Much About Love (Hallmark Channel - 2026)

[00:00:03] This is a Bramble Jam Podcast

[00:00:37] Deck The Hallmark, it's this podcast My friends host this podcast We hope you like me Wow, how about everybody? You said you love us, by the way. I did? Yeah, you said love us. That's why it threw me off. You didn't say like us. Like us works way better. Like us works so much better. Are you 100% sure?

[00:01:06] I'm 100% sure he said love us. What will you do if you're wrong? I don't know. Buy $1,000 worth of lottery tickets? I'll buy $20 worth of lottery tickets. If he's wrong. I promise you. If I'm wrong. Hi everybody, welcome to Deck The Hallmark today. You hedged that so hard. It's a big day. It's a Shakespeare day. It is much about love. Very excited to dive into it. It is also officially September. Congratulations. All right. That's a wrap on August. That's a wrap on August. Good riddance.

[00:01:35] Am I right, brother? Yeah. August kicks so much, guys. Really good. Happy Burr months to you, Dan. I know you've been excited about the Burr months for quite some time. It doesn't mean anything. It means a lot. Nothing means anything unless you say it does. You have to give it meaning. You have to give it meaning. That's not true. Some things mean stuff without me saying. Like what? Like what? Christmas. Nope. Do I have to give meaning to Christmas for it to mean something? Christmas doesn't mean anything. It means only what we give it. How about this? My body involuntarily breathing for me.

[00:02:04] Does that mean something? Yes or no? It doesn't apply to this. I don't think... You said nothing gives meaning. It has meaning unless you give it to it. That is not true. I guess it depends on if you believe that. If you believe if life... I think he's misinterpreting what we're trying to get at. He is misinterpreting it. But I guess it depends on... Do you believe that life has meaning? Yeah, man. Okay. So we can agree to disagree. We can. Sure. Sure. Start there. As a circuitous route to I was wrong, but that's fine. Yeah.

[00:02:34] Great to be here today. Much about love. Brian, if you had to, rank Shakespeare plays. No, I was afraid of this. What do you got? What do you got number one? Oh, man. Rome Jewels. Rome Jewels. Dude, I feel like it's easier. You mean Julius Caesar? No, Romeo and Juliet. Okay. The Serpent, I think, is probably sneaky one for me. No, The Serpent. The Serpent. The Tempest, whatever. Whatever. What about Ophelia?

[00:03:04] Ophelia. Is that one? It's a good tune. That's not the name of a Shakespeare play. It's a person, right? It's a character, yes. That's a great song. Give me Hamlet 1. Interesting. Give me Hamlet 1. Give me Macbeth 2. Give me Romeo and Juliet 3. What about Much Do About Nothing? I'm fine. The companies don't work as well for me. I like Julius Caesar more than a lot of people do. And I've read Much Ado and I've read Taming the Shrew and I've read... Much Ado is a comedy. I've not, yes. Would I laugh? No. Ha!

[00:03:35] That's what the... So in this movie, the play that they're doing is Taming the Shrew, but the... Yeah, it's a little tricky there. That's a little bit of a stage, like Shakespeare is Much Ado About Nothing. Right. Okay. Where they're having conversations, they overhear the conversations, all that stuff's Much Ado. I was interested going into this movie as somebody who knows absolutely nothing about Shakespeare. I learned it in school. Yep. But I have not given a single thought about Shakespeare since then.

[00:04:06] I mean, in the movies you watched, there's a lot of adaptations, but not him specifically. What adaptations have I seen? Like Lion King. Okay. Is a straight Shakespeare. Okay. I like Lion King. 10 Things I Hate About You. I did see that. Yeah. So you've done a little Shakespeare here and there. But everything... There's nothing new under the sun. Laura Schinner... Everything's an adaptation. And then Laura Schinner said, Brian definitely said loveth. So there you go. All right. First time for everything. That's right. So does that mean... Am I buying lottery tickets? Yeah, that's what I was at.

