TV Cheddar

Month: July 2024

  • Rachael Leigh Cook and Sam Page race to save the holidays in Rescuing Christmas

    Rachael Leigh Cook and Sam Page race to save the holidays in Rescuing Christmas

    Rachael Leigh Cook stars as a woman who wishes away Christmas — and then must try to bring it back — in the new Hallmark romance movie Rescuing Christmas. Grey’s Anatomy star Sam Page plays the acquaintance who gets roped into helping her.
     
     
    “I have the perfect antidote to this heatwave, it’s an extra magical @hallmarkchannel Christmas movie,” Rachael Leigh Cook wrote in an Instagram post to promote the movie. “My character Erin wishes away Christmas and has to somehow bring it back. Imagine cold-pitching Christmas traditions to people, you’d sound insane, it’s so fun. I LOVE this movie and everyone who made it.”
     

    Hallmark romance movie

     
    In Rescuing Christmas, Rachael Leigh Cook stars as Erin, a freelance photographer who is still reeling from a bad breakup that happened at Christmas the previous year. As the holiday approaches, she becomes more and more annoyed by all the reminders of her breakup and wishes that Christmas didn’t exist.
     
    Unbeknownst to her, Santa is listening in and grants her wish. In a panic, Erin realizes she wants Christmas back and tries to figure out how to “remind” everyone about the holiday. She enlists the help of a recent blind date (played by Sam Page) to help her convince friends and family to celebrate this thing called Christmas.
     

    Rachael Leigh Cook movies and TV

     
    Minnesota native Rachael Leigh Cook had her breakthrough role in the 1999 hit movie She’s All That. She has appeared on the TV shows Dawson’s Creek, Criminal Minds, The Outer Limits, Psych, and Ghost Whisperer.
     
    She has starred in the Hallmark romance movies Summer Love (2016), Autumn in the Vineyard (2016), Summer in the Vineyard (2017), Frozen in Love (2018), Valentine in the Vineyard (2019), Cross Country Christmas (2020),  and ’Tis the Season to be Merry (2021).
     

    Sam Page movies and TV

     
     
    Sam Page played Brad Sanders on the TV series Seventh Heaven. He has also appeared in Grey’s Anatomy, Mad Men, CSI: Miami, Point Pleasant, Desperate Housewives, Gossip Girl, Castle, House of Cards, Scandal, and The Mindy Project.
     
    He has starred in the Hallmark romance movies All Things Valentine (2016), Walking the Dog (2017), The Perfect Christmas Present (2017), Royal New Year’s Eve (2017), The Story of Us (2019), My One & Only (2019), Christmas in Rome (2019), A Godwink Christmas: Second Chance, First Love (2020), One Summer (2020), and Joy for Christmas (2021).
     
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  • Ryan McPartlin and Katie Leclerc find true love on the slopes in A Very Vermont Christmas

    Ryan McPartlin and Katie Leclerc find true love on the slopes in A Very Vermont Christmas

    Ryan McPartlin and Katie Leclerc play strangers who find true love on the ski slopes in the Hallmark romance movie A Very Vermont Christmas. 

    “Who’s ready to escape reality and join @katieleclerc and me for our “Brew-ski” Christmas in July movie “A Very Vermont Christmas?” McPartlin wrote in an Instagram post promoting the film.
     

    Hallmark romance movie

     
    In A Very Vermont Christmas, Katie Leclerc stars as Joy, a champion skier who helps her mother run the family’s pub in a small town. Still mourning the loss of her father, Joy is also trying to keep the family business going. The situation is made even worse when she finds out her ex-boyfriend (played by John Forest) is opening a new pub in town. 
    That’s when she collides on the slopes with novice skier Zac (played by McPartlin), who is a brewmaster as well as a distributor for a beer company. She offers to give him ski lessons. In return, he creates a new brew, Hoppy Holiday IPA, for her pub.
     
