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The Christmas Shepherd Hallmark

The Christmas Shepherd continues the tradition of dogs saving Christmas on Hallmark Channel!

The Christmas Shepherd Hallmark

The dog used the credit card to order all these gifts on Amazon!


If it isn’t angels messing with your Christmas love live, it’s dogs! The Christmas Shepherd brings out the frisky in your pets trying to get you frisky, as a dog runs away to join another family in a complicated bid to get his owner a boyfriend. Either the dog is a mastermind, or he’s full of dumb luck and this whole plot works up independently of a secret genius canine playing games with his owners’ feelings. The latter is a much more fun scenario, so I prefer to think that Buddy the dog is having fun playing matchmaker, probably as part of a bet with those angels that play Christmas matchmaker.

If only Hallmark had a movie about an angel dog that played matchmaker with a secret prince and a normal girl. That would be the most Hallmark Christmas movie ever! Well, there’s always next year! The Christmas Shepherd is part of Hallmark’s The 12 New Movies of Christmas in the Countdown to Christmas celebration, and provides a dog alternative to the cat-themed The Nine Lives of Christmas. Hey, can we get a goldfish themed animal Christmas love movie next year? Because I want to see how that would work.

In “The Christmas Shepherd,” Sally Browning (Polo), a children’s book author and illustrator lives in a small Massachusetts town where she and her late husband, an Army vet, settled with Buddy, a German Shepherd he found while serving overseas. She is devastated, though, when her beloved Buddy runs away during a thunderstorm and ends up in an animal shelter miles from home. Mark Green (Cummins) and his teenage daughter, Emma (Olson) themselves struggling to put their lives back together after losing his wife and her mother three years ago, end up adopting the dog, who wins their hearts and heals their souls. But Sally’s journey to find Buddy eventually connects her to Mark and Emma, who must decide if they want to give up a pet who has helped make their lives whole again – and Sally has to decide if she wants to separate him from this loving pair. But wherever Buddy goes, love follows, helping to bring everyone the greatest Christmas present possible

The Christmas Shepherd stars Teri Polo (Meet the Parents) as Sally Browning, Martin Cummins (Cyberteens in Love, Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan) as Mark Green, Jordyn Olson (The Unauthorized Saved by the Bell Story) as Emma Green, Jill Teed (Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome, Godzilla) as Greta, Jody Thompson (Hellraiser: Hellseeker) as Beth, Quinn Dubois (R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour) as Jacob, Jeff C. Ballard (The Marine 3: Homefront) as Bryan, and Ace the dog as Buddy the dog!

The Christmas Shepherd is directed by Terry Ingram (Chupacabra vs. the Alamo, My Boyfriends’ Dogs) and written by Michael J. Murray (The Tree That Saved Christmas). So some quality dog and Christmas saving experience in this team!

The Christmas Shepherd premieres November 23rd on Hallmark Channel!

Photo via Hallmark Press/Bettina Strauss

A Royal Christmas Hallmark

Hallmark Channel goes full wedding Christmas fantasy with A Royal Christmas!

A Royal Christmas Hallmark

Welcome to this vaguely Disney country, expect our kid to be cursed by a witch before she can even walk!


I’m beginning to run out of ways to talk about Christmas and romance thanks to the onslaught of films Hallmark is pumping out this year. A Royal Christmas is no exception, featuring more Christmas love, and secret prince action as well. There is also a royal conspiracy as the blue-collar Emily must prove she is worthy to be a princess to the snobby Queen. It’s almost class warfare, except watered down for the Hallmark crowd. A Royal Christmas appears to build on the often-used scenario in romance fiction, while utilizing the fictitious country setting to make things vaguely like a fairy tale. Throw in an ex-girlfriend and this promises to have the potential to be a bit wacky.

A Royal Christmas is part of The 12 New Movies of Christmas in the Countdown to Christmas celebration on Hallmark Channel. Here is hoping the film jumps out from the pack to deliver royal entertainment. Did you catch that joke there? Royal entertainment? Because they are royals? Aw, forget it, bring on the synopsis:

As the only daughter of an expert tailor in Philadelphia, Emily Corrigan (Chabert) is a kindhearted young woman proud of her blue-collar background. She is a devoted seamstress at the family business and madly in love with her doting European boyfriend, Leo (Stephen Hagan). But as their first Christmas together approaches, Leo drops a bombshell on his unsuspecting girlfriend: he is actually Prince Leopold, heir to the throne of Cordinia, a small sovereign country. Emily is in shock, but her love for Leo trumps her hesitation about his double life and they quickly fly to Cordinia to announce their engagement and spend the holidays with Leo’s disapproving mother, Queen Isadora (Seymour).

Less than enthusiastic about her son’s relationship with a commoner, Isadora makes Emily feel anything but welcome at their grand castle, leaving Emily to feel more at home among Isadora’s staff of butlers and housemaids. As Emily struggles to adapt to her new royal surroundings, the situation is made more difficult when a scheming Isadora invites Duchess Natasha (Flynn), Leo’s ex-girlfriend, to join them for Christmas. Emily sees that Natasha is a perfect match for Leo and worries she’ll never measure up to Isadora’s standards. Attempting to stay true to herself in a world where she clearly doesn’t belong, Emily wonders if love is enough to keep her newly royal relationship from falling apart before Christmas morning

A Royal Christmas stars Lacey Chabert (Mean Girls) as Emily, Stephen Hagan (Best: His Mother’s Son) as Leo, Jane Seymour (Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman) as Isadora, and Katherine Flynn (The Beach Party at the Threshold of Hell) as Natasha.

