Hallmark My Word #4 - Hallmark News with Jacks

[00:00:01] Hello, I'm Jacks and welcome to Hallmark My Words. Stay tuned to find out why flirting is the devil's foreplay.

[00:00:14] Alright, yeah. Oh wow. Unbelievable. I don't know what that means. What a teaser there. That's what we call a tease. Hi Jacks. There you go. New setup for you today. Look at how good the setup looks. This is not you sitting on the floor below your couch or whatever you do normally.

[00:00:35] We recorded an episode of Making the Merge with Jacks talking about our live show that we did at Bramble Fest. That's awesome. Recapping it and what not. Of course, what a time. And this was her set. And I said, I've recorded with you like every week. Wow. She heard the Making the Merge boys were going to be on there and she was like, I got to up my game. For the two of us, nothing. Nothing. Wow. I laughed so hard. I thought about it for the next few days. Bran was like, at the very end, Bran said, how come it's never like this for my show?

[00:01:05] That's right. It looks great. Yeah. Yeah. I will say, I told Bran this, Dan, I implemented it the day before with Rachel on Hallmarkies on our onstage blog podcast. Hallmarkies. Shout out to the Hallmarkies and the onstage. I'm sorry. Of course. It wasn't just for the Merge boys. Sure. This is my new spot. I mean, yeah, I am obsessed with PDA. Well, I mean, we all are. We all are. I get it. Yeah. Yeah. But we get it.

[00:01:33] Justin and I have chats about it constantly. Listen, he is a wonder. Yep. He's a wonder. One of one. But I will say that this is the new me. It looks great. It looks wonderful. Really does. I mean, I don't even know what to do with it. It's like, it looks well lit. It's crazy. We can hear you. You got a fun background. You guys know I could have always been doing this. This is by the window. But my, I couldn't figure out how to position it. So, but now I.

[00:02:02] I will say, and the light, the light that's like you, you even look younger here. If it's possible. Not that you looked old to begin with, but you look even younger. It's unbelievable. Yeah. I will. I will say also, even just for the, the happiness, mental health factor of it all, having the sun shining in just feels good. Shelby loves the setup in the chat. There you go. Heidi says, hi. Everybody is excited to see you, Jax. I'm excited to see everyone.

[00:02:32] And we've got some fun stuff to talk about today. It's my new favorite show. We do have some fun stuff to talk about today. What's our first segment, Jax? Okay. So on, on, um, Hallmark My Words today, we're going to kick it off with everyone's favorite segment. Sit down for a little bit of Hot God. Hot God. Hot God. Yeah.

[00:02:58] Now this is different than the rest of the segments because this is maybe not flattering. I will say the two stories today definitely aren't. Sometimes Hot God can be flattering. Sometimes it can be, but today it is not. What are we kicking off with first, Jax? Okay. So today we're going to kick off with Hot God in this segment where the tea is piping hot and we are serving it. Okay.

[00:03:24] So former Kentucky governor, Matt Bevin was arrested on the set of a Christmas movie. And I have to say, this was on Danica McKellar's Christmas movie. I love Danica so much. And if anyone could handle this with grace and class, it's Danica McKellar. So I honestly think it couldn't have happened to a better person because she probably handled it really well. But yeah. He's on the set. Okay.

[00:03:53] Fully on the set. Please show up. This headline is everything I want. It's a perfect headline. Former Kentucky governor arrested on the film set for an upcoming Christian holiday movie. In some articles, they say it's a cameo, but he was doing background work, which is great. Nothing wrong with doing background work, but I wouldn't call that a cameo. But this one says he was appearing as a featured extra. Featured extra.

[00:04:23] Featured extra. What is it? Does that mean he doesn't have any lines, but he's, is his name going to be in the credits? Oh, no. No, no, no. He used to be governor of the state. Okay. If you're a featured extra, you usually, you know, you actually see their face. So this, um, it, it, it briefly was like a crime drama, murder mystery situation. Um, he didn't kill anybody that we know of, but honestly, I wouldn't put it past him. Allegedly. I have to say that. Right. You do.

[00:04:53] Thank you for saying that. This is, uh, they were filming a Danica and her co-star Matthew Marson. Um, we're filming the greatest Christmas gift. That hasn't been taken yet. Huh? That's wild. I mean, probably. Yeah. Okay. How actually hasn't that been? I mean, Jesus greatest Christmas gift. That's good. Someone's had to have, right? It has that before. Um, check IMDb. So they were filming on a beautiful farm. We got a horse farm folks. We got a horse farm.

[00:05:23] A horse farm in Paris, Kentucky, which I've been to. I love Kentucky. I love Lexington. Paris is beautiful too. Hold on. So the last, uh, six weeks when you do your, uh, French and you talk about going to Paris, is that what you've had? Is that the only Paris, Kentucky? Is that the only Paris you've been to? Yeah. Maybe we. Right. Yeah. Hey, do you know, uh, Brandon Dan are on in Lexington, Kentucky. That's true. Public radio, Lexington, Kentucky. That's right. Who won't win? You can listen to it in Lexington, Kentucky.

[00:05:53] Lexington, guys, there's, there's like, it is one of my favorite cities. I love Lexington. I think it's a Detroit. We, we, may we. Uh, no. Yeah. That is where, maybe that's why I didn't go to Paris, Disneyland is because it's not in Paris, Kentucky. It's crazy. Yeah. I can see, I can see the, uh, confusion. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Unfortunate. Um, so Bevin Serge is a Republican governor of Kentucky from 2019. Um, he, he, Democrats get arrested too sometimes.

[00:06:22] Okay. I don't know if they get arrested on Christian movies. Um, sorry, go ahead. Probably not. Well, definitely not just as a featured extra, which again, nothing wrong with being a featured extra. I'm just saying, it's like, why was he even taking the chance when he's like barely, he's like, he's not getting paid too much for this. Like what was, what was, does he have a crush on Danica McKellar? I bet he does.

[00:06:49] I mean, I have so many, I mean, I have so many questions of, oh yeah, that guy, that guy's got a crush. He looks like he was arrested for being too short. Was he five, three? Like what in the world is happening? No, that's five, one, two, three, four, five, six. Don't say fun short guys. I hated a magician who was five, three. He's five, nine. You dated a magician who was five, three. Yes. And let me tell you, he couldn't make himself get taller magically.

[00:07:18] He was so good with his hand. Oh my God. I don't, it's YouTube. Everybody it's Hallmark. My words. It's Jack's call. You're well, I don't know if the Hallmark is a state. I've not listened to the on the stage blog or whatever. Does it get this level of PG 13 jacks? Or do you keep it clean? No, it's G. I don't even curse on there. Oh, it's G. But I will say that's a, hands are a big part of magic. Yeah. You got to have good hands. Slight of? Hand. That's right. It's a big part of it.

[00:07:46] He also gave back rubs at our summer stock theater. I've actually talked about this on Instagram and it was so funny because I was telling his story about how he did me wrong and how I got back at him. And his wife messaged me the funniest message. And then her and I had a back and forth. So we had a good time. I've just got that right. Wow. I adore you. Shout out short king magicians. You know what I mean? Short king. Guys, don't sleep on a short king. Don't sleep on a short king. Sleep with a short king. Sleep with one. Not on one. You know what I mean? Might lose them. Where'd they go?

[00:08:18] I just am trying to. I swear he was here. He was right. A disappearing act. Oh my God. This bed's a little lumpy. So I just am trying to figure out in my head how the state of Kentucky, it needs to serve its former governor papers. What did he do? Or arrest him. What did he do? He didn't pay child support. He hasn't paid child support. No good SOB, clearly. And they're like. Yeah. Well, maybe. This had to be planned.