    The new beer is a hit and business begins picking up. But when her ex introduces a beer at his pub that tastes nearly identical to Hoppy Holiday, Joy begins to mistrust Zac.
     

    Ryan McPartlin movies and TV shows

     
    A native of Illinois, McPartlin got his start as a model for Abercrombie & Fitch. From 2001 to 2004 he starred as Hank Bennett in the soap opera Passions. He appeared on the TV shows CSI: NY, According to Jim, Mad Men, Rizzoli & Isles, and Fuller House. McPartlin has starred in the movies Chance at Romance (2014), A Kind of Magic (2015), Twinkle All the Way (2019), and The Holiday Fix Up (2021). 
     
    He helped write and starred in the 2022 Hallmark mystery Cut, Color, Murder, which starred Julie Gonzalo as a small-town stylist who helps the police catch a killer.
     
    “This has been another passion project that was years in the making,” he wrote in a social media post. “@heatherjnyc & I never gave up on this story that @jfilardi @waltbecker3 and I created until all the pieces fell into place.”
     

    Katie Leclerc movies and TV shows

     
    Katie Leclerc starred as Daphne Vasquez in the series Switched at Birth, a role that won her the TwoCents TV Award for Drama Queens and a nomination for a Teen Choice Award. She has also appeared on the TV shows Community, NCIS, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Veronica Mars, and The Big Bang Theory. 
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  • Fan-favorite Hallmark mystery series to get three new movies

    Fan-favorite Hallmark mystery series to get three new movies

    The Hallmark mystery series Curious Caterer will get three new movies. Nikki DeLoach and Andrew Walker will begin filming Curious Caterer: Drumstick Drama next week in Vancouver, according to Deadline.
     
    The production company that makes the movies also has two more in pre-production, according to its website.
     
    “I’m thrilled!! I love these two together and I hope they keep making a lot more of these, so much fun to watch!” wrote one fan in the comments section.
     
    “I like these shows,” another wrote. “My granddaughter and I like to guess who the killer is.”
     

    Curious Caterer movies

     
    Hallmark released the first of the Curious Caterer movies in 2022 on Hallmark Movies and Mysteries (the network that has since been renamed Hallmark Mystery). Based on the books by Dianne Mott Davidson, the series followed a small-town Colorado caterer and single mother named Goldy Berry (played by Nikki DeLoach).
     
    In the first movie, Curious Caterer: Dying For Chocolate, Goldy finds one of her friends murdered and then teams up with Detective Tom Schultz (played by Andrew Walker) to solve the case.
     
    A second film in the series, Curious Caterer: Grilling Season, premiered in February 2023. In that movie, Goldy catered a barbecue for a friend who was killed when her grill exploded. Goldy was the number one suspect because she was the last one to use the grill. She worked with Schultz to clear her name.
     
    In Curious Caterer: Fatal Vows (2023), Goldy was hired to cater a wedding for Tom Schultz’s ex-wife. When the groom is murdered and the bride goes missing, Tom and Goldy must solve the case.
     
    In Curious Caterer: Foiled Plans (2024), Goldy was hired to cater an event at a local castle. But when a dead body is discovered. Goldy and Tom must rush to find the killer before he or she escapes.
     

    New Curious Caterer

     
    In Curious Caterer: Drumstick Drama, Goldy is hired to cater a party for the re-release of a rock album. When she finds out Tom has tickets to attend the band’s concert, which takes place on the same night as the party, she tries to figure out how she can do double-duty.
     
    But the band’s lead singer gets electrocuted during the event, turning the concert into a crime scene and Tom and Goldy must get to work.
     
    The company that produces the movies also has notices on its website for two additional movies in the franchise. In Curious Caterer: Tough Cookie, Goldy lands a gig hosting a cookie program for TV but ends up putting her detective skills to use when someone is killed on the set. 
     
    In Curious Caterer: Prime Cut, Goldy is invited to cater a tasting for a prestigious fashion show. But the event turns into a murder investigation when the body of a local contractor — the contractor Goldy has been feuding with — is found on-site.
     