[00:04:36] You should probably still... I was about that. We should probably still just to be safe. Just to cover the bases. Just to be... All right. We don't want to miss out on money. No, we don't want to miss out on money. It's free money. The lottery... They give you money if you win. How was your weekend? Really quick. Rapid fire. Go. What did you do? Rapid fire. Good. Wrote. Wrote. Edited. Oh. Wrote and edited. Just to hang out with my kids. How about you, Brent? Quick. It was good. I went up to Jeter with some friends. Ooh, already? Yeah, well, you know... We didn't actually pick apples, but we... You got the donuts?

[00:05:05] Got the donuts. Did the thing. What's crazy about apple picking places is how much more expensive it is to go and do the work. You don't want to go and pick apples. You want to go and get in the fields. This is the price difference. Yes. Are you ready for this? To go and pick apples. At Jeter, you got to get on the tractor as well. You got to get on the tractor. There you go for a ride. You got to get a basket as well. You have to get one of those. It's $35. That's right. Okay? To just go and get a bag in their market of those apples. Probably the best of the apples. Right. Because they're going to pick out the best ones.

[00:05:35] Yeah. $8.99. Yeah. That price difference is nuts. And you're doing the work for them. Right. So we did not pick apples, but we went up there. It's really the tractor hayride that they say... Saw some friends, and it was a good time. Yeah. Good time. All right. That took a long time, Brent. That was not... I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I went on a tangent about apples. Aren't apple. Economist, Brent. Aren't apple. Classic brand. They call me econ brand. Is it macro? Is it micro? Is it both? Cab. Old cabbie over there. Is that your favorite Shakespeare play?

[00:06:05] Macro, micro, or both? All right. Much About Love. It originally premiered on the Hallmark Channel on August 29th, 2026. And it went a little something like this. It's time for the summer Shakespeare Festival. Yeah. And... Get it out of the way early. Bea. Bia. Because it's like Beatrice. Bia.

[00:06:29] Bia Bishop has arrived ahead of the show that she's going to be directing, The Taming of the Shrew. You know it. You'll love it. I don't. But I assume you do. She is pumped. Or should I say was pumped until she finds out that Benny. Benny. Benny. How you doing, buddy? 2026 is Benny's year. Year of the Benny. It's Benny Dick. Have you had it this whole time? Dude, I've been ready. I've been ready, willing, and able.

[00:06:57] You've been waiting for me to say your name? Benny. Benny, I'm sorry. How you doing, Brian? Doing great, buddy. I missed you so much, buddy. I missed you so much. I missed you at the potluck. I missed out on the potluck. You weren't at the potluck. I was at the Cheater Mountain. Granny's Mash. I know about Granny's Mash. Granny's Mash. You always come for Granny's Mash. I go for seconds. Why didn't you come for Granny's Mash? Because I was at Cheater Mountain. I said it already. I told everybody my friend Brian's going to be at the potluck. You shouldn't have said that. I said, Brian, I tell everybody you're going to love this guy. He's so funny. But I already knew all those people. No, you don't.

[00:07:27] You don't know any of them. I don't know any of them. Skeller? Did you meet Skeller? I did not meet Skeller. Skeller was really disappointed in me. Benny. All right. You let Benny down. I'm sorry. How about this? We go to Granny's. We go to Granny for her Mash. Granny was Mash. Granny's Mash. Granny's Mash. Benny. And we will eat it. You cut me deep, Brian. I'm sorry. We'll eat it together. Benny. Deal? Deal. All right. Love you, buddy. Love you. Benny was a popular actor.

[00:07:56] Not our Benny, although I'm sure he has. I mean, he would crush it. He has what it takes. Yeah. Benny was a popular actor. He is going to be the love interest in this play. She's not thrilled about this because they clearly have a history together. Her mom is the one who runs the festival, but she's going to retire. Bea says that she wants to take over the festival, and her mom is thrilled by this. The cast gets together for the first time for pizza that Benny brings.

[00:08:25] Benny brings Granny's Mash and pizza. Granny's Mash and pizza. Benny meets his leading lady for the first time. Her name is Hannah, and it's clear that Hannah has a thing for another guy in the play named Clay. When Benny sees this, he tells Bea to make Clay the lead love interest in this, and so she does this.