[00:08:47] Maybe he didn't. Only this. He. Maybe he went to get this job to pay dues to $300 or whatever he gets to be an extra. Maybe. Maybe he was good for it. You think you get a $300 a day? We've done this before. It's not half of that. Whatever it was, I'm sure he was sending it straight to his. Oh, for sure. I just. I love how the state of Kentucky is like, we need to arrest this guy. Could we go to his home? Yeah. But you know what I heard? You know where he's going to be all day today. Like, did this have to be done? I'm. Listen, I'm thrilled.

[00:09:16] This story makes my heart sing. And the headline is fantastic. This had to be orchestrated to do. Do it. Right? You would think so. It's like, what if we did it on the set of this movie about the, I would assume Christmas act, the Christian Christmas, because it's the greatest Christmas gift. Like, that's why actually do it. Also, look, it does not bode well for a man who is, you know, being accused of not paying

[00:09:41] his child support that he was not able to attend the original hearing because a large boulder went through his home in Maine. This man has multiple homes, but he can't afford to pay child support. Get out of here. It's tough out there. Sometimes a boulder falls through your house. Oh, he was governor from 15 to 19. Shocker.

[00:10:06] As someone who is from South Carolina and who's former governor, literally said he was hiking the Appalachian Trail, but was actually taking the state jet to, I believe, Argentina to be with his mistress. That was a real thing that happened to us here. As this jet to go to Argentina. It gets away from you. He said he was going to hike the Appalachian Trail, and instead he took the jet to see

[00:10:34] his mistress, leaving his wife and children in South Carolina to see his mistress in Argentina. That's a thing that happened. And then he ended up, after that, getting elected to Congress. So, like, I'm familiar with Southern governors of a certain ilk. I am. This guy seems like a real deadbeat. It seems like a real deadbeat. I don't have time, or I don't have the wherewithal or time with my multiple houses to pay child support.

[00:11:03] Can I come show my face in your Christian movie? Absolutely. Yeah. Because I'm single now, and Danica might give me the time of day. No, sir. She will not. She is busy with her math empire acting, doing the Rubik's Cube. She does not have time for you. She does the Rubik's Cube. Oh, Danica not only does the Rubik's Cube, she's like a master. That doesn't surprise me.

[00:11:30] And she will show you the trick for getting it. Danica is incredible. I love her. Much, I guess, also good with her hands, much less like your former magician. I'm not going to disrespect her and say that I know. With the Rubik's Cube. Come on, Jax. With the Rubik's Cube. I told her I would practice every day, and that was a lie. Why did you tell me that? That was a lie. Because I want her to like me. Yeah, that's fair. That's fair. That all checks.

[00:11:57] Getting the November 29th release over there, The Greatest Christmas Gift. All right. She still has it. Danica still has that pole. I wonder what The Greatest Christmas Gift is. It's a mystery. Could be a Rubik's Cube. Could be a Red Rider Baby Gun. Can I talk about this? I'll talk about the movie, since we're talking about it. Just read the plot. The Greatest Christmas Gift, a gifted music teacher, Emma Harper, and her fiance, Caleb Bennett Bennett, are preparing for a cherished Christmas wedding. What does that mean?

[00:12:26] When an unexpected setback threatens the future that they carefully planned. As their small town rallies around them. You think someone got sick or something? And Christmas draws near. The couple discovers that the greatest gifts are not found in perfect circumstances, but in steadfast faith, selfless love, and a community that reminds them that hope is always worth believing in. You know, between that plot and them having featured extras that can't support the children

[00:12:54] that they had and then abandoned, it really screams family friendly. Do you think that it's... We're actually going to talk about family friendly in just a second. Yes, we are. That is the perfect segue, Dan. Thank you for speaking with us. But I will say, do you think the unexpected setback that Emma Harper and fiance Caleb Bennett faced was the governor getting arrested on their movie set? Couldn't have helped. I wonder what his featured extra role was. Maybe like Joseph in the Nativity? Yeah. That seems a little too featured. Yeah.

[00:13:24] I believe what that bet is. Probably too short for the part, too, in all honesty. Yeah. Joseph had some... Joseph. Yeah. Yeah. Come on. Joseph actually very sure he would wear some platforms. People don't know that about him. Lift in his loafers. He was insecure about that. Lifts in his loafers? I heard that. People do. Nothing wrong with that. He's insecure and it doesn't help all the songs that are about his son or about his wife. Joseph gets no love. Christmas story. Maybe because he didn't do anything. He didn't do anything. Literally nothing.

[00:13:53] His story, like famously... Famously nothing. Did nothing. Famously absolutely nothing. You know what? I'm going to gently push back on that. And as someone who like is very rarely defends men... No, I see where you're going. I know exactly where you're going. He did exactly what he was supposed to do, which is like believe women. Yep. And stay out of the way. Yeah. Sure. I will say this. For that guy, for this woman to be like, I'm pregnant, an angel and it's not like... The bad news is it's not yours.

[00:14:22] And for him to just be like, yeah, yep, let's go. Everybody, let's go to the census. Well, we have a census. The census, they're counting. If I understand correctly, in my Catholic upbringing, we weren't as keen on the Bible as other people were. Like we'd sort of... We weren't allowed to read it. So I think that was a big problem. We weren't allowed to read it. It was a little different. But I believe that Joseph was not allowed to have relations. Correct.

[00:14:51] With her. So he didn't get to have any... Like if it was his kink to be with a pregnant woman, he didn't get to do that. Wow. And that is tough. What a sacrifice from Joseph to not get to live out his kink of being with a pregnant woman. He's a great... He was a great man. You can get Jax on the Hallmarkies on stage podcast. Not on this show. Not on this show. Not after this.

[00:15:20] Right after she got her set figured out. So I'm a longer apart. And then she gets canceled. It's crazy. All right. Let's get to story number two. Hot Goss. Wow, y'all. Okay. So you guys, this is one of, you know, our... My friend, my friend Bill Abbott. I don't know if he's a friend of mine. That's a thing to say. That's up to you. I don't know if you guys... I don't know. I don't know what he would say.

[00:15:47] But every once in a while, he sends out these letters. Now, he sends one out a missive. I think it was a year ago or two years ago where he basically was like, the movie that we were going to show is not up to standard. That's right. And it was a movie that was one of their originals. And I thought about the fact that as an actor, if I was an actor in that movie, I would cry. Oh my gosh. I'd cry. He famously sends out letters to...

[00:16:17] Whenever he stumbles in front of a laptop somewhere. Like, he doesn't spend a lot of time there. But when he does... Also, not the first time that he's pulled a movie for not being up to standards. That's right. So, he did that at Hallmark a few times. He did that at Hallmark several times. I don't think he sent out a letter. He was not sending out letters in the Hallmark. But he did pull them for quality. And we have that as a... I guarantee you that's why he pulled them. Was it for quality? Yep. It was for quality. Yep. Yep.

[00:16:45] And the movies ended up getting released and they were fine. Let's say we have that information firsthand. For quality. For quality. For quality. They were so bad, he didn't want to air them. Now, they did eventually get aired later. Right. And we watched them and went... Fine. Fine flick. Pretty much par for the course. Fine flick. But according to Bill, he believed them to be of subpar quality. Yes. And, you know, it's... Okay.