    When to watch

     
    Hallmark has not yet given release dates for the new movies. We will continue to update this story as more information becomes available.
     
          

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  • Hallmark stars congratulate Donne Kelce on her new role

    Hallmark stars congratulate Donne Kelce on her new role

    Donna Kelce will join Tyler Hynes and Hunter King in an NFL-themed Hallmark Christmas movie. The mother of Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce and former Philadelphia Eagles player Jason Kelce will appear in Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story, which is set to premiere during Hallmark Channel’s annual Countdown to Christmas lineup.
     
    “Welcome to the @hallmarkchannel family @donnakelce,” wrote Andrew Walker in response to an Instagram post promoting the movie. “You’re in good hands with @tyler_hynes.”
     
    Rachel Boston also weighed in, writing, “Oh my goodness!!!!! I love this SO much!!!!!! Mama Kelce.”
     

    Hallmark Christmas movie

     
    Hallmark announced in June that it was teaming up with the Kansas City Chiefs to make a football-themed romance movie. 
     
    “With Hallmark and the Kansas City Chiefs both homegrown, rooted in values, tradition and community, there is a special alchemy between these two iconic organizations,” said Darren Abbott, chief brand officer for Hallmark. “By blending the warmth of Hallmark storytelling with the excitement of professional football, we are thrilled to give audiences a front-row seat to this community’s spirit, rich traditions and passionate fans that define Kansas City, all wrapped up in the comforting and uplifting Hallmark way.”

    New role

    Many believe the movie was inspired by a trailer the Chiefs made to promote the 2024 playoffs of a parody Hallmark romance movie.
     
    In the film, Jannel Parrish played Amber, a woman whose football-obsessed former fiancé left her at the altar. Tyler Hynes played Ben, the sports-loving owner of a store that appears to carry only Kansas City Chiefs merchandise. The two meet and — of course — sparks fly.
    But when Amber questions whether she could ever trust her heart to someone so interested in football, she gets some friendly advice from a waitress played by Donna Kelce.
     
    “The heart can be in two places at once,” Kelce said. 
    The trailer was so popular that fans started asking for the real thing.
    “Love it!! Wish it would become a real film,” wrote one fan on Instagram.
    Travis Kelce recently admitted to being a fan of Hallmark movies. (Image: NFL via Instagram.com/@killatrav)

    RELATED NEWS: Travis Kelce says he is Hallmark movie fan. We love this.

    Mama Kelce

     
    Fans reacted enthusiastically to the news that “Mama Kelce” would be joining the cast.
     
    “I’m definitely supporting this movie because of @donnakelce because she’s an inspiration to all moms out there and the camaraderie of Jason and Travis. They are the true meaning of Brotherly Love,” wrote one.
     
    “Mama Kelce in a Hallmark Christmas movie just makes sense,” wrote another. “Couldn’t be more Ready For It.”
     
    Filming has already begun on Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story. Hallmark Channel has not yet given a release date for the movie. We will update this story as more information becomes available.
     
          

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  • Everything you need to know about Nelson Wong, the actor who has starred in more than 30 Hallmark movies

    Everything you need to know about Nelson Wong, the actor who has starred in more than 30 Hallmark movies

    Over the years, Nelson Wong has appeared in 31 Hallmark movies. The actor, whose first role with the network was in the 2006 film All She Wants For Christmas, says he has a fondness for the stories Hallmark tells.

    “Ultimately, they are human stories,” Wong said during a recent interview with TV Cheddar. “…These barriers we create, money, class or race or geography, they dissolve when we get to the heart, which is what Hallmark is so good at.”

    Nelson Wong

    Any self-respecting Hallmarkie has seen Nelson Wong in at least one movie. He has starred alongside such Hallmark greats as Paul Greene, Jen Lilley, Ryan Paevey, Taylor Cole, and Ali Liebert.

