Hallmark Christmas Schedule 2026 - Live Reaction

[00:00:05] This is a Bramble Jam Podcast. Hi, I'm Bran and I love Hallmark Christmas Schedules. Oh, Brian, I like Hallmark Christmas Schedules. I'm Dan and I actually also love Hallmark Christmas Schedules. I'm Jax and I'm excited about this Hallmark Christmas Schedule. I'm Alonzo and here's the rest of your 2026 right here and this is the Deck the Hallmark Podcast.

[00:00:35] Deck The Hallmark Podcast, it's his podcast. Boy oh boy. Big day. It's here folks. It's here. We caught... It's the Super Bowl. It's the Super Bowl of our job. That's right.

[00:01:03] I will say this, Brent, we caught a real break because we were on our way to the bowling alley. We were in a festive year-round bowling league. Right. And we were on our way out the door. Yeah. Roll some spares, some strikes, have a good time. You forgot your ball, you had it back up. We were a big day drinker and then all of a sudden we get the email that the schedule's live and we didn't have time to change, obviously. Just sit down, press record. But we had to sit back down to do the show. We had to. This is the most important day of the year. We can bowl later, right? That's exactly right. We can bowl later.

[00:01:33] Jax, you're with us. Are you on bowling later? Yeah. I have to do it with the bumper lanes though. Is that cool with y'all? That's totally fine. That's totally fine. Yeah. No problem. And Alonzo, thank you for waking up early today. You know, for y'all, I will do it. And you could be accused of showing some favoritism by the way, because we are getting a bowling movie this year, but more on that. We didn't know that. And here's the thing is, you want to talk about coincidence. Not only were we going bowling, we're getting a Christmas bowling movie this year.

[00:02:03] Finally. That's right. So come on. That's exactly right. For those of you just waking up, we do have our Hallmark Christmas schedule. Yep. It is in full force. We are getting 34 new movies. That's 10 up. That's a 28% increase. I like that bump. I like that bump. Alonzo, you have to be feeling pretty good. That's over a 40% increase actually from last year. What a bump. Yes, yes, yes. I'm sorry. What was the question? Are you feeling good?

[00:02:32] Yes, no, for sure. You know, it feels like the more of a commitment this year to the bit, you know, and as again, sleepy kitty, always on top of things. As you pointed out, we're not futzing around with reality shows this year. We're not dropping exclusives on the plus. It's just like new movies, bam, bam, bam. We're getting that one special to sort of sell people on paying the outrageous cost of going to Kansas City for the Hallmark experience.

[00:03:00] And that's getting plum real estate right after Biltmore. So, you know, they know what they're focusing on this year. Yeah, true. That's true. We, yeah. So that does mean no finding Mr. Christmas, which is a downer a little bit. I am sad by that. I really enjoyed that program last year, but you know what? No baking. You guys are off the hook. Yeah. No baking. Yeah, I'm the champion. You know what's going to happen is Bran and Brian were going to bake for me this year. So that was a little bit of a downer because I was looking forward to just not having to do the work.

[00:03:29] I told you guys what we're doing instead is any movie that has baking, you guys will have to bake something. No. No, that's not true because there are a lot of generics on the card this year. So he refuses, so I went automatically. So you went automatically. That's exactly right. Shall we go through some of these? I think we have to. Yeah, we have. Before we do, can you guys hear me all right? Because my headphones just revolted. So it's just me. Yeah, we got to get you some new headphones. I'm going to, yeah, we're fixing it.

[00:03:59] It only happens once a week. That's right. It only happens when you come on the show. Aside from that, I'm sure they work great. Do we have any like over, like I had some overarching thoughts, which are like a lot of these are kind of like, there are some really good overarching thoughts. You had overarching thoughts? I arced them. Oh man. There are like eight or 10 that I think, man, I'm really excited about these, but there's like eight or 10 that I'm like, I've seen this movie a thousand times and I was just kind of like immediately over. So that's where I was with it.

[00:04:28] I was thinking about like, this is, we've now done this for what, four or five years now. Yeah. And I think there's just, you can never guess. No. The ones that seem like, oh, this star pairing or this plot, like, this is going to nail it. Like, you know, no. And then you can't like last year, the travel movies were good, but this year they're not like, or this sounds like garbage on paper, but then it turns out to be a sleeper.

[00:04:53] So I think we, we can't even fool ourselves into thinking that we can predict anything about what we're about to get. That's true. Yeah. I feel like at a first glance, I'm excited to see all the familiar names, the names that are new. I'm also excited about. I think what I'm less excited about is yes, it looks like a less specific season and it's not gay enough for me. Oh, thank you. No, I can't believe it's taken us this long.

[00:05:22] It's, it looks like we have a movie with one queer lead in it. Is that correct? The last one. The last one again, they always, that's what they love for the last slot. Yeah. The Jonathan Bennett, Italia Ricci movie. And I think really, I mean, I mean, thank goodness we've got Holly Robinson, Pete back in a movie and on mistletoe murders. But, uh, is there just sort of how many black leads are there? I mean, not a ton. There's a BJ Britt movie. It was saying one, right? It's Holly Robinson, Pete, but also, it gets a lead.