[00:17:14] Something I do like about Bill is he will speak his mind. Like on your show, when he absolutely railed Montana Christmas. And I'm thinking about, is Kelly Martin going to hear this? Is her team? I remember where I was, y'all. I remember being in a Starbucks. Everybody does. Like on the Upper Red Side listening. And being like, I... And we weren't as good of friends yet. Being like, first of all, I love these guys. I cannot believe they got him to talk about this. And also, oh my God.

[00:17:43] Did we release that to the public? Or was that for his Patreon? Our most infamous episode was behind a paywall. But what happened was, because the number of people... You were a... You were a subscriber. But the number of... You were a supporter early on, Jack. The number of people that heard that episode that were not Patreon subscribers. Like... It got out there, I think. Like literally somebody copied the RSS feed. Because like we would hear about that from people that won hot... Like Julie Sherman Wolf wrote the movie. She listened to that episode. She was pissed off. How'd she hear the episode? She doesn't...

[00:18:13] She wasn't a Patreon supporter. However, people... The most infamous deck of the homework episode is one that never aired. Like legitimately. I actually... Guys, I never realized that. Yeah. Billy Abbs. Billy Abbs. Billy Abbs. Knowing is on the way out the door. Coming on and just absolutely taking a big dumper on five of his own movies. And like went hard in the paint on the Montana movie. On the Hanukkah movie. Like a Julie Sherman Wolf and a Nina Wyman joint. Yeah.

[00:18:43] What a time to be alive. He did always speak his mind. And I cannot disagree with you there, Jax. He did. And does. And that continues now that he is, you know, leading the way as CEO of Great American Media. Bill wrote this letter to the Pure Flix community. Oh, no. That's right. Which... Oh, no. I don't know about this. So Great American... I haven't had a cell phone in three days, guys. Fell in the pool... Are we for real? Yeah.

[00:19:12] Fell in the pool on vacation. Couldn't get it fixed. Couldn't file a claim because I couldn't... I also don't know if this would have found your way. I don't know if it would have or not. But I've like been out of it for three days. But Billy Abs, the Great American folks, bought Pure Flix. There was a merger or something. A merger of sorts. So it's all under that... The umbrella. Gotcha. Anyway, continue. It is all under the umbrella.

[00:19:37] And Bill wants to remind us that not all faith and values platforms are the same. Oh, no. So he released a movie called Bad Counselors. Who did? And this is a... Yeah, where did Bad Counselors air? I think Angel Studios. It's on... That's right. It was an angel movie. That claims to be faith and values. Which gets faith and values. But unfortunately, that's not all...

[00:20:05] Because the movie includes, you guys... It is... Okay, so the movie is about two... It's about... Hold on, sorry. There's a story centered on two hard-partying fraternity brothers who wake up hungover after drunkenly vandalizing their college. Then they pose as Christians to become counselors at a children's Christian camp. Honestly, this sounds... Hysterical. Hysterical. I saw this trailer. I thought it looked really fun. It looks so fun.

[00:20:34] The movie includes repeated alcohol use and references. Oh, no. Jokes about Christian culture. And watch out for it. Flirtation and other material that... Oh, do you feel that fire of hell all around us? Yeah. Flirtation? I love that he says flirtation and other material that earned it a PG-13 rating. And then in parentheses, PG-13! Exclamation point. Is this his letter? This is his letter. Oh, my God, Bill.

[00:21:04] This also has Chris Klein from American Pie. Oh, yeah. This looks really fun. And honestly, I really like the idea of... Especially if you're doing a faith-based film, I think it's really interesting to find different ways to tell faith-based stories. And I think that this sounds like it's going to be really fun. But he says he's not writing this to criticize the filmmakers or tell anyone what they should or should not watch. But he's writing because this is exactly where Great American Pure Flix is different.

[00:21:33] When we say entertainment without compromise, it is not merely a tagline. It is a promise. So he says that you should be able to watch... Except when it comes to their extras. That's different. That's different. We don't know anything about that. Also, one Rachel Wagner of Rachel's Reviews reviewed Bad Counselors and gave it a positive rating. There you go. If you're a Christian looking for a sweet faith-based film, you'll enjoy this. Matt Cornett is great. There you go. Shout out Rachel. Shout out Rachel.

[00:22:03] Shout out Rachel. And I think what's really interesting about this is, you know, I think that faith-based films would do a lot better if there was a wider range of the type of faith-based content, which is exactly what Bad Counselors is doing. Right. But for some reason, I think Bill must have felt threatened by this or maybe not threatened, but really wanted to... I can tell you what I think happened.

[00:22:33] I don't want to interrupt you, but he got one email from someone who was mad because he thought this movie represented their brand and thought that was the view of the entire public. Wouldn't be the first time he's hitched his wagon there. That is what happened. Now, this movie, he said, includes alcohol use and references, jokes about Christian culture, flirtation and other material. You know what else includes all that? The Bible.

[00:23:02] The Bible. The Bible. Yeah. God's holy words. That one. Especially the Old Testament, baby. Yeah. I mean, what is happening here? This is wild. Now, he does say that this does not mean that our stories cannot have conflict, flawed people, difficult relationships, or characters that make mistakes, great storytelling sometimes requires all those things, although we only go there after rigorous debates. What are you talking about? Can I ask you boys to do me a favor? Yeah, go ahead. Yeah.

[00:23:30] I would love for a brand for you to open Chris Dowd, the director, his Instagram. Chris Dowd. Not Chris Dowd. Chris Dowd. I already have it pulled up. Could the two of you choose a few comments to do a dramatic reading of? Yes. So, I did not get the letter from Bill Abbott. The way that I found out about this was from this post, which came across my feed, about him. Well, I'm sorry. It's not Chris Dowd. He's the greatest. Chris Dowd is a great actor. Chris Dowling.

[00:24:00] Chris Dowling. Yes. He says, Saturday, I'm just sitting on my couch drinking coffee, watching Ruthless People. Great flick, by the way, on Prime. And suddenly, I'm catching strays from the president of Great American Pure Flicks. For some reason, Bill Abbott felt compelled to send an email to all of the platform subscribers, warning them to beware of our little movie, Bad Counselors, which is currently streaming on a totally separate platform. So, thank you, Bill, for generously letting your million plus, I don't know if it's million plus,

[00:24:27] people know about Bad Counselors and where to find it. Now, here are some comments by boy Jonathan. Jonathan right at the top, baby. He says, if Pure Flicks won't show it, it's probably a high-quality film. The Real Carlos Pena says, I haven't seen this movie yet, but I am all for telling real honest stories with a kingdom heart. We need to meet people where they're at, not pretend that Christians are flawless.

[00:24:51] My experience with Gaff was similar, and I believe our values ultimately played a part in pushing us apart. Oh, my gosh. If we only portray perfect people, where's the need for grace and redemption? That's the whole point of the gospel. Who had Carlos Pena coming out and defending this? Carlos Pena Vega. I just, I can't believe it. Jonathan Bennett. Can't wait to see his email about my next movie. Which is very funny.

[00:25:20] This is the one that got me Dallas Jenkins. Oh, yeah. The creator of The Chosen. Also, best Christmas pageant ever, director of that movie. That's right. And Holmes in the game. Dallas Jenkins is like the Christian filmmaking poster child because of how popular Chosen is and what I am. He said, I read this email out loud to my wife when I got it. We rolled our eyes and laughed. I'm happy for the folks at Great American Pure Flix to do what they do, and it's lovely.

[00:25:47] I've worked with them unlikely again after this email. Woof. But this email is not just a bad look for Bill. It was wrong and ignorant thinking. Hell yeah. To which, by the way, Bill Abbott responds to. No! He gets into the comments. No! This is nuts. Because Dallas Jenkins is talking bad about the platform. He can't have that. The Chosen guy.