    He’s had roles in two different Hallmark mystery series, appearing with Jesse Metcalfe in Martha’s Vineyard Mysteries and Carlos and Alexa PenaVega in Picture Perfect Mysteries.

    He’s a staple in Hallmark’s annual Countdown to Christmas lineup. He can be seen in fan favorites including A Christmas Detour, Christmas at the Plaza, A Timeless Christmas, A Christmas Treasure, and Long Lost Christmas.

    About the actor

    Nelson Wong moved to Canada from New Zealand at the age of six. A huge fan of television and movies, the actor would impersonate characters such as Mr. Belvedere and C-3PO for his classmates. He said he always knew he wanted to be an actor.

    Though he didn’t have any formal training, Wong was persistent in his pursuit of a career in the business.

    “I think I listened carefully to the pitfalls that make a lot of people quit,” he said during a recent interview with TV Cheddar. “It’s a life of job interviews and you’re not really guaranteed a career.”

    One of Wong’s first professional roles was in Third Man Out, a movie directed by Ron Oliver that starred Chad Allen. Wong played a character named Kenny Kwon. He did such a good job that Oliver continued to cast him in movies.

     

    Jen Lilley and Nelson Wong in Where Your Heart Belongs
    Nelson Wong with Jen Lilley in the 2022 Hallmark romance movie Where Your Heart Belongs. (Image: Hallmark Media)

    The legendary Kenny Kwon

    Whenever Wong was cast in a new project by Oliver, the character’s name would be changed to Kenny Kwon. A quick glance at Won’g credit shows that he has played a character named “Kenny” or “Kenny Kwon” 17 times.

    Though Wong has had an impressive career with the network, he has also worked extensively outside the network.

    In a career that has spanned more than 20 years, Wong has had roles in Riverdale, Arrow, Psych, Once Upon a Time, and Van Helsing.

    He even teaches acting at the University of British Columbia.

    Over the years, Kenny Kwon has had a variety of professions., including DJ, bartender, airline attendant, and doctor.

    Representation

    Wong says he has seen a lot of changes in the industry since he first began acting in 1999. In the beginning, when he sent out photos and resumes to agents, they all had the same two questions.

    “Almost uniformly they would ask, ‘Do you know the accent? Can you do kung fu?’” he said.

  • Trevor Donovan, Gladys Knight to star in new adaptation of Little Women

    Trevor Donovan, Gladys Knight to star in new adaptation of Little Women

    A new version of Little Women is coming to TV. Gladys Knight, Trevor Donovan, Jen Lilley, and Jillian Murray are among the stars who will appear in a modern-day adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s beloved classic.
     
    “‘A Little Women’s Christmas’ is a new Christmas classic in the making, with an incredible ensemble cast and an adaptation of an original story that is one of the best I have read,” said Bill Abbott of Great American Family, the network producing the movie.
     

    New adaptation

     
    Alcott’s semi-autobiographical novels, published in 1868 and 1869, followed the lives of four sisters growing up in “genteel poverty” in Massachusetts. Great American Family’s version is set in modern-day Tennessee at Christmastime. The characters have the same names as the sisters featured in Alcott’s novel — Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy — and face similar challenges as they navigate friendships, love, and finding strength through their family.
     

    Little Women

     
    Great American Family’s adaptation is one of many to grace the screens over the years. The story was first made into a silent film in 1917 starring Daisy Burrell, Mary Lincoln, Ruby Miller, and Muriel Myers. A 1933 film adaptation starred Katherine Hepburn. In 1949, Elizabeth Taylor and Janet Leigh starred in a remake.
     
    Director Gillian Armstrong directed version in 1994 that starred Winona Ryder, Kirsten Dunst, Claire Danes, Susan Sarandon, and Christian Bale. The most recent adaptation was Greta Gerwig’s 2019 version.
     
    Bill Abbott said one of the reasons the network chose to adapt the story was because it focused on women and family.
     