A Royal Christmas is directed by Alex Zamm – the guy who directed Chairman of the Board, The Pooch and the Pauper, Inspector Gadget 2, Dr. Dolittle: Million Dollar Mutts, Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2, Tooth Fairy 2, The Little Rascals Save the Day, and Jingle All the Way 2. I will go on record in saying that despite the awesome Norm MacDonald clip (which I watched as it aired back in the day!), Chairman of the Board isn’t that terrible. A bigger warning sign is four writers, though they appear to be two different husband and wife teams: Janeen and Michael Damian (Marley & Me: The Puppy Years, A Princess for Christmas) and Tippi and Neal H. Dobrofsky (Smart Cookies, Operation Cupcake) Not only is that much more DTV experience, A Princess for Christmas has an almost identical plot, including the Christmas theme! Basically, this crew knows how to deliver a product for the target audience that will leave them satisfied. So if you love this Hallmark Christmas Romance movies, this is probably your can’t miss film of The 12 New Movies of Christmas.

A Royal Christmas premieres November 22 on Hallmark Channel!

Photo via Hallmark Press/Gabriel Hennessey

Angels and Ornaments hallmark

Angels and Ornaments means more angel Christmas meddling on Hallmark Channel!

Angels and Ornaments hallmark

Will she find love, or continue looking past the guy who’s looking at the offstage gaffer? Find out this Christmas!


Angels just can’t stop messing with people at Christmas time. If they aren’t preventing suicides by projecting dystopian alternate realities, they’re busy making love connections. Angels and ghosts should have a competition to see who meddles the most during the holidays! Angels and Ornaments continues the tradition with an angel messenger sent to get someone a boyfriend! This is a now a new feature on OKCupid, but in fact one of Hallmark Channels The 12 New Movies of Christmas as part of their Countdown to Christmas celebration.

Although she is still upset from a recent breakup, Corrine (Gilsig) happily prepares for her favorite holiday: Christmas! A gifted musician, Corrine auditions for a solo in a community Christmas concert and plays Christmas carols on the piano to patrons of the music store where she works with childhood friend Dave (Abbey). Her holiday season gets an unexpected dose of romance, when Harold (Di Zio), a mysterious new coworker, tries to form a love connection between Corrine and Dave. With Harold’s help, Corrine begins to view Dave in a new light, though she questions Harold’s intense interest in her love life. Unbeknownst to Corrine, Harold is on a Christmas Eve deadline from a higher power to fulfill this holiday fairytale! As the clock ticks down to Harold’s fairytale mission deadline, Corrine must decide if she will open up to Christmas love.

Angels and Ornaments stars Jessalyn Gilsig (Vikings, Smart Cookies) as Corrine, Sergio Di Zio (My Daughter Must Live) as Harold the angel, Graham Abbey as Dave, Samantha Espie as Janie, and Roger Doche as Tim. It’s directed by Alan Goluboff (Penny’s Odyssey, Mutant X, did a bunch of assistant directing work for Bob Clark) and written by Kevin Commins (Cybermutt, Pegasus vs. Chimera, Aladdin and the Death Lamp)

Angels and Ornaments premieres November 16th on Hallmark Channel! Will there be Christmas love???????????

Photo via Hallmark Press/Ben Mark Holzberg

Signed, Sealed, Delivered For Christmas hallmark movies mysteries

Signed, Sealed, Delivered goes Christmas for Hallmark Movies & Mysteries!

Hallmark Movies & Mysteries is breaking out a Christmas Edition of one of their popular mystery series with Signed, Sealed, Delivered for Christmas! The Signed, Sealed, Delivered team began with a 2013 film about postal detectives who deliver packages and letters from the past when they are needed most. The film proved popular enough that a series was commissioned, and now that series is get its own Christmas special movie! Where is your Christmas movie, Big Bang Theory? I thought so… Not only is there this Christmas flick, but three more Signed, Sealed, Delivered films have been greenlighted for 2015, meaning the series will be living on as special movie events instead of a regular series. Some people don’t seem too thrilled about that, but as Hallmark Movies & Mysteries looks to be making their bread and butter mystery movie series featuring regular casts, this isn’t surprising.

Signed, Sealed, Delivered for Christmas is part of Hallmark Movies & Mysteries The Most Wonderful Movies of Christmas special event, which features two new original movies and a bunch of classic Christmas films.

Signed, Sealed, Delivered for Christmas stars series regulars Eric Mabius as Oliver O’Toole, Kristin Booth as Shane McIrnerney, Crystal Lowe as Rita Haywith, Geoff Gustafson as Norman Dorman, with guest stars Rob Estes and Marion Ross.