[00:05:51] Lindora gets a lead. Lindora, yes. I'm super excited guys about Charles Michael Davis. Who's co-starring with Taylor Cole. Sure. Yeah. And Tamera and Chris Palaha are leading a movie. That's true. That's true. I mean, but back to our original point that Jack says it wasn't gay enough. There's two dog movies. Yeah. Like there are multiple dog movies. That means there's two movies for Dave to choose from. So Dave better get it. He's already picked. Oh, he's already picked. Okay. Oh, wow.

[00:06:21] Send that in. You know what I mean? I mean, to be fair, we don't know if one of those dogs is gay yet. That's true. That could, that could be a third act twist for sure. You got to think about that. I mean, I'll say this. Hallmark is keeping their gay actors employed. You know, we've got, we got Luke McFarland. We got Jake Foy. We got Peter Port. We got Juan Pablo de Pache. But yeah, only Jonathan Bennett. We got Ali Liebert. Ali Liebert. Thank you. But only Jonathan Bennett is getting to play a gay character, which again, better than some

[00:06:50] years, but not as good as others. Also, are we sure that Ali Liebert and Brooke DiOrsay aren't kissing? Because that would make the season merry and bright and gay. Aren't they sisters? I think the description pretty much. Might be kiss on the cheek. You want to stand by? Did you read a thing, Jack? No. Her headphones aren't working, guys. I, they're not, I can't hear this. I saw Ali Liebert and Brooke DiOrsay and I was like, just let me see. You just started fan fictioning. Exactly.

[00:07:19] Listen, it makes sense. I will say this was exciting. We knew that we were getting the holiday touchdown movie during the marathon on Saturday. We weren't positive if we were getting a Friday night movie. We didn't last year. And so it's good to see we're back. We're kicking things off on, on Friday. So at eight o'clock. With one of the more generic sounding movies. If I see a ski resort single parent movie, like we, Marcus Rosner just did this movie. She's hyper organized.

[00:07:48] She's single and she's a party planner. Okay. Does she wear a walk man? Like I, like it's the big, the big thing here though, is Vic is playing a guy named Ridge. And I think that's all we need. Vic is Ridge. Now that's strong. So I will say this. I'm already, I'm already looking forward to how bad this movie is going to be and how much brand is going to rave about it live at the marathon. I'm already looking forward to it. Friday night. We're all going to be fresh with a lot of energy. Brain's going to lose his mind about this movie. It's true.

[00:08:17] I, I, I, after that, after that one last year with, uh, uh, the, the, the aunts from Sabrina, I'm not really dying for another pushy mom movie. Is the pushy mom Barbara Niven making it better for me? Admittedly. Yeah. I mean, yeah. Barbara Niven is not going to hurt, but this movie sounds very party planning out of the gate. The one way to lose me very quickly is party planning out of the gate. Party planning out of the gate. Friday night, fight night is what we're getting. I think though, apart from the, the, the bears where we're definitely, you can sense the,

[00:08:46] the October is the season for like, yeah, we'll just throw this out there and see if anything happens. It starts. The big guns are concentrated later. That's right. I don't know. Aside from the bears love story, you know, Paris, Daniel listening, Lori Loughlin, Tom Cavanaugh, but Halloween night. You kidding? It's a, it's a fairly generic start. I will say that the listening parish memory loss one is the exception to that.

[00:09:15] There's some stuff that could, could happen there. That could be fun, but the return of Rady. Yeah. But that Rady movie looks tough, man. Like I, I, I, I, Halloween night Rady movie for those of you that are playing along at home. That's Halloween evening. But also in the first line, they say, this is a single mother to her adopted daughter. Be better hallmark. Just write better. Like I'm going to be, I'm going to be so for real right now. As the kids are saying, I don't care what this movie is about.

[00:09:45] Michael Brady and Amy Groening, they can literally do anything. I think these are two fabulous leads. And also they're both so cute. Like they are darling and I don't care what this is about, how terrible the script is. I think I know I'm going to have a good time. I mean, I like those two leads a lot. Yeah. I just wish we could just say that she's a single mother to her daughter and not her adopted daughter. That's all I'm asking for. Uh, doesn't seem too tough to do. Uh, writers of, of plot.

[00:10:13] I always say, I love your adopted kids. That's how I always say that. Yeah. I'll give them this because I think there's an adopt a grandmother plot here or something along those lines that might be relevant. Isn't the name of the movie adopting St. Nick? Correct. Yeah. There's something there. Yes, of course. Uh, but like the Rhiannon Fish, Jake Foy movie looks very generic. Like just unfortunately generic. Another one this year. I mean like after last year's fish movie, especially, I mean, it was Jake Foy.

[00:10:43] It will be nice. Is that Jake? Jake Foy from, from, uh, from the, the, the, from the, the windsor show talk in the, text text. Oh, okay. Rod. Yeah. All right. I remember Jake Foy. Yeah. That's all you're going to say that. I thought it might be, uh, um, like another, like the Lindora movie. I'm so thrilled Lindura finally gets the lead that movie. Rigid accountant, uh, help her brother care for his younger son while military mom is deployed at Christmas.