     “Louisa May Alcott was intentional about focusing on the culture of young women, their hopes, ambitions, and dreams, and it remains one of the most widely read and beloved stories ever written,” he said.
     
    Trevor Donovan

    RELATED NEWS: Actor Trevor Donovan says he would be open to appearing on Hallmark’s When Calls the Heart

    The cast

     
    In A Little Women’s Christmas, Jen Lilley stars as eldest sister Meg March. Jillian Murray stars as Josephine “Jo” March. Beth is played by Laura Osnes, and Amy is played by Julia Reilly.
     
    Trevor Donovan plays Fritz, who was Jo’s love interest in the novel. Jesse Hutch is John, Meg’s love interest. The network has not yet said what role Gladys Knight will play, though a spokesperson revealed that she will debut a new Christmas song in the film titled “Joy.”
     

    Great American Family

     
    The network known as Great American Family was launched in September 2021 by former Hallmark CEO Bill Abbott. In a deal Bloomberg estimated at $90 million, Abbott and his investors purchased two cable networks and began producing content for both.
     
    In an appearance on the Up Next with John Contratti podcast, Abbott said he hoped to produce quality family-friendly entertainment.
     
    “There’s so much need for family content in the market and in this space,” he said. “You know, it’s pretty scary, quite frankly, the amount of content that’s out there…the vast majority of content that’s salacious and just is not appropriate for any member of the family.”
     
    Great American Family has not released a premiere date for A Little Women Christmas. We will update this story as more information becomes available.
     
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  • Tyler Hynes, Jonathan Bennett, and BJ Britt to star in trilogy of new Hallmark romance movies

    Tyler Hynes, Jonathan Bennett, and BJ Britt to star in trilogy of new Hallmark romance movies

    Three of Hollywood’s most popular leading men will headline a trilogy of new Hallmark romance movies. Tyler Hynes, Jonathan Bennett, and BJ Britt will star in The Groomsmen, which will be released on Hallmark’s streaming platform later this year.
     
    The movies will tell the love story from a man’s point of view, according to Hallmark Media.
     
    “We can’t wait for viewers to come along on these romantic journeys in new and fresh ways as we tell this story from the groom’s side for the first time ever,” says Philicia Kennedy-Flamer, manager of programming at Hallmark Media. “Jonathan, Tyler and B.J. are a dream team. Their performances are infused with a humor and warmth that brings these stories to life beyond our expectations and created something truly special.”
     

    Hallmark romance movies

     
    In the movies, titled First Look, Second Chances, and Last Dance, three best friends help each other find true love and then prepare for their weddings.
     
    The trilogy is similar in scope to Hallmark’s Wedding Veil series, which premiered in 2022. In those films, Lacey Chabert, Autumn Reeser, and Alison Sweeney play friends who discover an antique wedding veil that is rumored to bring true love to its owner. As each woman finds the man of her dreams, she passes it along to one of her friends, so that by the end of the third movie, all three women are happily married.
     
    The films proved so popular that Hallmark released three more in 2023: The Wedding Veil Expectations, The Wedding Veil Inspiration, and The Wedding Veil Journey.
    Tyler Hynes shows off his Kansas City Chiefs jersey. The actor will co-star with Hunter King and Ed Begley Jr. in Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story, a Hallmark Christmas movie with a football theme. (Image: Instagram/@tyler_hynes)
    (Image: Instagram.com/@tyler_hynes)

    RELATED NEWS: Tyler Hynes and Hunter King to headline new Hallmark movie featuring Kansas City Chiefs

    The Groomsmen

     
    In the new series, Tyler Hynes stars as a social media agent, BJ Britt plays a pediatrician, and Jonathan Bennett is a baseball coach. The movies follow the three men on a trip through Greece, Italy, and Bulgaria, as each friend finds the partner of his dreams.
     

    Where to watch

     
    Hallmark has said the movies will be released on its new streaming platform, Hallmark+ in the fall. The company has not yet said when the films will appear on television.
     