[00:26:16] This feels like another person in charge of something bigger than they should be with access to devices they shouldn't have. Back to you, Brandon. As I noted in my letter, my intention was never to criticize the filmmaker or discourage anyone from watching the particular movie. My point was about platform choices. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Those who actually know me understand how seriously I take a responsibility to the audience at Great American. We have chosen a very specific link.

[00:26:44] We want our viewers to feel comfortable with the programming that we offer and confident that it will respect their values, unlike mainstream entertainment and a majority of those in Hollywood. What are you talking about? You may disagree with our standards, our strategy, or our conclusions. But categorizing that distinction as, quote, wrong and ignorant thinking dismisses a legitimate conversation about what these platforms promise their audiences. How about that? You know, I have a question for you guys, though.

[00:27:14] Oh, my goodness. Yeah, and I think you're exactly right. Bill is a pretty reactive person. And that reactive, I'm not saying that we're necessarily in a derogatory way, but he definitely is reactive. Yeah. We saw that with the Zola ad when one million moms who were not. Yeah, a million moms who were like maybe a few hundred people, right? Yeah, at best. So, but I'm curious what you two think.

[00:27:38] This is not something that accidentally or even intentionally ended up on Pure Flix, on that platform, and wasn't a part of, you know, Great American Media. And then he was concerned and he wanted to separate. This is on a completely different platform. So, what do you think the angle for this was? Or is it really he thought it would make a splash and they desperately need more numbers? What do you two think? I don't think he thought it through.

[00:28:07] No, I will say this. You know, we, you know, we, when he was at Hallmark, we had numerous phone conversations with him. He was pretty open door for us. Yeah. But the consistency that he brings is someone that is reactionary and will only use a computer for things like this.

[00:28:30] Like, but like his attention, I wouldn't say to detail because the movies, his attention to the details he cares about is pretty unmatched. I mean, he's watching dailies of every, they were, they were making a hundred Hallmark movies a year and he was watching dailies of all of them. And he was leaving handwritten notes that people were sending to the set. That's wild.

[00:28:53] Know what, like, he is very understanding of what the mission of his company is. He, like, it is, there is, he knows the audience that he is trying to reach. Yeah.

[00:29:38] The Hallmark channel where it was safe for them to watch. Now, most of that stuff that was air quotes dangerous was just different and not, it wasn't, didn't include how they like to watch TV, unfortunately. Well, when Hallmark went like after the Zola ad, when he allowed that to air, cause he probably didn't care. It was money, right? Zola's giving me money, put the ad on. It was a brief moment where two women are getting married.

[00:30:02] And then a few hundred people get mad and he pulls it because he realized he knows in his head, Bill has a circle around the people that are watching his movies. Like he has a definition in his head. Now, would he say that out loud to you? Probably not. But he has a definition in his head of who's watching his movies. So when he leaves Hallmark and he goes to Great American, he creates the Hallmark of 2010 for now is what he's trying to do, right?

[00:30:32] Yeah. He wants that same demographic that continues to not want to progress and accept other people and love people for who they are and be willing to admit there are different ways to do things. And they're all retreating even further. Well, that's a fraction of the audience that Hallmark has, but he can still make money. And so he is not tied up. I don't believe anyway. This is speculation, please. Before anybody sends me any legal measures, I'm just speculating my opinion.

[00:31:01] I mean, I don't think he actually cares one way or the other about the morality of it. I think he is a like much like someone else who is in charge of a great deal of people who doesn't actually care about the morality, but knows that that espousing that morality garners him support and money. Bill is in that same boat. He, you know, puts out this big thing about very specific, staunch, strict, conservative viewpoints,

[00:31:29] because he knows there's a group of people who only care about checking that box and that makes him money. And so if he has to send these wackadoo emails and comment in the chat to keep that base happy, they'll vote for him in the next election. I mean, they'll continue to watch Great American. That's what this is. I think if you talk to Bill personally or if you met him on the subway or on an airplane, you would find a guy who's maybe a little bit out of touch,

[00:31:56] but he is not a guy who has very strict moralistic guidelines to his life. This is business for Bill. This is business for Bill, and he's done it here. He did it at Hallmark. He did it before Hallmark. He sees the demo, and he leans into the demo. It's a populist movement, and that's what it is. Like, that is classic Bill. I could be wrong. That's interesting because this isn't me at all defending Bill.

[00:32:22] It's more like I think – I kind of think he believes all that stuff. You do? I don't think he's – like – I think – At least at events that I went to and when everyone else would be having fun after and doing whatnot and talking about whatever, he was, like, at home back in Long Island watching the families. You know what I mean? Like, I don't see him – I don't see him doing anything that makes me think

[00:32:49] that this is not what he believes. Well, I – no, I think, like, he is a pretty conservative individual. Yeah. But I think that if all of that other – all of the other trappings that would be not considered, air quote, conservative, if all of that made him money and fit his business model, he would be fine with it. Right? It's like – I hate to keep making comparisons to our president, but our president doesn't drink alcohol.

[00:33:18] How many events has he been to in the last 70 years where alcohol is poured freely? Our president's never drank alcohol in his life. Wait, are you being serious? Dead serious. He's – like, doesn't drink. Has never – like, so, like, there is something about that type of leader that is fine in a utilitarian sense to utilize – this is not Hallmark, my words. This is just us talking now. But, like – That's all Hallmark, my words.

[00:33:46] That is like a Hallmark, no pun intended, of someone that is fine as a populist using – as long as it favors him, he's fine with it. All of that alcohol, flirtation, all that – if all that played with his demo, he wouldn't care. He wouldn't care. Well, to Shelby's point, isn't flirtation required for a romantic movie? You would think so. Yes. You would think so. Yeah, I would – you would hope so. You would hope so. Right.

[00:34:14] It was a very interesting point to make there. Yeah. Yeah. Or alcohol use, which is in most – Well, and I do think, like, it's just interesting, like, for a long time he was very – like, very apolitical in a sense. Like, he would never – like – and even in the interviews that he would give, he'd be like, oh, we're not doing anything – like, he would say the things because he doesn't want to – he didn't want to come across as one way or another, even though everybody saw him as one way.

[00:34:43] But Candace then comes over and she makes the statements. That's right. And she was a – I don't even remember what the title was that they gave her when they launched the network. She's creative officer. And she basically just said, point blank, we're not doing this. It's not – this is not family friendly, which is not how he would have communicated it ever. Never. Never. You're right. And he has, I think, backed her. And then the Pure Flix thing came along. And I think he's just now – he's doubling and tripling down because it's what his audience wanted.

[00:35:13] His movies were – at Hallmark were filled with gay-coded characters. But he would never just out a character ever in a movie for any reason because then he – it was a bounce. Like he knew that a good chunk of the queer population enjoyed a Hallmark Christmas movie. Yeah. And so, yeah, he's not going to lose money on that deal. But as soon as he feels like he's losing money, well, then Candace comes over.

[00:35:38] And I think to put a bow on this, like the only thing scarier than someone co-opting family friendly as a phrase, which is something that the religious right has done for 50 plus years, to make you – when you think family friendly, you think of something very specific. And it isn't family friendly. It's a very specific set of values that are more opinions and kind of bigoted. They're not family friendly at all. Imagine someone who actually believes it.

[00:36:02] I think that's the scary part is like Bill's essay and Candace's statements represent two people that aren't – that do actually believe the definition of family friendly doesn't include people on the queer spectrum. And that is in the year of our Lord 2026 terrifying. Terrifying. Terrifying that that is – forget the phrase. We can stop using the phrase.