[00:11:13] No, like I come on. What are we doing guys? Speaking of generic movies, by the way, you'll note that the Christmas and July movies never happened as far as this press release is concerned. No, it's true. Like 34 new movies during the season and like July was whatever. Like you can tell they're barely even committing to the bit that that was a real thing and it wasn't just like four movies they could pick up, you know, for relatively cheap. Yeah.

[00:11:39] No, the first like, oh, this sounds like fun and interesting and new and different is the Liebert Dorsey movie where Liebert is a stand up comic in this movie. And it doesn't appear to have a romantic angle. I'm sure there will be one, but it doesn't appear that the A or B storyline is a romance storyline, which would be a very big swing for Hallmark.

[00:12:02] I'm picturing her being like a Taylor Tomlinson type who I'm seeing in her book tour next week on the last day of Bisexual Visibility Week. So I do have, I do have three minutes. I have my cake. Taylor Tomlinson's new special was good. Saw it on Netflix. She's so funny. But I hope that's the vibe of this comedian. Can we talk about the fact that Nikki Deloach is playing a widow? Yeah. It's insane. Well, it's the holiday season all on.

[00:12:32] I saw Nikki Deloach and I was like, who died? Somebody died. Let her loved ones live, you know, just once. I would say fall in love with Nikki Deloach at your own peril. I don't even think it's safe. There's a practical magic thing going on there. Yeah, there's a curse. It's not safe to do it. You know what I mean? I have to ask y'all, you guys are all happily married. It says that she spent the last 10 years honoring the memory of her late husband. It's a long time.

[00:12:58] Would that be, what would you want your spouses to find? At least 15. At least 15. 10 is low. 10 is low. After 10 years, they could maybe switch from black to purple. That's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They should at least get one tattoo of my face on them. At least one. Listen, everyone mourns at their own speech. And honestly, for Hallmark, 10 years is an eternity. It's so long. So long.

[00:13:24] Well, and she's been raising kids, so it's like, I'm sure that's her excuse to not get out there. Her kids are 10 days. Keegan and Boo. She's a child named Boo. Yes. Keegan and Boo from Monsters. Me and you and a kid named Boo. They could have put that movie on Halloween. Instead, they threw Rady in there. Unbelievable. How about Juan Pablo de Pache's character has co-founded a web platform. Yep. A web platform. A whole platform. It doesn't matter what it's about. Not an app.

[00:13:52] He co-founded not an app, not a company, a web platform. Really cool in 2005. Like an amazingly cool way to describe the movie. You can spin off a platform so easy these days. Oh, the web platform. Oh, well, the mailing. Really good. It's sturdy. It's got a nice railing with steps on the side. It's phenomenal, that web platform. Yeah, Season of Promises is probably that. Should we make shirts that say, let her love interest live? Absolutely. 100%. And I will say this.

[00:14:21] Kudos to Hallmark for giving us probably the most anticipated movie not named Biltmore Disney with the Heinz movie before Thanksgiving week. November 14th. 14th. Yeah. You know, a time loop Tyler Hines movie. They did that last year, too. They threw him out there before. But he had multiple movies last year. He had like three movies last year. But that's a pretty big weekend. You got the Tyler Hines movie and then the Palaha movie back to back. And the Luke McFarlane movie, My Christmas Cowboy. Oh, is that on Friday? Yes. Wow.

[00:14:51] That's an all-star weekend. That's a weekend. Dude, that's when it's real. That's the greatest weekend right there. I think that's the greatest weekend. Amy Acker, Luke McFarlane is a really great pairing. For sure. And that has the ability to have some fun because there was an on-camera gaff in that movie as part of the plot. So that could be fun. All right. Okay. I mean, I think that's the weekend to beat, though. Yeah, for sure. 100%. Per capita? Did Heinlein write this, the Heinz movie as well? I don't know. I wish I knew.

[00:15:18] That's the one thing that drives me crazy about this initial press release is they don't give you writers and directors, which does matter. You know, I did wonder, the one that I was able to find is that the Bears love story is directed by Dustin Reichert, who did Finish Line, which we all really like. And it was a sports movie. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's true. Well, I mean. He's a pro. Most of the movies he does end up, you know, having a quality bar. I feel like Russ did write the Heinz movie and the Palaha movie. He did write the Palaha movie.

[00:15:48] He definitely wrote the Palaha movie. Yes. But I feel like when it was announced, it was he, like, shared it and said, this is going to be a good one. I will say this. Early lead in the clubhouse for me upon first read is Rachel Lee Cook playing identical twins. We were due for a better identical twins movie than Switch for Christmas, where the actor in that particular role, I don't think really understood or embraced necessarily what it means to play. Which one is that? I don't know.

[00:16:18] Is that Rachel Lee or Cook? Rachel Lee Cook playing identical twins. In Wales. Seems like a just. The movies in Wales? Yeah. Wow. Oh, cool. I wonder if the soccer. Seems like a fun time for sure. Is she the Michael B. Jordan of the holiday season? She's the Michael B. Jordan of the. Yeah, they're calling this Hallmark Sinners. It's her Mickey 17. It's going to be really good. It's going to be really good. Jax, what's sticking out to you on your first glance upon this schedule?