    Some fans called out the media company for releasing the movies on its paid platform before making it available to those with cable subscriptions. 
     
    “Sad that this will only be shown on yet another money-making platform,” wrote one fan on Facebook.
     
    This is an ongoing story. We will continue to update as more information becomes available.
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  • New Signed, Sealed, Delivered movie set to premiere on Hallmark

    New Signed, Sealed, Delivered movie set to premiere on Hallmark

    POstables, the moment you have been waiting for is finally here: Signed, Sealed, Delivered is back with a new movie. Signed, Sealed, Delievered: A Tale of Three Letters will premiere this weekend on Hallmark Mystery (the network formerly known as Hallmark Movies and Mysteries).
     
    “The Postal Detectives at the Dead Letter Office return to wrap up the Great Mailbox Breach of 2017—and some personal business as well,” reads a promotion on  Hallmark Mystery’s Facebook page.
     

    Signed, Sealed, Delivered: A Tale of Three Letters

     
    Fans have waited three years for a new installation in Hallmark’s longest-running mystery series. The last movie to premiere, Signed, Sealed, Delivered: The Vows We Have Made (2021), saw Shane (Kristin Booth) and Oliver (Eric Mabius) tie the knot with help from Rita (Yan-Kay Crystal Lowe) and Norman (Geoff Gustafson).
     
    In Signed, Sealed, Delivered: A Tale of Three Letters, the group is asked to find the intended recipients of three dead letters. But the POstables are distracted by their own problems. Shane and Oliver grapple with finding their footing as a married couple. Rita is anxious to start a family but Norman finds himself distracted.
     
    Signed, Sealed, Delivered
     
    Signed, Sealed, Delivered first came to the small screen in 2013 as a television series. Written by Martha Williamson — who also created the Touched by an Angel series — the show followed four employees of the United States Postal Service’s Dead Letter Office.
     
    Oliver (played by Eric Mabius), Shane (played by Kristin Booth), Rita (played by Crystal Lowe), and Norman (played by Geoff Gustafson) were tasked with tracking down intended recipients of undeliverable mail.
     
    After a successful first season, the show was changed from a 1-hour episode format to a 2-hour film format. Twelve films were released over the next seven years:
     
    Signed, Sealed, Delivered For Christmas (2014)
     
    Signed, Sealed, Delivered: From Paris With Love (2015)
     
     Signed, Sealed, Delivered: Truth Be Told (2015)
     
    Signed, Sealed, Delivered: The Impossible Dream (2015)
     
    Signed, Sealed, Delivered: From the Heart (2016)
     
    Signed, Sealed, Delivered: One in a Million (2016)
     
    Signed, Sealed, Delivered: Lost Without You (2016)
     
    Signed, Sealed, Delivered: Higher Ground (2017)
     
    Signed, Sealed, Delivered: Home Again (2017)
     
    Signed, Sealed, Delivered: The Road Less Travelled (2018)
     
    Signed, Sealed, Delivered: To the Altar (2018)
     
    Signed, Sealed, Delivered: The Vows We Have Made (2021)
    Hallmark star Crystal Lowe, who plays Rita Haywith in the film series Signed, Sealed, Delivered, will soon become a director. The actress is one of the first participants in Hallmark's new Make Her Mark Women’s Directing Program. (Image: Hallmark Media)

    RELATED NEWS: Signed, Sealed, Delivered star is making her debut as a movie director

    We’re waiting….

     
    Fans were left hanging following the premiere of The Vows We Have Made in 2021. For years, Hallmark would not say if a new movie would be made in the series. POstables began a campaign to raise awareness, sending then-CEO Wonya Lucas letters and emails urging her to keep the series going.
     
    Lucas acknowledged their efforts without revealing if a new movie was coming.
     
    During a red carpet interview at a 2023 ceremony for the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame, Lucas told The Sun that the network was working on a comeback for Signed, Sealed, Delivered.
     