[00:36:27] That there are people that actually believe like that to their marrow. That for something to be appropriate for a child to watch, it has to be heteronormative. That's what it has to be. Exactly. That's terrifying. I think now we can all attest to the fact that especially now that queer people have the right to get married, their lives are just as boring and pedestrian as everyone else. Yeah.

[00:36:57] And it turns out the marriage tax break is just governmental. It's not religious at all. It's purely – Right. Right, right, right, right. It's purely a government thing, guys. Right. I just think – I think a little bit about this surprised me. And then yes, yes, we'll move on to the other segments. But I just think to fracture within this community of – I would never – I'm not going to go against Angel Studios. I'm just not going to do it. Yeah.

[00:37:25] I mean I do think that there is a – there are people talking about how Angel's losing its way a bit. Yeah, because they're trying to make quality movies. Because their movies aren't – like they put out the Animal Farm movie, which was just a – it's just a cartoon movie. No pushing of any agenda. And I think people are like, uh-oh. That's right. Hollywood's getting to them at Angel. Yeah. And so I think Bill has probably picked up on that and was like, I'm going to use that.

[00:37:56] But I don't think most people are even aware that that's a thing. No, I think some people don't go to movies – like Angel has successfully released several movies that people didn't know were Angel Studio movies. Right. So that's – that should tell you that they are – were doing something that probably folks that like a specific brand of entertainment didn't like.

[00:38:18] If you can release a movie and not have anybody know that it's from a particularly, you know, religious or politically conservative studio, then you're doing something that's going to anger that crowd or at least a good number of them. And so Bill's probably capitalizing on that. But also, he just – I would never have known about bad counselors. He just shined a giant spotlight on it. I'm excited now. Yeah. Yeah. I'll take it and I will watch it. Sold. I want to talk to Carlos now. No kidding.

[00:38:47] And they – when they went to – I didn't misunderstand that comment. He's saying that it – That relationship seems – I mean, for him – yeah. He said they broke off with him, which is – you know, we – when Great American started, all of those folks wanted to come on our show. And we just kind of had to make a decision on it. Like, all of a sudden, people that wouldn't respond to any messages, all of a sudden, out of the woodwork to want to be on the show. Yeah. We got Danica and then –

[00:39:16] Well, we got Danica and that was before she did a movie over there. That was like – No, that was right ahead of it. Yeah, but she had not – no movie of hers had been released yet. That's right. And we had so many questions about all of her past history and we could tell pretty quickly what the interview was about. And that's probably because that was the point, right? Right. I'm not mad at her. She did exactly the things she was probably told to do. And we just decided that that wasn't what we were going to be doing and I stand by that decision.

[00:39:42] But now that he's left there – because they were a group that wanted to come on the show – I'm fascinated to talk to him now. Carlos. I mean, can we get him on Hallmark My Words? We could get him on Hallmark My Words. What a good for us. Hallmark My Words correspondent, Carlos Pena. All right. Let's take a break. We'll come back and we'll get to some more goodies here on Hallmark My Words.

[00:40:07] Welcome back to Hallmark My Words, everybody. It's great to be here. We spent a lot of time on hot goss. I can't imagine how much time we're going to spend. It was a 40-minute hot goss segment. Sorry, goss. It got away from us. It got away from us. Honestly, this show is just basically hot goss. But in order to give it some sort of journalistic integrity, I use that extremely loosely.

[00:40:36] We have to do these other two segments. So don't worry. We'll roll through them real fast. That's right. What do we got? I also just know that this is a chance for us to hang out with Jax because we need to do that every week. Exactly. So up next, we have our segment, Roses and Thorns. Roses and Thorns. Okay. Where we talk about love, heartbreak, and everything in between. That's right. Now, I will say it was a slow news week for Love in the Hallmark Realm.

[00:41:06] So what we're talking about is Julie Gonzalo and Chris McNally. Sure. They once fed together. Now they have two little girls. And one of their adorable daughters was an extra in the movie. Oh. And she got arrested. It was crazy. She got arrested for breastfeeding. So Abby found out about it. And then he was like, I don't think that that's appropriate. This is partial nudity. No. Boobs allowed.

[00:41:36] Even though they're giving life sustaining. Christians would never breastfeed. Never. Not in public. Unless they would. And then I will say yes. Then I'm on board. So they were both filming movies at the same time? They were both. Chris apparently has a cameo in Julie's movie. And they were trading off duties with their newborn. Well, he went to film a movie. She went to film a movie. That's when they. It was three weeks and three weeks.

[00:42:06] But apparently their little daughter, the older one, makes a cameo appearance in Julie's movie. And I just want to say, I think these two are so darling together. Look at them. They're darling. I do not know Julie at all. Chris McNally will always be a star to me because he's not on cameo or he wasn't at the time. And made my mom the sweetest video for Mother's Day.

[00:42:31] I talked on another episode of Hallmark My Words about the cameo that Lacey did for Alex. She almost seemed embarrassed to have to accept the accolades and do this video and was so charming. Chris McNally's energy sometimes reminds me of Lacey in that way. You could tell he was almost embarrassed that he had to do it. Or not had to. He was happy to do it but felt embarrassed for the attention. And it was the sweetest thing.

[00:42:59] My mom plays it probably daily. Wow. So Chris is the best. We, in that big season, I believe before seven, in the ramp up to season seven, a win calls to heart, or eight, the tension between who Elizabeth would pick was like crazy. Right. And all three came on our show separate weeks. Post, yeah, this was like heading into like the third season of the triangle. Yeah. Where she hadn't made her first choice yet. Oh my God, I don't want to talk about it. And we were like, when is this going to happen?

[00:43:29] And there was, it wasn't this right before that, or right after that commercial came out promoting the season where she walks out of the saloon. And I'm feeling good. And they're like on either side of the, am I remembering this correctly? And we redid the commercial. No, I think this was later because that was before we started covering the show at all. Anyway, we interviewed Aaron, Kevin, and Chris, all three separately, all amazing interviews. And we finished with the Chris and Kevin interview.

[00:43:57] And Brian and I talked about like just how different they are and how amazing both interviews were. But this guy listened to all the episodes of Deck the Hallmark of movies he was in before coming on the show. So did his homework. Incredibly kind guy. And then Julie's great too. She's awesome as well. Loved her in parenthood. And a fantastic actor. Yeah. She's great in parenthood. Yeah. So great. And I do just want to say, just because I think it's funny that you guys really rolled

[00:44:26] those interviews out in a, in a way that was smart and strategic. Do you remember that the bubbly sesh spoiled that ending? Um, I do remember that there was, you guys crushed it and you guys were the Hallmark podcast from what I understand. Like you were the one that Hallmark was paying to do it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We messed up. And I say that, thank God that more people weren't listening because we had interviewed everyone except we saved the Chris interview for last.

[00:44:54] And then when it was like, we're interviewing him that week, everyone was like, wait, did they just spoil the ending? And I was like, yeah, I think we did. How, uh, how'd that get through? How'd that get through the, all the chain of command over there and be released? It was the wild west over there. There were, there were one time Michelle came, Vickery came on our podcast. We had to retract, um, something that she had said. So we had to redo that even after it went out. Same thing with Bill.