[00:08:50] Bea finds out that there are some more hoops that she's going to need to leap through in order for the board to approve her to be the new director for the festival. Apparently, there's a buyer interested in purchasing the festival, and if the play isn't a success, they're going to need to sell. So the stakes are high! Hashtag! She tells Benny about this, and they agree to a peace treaty to work together to save the festival. Turns out, Benny was right about Clay and Hannah, but maybe a little bit too right.

[00:09:19] Bea and Benny follow them into town and see them kissing big ones in the market. Bea is worried that it isn't going to be great for the play because it's going to distract them. So Bea goes to talk to her about it, and Hannah is like, we're falling in love. I don't see what the big deal is. Bea says, it's not real love, it's festival love. Hannah disagrees. Bea says, this happened to me once before! Maybe with a fella you've met named Benny? Benny?

[00:09:50] She fell for Benny during their play. She got distracted. They got a bad review, calling her a distracted actor. We've never had one of those here. Doesn't want that to happen to Hannah. That's why she ultimately left and became a director in the first place. She tells Hannah that if you're thinking about how much you're in love with Clay, it's going to affect your performance on the stage. Benny ends up having a very similar conversation with Clay.

[00:10:18] Anyway, Hannah and Clay decide that they should try to get Bea and Benny together. They're going to do that by speaking loudly about things that they overheard about the other person and how they like. So it's like, Hannah is in the same room as Benny. And it's like, Bea's still in love with Benny. So that he would hear that and then, you know, funny things.

[00:10:47] Bea and Benny end up getting coffee together. They talk through some changes that they want to make to the play. And then they're getting ready to talk about their feelings. But they end up getting interrupted. They begin to wonder if splitting Hannah and Clay up is doing more harm than good. Now they hate each other on stage. And she's forgetting her lines. It's a whole thing.

[00:11:08] There's a party where everybody is in Shakespearean garb and Bea and Benny try to reverse what they have done by getting Hannah and Clay back together via slow dancing together. And Bea and Benny also slow dance together in the process. The next day, Benny asks if she wants to go for a bite. She said, did you say date? And he said, no, I said bite. But also, yes, to a date. They go out to dinner.

[00:11:34] They tell each other how they feel via a crayon on the table. The sparks are flying. And on the way home, they both talk about how they overheard some actors talking about how they are into each other. And they realize that it was all big trick. It was all one big trick. This is quite the misunderstanding. She's like, well, thank goodness we didn't kiss. This would have been embarrassing. Kiss stuff. If you want, we can stay. I can. The argument gets interrupted with a text.

[00:12:03] Apparently, Hannah is leaving the festival. She can't handle the pressure of saving the festival because she found out about the deal with the board. She's overwhelmed by this and she decides it would be better if I just left. So they all agree that it would be best if Benny and Bea took over the lead roles for this play. But then she overhears Benny apparently told Clay that whoever takes over running the festival has impossibly large shoes to fill. She's like, you don't think I can do it?

[00:12:32] He realizes that he done goofed and he needs to figure out a way to not only show her that he believes in her, but also show her that he loves her in the process. So he runs to the airport to stop Hannah from leaving and gets her to come back to do the show, which she does. The play is going great. The run is sold out. Bea goes to talk to her mom backstage and her mom tells her the one regret that she has in all of this running of the festival is that she's only been able to focus on her job and not her heart.

[00:13:02] And she encourages her daughter to make sure that she tends to her heart. The show is a smash hit. And after the show, she finds out that they don't need to sell. The board approves Hannah running the festival moving forward. She goes to find Benny. She asks how he got Hannah to come back in the first place. And he says, I told her that all she needs is to know that Bea believes in you. Because when I know that Bea believes in me, I feel like I can do anything.

[00:13:26] He also says that I couldn't play this role because I wouldn't be able to hide my feelings for you on this stage. She says, I want to be with you and I want to run this festival with you. And then she says, kiss me, you fool. And kiss, they do, followed by a spin and another kiss with a dip. And that was much about love. We did it. Quite a synopsis. Sorry. I'd say.