    “We’re pretty excited about that,” she said and added, “I will tell you, the POstables are alive and well. They send me notes, they send me pictures, every time I go to my office, they’re there….So, we are really listening to our fans and leaning into the fandom.”
    Series star Eric Mabius also mentioned something during a 2023 interview with Australia’s Today Extra. When he was asked if there was a new project he was working on, he replied, “There is, and what a wonderful project.”
     

    New movie

     
    In March 2024, Hallmark finally announced that a new movie was in the works. Some fans were skeptical at first but when the stars themselves began posting on social media from the set of the film.
     
     
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  • Melissa Gilbert promotes new faith-based series written by When Calls the Heart creators

    Melissa Gilbert promotes new faith-based series written by When Calls the Heart creators

    Little House on the Prairie star Melissa Gilbert asked her fans to support a new series created by the team behind Hallmark’s When Calls the Heart.

    “Hey everyone! My dear dear pal Michael Landon Jr has a potential tv series that I’d love to see get picked up at @angelstudios_inc,” she wrote in a Facebook post. “There’s a teaser trailer available on @youtube just search for Home to Harmony and then please please, please consider voting for it.”

    New series

    Both Michael Landon Jr. and Brian Bird, the creative team behind Hallmark Channel’s longest-running original series, have also been busy promoting the show, titled Home to Harmony.

     
    “It has all the feels of When Calls the Heart and more,” Brian Bird wrote in a social media post.
     

    Faith-based series

     
    In Home to Harmony, Trent Garrett stars as Sam Gardner, a pastor who has returned to his hometown of Harmony, Indiana, following the death of his wife. A globe-trotting, motorcycle-riding hipster, Gardner is finding it difficult to settle back into small-town life, especially as he assumes leadership at a local church that does everything by the book.
     
    To make matters even more complicated, his children are having trouble adjusting to life without their mother.
     

    Home to Harmony

     
    The show is based loosely on the Home to Harmony book series by Philip Gulley, a Quaker pastor, writer, and speaker from Danville, Indiana.
     
    In addition to the Home to Harmony series, Gulley has also authored and co-authored several books on faith, including If Grace Is True, If God Is Love, If the Church Were Christian, The Evolution of Faith, and Living the Quaker Way: Timeless Wisdom For a Better Life Today.
     
    His work also appears regularly in Indianapolis Monthly and The Saturday Evening Post.  
    Erin Krakow and Michael Landon Jr. on the set of When Calls the Heart. Landon recently told fans of the Hallmark series that the show was influenced by his father's show Little House on the Prairie. (Image: Hallmark Media)

    RELATED NEWS: Michael Landon Jr. tells Hearties he wishes his father were alive to see the show.

    When and Where

     
    Bird and Landon recently released an 11-minute clip. They are working to get the series funded through Angel Studios, a crowd-sourcing platform that helps artists produce faith-based movies and shows.
     
    With a paid membership with Angel Studios, viewers can vote on which projects get funding. If Home to Harmony is approved for production, the show could be picked up by a network, though it is not clear if Hallmark would be its home.
     

    Fan reactions

     
    When Bird released the clip for Home to Harmony on social media, fans were quick to weigh in.
     
    “This looks like it will be an amazing series,” wrote one fan on Facebook.
     
    “Eleven minutes and I’m already crying!!” wrote another.
     

    The dream team

     
    In 2005, Michael Landon Jr. and Brian Bird formed the production company Believe Pictures. They produced the movies The Last Sin Eater, Saving Sarah Cain, Love Comes Softly, and a film version of When Calls the Heart.
     
    In 2014, When Calls the Heart was turned into a series starring Erin Krakow as Elizabeth Thatcher, a privileged young woman who moves to a remote coal-mining community in western Canada to teach school. She quickly falls in love, both with a handsome young Mountie and with the community of kindhearted and hard-working people of Coal Valley.
     