[00:45:22] So yeah, it's, it's all just part of the fun, you know? And now Michelle's back. Michelle's back. Yeah. And I love her. I do love her. She's been on her show twice. Happy couple. Oh, I think she came back. Sorry. Go ahead. Go ahead. Oh, just that. I love this happy couple. I'm excited for them and I'm excited to see these movies and their sweet little daughter. Uh, well the, the, one of them's already out. The love finds you. The Chris McNally one. You can watch that one. And then, uh, Gonzalo's going to be in a night to remember.

[00:45:52] K N I G H T October 3rd. We'll talk about that on the October preview show. God. Okay. I really hope it's something like they go to medieval times and eat chicken legs. Yeah. There's a, uh, Vanessa Hudgens medieval time travel Christmas movie on Netflix. Right. We covered it before Christmas. We covered it for a live show out in Los Angeles in 19. It's a lot of fun. And then this one, you guys, I am reaching a little bit to put this in, um, in the love section. Sure. But why not?

[00:46:22] And I'll tell you why. It's because I love fall and fall movies and I love Alvina August. Oh, she's great. Nathan Whitty. He can get it. Like he is. Is he going to be a lead? Yeah. That's him right there. Dude, that's awesome, man. So we have Nathan. We already previewed this one and he didn't respond like that. I didn't know that that was Nathan Whitty. Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. Go ahead. Whenever you're ready. No, no. I'm just saying I'm so excited because I love Alvina. I love Nathan.

[00:46:49] And fall, thank you for giving me a true fall movie that will actually premiere on September 12th, which is still technically summer, but that's okay. That's right. That's right. Listen, we. I should have given this movie my cream. You know, I love the fall. You know, I love the fall. You know, I'm excited about the fall. You know, a lot of people agreed with me, Dan and our haunted harmony. Haunted harmony. Haunted harmony movie about how this is just taking up space when we just give us fall movies. It's all that we want. It's crazy.

[00:47:18] This is what we want. Here's what a Hallmark. You know what? Oh, he's going to go full. You know what? Oh, no. Here's what Hallmark fans want. They want Christmas in July. They want two and a half months of fall. And then they want two and a half months of Christmas. That's what we want. Don't care about your mysteries. Don't care about your seasonal confusion movies. I love the seasonal confusion movies.

[00:47:48] We want Christmas in July. We want leaves. Can't get a boy band back together. We want leaves all over the place. Doesn't matter the storyline. Doesn't matter the plot. We just want leaves and pumpkin spice for two and a half months. And then we want Christmas for the rest of the year. That's half of the year. That's half the year planned for you, Hallmark. What you do January to June doesn't matter to me. None of our business. It doesn't.

[00:48:16] What you do, it doesn't matter. You get six months. Brain gets six months. That is literally all we want. I don't know why it's so hard for you to understand it. But that's what we want. Brand speaking for all Hallmark fans here, which is a crazy take. But you know what? He might be right. No, actually, I think you are, Brand. Because we want to be cozy. And fall is cozy. And winter is cozy. You want to hear me cranky, an August 1st fall movie. I will lose my ever-loving mind. I'll throw stuff. Plus, where is it?

[00:48:43] An August 1st fall movie or an October 16th Christmas movie? August 1st fall movie. Oh, yeah, definitely. August 1st is the blazing middle of summer. Hot of summer. You're sticky. You're sweaty. You can't. No. August 1st cannot. Brand, I know in theory what you're saying makes sense. And I got to be honest. The fact that they've not capitalized on the fact that either that or like maybe the fall craze is just a vocal minority of people.

[00:49:08] Because if my feed and my life and the double-decker community is any indication, the fact that Hallmark doesn't start fall movies until late September doesn't meet the audience expectation at all. Now, I don't want them. I would like fall movies all October and then Christmas movies starting in November. But it seems, based upon my limited interaction with fans of this ilk, that all of them love fall almost as much as Christmas.

[00:49:34] So, I just, maybe we're not seeing the whole picture. Are there folks out there that actually would prefer the mysteries and then the summer movie? Like, there's no way it's everybody. Then launch a mystery channel, Dan. Oh, wait! They have one. But I get it. And they don't use it. I understand. I understand. But that doesn't speak to the summer movies or the seasonally inconsequential movies.

[00:50:02] Like, those movies, what you're saying is don't make them or make them all before July 1. That's exactly right. Guys, I love what you've introduced here. What did you say? Seasonal confusion and seasonal inconsequential. Seasonally inconsequential. That's right. It's so good. Well, personally, if it was up to me, they would go back to doing Winterfest in January instead of the travel to a tropical place in January. But maybe I'm in the minority there. Minority. People love to travel movies.

[00:50:32] People maybe don't, like, by January, they want a break from cold. I don't, but maybe the people in the North do. And so I understand maybe why they do that. Can I tell you what I'd do if I was in charge of homework? This is my application. You ready? Fall movies. A new fall movie every Saturday, September, and October. Countdown to Christmas starts on Halloween. Okay. Yeah. Period. First Countdown to Christmas movie would be, depending on when the weekend falls, would be November 1st or October 31st. That's when it starts.

[00:51:01] So you only get two months of Countdown to Christmas. But once a month, January through June, Christmas movie weekend. A new Christmas movie. A new one. A new Christmas movie, one Saturday a month, January through June. You don't have to twist my arm. I mean, they... Vote for me. Hallmark President 28th. They're flirting when they play classic Christmas movies on, I believe, Friday nights.

[00:51:30] Do you tell me that wouldn't be a ratings boon for them? On the... One Saturday every month, a new Hallmark Christmas movie. You get six of those, and then you get four new ones in July. So you have 10 before August 1st. And then you do 25 to 30, November, December. So you got 40 a year, and you get a little taste of it every month aside from August and September and October. Listen. I like that. I'm helping you out. I like that. Guys, I could be president of Hallmark. Look.

[00:52:00] But that would probably move... I won't send any mass emails. You have my work. I would love to say it, honestly. I will actually only send mass emails. Just thoughts on random things. Now Caroline wants me for president instead of you. All right. All right. Maybe we can both be president. Maybe we can both be president. Hire us to run Hallmark. You cowards. Was there a point of why you brought this story? Oh, no. Just because this is about love, heart, and everything in between. And I am a fall girly.

[00:52:27] I don't know if you guys know, but I did a fall movie for Hallmark Channel where I played with the Heathkeeper. Yes. And guys, I'm a fall girly. I look better with more clothes on. Sure. And that's the way it is. Sure. Same for me. I love neither of us touching that one. I love layers. I love layers. I love layers. Don't be so cute in jackets, Fran. You and me in jackets. So I'm out on this?

[00:52:54] Well, you didn't self-deprecate and say that you look better with clothes on, so you can just sit over there. But the problem is, if I say it, we're in a tough spot here when you start by saying you look better with clothes on. It's our job to comment on that. So we're just supposed to go, yeah, us too. Well, Brandon. I know. Yeah. Yeah, me too, man. Yeah. That's why I said Brandon and I look good in jackets, because that's our thing. We're jacket people.

[00:53:23] We're more comfortable with layers. Yeah. We're more comfortable in layers. If it's cold enough, I'm here for a layer. Now, related to this story, El Shin 12, who could that be? Could be anybody. It says, Alvina. Okay, it could be Laura. Alvina August and Marco Grazzini are together in real life. Holy moly. What a couple. Is that true? Man. Oh. Should El Shin 12 be hosting this? If those two have children, they will be. The floor is always a part of it. Those two children will take over the world.

[00:53:52] Those two children, they'll take over the entire world. Imagine those two in a family together, layered up. Come on. I love, you know also what I want to say about Alvina and Marcus? Sure. Not, obviously, they're extremely good looking. I don't need to talk about that too much, because I'm already weird enough on this program. But it seems like they have a very subtle nervous system. So if they did have a child, it would be a child. They have a child. We have an update, folks. What?