[00:13:55] It's my Shakespearean attempt. I'm trying to write it full. Gave it the old Shakespearean attempt. We're going to take a break. We're going to come back. We're going to break this movie down with four segments here on. Deck the Hallmark. I can't believe you ditched Benny to go to Jeter Mountain with friends. It's unbelievable. I didn't know that that was. Probably was the highlight of his year. I didn't realize that it was the same date.

[00:14:23] Of course, I didn't want him as a granny stater. He'll get over it. Granny's mash? He'll roll it. Yeah, he'll. Granny's mash. Yeah, of course. All right. So we're talking about much about love. We're going to start. I believe this is Granny's mash. I think so. I think it is. It could be. It's time for Much About Love. We're going to start with that hot take. It's where we share exactly what I felt about this. We did. Hold back. I like my tots. Brian, guy. Brian, what do you think about Much About Love? Sure.

[00:14:50] Well, really, truthfully, honestly, I'm very insecure talking about it because it's... I wasn't a great student in high school. And as I've gotten older, I've had a lot more interest in learning things and experiencing things. I did terrible in high school, though. And times like this make me regret that so much because it makes you feel uncultured and dumb and like, I don't know the stuff I should know.

[00:15:15] And then you hear like art, the community, the Double Decker community, big fans of this because a lot of theater people, a lot of romance people. So just feel very like not... Welcome to Comedy Central Roast of Brian Harreld. I'm just going to handle it myself. Brian's going to go first. Yeah. It was unroached. It just made me feel like, man, I wish I... How dumb are you? This was so great, it seems for... It seems. It seems like for the people who are in the know... As far as I can tell. Like a love letter to theater folk, to romance folk.

[00:15:45] And it seems like they did such a good job. And I didn't pick up on a lot of the detail, the nuance. And that's where I feel like a dummy dum-dum. But you can tell so much care went into that. And it's like a love letter to that. It's like between Ashley and Neil who wrote it and worked on it together, a love letter probably between themselves. It seems like a lot of personal touches were included here, which is really great. So I wish that I had more that I was bringing to this where I got more from it, but I still got a lot from it.

[00:16:12] And the way this was put together, it was so accessible because it's like there are things from that world that you're watching, you're like, that are so familiar because they're... All these movies are built on these stories. From Shakespeare, Billy Shakespeare's time, writing them over time. So it's all very accessible. And you're watching this and you realize, oh, I know these stories because I'm familiar with the newer renditions and things like that. And they threw in so many things that I wish that I had caught because I didn't pick up

[00:16:40] on the original throwback to where they came from. But there's so much here that's just like so familiar and done so well. And the chemistry, phenomenal. Lindora, so great. It's so great to see her. Absolutely. And so having her in this... The whole cast, it was a very cool, interesting cast. And so very good. The misunderstanding. I know we're going to have some different takes on this. I even had a fun time with that knowing it was coming. And just... So overall, really good time.

[00:17:09] And I'm sure if I were more educated, I would have appreciated it even more. And so my take is I walked away. I had a really good time here. Your take was I just liked it because I'm not smart enough to have loved it? Is that what you're saying? Yeah. That's why I said love it. Don't sell yourself short. You know what I mean? Yeah. My big concern was that I'm not going to be able to appreciate this movie because I don't know Shakespeare. What a dummy, huh? I know that I'm dumb. And I'm okay with that. I've come to terms with it.

[00:17:37] But the good news is I did still really enjoy this movie. Per usual, long synopsis equals big likes for Bran. I really love this movie. I thought Niall and Ashley were wonderful together. Some great moments. And I'm going to talk about the declaration scene at the dinner here during my feel. So don't you dare take it. But an amazing scene, an amazing moment.

[00:18:04] And I thought that like Lindora was wonderful. The, we got to tear them apart. No, we can't. We've gone too far. We got to bring it back together. This movie was funny without being distracting from the hallmark and what they're trying to do. So I really love this movie. Probably one of my favorites of the year. I think I would want to put this movie in real movie territory. I thought it really worked across the board. Dana? Yeah.