[00:16:48] So at a first glance, I am very excited, of course, about the Aaron Cahill, Andrew Walker. I cannot believe we've not worked together on a Hallmark movie before. And I just think they're both so charming and lovely. And I think it's going to be a gosh darn delight. There it is. It's a good pairing from, you know, Aaron is such a. Aaron. Aaron. When's that Aaron? I don't know. When is that Aaron? When's that release date? I think that's November. Flick?

[00:17:17] It's something. Blue Dog or something? November 20, 27, 21. November 21st. It's 21. November 21st. Christmas in Blue Dog Valley. Yes. Dave, by the way, did want to register his displeasure that there are two dog movies and zero kitties. The way God intended. Oh, there's something. There's something. I know that. Listen, we got cats last year. Yeah. We're fine. I told him that too, and it didn't matter. He wants cats every year.

[00:17:47] I agree with Dave. There's multiple cat movies each year. I'm sure there will be a cat. Yeah, somewhere. I mean, Robert Buckley. They're famously easy to train and work with, so you know. Bryguy, there's a Boston movie this year produced by Giada De Laurentiis, which leads me to the chat where someone's handle is unsolicitedvicpics. Oh, spoiler alert. I don't want to hear about this yet. I haven't watched the episode.

[00:18:13] I don't want to hear anything about unsolicitedvicpics, and it says, I hope Giada is better at movie producing than she is at ballroom dancing. Ruh-roh. Yeah, she's on Dancing with the Stars. I haven't seen it yet. Very excited to watch her on there. And Tatiana Ali on Dancing with the Stars. This movie stood out to me immediately. Of course it did. I mean, the pastry of it all, the Giada of it all. Is North End where those two very famous pastry places are? Is that where that is? Yeah. Mike's and the other one. Mike's and the other one. They're both amazing.

[00:18:41] I mean, we're officially on Kevin McGarry Boston Accent Watch. We are right now. Let's place the bats. Let's place the bats. He'll do it again. No doubt about it. He's pulling it back out. He gets bored if he doesn't. He likes to do things. Danielle Monet, are you kidding me? She is so hilarious. This is going to be great. Danielle Monet, Kevin McGarry, a really great pairing. Yeah. A really great pairing.

[00:19:06] If one thing leaps out at me from this entire thing, it is that we have a re-teaming of Ashley Williams and Alison Sweeney from their Barcelona movies with Steve Lund. It's actually called Barcelona. But thank you. However, we are meant to believe that Alison Sweeney is playing, and I quote, the free-spirited, music-loving Joe.

[00:19:32] There's a lot in the paint box of Ms. Alison Sweeney. I don't know that free-spirited is one of them. Like, she does not strike me as a throw-your-head-back-and-laugh kind of lady. I'm so glad that you did this, and I did not know that until you read it out loud. Let me talk about this because I talked with Anna Kemp about this, who's the executive hallmark that helped produce this. And she said that it was a very strategic, fun decision.

[00:20:01] They wanted to do the opposite role of what they would normally do. And I feel like I think they pulled it off. Great. Thank you, Jax. Have you seen her? Ashley can totally be the uptight one. Ashley can. Yes. Ashley's got that range for sure. But if we watch it, and it turns out to not work by some miracle, then we'll be wondering what would have happened if they had switched roles and done the thing that they were like. Right? Like, it's just... Maybe they will in the movie.

[00:20:31] They'll decide to switch. They'll just switch. It'll be a holiday switch. That would be amazing. A sister swap, if you will. The production of True Mess where they switched roles for all the theater nerds out there, I think that's an actor's dream. Yeah. We're getting Paul Campbell, Rachel Boston. The ultimate could go either way movie. Again, they've done it before. And he's playing someone grumpy. This is my favorite plot, though, of the holiday season. What's the plot, Dan? So an eight-year-old writes a letter to Santa. Yeah.

[00:21:00] It gets lost in the North Pole. And it's all the things that he wants when he's eight. This is... Like, some of this might not be exact. The years might not be exact. But basically, he stops believing in Santa, becomes a curmudgeon. Like, decades later as an adult, they find his letter at the North Pole. And they start giving him all of his wishes as an eight-year-old, as a grown-up. And it causes problems. I love that idea. That is a new idea for Hallmark. Could it go really poorly? Sure.

[00:21:29] But I read the synopsis, and I was like, this is a great idea for a Christmas movie. Yeah. Yeah. That is fun. Yeah. We should not sleep on the fact that for the last several years, the Hanukkah movies have been bangers. Yeah. And this year, we're getting Hunter King and Dan Janot in Eight Nights for Love. And I am officially here for it. But being released 6 p.m., not during Hanukkah. I didn't understand that very much. They usually...

[00:21:57] Oh, when does Hanukkah start this year? December 4th to 12th. So it's the Sunday before, but it is interesting that... They could have done the Friday or Saturday to kick off Hanukkah. Well, I think the fact that they're doing it in Thanksgiving weekend, though, may be a sign of confidence. 6 p.m., though. More eyeballs, maybe? Do you guys know if either of these actors are Jewish? That's a good question. I wondered about that, but then I thought, I'm not going to get in there. Yeah. I think it's nice.