[00:54:23] Man. Meta Carolina says they have a child. Well, that's shocking. Okay. Thank you guys so much. This is why everybody, you can listen to this on the podcast feed. You can watch it when it comes out on Wednesday. But if you're not following along and watching live, you're missing out. They started dating back in 2014. Oh, imagine if we did this show back in 2014. They got engaged in 2019. Wow. Had their first kid in 2023. They really take their time.

[00:54:53] They just got to have the steps. They want to have the steps. And that child gets it. Jax understands the step. This is maybe a take that I shouldn't give, but Marco Grazzini has just looked so much better now than he did. He looked great 10 years ago, but oh my goodness, this guy has aged into 10 of 10. Here would be a fun ranking episode. I mean, look at this guy from back then. Marco Grazzini. Look at him now. What happened? Oh my goodness. The ranking is Marco Grazzini by the year.

[00:55:23] It's a picture of every year of Grazzini's professional life. We're going to 2026 and we do 10 picks in 10 years and we rank them based on hotness. Blind rank them. So we get 2016. We got to figure it. We got to decide where. Oh, that's tough. Guys, are we doing this? Dude, are we doing this? I'm in. I'm in. You're not invited actually this time. Wow. I'm not invited or Dan's not invited. No, you're always invited. Thank you. You're always invited. Thank you so much. All right. Let's take a break.

[00:55:53] Oh, we're still doing this show. And we'll come back with different stuff. It's a difference. You don't understand the show. I don't. Clearly. Welcome back to Homework My Words with Jax. Jax, hello. Hello. And I am so excited to bring you the third segment. Yeah. What do we have? Homework My Words.

[00:56:18] We are going to dive in to busy, blessed, and booked. Busy, blessed, and booked. Heck yeah. Now, this is about Hallmark actors made for TV actors that are busy. Blessed. They're blessed in their books. Okay. And all of those are perhaps connected in a sense. In a sense. Exactly. Busy, blessed, and booked. And look, as actors, something that we have on our resumes, are special skills.

[00:56:47] One of my special skills is burping. Do it. Oh, wow. I can burp the letter X. Can you burp any other letter or just X? Sick, dude. Man. So you can burp. Also, I can do a fairly realistic. What is that now? I would say don't sell yourself short when you present this special skill. Why'd you go straight X?

[00:57:12] Why'd you say I can burp the letter X when you could burp literally any letter of the alphabet? Yeah, but honestly, a couple of my special skills aren't good for me. So that, like, I can do it. Special skills. I have a drug problem. I can look like someone strung out. I can. I can definitely do that. But one of my other special skills is frighteningly realistic death cough.

[00:57:39] And that has made me sick more times than I can count. Really? The cough has made you sick. Oh, dear God. Don't. Stop it. Stop it. I had to learn to do that first. And it's hard. It's not pleasant. But we do what we can. Dude, that is sick. Literally. That's nasty. Yeah. Why are all your special skills gross? They're gross. Jax, can I ask you a question since we're interviewing you here? Yeah, thank you.

[00:58:06] Have you ever, what's the biggest lie you've told when someone from a casting agency or something's been like, can you, like, you're about these people who are like, can you speak Spanish? And everybody, you're just told as an actor to say yes. What's the biggest, just like, yeah, absolutely, that you've told that you couldn't do it when you said it out loud? Okay. So when I was non-union. Yeah. And I had booked one of those reenactment TV shows. Got it.

[00:58:31] And because it was non-union, they're not, they weren't doing the due diligence that some other productions do. Of course. Maybe not because it was non-union, they just weren't doing the due diligence. They said, can you drive a car? I said, yes. You can't drive a car? Now, I don't have a license. And then I had to drive on set. And it was a disaster. It was bad. Oh, my God. If you had done any sort of damage to anyone or anything. Yeah. That's crazy. It was. They didn't make it. They didn't make you drive stick, right?

[00:59:01] No. No. I probably wouldn't have been, it wouldn't have been, it's all hard to me. It's all Greek to me. You would have lied about driving, but not about being able to drive stick. Well, I just, I just don't, I just, I don't, like anything. I probably would have said I could drive stick because I don't know how to drive. But there's, but like, at least without, when it's automatic, you can just, you can move. Like, there's a chance with stick that you literally won't move. That's right. You just.

[00:59:31] Well, what was nice was that one of the awesome PAs, he like got in the car with me and he was like, it's okay. We got this. So he helped me. But yeah, I, yeah, I will. I don't lie about that anymore. Good for you. Good. Because I'd rather not. But there's some actors who are, I mean, Tamara doing the Lord's work. She actually learned how to play the violin for haunted harmony mysteries. Violin.

[01:00:00] She's playing the violin. And you guys like this is, playing the violin is not an easy skill set. And she, even though she is a star and wouldn't have to, she learned how to do it. And I have mad respect for you, Tamara. I, it's somewhat, listen, I'm, I'm way older than you two. I mean, like I'm 43, like I'm older than you two. So you guys may not be there yet. And I get that, but you know what? You guys have to put more clothes on to look good. And I don't.

[01:00:28] I, I, I, I find myself respecting the heck out of anyone my age or in a similar, like 40 to 50, that is just deciding to, to learn something new because there is such a pull to not want to do that. Like in general, like just this idea that's like, she's on a Hallmark movie. She doesn't have to learn to play violin for this.

[01:00:55] The, I've seen so many bad violin playing scenes or piano playing scenes on Hallmark. No one would have known, but for her to be like, you know what? This movie's got a big musical background to it. There's a lot of music involved in this mystery wheel. Marco Grazini is a music teacher, or at least plays a lot of piano. We, I should, and to do it and to tackle that and to say, no, I'm not above the material. I'm not better than material. Mad respect. Absolutely. Absolutely.

[01:01:23] A lot of respect for anyone who's like, you know what? It's net. You're never too old to stop learning. Because that's how I want to be. So good for her. Yeah. And I can't wait. Sounds great. Aha. 100%. I, uh, I could do that. I think I could learn the violin. Well, you're already musically like inclined. I think if you already know a string instrument, it becomes a little bit easier. Right. Maybe. Yeah. Yeah. Bran, you know what? We're only a couple weeks away. Well, a month away. Well, a month and change away. September 8th.

[01:01:52] What are you talking about? We're playing hands down. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah. So we're like five, five weeks. I might, I don't know if I'm going to do that. You're doing it. I don't know. Last year you did it twice. So that would count for this year too. Probably doing it three times. Vindicated. Um, who is he blessed in book? We're going to take you on over to that 90s house. Oh yeah. I've heard about that. What is this? So little white. Urkel himself. I love this guy.

[01:02:18] Is hosting a show called That 90s Show with iconic 90s celebrities. We got your Beverly Mitchell in there. We got one of the Warrens brothers. I always forget which is which. I think it's, uh. Andy's the youngest. Matt's the middle. Joey's the oldest. See, I'm here to help you. It's Matt. Oh, it's Matt. Yeah, it's Matt. Yeah. And even, y'all, this is on HGTV. So I was at the gym the other day. That is a humble brag. Yeah, shout out. Heck yeah, dude.

[01:02:45] I was trying to use the sauna and I got locked out. But all that is to say is that this was on the TV. And there were four of us who were like crowded around the TV being like, is that Urkel? What is happening? So yeah, that 90s. I'm excited to like watch this because I have such a respect for Jaleel White. Oh, Melissa Joan Hart. Joan Hart. Keisha and I pull him. Oh my goodness. Come on. Man. Don't know who that is. I don't know Brian Austin Green. Brian Austin Green.

