Lacey Chabert

News and Quick Comments

Hallmark at 25: more … and then some more

As the Hallmark Channel celebrates its 25th birthday, it’s planning a lot of the same. A lot.
The cable network started on April 5, 2001, as an unlikely merger of three H’s — Henson (Jim, the Muppet man), Halmi (Robert, a movie/mini-series guy) and Hallmark, the greeting-card folks.
The others soon departed, but Hallmark kept growing. It has Christmas movies — roughly a zillion of them — and more, sometimes with tie-ins.
It’s again linking with pro-football (the Bears, this year) and with the Biltmore estate. It has also set a movie linking with Disney … which makes historical sense: Long ago, we’re told, Hallmark was one of the first businesses to license Mickey Mouse.
There’s also has a streaming service, Hallmark+ (currently with a Lacey Chabert mini-series, shown here). We’ll start there: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 5, 2026
News and Quick Comments

Hallmark+ sets a Sept. 10 debut

On Sept. 10, viewers will face a rare dilemma: Should they watch the first Harris-Trump debate or obsess on Hallmark?
Hmmm … fate of the free world or love amongst the chaste and beautiful. Why is life always so complicated?
Actually, you could catch both. It’s just that Sept. 10 (already the date of the ABC debate) is now the starting date for Hallmark+.
Company executives had previously laid out the general idea. (See separate story.) A small streaming service (Hallmark Movies Now) will be folded into this larger one. In addition to shows from the two Hallmark cable channels, it will soon include other movies (shown here), plus a series, a mini-series and a surge of reality shows. Now the details are available; they include: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 14, 2024
Stories

Hallmark’s deluge has 40 new Christmas films

Until now, we feared there will be few new, scripted shows on TV this year.
Not so. There will be plenty … but most of them will be Christmas movies.
Shortly after one cable channel (Great American Family) announced 20 new Christmas films for this year, the Hallmark people doubled that. They’ll have 40 new ones (one is shown here) – 31 on the Hallmark Channel, plus nine on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries.
That’s 60 so far – with other networks – especially Lifetime and UpTV – expected to add more.
All of this comes despite writers’ and actors’ strikes, which started May 2 and July 14. Christmas movies tend to be done far in advance. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 20, 2023