[00:22:27] Hunter King is of Jewish descent. Oh, okay. Okay. Boom. Rock on, baby girl. Yeah. I assume they have the data on the eyeballs on the best of... I think Alonso's on to something there. Yeah. Thanksgiving weekends are pretty good. They're like, yeah, 6 p.m. the Sunday after Thanksgiving will get us more eyeballs than the first Saturday at 8 p.m. on... Right. Also, you do not generally, I think, premiere a Jewish-themed film on a Saturday night.

[00:22:56] Well, I guess if it's a Friday night, you wouldn't do it. Saturday, you could. Anyway, they put it where they put it, and I hope it's good. Shout out. Shout out, Sabbath. Shout out, Sabbath. Yeah. I really like that pairing, though. I really like that pairing. Yeah, very much. I'm excited about that. That'll be fun. And then that gets us to December. I mean, look at this pairing. Well, we got to talk about Disney briefly because... Oh, yeah, you're right. You do have to talk about it. Richard Kind is in a Hallmark movie. Yeah. Full stop. There's... Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:23:25] This movie, the minimum it can be is a 5 of 10. Look at that guy right there. Richard Kind, there's no way that he can say anything and it not elevate a Hallmark movie. Like, I'm 100% here. Christy Carlson Romano of the Disney Channel fame. Also, in Holiday Ever After, A Disney World Wish Come True. Not to mention we get Lacey Chabert and Travis Van Winkle, which I think could be a really great pairing. But Richard Kind is the big news here. Yeah. Richard Kind is a...

[00:23:54] God, why am I blanking on his name? Y'all had him on the show. Ned Ryerson. Oh, yeah. Tobolowsky. It's a Tobolowsky-level get for this network. Yeah. But can I just say, I have a kinship with Christy Carlson Romano. That girl is thirsty. She wanted to be in a Hallmark movie. She was putting it out there. And now she is. And I just think that's so cool. Like, I like that she doesn't have... Look, we don't mind being pick-me girls. We want to do it. So we'll put ourselves out there. And I love that about her.

[00:24:23] They should give her a lead. She's very gifted. Yeah. Absolutely. And Hallmark, you should also hire Jacqueline Collier since we're here. Yeah, Jack, stop playing so hard to get. Yeah. Jack, make yourself more available to the Hallmark channel. That is true. It's so sad. It's so sad. Maybe I'll try a new approach in the new year and just be like, I'm not into it. I will say this.

[00:24:48] The plot of Snowflake Effect with a magical glass snowflake makes me want to just throw up on the sidewalk. However, Heather Hemmings and Mark Ganimay may set the screen on fire. I think that's the thing that matters. And that's definitely a couple I checked. They might set the screen on fire. Like, I saw the leads and I was like, oh, okay. I think we know what the draw is here. I think we know what's going on here for sure. Oh, my gosh. And Jane Eastwood, she's... I've been watching the old SCTVs that just dropped on Netflix.

[00:25:17] And she's featured in one of the episodes. Oh, cool. So, like, she's a comedy pro. Tony here with some good insight. I'm here from Tony. If you watched Allison Sweeney's character on Days of Our Lives, she might actually be able to do the free spirits. Okay. Okay. All right. All right. There's some insight for you. Admittedly. None of us, believe it or not, we have not gone back. I did not. Should we start? I did not go back and check that out. I am excited. If she didn't play twins, I can't be bothered. Yeah.

[00:25:47] I am excited to go back to Biltmore. The Gilded Age brand? Apparently, I'm not excited about the Gilded Age, but I'm excited about this pairing. I think this pairing is fun. I'm excited about maybe potentially... Will there be time travel again? I hope so. I hope so. And apparently they're doing some sort of tour. I don't really know anything about this, but they're doing a tour. And Asheville's one of the stops. Maybe we'll... Maybe we'll... Asheville. Boogie on up. Shout out.

[00:26:14] There is, in fact, time travel because Mater's character is of the now, and then he winds up in the past. Good. Yeah. Look how long he wrote a now Mater. That should be fun. It should be Andy McDowell, pride of South Carolina. That's right. That's right. Rachel Boston on West, yeah. They cameoed in the first one. Sure did. I don't like that Hallmark's just giving away the cameos. Did you see that in the Bears description? They just tell you that Tamara's going to show up in that movie.

[00:26:42] Like, what's the fun of cameos if I just know all the names of the cameos? Like, I don't know. It's a new thing they're trying. I bet you there's more, I think, in the case of that one. They had to list all the bears who were in it, so they were like, what the heck? Let's just use them. Say it right. The Bears. There we go. Full respect. The Bears. Ah, Bears. There we go. There's Smokey. Smokey the Bears. Yogi. Yogi the Bears. That's right. That's right. Teddy. That's the important ones. Teddy.

[00:27:10] My son's name is Grizzly, so we'll throw him in the mix. His on-screen debut. Debut. That's what I just said. Debut. Debut. Overarching. That's a cool record. Debut. I'm always excited to see Kimberly Sustid, but whenever I hear a movie is based on a country song, I do pause a bit. Five more many years. So this is tough because we just watched Paris is Always a Good Idea. Yes, we did, Jax. You recognize this fella right there?