With a duty to deliver every last letter before Christmas, the beloved quartet of post office detectives—Oliver, Shane, Rita and Norman—are working around the clock to redirect Santa’s mail just as Oliver runs into his former Sunday school teacher. When they receive an emotional last-minute plea not meant for Saint Nick, but instead written to God, they must delay their own travel plans to make sure one little girl doesn’t lose her Christmas joy. With a little guidance from a mysterious post office volunteer, Jordan, the Postables are more surprised than anyone to discover they’ve been a part of more than one miracle on this Christmas Eve.

Signed, Sealed, Delivered for Christmas is directed by Kevin Fair(Lucky in Love, some episodes of the series). The story was written by Kerry Lenhart, John J. Sakmar, and Brandi Harkonen with a teleplay by Martha Williamson.

Signed, Sealed, Delivered for Christmas premieres Sunday, November 23, on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries!

Signed, Sealed, Delivered For Christmas hallmark movies mysteries

Wally Lamb Wishin Hopin Lifetime

Prepare to drop letters from words with Wally Lamb’s Wishin’ and Hopin’ on Lifetime Channel!

Wally Lamb Wishin Hopin Lifetime

Breakfast Club: The Next Generation!


I will admit not being too familiar with Wally Lamb, and nor do I appear to be his target audience, but for those of you who can’t get enough of the Lamb, Lifetime is bringing one of his books to life. Wally Lamb’s Wishin’ and Hopin’ will be part of Lifetime’s power pack of Christmas flicks, and it features narration by Chevy Chase. I’d make a Christmas Vacation joke, except I already made a Breakfast Club joke about Molly Ringwald, and there would be too many cute joke references for one small news article to handle. Which means they’d have ot fight to the death, and then I’d have to clean up the mess. No thank you.

Wally Lamb’s Wishin’ and Hopin’ harkens back to the days of yore, when kids knew who Annette Funicello was and didn’t know who Meat Loaf was. Okay, they probably still don’t know who Meat Loaf is, but he’s in the movie as well. Watch Fight Club, kids!

Based on the New York Times best-selling Christmas novel by Wally Lamb comes the new Christmas classic, starring Molly Ringwald and featuring narration by Chevy Chase as the narrator. Set in 1960s, Wishin’ and Hopin’ story of 10-year-old Felix Funicello (Wyatt Ralff, The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby), doing his best to navigate fifth grade at St. Aloysius Gonzaga Parochial School. His father (Danny Nucci, The Fosters) runs the local diner, and their family’s claim to fame is their cousin Annette Funicello (Krysta Rodriguez, Smash), the famous teen star and Mouseketeer. With the dreaded Christmas pageant on the horizon, the holiday season gets even more exciting with the sudden arrivals of a substitute teacher (Ringwald) and the feisty Russian student Zhenya, promising to be one Christmas Felix will never forget. Also stars Meat Loaf (Fight Club), Annabella Sciorra (CSI), Cheri Oteri (Saturday Night Live) and Conchata Ferrell (Two and a Half Men) and Camila Banus (Days of Our Lives).

The film is directed by Colin Theys, and written by John Doolan (based on Wally Lamb’s original story). Both the writer and director worked on Alien Opponent and Banshee!!!, but sadly I don’t think monsters and aliens are going to stop on by, unless my theory that Annette Funicello is a Reptillian is proven by Wishin’ and Hopin’. After all, something happened to those missing G’s, it probably was aliens!

Wally Lamb’s Wishin’ and Hopin’ premieres Saturday, December 6, on Lifetime!

Photo by Pietro Camardella provided via Lifetime/A&E Media

Seasons of Love Lifetime Taraji P. Henson Gladys Knight

It’s the reason for the Seasons of Love on Lifetime!

Seasons of Love Lifetime Taraji P. Henson Gladys Knight

I think we’re gonna need a bit more alcohol if we have to sit through all of An En Vogue Christmas!


Lifetime has what looks to be a nice relationship tale for the holidays with Seasons of Love. It also looks to be another example of Lifetime putting out some quality diverse films. And it looks to have nothing to do with the song from the Rent soundtrack!

Kyla (LeToya Luckett, Single Ladies) and Amir’s (Cleo Anthony, Divergent) new romance is thrown for a loop when Amir’s father (Richard Portnow) suddenly passes away and Kyla’s ex, Miles (Rob Riley, Hit the Floor), comes back into the picture. The two struggle to determine what truly matters to them in this story of life, love and family. Taraji P. Henson stars and executive produces, while Gladys Knight and Cliff “Method Man” Smith also star.

Seasons of Love stars Taraji P. Henson, Gladys Knight, Method Man, LeToya Luckett, Cleo Anthony, Richard Portnow, Rob Riley, and Elizabeth Ho.

The film is directed by Princess Monique. This is her first feature besides the 2002 short The Call, which she also cowrote along with the two credited writers for Seasons of Love – Sharon Brathwaite-Sanders and Peres Owino. It is a new batch of creatives looking to make their mark.

It’s still too early for the trailers to pop up, but Seasons of Love premieres Sunday, November 23, on Lifetime!

via A&E and Lifetime
Photo by Courtesy of Lifetime/A&E Press