pace, premiered Sunday night on Paramount. The leading couples both featured openly gay actors, and they both were charming and had chemistry. Plus, these films were written and directed by gay artists: Michael J. Murray and Pat Mills did ''The Christmas Setup''; Jake Helgren did ''Dashing in December.''

Both films also were true to the tropes of holiday movies, which usually focus on a big-city, career-driven protagonist who returns to their hometown to reunite with family and discovers love with a local hunk. Still, they found ways to add their own gay twist or double entendres. In ''The Christmas Setup,'' Hugo and Patrick are setting up a Christmas tree and want it to stand erect. Hugo asks Patrick's opinion if the tree is leaning: ''Straight?'' In another scene, Patrick is asked to retrieve a box of tree ornaments by grabbing ''the balls.'' And in ''Dashing in December,'' a gay cowboy story, there's a fun and catchy new country song (link below). Plus, true to the hallmarks of these romantic comedies, there are poignant scenes of longing and love. To find out more about these feel-good flicks, go to YouTube and see GLAAD's online video interviews with each of these casts. No doubt Lifetime and Paramount will re-air these movies in Dec.; their websites probably list the dates.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pprgr8orFjc

[Wayman_Wong]

Just did some Googling, and found out that Juan Pablo Di Pace and Peter Porte, who starred in ''Dashing in December,'' are also wonderful musical-theater actors. Di Pace has played Billy Flynn in ''Chicago'' in London; Danny Zuko in ''Grease'' in Italy, and Tony Manero in ''Saturday Night Fever'' in Spain. He's also in the film of ''Mamma Mia'' with Meryl Streep. And Porte played Sky in a U.S. national tour of ''Mamma Mia,'' and there's video of him belting ''Your Song'' from ''Moulin Rouge'' on YouTube (link below).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geB8lQrOB0Y

 

[yankeefan7]

" Isn't the Hallmark channel full of horrible, Christian, virginal movies? I hope Ms. Osnes doesn't stay there for too long, would love to see her back on Broadway in the next few years.  "

She did reading for "Houdini", see link below.

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Breaking-HOUDINI-Musical-Set-Sights-on-Broadway-Ramin-Karimloo-and-Laura-Osnes-Take-Part-in-Virtual-Reading-20201215

[Wayman_Wong]

BroadwayWorld.com: Broadway stars who've been in Hallmark movies ...

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/From-Stage-to-Screen-Broadway-Stars-Take-Over-Hallmark-Movies-20201213