[00:27:38] One of Hallmark's most successful TV programs, in my opinion. I think it's the best or the second best TV program they've ever done. Scott Michael Foster was so good in it, like amazing. So I'm excited that he's in a Hallmark Christmas movie. This movie sounds awful. It sounds so bad. Really? I don't want any part of it, but I'm going to- Have you heard the song? Yeah. I don't know if I have.

[00:28:03] But I'll tell you, Sustid has saved some dicey concepts in the past. Yeah. That's true. True. I'd trust her with almost anything. I think those two are going to make a great pairing. A really great pairing. So I'm not mad about that. They call her Dicey Sustid. No, I don't think so. I will say this. I love that Ian Harding is back. Oh, yeah. When's that? Where's that at? December 19th. Barking All the Way sounds like such a bad movie.

[00:28:32] And that's the one Dave wants to do. He'll be great. He'll be so good in that. Dave always ends up with the movie close to when we sing Christmas Shoes. You know what I mean? Yeah. Well, look, just to- I was going to- I went into this season thinking, well, of course I'll do the Jonathan Bennett movie. And then I found out it was the last one. I'm like, I am not doing the Christmas Shoes episode. No, you want to steer clear of that. Yeah. Me too. Yeah. You get it. Why, though? I don't understand. The delay, you know, and I can't get the harmony just right.

[00:29:01] Well, I think Dave has to join us on that anyway. He did last year, so tradition at this point. I'll let you guys work that out. I'll get it on his rider. No, this movie doesn't sound good. Ian Harding, though. Tori Anderson. I'm happy for both of them. And maybe I'll be wrong. Sometimes I am. Sometimes the movies that sound the worst are better than- Exactly. Again, we don't know anything. Yeah. We don't know anything. I also love Jonathan Bennett and Italia Ricci being best friends, both looking for love. I think it's a really cool premise. Yes. You know there's going to be red light therapy all over that movie.

[00:29:30] It's going to be so fun. But also, the last movie of the year- That deserved a bigger laugh than it got. It was good. The last movie of the year typically is better than the rest of that weekend. Or one of those movies, like the Christmas Baby last year is the best movie. Usually they save one good one. They save the good one. I'm very encouraged by this schedule release. You know what we haven't mentioned once? What's that? Lori Loughlin and Tom Cavanaugh. You did. You did.

[00:30:00] And it's Lori Loughlin, for the love of God. I will say, what a great pairing. And we're thrilled Lori Loughlin's back on the network. That's right. She's back on the network this weekend. We'll be reviewing our very first Garage of the Mystery. What better time to get in than with the- 24th. I don't know which one. This is a great movie of a series. We are going to fully understand the nuances of the characters. And it's going to be great. Yeah. We're not going to have to wait long. We're going to double Lori in one month. Right. Because she's a big month. What if Christmas, October 25th?

[00:30:29] And that's a really good pairing. 100%. Good pairing. And I like that they're playing an established couple and parents. It's like, you know, I think Hallmark doesn't always quite know what to do with their cast members as time goes on. And I think they're figuring out, like, you know, it's okay if they're already an established couple and the story's about something else. You know? And so I'm glad they're doing that.

[00:30:55] There's another movie on the calendar that has a couple that was married for years and then get divorced and then, like, Cranberry Christmas, I believe. Yes, yes. What movie was that? That was, Cranberry Christmas. Yeah, that's what it was called. It was... No, Cranberry Christmas is DeLoach and Ayers. Right. I'm talking about there's one this year that has a similar vibe. Oh, gotcha. Okay. Where the two leads were married and then, yeah, I read it earlier.

[00:31:21] Not that we got this early, but I read it earlier and now I can't find where it is. Three years post-divorce, an angel in my stocking. An angel in my stocking. The Goob and Marco Grazini. The Goob and Marco Grazini. That's December 6th. That's why we're here. That's why we're here. December 7th. Well, the Lawrence one, I believe, is the old, what if we never got married switcheroo, which we've seen as you. Sliding doors? It's a sliding doors? Yeah, basically, yeah.

[00:31:48] Which, in the past, like, you know, back when they did it with Lacey and basically put her in the family man, it was the way that it felt like the network was punishing working women for not having chosen. Same in A Dream for Christmas with Deloach and Walker. Thank you. Yes. Real bad. But I think it was a little better with the, when it was, God, it's very early in the morning for me. You're doing great. You're doing amazing. The Desperate Housewives couple when they had the...

[00:32:18] Oh, yeah, yeah. Terry Hatcher, James Denton. That one, yes. That one was about him and about him actually having been kind of a, he would have been more of a jerk had he not gotten married. So I thought that was at least a better take on it. We'll see how they pull it off with these two. Jax, back when you were a little bit more bubbly, a little bit more seshy, did you cover Garage Sale Mysteries? No, we actually didn't. So we were coming on board with the network.

[00:32:46] We were at, we were just about to go to Upfronts. We were so excited because we had like a, like a little song that we had come up with that had Lori Loughlin's name in it. She was meant to be there. You came up with a song. Wow. They didn't let us play. Shaw had a ukulele and honestly, it was kind of cute. Do you remember the song? You want to debut it right now? Here's the change. It was about six years ago at this point, but it was cute and everyone's names were in it.