[00:18:31] So I think this movie probably gives more reverence to adapting Shakespeare than I've ever seen on Hallmark. And I think that means that people that love Shakespeare and love the stage are bound to and love Hallmark. This movie was made for them. They're bound to love it. They're bound to love it. Like undeniably, unabashedly excuse any of the hallmark trappings because they love what they got to see. I'm like Shakespeare is fine for me.

[00:19:00] Theater is fine for me. This movie was a lot more serious than I thought it would be. But I, and so it's not, I don't really think it was for me, but this doesn't fall into the boat of this movie's bad. I think this movie is really great. And I think if you, for people that love that stuff, um, what I, the thing that I would like to point out is, is that I don't think anyone on Hallmark has taken the notoriety and the

[00:19:28] position of power that they've received because of acting in their movies and turned it into more good for more people and more quality work than Ashley Williams has. Um, this is someone that was the charming, smiley, quirky, comic relief, leading lady of she's our mermaid and all of those movies. And she could have happily done that for 20 more years. And everyone would have been like, gosh, I love Ashley Williams.

[00:19:58] She's so wonderful. Isn't she so endearing? How could you not love her? And kudos to Ashley Williams for not just doing that. Uh, the first time we spoke to her, she had just directed a short film about her. It was a pregnant woman who was vegan, but had this sudden desire to like be a carnivore while she was pregnant. I agree. Like you could tell immediately she loved, she had an eye for directing to put her might behind the maker Mark program to choose roles that aren't just quirky and comedic.

[00:20:26] And it turns out Ashley Williams might just be the queen of fall notes of autumn, October kiss. And this movie are, you usually don't have someone come in and knock a fall movie out of the park. This movie, I would rank third of those movies for me personally, but make no mistake. Ashley Williams is making this movie first and foremost is a love letter for her and her husband. Second of all, she's making it as a movie for Shakespeare and theater kids. And I think by those two measures, she succeeds. Niall is great in this movie.

[00:20:56] He's doing voices. Lindora, someone get her a lead, which I, I hear that might be happening this year to Hallmark. She's wonderful. So yeah, I, I thought this movie, considering how we have two Shakespeare comedies, I know that Shakespeare comedies aren't actually funny. It just everything ends, ends right. I thought we were going to get a little bit more comedy in this movie. I had to pivot a little bit on that.

[00:21:21] Movie's not for me, but for the folks that it's for, Ashley Williams continues to not be content, complacent, and comfortable. Instead, she's pushing the boundary and making things that she clearly loves and has attachment to. So kudos to her and Niall because they did a great job. And not to mention Queen of Fall also falling together with Paul Campbell, the one where they are in the same building or whatever. Oh, the ALS movie. Because you didn't like it? I don't like that movie, but I don't like it at all. But I appreciate what it's about.

[00:21:48] And that is a good example of Ashley once again, like putting, putting her capital behind what, you know, something that's important to her. So I don't begrudge her that, even though that movie was not for me at all. It's time for all the feels. We're going to talk about what this movie gives feels. I'll start with you, Brad Guy. Yeah. Just for the record, the tablecloth scene obviously feels. I won't go into it. I mean, why are we talking about anything else? Well, it's a great scene. We can all talk about it. I will say it might be my favorite love declaration in a homework movie of all time.

[00:22:18] I think it is pretty much a perfect scene. Yeah. I think you're right. It's creative and how they do it. It makes sense for the characters and it's earned. And it's just like, so like just the whole thing, you're just like melting. It's like so good. They took the time to let it build. Yeah. Yeah. And he took it with them. That scene was phenomenal. Like taking, rolling it up and taking it was just so funny. So great. I like, you know, a lot of times people that have just met a week ago declare love in

[00:22:46] these movies and it's immediately like we check out. But when you have two characters who have a history, clearly fell for each other. Time wasn't right. Miscommunication, whatever you want to talk about there. And then they get the opportunity to have this moment and they do it without words. Yeah. Pretty impressive. Yeah. Pretty impressive stuff. And really just all around the eyes of Niall Mader. Oh my goodness. I mean, he's been on a tear since ripping time. And I think we all know that. Ripper. That's right. One after another. He just lines them up, knocks them out.