[01:03:15] Yeah, yeah. He's a... 90210, I guess. Oh, that's why. That's why. Beverly Mitchell, seventh heaven. That's right. Who else? Now we're just watching. Yeah, sorry. I bet this show is really fun. I bet it's awesome. We would have done this for Philo Deep Dive. Oh, Joey Lawrence is on it too. Joey there too? Is Andy there? Hopefully Andy got the end. I hope so. No, Andy. Wow. They just dropped Andy. Here's what I'll say about Jaleel White.

[01:03:44] We did get a chance to meet him in person. And I listened to him on a long form podcast on Pete Holmes podcast, like a two and a half hour interview. I just have so much respect for someone who was a child actor that was framed. His entire life was framed by one performance. He was not treated terribly well. He has those scars and that trauma, but refuses to extricate into all good or all bad. He just is going to tell you like it is. He's going to guard himself personally, but he's going to be honest with you.

[01:04:14] He's never going to paint you a picture that isn't true. Just incredibly impressed with him in person as somebody who looks you in the eye, tells great stories, values you as a human being, but also is going to be honest about his time. Just the best, the best dude. And you should check him out on Pete Holmes podcast or any other long form podcast. He's a joy to hear his, like some of his stories. Fantastic. I will say as a young woman who grew up, like sort of being attracted to more of the nerdy type,

[01:04:43] like on, on the wonder years, I liked Paul on Hey Dude. I liked Buddy. Wow. I didn't like him as Urkel. That's like, I wasn't attracted to him as Urkel, but he went Stefan Urkel. Are you kidding me? Yeah, it might've been because it was fake nerdy. Like Jaleel's not a nerd, right? And it's so clearly not real. And also Stefan could get it. Stefan was just Jaleel on smooth setting. Like he just, dude, purple suits.

[01:05:12] This guy was crushing it out there. Yeah. Well, I mean, how great would it hit? Like just the idea that he had got to go shoot an episode of family matters and didn't have to go in that falsetto. That was the thing about that show is someone who watched every episode, the early episodes before his voice changed very naturally nasally. When you get to those older episodes and he's switching to the falsetto, it is, it, it sounds like it's taking a toll on his throat. He was supposed to be like a guest star or like,

[01:05:42] and then it basically became the Steve Urkel show. So he was like, good Lord, I've committed to this voice. Yeah. What am I going to do? Do the Urkel. Do the Urkel. There you go. Look what you did. I'm falling and I can't get it. No, that's from that commercial. That's not. I'm falling and I can't get it. It was a life alert commercial. Different thing. That's life alert. That's right. All right. Last thing. What do we got? And last thing, finally, we don't even have to go through them all, but I want to give a shout out to Sleepy Kitty Pops. The best in the business.

[01:06:12] Blue Sky, baby. We love you. There's so much information that you have. Oh my gosh. But he has given us a comprehensive list of the movies that have been announced, the ones that we know are done, and the ones that we know are upcoming. Right. So she did a really great job of taking us through, I believe it's the 34. That's what she says. That's what she says. I'm trying to find the actual list. But didn't some intern or somebody from Homework accidentally say they're launching 34 movies as well?

[01:06:40] That does seem right. Sleepy Kitty Pops, who said she was going to stop doing this years ago, is giving us life over here. We need her to keep doing this. That's right. She's amazing. And she has as much information as anyone could possibly have about all of the Christmas movies coming to your TV set. And she quoted you the other day. I don't think anyone on Hallmark has taken the notoriety and position of power and turned it into more good for more people and more quality work than Ashley Williams has.

[01:07:09] Daniel Thompson decked the Hallmark. So good on you. Wow. You know what's crazy is that post got a lot of love on our Instagram, and I'm happy that Ashley saw it. And it's only fair. I made her cry from a bad review, and I made her cry from this. So I feel like it's net even. Net even. That's right. Yes, it was the Vulture article that says Hallmark is planning to debut 34 new Hallmark titles this year, not including series or specials. And do you want me to rip through them really fast? Yeah, go ahead.

[01:07:40] Okay, so the 10 that are officially announced by Hallmark are October 17th, Holiday Touchdown, A Bear's Love Story, November 28th, Holiday Ever After, Disney World Wish Come True, December 5th, A Grand Biltmore Christmas. Then he had The Night Before Christmas, Christmas Delivered, My Christmas Cowboy, Christmas in Blue Dog Valley. That's the Aaron Cahill and Andrew Walker joint. Blue Dog Valley, folks. Blue Dog. Who, who? That'll probably change. Single at the wedding. I'll be home for Christmas. That's Allison Williams.

[01:08:10] That's Ashley Williams. Not to be confused with that. I like that Jonathan Bennett Italia Ricci pairing. That's pretty funny. Me too. That's funny. There are 15 that are wrapped. Now, it's Christmas in Copenhagen, Doubly Booked, Double Con Christmas with Amanda Scholl and Victor Webster and Barbara Niven. I'm curious what Double Con is about.

[01:08:36] The Christmas Eve Feast, Christmas in Canterbury, Forgetting Christmas, Christmas for Eight with our wonderful girl, Fish. Merry, Rosie Christmas, which is Lori's movie. Just too much for you, Dan? It's not too much for me because she's doing a great job. It's, I don't want to know any of this information. Don't. Just turn it on. We're not going to. I'm trying not to listen. Keep reading. Oh, wait, Dan. Listen. You're going to love this title. A Wing Daughter's Christmas. Good God. The Bell Ringer. Father Christmas. Scrapbooking Christmas.

[01:09:05] Eight Night for Love. Adopting St. Nick Winter Wonderlings. And there are two filming now. No Screens for Christmas with Nikki Deloche. Letter to Santa. Rumored to be Rachel Boston and Back with Paul Campbell. And four filming September through October. So, yes, guys, you still have time to call me. Christmas Through Your Eyes. The Christmas Exchange. Noel Nomads. And Where Angels Go for Christmas. That's directed by Allie Lieber. Shut up.

[01:09:32] If you need a bisexual character played by a bisexual woman, you know who to call. There you go, Allie. You heard it here first. First, Laura Schinner is correct. Can we count? This is exactly what I was thinking. No, it's different. Somehow we've managed to have a preview for the scheduled release day episodes. No. Wow. Oh, I'm sorry, y'all. No. That's okay with me. But if you're keeping a tally at home. 34 newbies. That's 31. That's 31, which would mean the three new ones. Three real mysteries out there, Dan. That's it. Wow.

[01:10:02] Hopefully not that actually. If only were mysteries, Bran. You and I would be a lot happier. Yeah, for sure. 100%. Well, we did it, everybody. Yeah, we did. This was great. This was so much fun. I always love getting to talk to you. And I do think that we should do that really weird ranking thing. I think that's a blast. Marco would probably love it. Yeah. Yeah. Put it behind a paywall and we'll see if it's one of the highest. Yeah, see if it gets out there. See if it gets out there. All right, everybody. Good luck out there today.

[01:10:30] And until next time, maybe the first to wish you a Merry Christmas. Hallmark My Words, the Bramble Jam podcast produced by Brandon Gray. And you have that Greenville, South Carolina. For more information on the show, head on over to Deck the Hallmark Instagram feed at Deck the Hallmark. Leave us a rating and review on that program to help others find the show. And to get this episode of Hallmark My Words ad-free, you can go to bramblejamplus.com.

[01:11:00] 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.