[00:33:13] And then they came out and said, you know, Lori's no longer in the network. And they were like, and she was never meant to be at Upfronts. And I was like, yes, she was. Stop gaslighting me. Exactly. So no, we never covered any Lori content. And I just think she's a great actor and I'm glad she's back on Instagram. And everyone who has worked with her has said she's just a great person. And meeting her once, she was very warm. And I really hope that.

[00:33:43] Was she sick or what happened? No, I mean, no, it was like a 101 degree fever. It actually was hot as all get out. But yes, ever, ever since Kevin McGarry told us the story of Lori picking him up for his audition, last minute audition to play Nathan Grant. And he, they flew him in and Lord, nobody could, their driver left. And Lori just jumped in her car and went and picked him up. Like all I know, like in my head, she just seems like the best person.

[00:34:12] She just does. Like, I know we give her a hard time for the rowing thing because that's what we do around here. But I think she would, I think she'd think it was funny. And I do, I, I, I'm thrilled that she's back. She belongs on Hallmark and she belongs working on the screen. Um, and happy that she's back. So definitely. And also where are we getting all this excellent information from? From People Magazine from our girl. Breanne. That's right. She got the exclusive. Yeah.

[00:34:38] I hope she gets every exclusive that there ever is to have at Hallmark because she's my girl. All right. There you go. Jackson wants Breanne to get every exclusive. We should. Don't give it to anybody else except for us. There you go. Now we go. We clicked. It got, we got. Hallmark guy words, I think is where you're going. You got, you just, it just clicked. There it was. It was a little. She's willing to come on that show and give us the chance. There we go. I like that. Yeah. Who, who are you guys missing this year?

[00:35:07] I think that's always the thing. Uh, Rosner. Our boy Rosner getting shut out. And then Brennan Elliott. Yeah. Brittany Bristow. Brittany Bristow. Evan Roderick. Though he's probably off training to be a cop. So. Bethany Joy Lenz. Yeah. Oh my God. Joy Lenz isn't in here. Katie Finley. Katie Finley. Katie Finley for sure. Yeah. I didn't see that. She's not here. Caporell. Uh, uh, oh God. Uh, Kim Matula. Kim Matula is a huge loss. Chandler Massey.

[00:35:37] I mean, Vic McAless. But whatever. Vic McAless always. Yes. Every year. They're done with Hallmark. Even though they say they're not, they said, oh, Hallmark, call me. Please, please. Someone call him. Yeah. Call Vic McAless. Uh, oh, Brooke Nevin. Yeah. It's been a while. Yeah. We'd like to see Brooke Nevin back for sure. Those are all good ones. Those are good ones. Um, I'm trying to think. I feel like there was another big one. Our boy, Alex Santos. Alex Santos.

[00:36:04] I mean, there's no, uh, I don't see any Erica Tavale, but Antonio Cajon. He's in here. He is. Oh, we're amazing. He's not on the script. Uh, he's in one of these movies, but not listed as a cast. Yeah. Okay. Good. Good. Yeah. I would maybe go camp, camp, uh, maybe drink, eat some soup, soup, some Campbell's soup. Thank you, Brian. Yes. In Boston.

[00:36:34] Would you do that in Boston? I would eat Campbell's soup in Boston with Antonio Cajon. Yes. Everyone know what's going on except for me. Probably. If you were to, if you were to pick a movie he would be in. Yes. It would be with Campbell's soup. Eat some Campbell's soup in Boston. Okay. Okay. I'm. You're being very cagey, but I got it. Yeah. Return to Santa. A lousy commercial. Return to Santa. Is that right? Yeah.

[00:37:05] Uh, we're, we're skipping right over Noel Nomads because we should. First of all. Yeah. Why is it called Noel and not with two L's and an E? I don't. That's our, yeah. That's our boy Ayers too. That movie did not. Is it, is it the lead's name? It is not. No. Her name is Nora. So yeah, I don't, I don't know what's going on here, but I, I, it is going to be one of those movies that, that punishes people for wanting to go to Hawaii for Christmas. That's true.

[00:37:33] What about Amelia Ullerup getting to play Danish in a movie? Yeah. It's a big deal. Okay. She is, you know, in the Danish Christmas movie with Corey Settier. With severe weather warner. That's right. She's going full Dane. So she's, I think she'll probably have a little bit. Dane alert. Is he directing it by chance to be now? I have no idea. Not on the screen here. There's no way to, there's no way to know. No one's directing anything apparently. That's right. Yeah. Of course. That won't be fun in Copenhagen, y'all. Absolutely. Anything else?

[00:38:03] Anybody? Yeah. Any other things that pop out to us? 34. Big jump up. Brand, we got more work to do. 28% increase. Big jump up. I'm very excited to kick off the marathon with all of you. We're starting on the 16th. And we've got double movies, which is exciting. Yep. Friday and Saturday. So come on for that. And while you're there on the 16th, you might be able to get yourself a little book. Which, do we want to debut the cover? What? Right now? Yeah. Oh my God.

[00:38:33] This is breaking. We got a book. Another book coming out. Oh my goodness. If you read Oh Christmas Tree, you're going to need to get yourself our latest book, Oh Christmas Con. That's exactly right. Kindle presale is available now and print is available on October 16th. Oh, what could happen in Oh Christmas Con? You never can tell. Is it a convention? Is it a con? A robbery. A robbery.