[00:23:15] And for him to come in here and do this and like Ashley's so great, but you see in his eyes literally everything he needs to say. Very, very impressive. Yeah. Unfortunately, I did want more fall in this. I don't feel like I got a ton of fall feels. That was one thing. And the other, the real, the feel I wanted to bring was the misunderstanding, the setup, the realization. I thought that that was funny. Like, you know, it was coming, you know what they're doing. I don't know. I mean, like, you know, because of Shakespeare, you kind of know what's going to happen there. I just.

[00:23:44] I think the way they play, like them acting that scene, I got a kick out of it. And I just, I want to say I liked how they, a dude that. Really good. Can I say one small feels that I got, which I really liked is Ashley is a director. I'm sorry. Bia, her character Bia. Yes. Is a director on this cop show called The Rookie. The Newbie. The rookie, basically. But yeah. I love that they gave us this.

[00:24:13] And then during this montage specifically, she's wearing newbie swag. Yep. She's got a shirt on. So was Wendora briefly. She's got the hat and the newbie hat. And I loved it. It gave credence to this backstory that we were told. Like, this is real. That is something that someone would do that was in a thing. If you had swag from it, you would wear that swag. And so it felt like it was one small thing that costs a little bit of money for this production to do to make us believe that she actually is a director.

[00:24:43] She also directed two episodes of The Rookie. So it is a direct, like it's ripped straight from her real life. And I will say this. The Newbie. This movie may not have been for me. However, it is a fully formed adult movie. Like, not like adult movie like you think. It's a movie where adults are having conversations. We want a different movie, brother. It's a fully formed adult movie. Cut it. It's a movie where adults are having conversations that make sense. You know what I mean? You didn't watch the adult movie? I'm sorry. Woo! Yeah, yeah, yeah. Full-bodied. Full-bodied.

[00:25:13] That's right. Okay. All right. We're going to take a break. We're going to come back. We're going to get to the way one of the What the Hallmark here. Dick the Hallmark. Adult version. Dick the Hallmark adult version. I've been, I can't wait for us to finally make our adult film. Yeah. When we make our adult movie. Adult movie. I'm sorry. Adult movie. Film? Can we call it a film? Never. I wouldn't call it a film because it's probably going to be a made-for-TV type movie. I can't wait for that.

[00:25:42] That's going to be big for us. Yeah. We've been practicing. We have? We've been putting in the work. Yeah. We've been watching a lot of. We've been going through. We've been going through the paces. Trying to figure it out. We've been watching a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We want to make sure our adult movie's great. The ins and outs of how to really make it happen. You know what I mean? Yep. I mean, by the time we get there, we will bend over backwards to make it happen. Absolutely. Absolutely. There's nothing that we can't stop on stopping. You know what I mean? All right. Let's get to the white ones. We're talking about what in this movie is going to be.

[00:26:12] Well, I'll start with you, Brad Guy. Yeah. You're going to make it? Well, I'll start with an easy one. Two large pizzas for a full read-through. Yeah, let's keep out of here for a second. Are you kidding me? If we could. Who do you think you are? I am. I know that we're talking about theater people who may or may not be watching what they eat. Get over yourselves. There's eight people in that room. You committed a hate crime. You brought two large pizzas for eight people. Yeah. We've all been there. Yeah. I clocked that and I'm going, oh, it looks like I'm eating afterwards.

[00:26:41] Yeah, you're doing math in your head immediately. I immediately just go, it looks like I'm eating afterwards. This will be a fun appetizer. Yeah. And then it'll all be gone. It's ridiculous. But the good news is that the pizza looks so bad. Oh, look, you won't even want it. I would want it. The pizza, like New Haven should sue. New Haven, Connecticut should sue for their name. They are apparently the mecca of pizza. Their name is attached. Somebody's like, I got this from New Haven's own something, something pizza. Yeah. That pizza looked terrible. Yeah, awful.

[00:27:11] And there was only a little bit of it. A crime on top of crime. Yeah. And also, it was almost like they didn't have food at that place, but they went there for a burger and a beer later, so they do have food at this bar. Like, why are we bringing pizza? Bringing a pizza into a bar that serves food is, that's the sense. It was like they just had to shout out New Haven pizza, but just. They didn't do it. Yeah. Yeah. It would have been funnier if he was like, oh man, he ate it on the way. He couldn't stop. It was so good.