    The show is currently going into its 12th season on Hallmark Channel. Bird has made it clear he would love to keep the show going indefinitely.
     
    “… We’re going to try to catch up with The Simpsons, which is in season 42 or something like that,” he said during a 2023 fan event.
     
    To watch the Home to Harmony clip, click here. To become an investor in Angel Studios, visit their website here.
     
          

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  • The Way Home cast shares exciting previews for upcoming season

    The Way Home cast shares exciting previews for upcoming season

    The Way Home cast recently shared some teasers for the show’s upcoming season. At a press event, the stars of the Hallmark series and the show’s writers answered questions about developments in Season 3. From the sounds of it, fans will not be disappointed.
     

    The Way Home cast

     
    The Way Home premiered on Hallmark Channel in January 2023. Starring Andie MacDowell, Chyler Leigh, Sadie Laflamme-Snow, and Evan Williams, the series was billed as a multi-generational drama with a bit of magic.
     
    In the series, Chyler Leigh plays Kat Landry, a woman who uproots her teenage daughter, Alice (played by Sadie Laflamme-Snow), from Chicago to move home to the small town she fled following a family tragedy decades earlier.
     
    She moves back in with her mother, Del (played by Andie MacDowell), with whom she has a tense relationship. When Alice becomes curious about the tension between her mother and grandmother, she discovers she can time travel through a pond on her grandmother’s farm. She finds herself back in the 1990s and is able to see what her mother was like as a teenager and what the entire family was like before it was ripped apart by tragedy.
     

    The Way Home Season 2

     
    During an appearance at the ATX TV Festival in Texas, both the cast and the writers — which include mother-daughter show runners Heather Conkie and Alexandra Clarke, as well as series co-creator Marly Reed — answered questions about developments in Season 2 and talked about what to expect in Season 3.
     
    What can fans expect?
     

    More time travel

     
    One of the aspects that has set The Way Home apart from other shows is its use of time travel. Alice spent part of Season 1 in the 1990s. In Season 2, Kat jumped into the pond and found herself in 1814, where she finds clues about what led to her family’s tragedy.
     
    During their recent appearance, the show’s writers said that Season 3 will feature time travel. Though they didn’t say exactly which time period the characters would explore, they did say that it would be fun to put the Landry women in the 1950s.
     
    “I think it would be very, very interesting,” Heather Conkie said.
    The new Hallmark TV series The Chicken Sisters will star Schuyler Fisk, Genevieve Angelson, Lea Thompson, and Wendie Malick. (Image: Hallmark Media)

    RELATED NEWS: Hallmark releases details about all-new TV series The Chicken Sisters

    More Elliot time

     
    One of the main characters in the series is Elliot (played by Evan Williams), a neighbor and family friend who knows that the Landry women can travel through time. He is also in love with Kat, though he was married to someone else during the years she lived in the city.
     
    When asked if fans would ever get to see Elliot’s ex-wife in the show, the writers said yes.
     
    “Who have you been talking to?” Conkie joked.
     
    Marly Reed said the upcoming season will reveal many things about Elliot and his past. 
     

    More tension between the Landry women

     
    When the series started, Kat was having difficulties with her doughtier and it soon became clear she had a bad relationship with her mother. In Season 1, Kat and Alice were able to repair things, to a degree. In Season 2, Kat and Del had their own breakthrough. 
     
    But things will once again get rocky for the Landry women in Season 3.
     
    “…It’s going to get heavy,” Chyler Leigh said.
     

    The Way Home Season 3

     
    Though Hallmark has not yet given a release date for Season 3, the network has said that filming will begin on new episodes in August. 
     
    Since Season 1 and Season 2 premiered in January, it is likely that fans can expect a premiere in early 2025. However, Hallmark also announced that it is working on another new series, The Chicken Sisters. In the past, established series have had their season premieres pushed back a few months to accommodate the new shows.
     
    We will update this story as soon as we have a premiere date for The Way Home Season 3.
     
          

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