[00:39:02] Everything is on. There's no way to know. It's not a robbery. Yeah. Let no one say you guys don't know how to market. Oh Christmas Con available October 16th and might be for sale if we appear at a different Christmas Con. Obviously. That's true. Yeah. Serious question. We can pre-order on Kindle, but I want to pre-order a hard copy. Can I do that or no? You've got to wait on the prints ordering. Yeah. Yeah. And we'll have a big push.

[00:39:30] That's that's you'll be in town for the, uh, the marathon. We'll have a copy waiting for you. We'll have a copy waiting for you. Yeah. Heaven forbid you support us financially. We, we will. No, but I want to get it for people. I'm not, I'm not even kidding. Yeah. So I can buy copies of that at the marathon. Yeah. Or on Amazon, somebody in the set lusting Bruce. That's our, that's our boy. Jesse said another book. Yeah. Yeah. This is it though. I think, right. This is probably. Two and a half. You know what I mean? That's true.

[00:39:59] No, we have plans for a, uh, a whole universe. A 12. It's a 12 book contract. We signed with a Kindle direct publishing. Yeah. That's exactly right. That's exactly right. Yeah. That's half an advent calendar. Yeah. Oh boy. That's true. Very excited. Very excited about this holiday season. Follow along all holiday season long. And Alonzo and Jax, of course, will be joining us throughout the holiday season, and specifically reviewing some Netflix Christmas movies,

[00:40:27] which we don't have the official release of, but you better believe. Well, the one is not. Watch for that, right? Like a look ahead at the preview? Well, I don't know about that, but I do know this. We will be doing our first, I think we might have to do three previews for 34 movies. This is, this is effing BS is what this is. How else should we do it? We just talked about every one of these movies. 15 per? We just talked about every one of these movies. We did not talk about every one of these movies. How about we just run? We absolutely did not. Okay, well, how about we take the ones we definitely talked about,

[00:40:55] and everyone just quick throws out a thing, and then we go to the ones we have not talked about. No, because I didn't, like, no one, like, some of them, we didn't even talk about what happens in the movie. Right, we didn't do our peppermint mocha. We didn't do any of that. Yes. That's the problem. Everybody wants to rush to the holidays. I've got all these creams. What am I supposed to do with them? You can't hold on to those things. You can't hold on to those things. You know that more than anybody. They've got a shelf life. It's unhealthy. Previews are coming soon for the Hallmark movies. Ryan's going to be back this holiday season covering Up TV, which that schedule has already been released. That's right.

[00:41:25] So stay tuned for that. That's exciting. Patrick's going to be joining us this holiday season to be reviewing Lifetime. We're adding Lifetime to the Slay for the first time ever, so we're excited about that. So it's going to be a fun holiday season. Mistletoe Murder Season 3, shall we? No, actually. No, it's a no for us. No, absolutely. Alonzo will be on the Mistletoe Murder's Beach. Which premieres early November, yes? Yes, and apparently it airs on Thanksgiving night. Wowzers. Okay. Yeah. Interesting.

[00:41:52] But are they doing the double episode release again, right? I think so, although if that's the case, then I don't know how that one-hour holiday experience special is going to throw things off or not. It says the premiere. I think it's one a week, because it says the premiere is November 5th at 8 p.m., which would mean... And it's running right through like the 17th or something. So that's one a week. It's eight weeks. Of December? Of December. Yes.

[00:42:22] Yeah, one a week. That'll be one a week. That's interesting. Schedule's getting all kinds of full around here. I mean, that'll be interesting because we've not done reviews that way. There's 12 ups. Piecemeal. 34 Hallmark, 12 ups, eight mistletoe murders. How many lifetimes do you think? Probably 10. 10? Yeah. 46, 56, 64 new properties. 64 ups. And we haven't gotten to Netflix yet. That's true. Netflix, probably eight of those. So that's 72. Eight.

[00:42:52] Crazy. So we're about a day. We're almost all ready to an ep a day. There you go. Already right there. There you go. There you go. And I'll just say this really quick before we leave. If I were you, I'd show this holiday season hungry because we got you covered. Ooh, that's a great team. I'd show up. And you know what? If you're you two, you guys are, that's getting shipped to you as well. Heck yeah. In the coming weeks, look for something in your mailbox or nearby. That's right. So stay tuned for that. Okay. Anything else for the people? No? Okay, great.

[00:43:22] Until next time, maybe the first to wish you a Merry Christmas. Where is it? Whenever you're ready. It's there. Oh, that was a rim shot. I see. Deck, the Hallmarks of Bramble Jam podcast produced by Brandon Gray. You can go to deck to Hallmark.com. Follow us on the socials at deck to Hallmark on Instagram and leave us a five-star rating and review on Apple podcast and to find the best corner of the internet with ad-free podcasting, live video watch-alongs, movie chats, and so much more.

[00:43:50] You can go to BrambleJamPlus.com. You're about to hear some ads that help keep the lights on here in the old studio. Thanks for listening or don't listen. It's really up to you at this point. It's at the end of the show. I mean, you're listening to me. Hi. But here they come. I promise they're coming. Yep. Here they are. Happy day.