[00:27:40] He ate the two pizzas on the way. It would have been just fine. What the heck are these monsters doing out there buying festivals? What is happening? They're on a festival buying spree. That's just mean spirited. They aren't buying all the festivals. Capitalism is run amok. What the heck? It was, first of all, it was funny, but then it was such an integral part of this story. It was, it started to bug me. It's crazy. This doesn't, nobody's buying up festivals like this, right? There's two reasons to buy a festival.

[00:28:09] Number one, to make sure it stays the same as it was when you were a kid. And two, to ruin someone's life. Those are the only two reasons to buy a festival. Yeah, I didn't like the way that that was thrown in as the stakes that she's up against. It's like, ah, man. Took me out of the dual Shakespeare of it all. Yeah, yeah. To have the, the reviews have to be good. Yeah, that part of it. Or they're going to sell the festival. It was a little, it did take me out.

[00:28:35] It was a little like, not short-sighted, but it just felt like we could do something better. We could do something else here. Clay just pulled an apple out of his pocket during rehearsal. Yeah, you got him, man. I mean. He went to Jeter instead of. Yeah, yeah. Missed out on Green Grand as well. Missed out of the mash. And just the last one. Did anybody go, you think? No, just. Oh, it's tough. Just Benny and Grand. It's tough, man. Well, and Scovel or whatever the kid's name is. Skeller. Skeller, yeah. I mean, he won't miss that. He's going to be pissed, dude. Like, we don't have time for it, but he's going to be upset. Benny, Benny. Yeah!

[00:29:06] What's the guy's name? I'm laughing through the tears, Brian. It was me, Skeller, and Granny, and a bunch of disappointment. There's eight gallons of mash. I was going to ask, do you have any mash left over? Not for you. Not for you. That's how you show up to a party. So, Granny would rather. Hope the apples were great, Brian. They were good, great. You ruined a friendship over this penny. We're not friends anymore? Negative. I hate this. That's tough, man. Is there anything I can do? No! Oh, man.

[00:29:36] I'm going to try again next year. Man, that's tough. I mean, it sounds like he brings an appropriate amount of mash to a gathering, though. Eight gallons. Eight gallons is better than two pieces. The last thing. Do you guys have a problem with the masquerade ball the week before the show? It seems like we're amping up to get everything perfect. Holy cow. I mean, it felt like a lot of extra work. The only way that I think it would be okay is if they had a dress rehearsal and then just decided that was a fun, nice thing to do.

[00:30:04] This does bring me to one of mine, which is, yes, it's a masquerade ball right before opening night. It feels like you could put your time and resources elsewhere. But also, this is a fully lamp lit in the woods. Got to get the generators out there. A lot could go wrong, too. We're running a lot of electrical outlets to be dangling these lamps. I mean, it looked awesome. Yeah, it looked great. But they're just dangling lamps from the twigs and the branches. Dangling lamps from the twigs.

[00:30:33] That'll get you. Got to get the power from elsewhere. That's right. Yeah. I mean, unless it's the magic of Shakespeare. It just lights up. You think it's lit by the magic? I think it might be lit by magic. Anything else? No, I'll stop there. Aside from the serious generator action that they had out there in the woods, I do want something that I do. And you guys might do this. I subscribe to Greenville Today, GVL Today. Yeah, shout out. And I like looking at Greenville Today, especially heading into the week and see what type of events are going on. Oh, yeah. Right?

[00:31:04] I have to imagine there was disappointment from some people when they saw upcoming events sword fighting in the park. And you show up and you find out that it's not real sword fighting. It's two guys on a stage showing you how to fake sword fight. Can you imagine, just for a second, being like, oh, man, two people are going to get after it. They're going to sword fight. This is going to be incredible. And then you show up and it's just like, ah. Yeah, it's just practicing.

[00:31:34] There had to at least be one person that was a little disappointed that it wasn't a real sword fight. One star. Right? One. Nobody got stabbed. I was promised sword fight and I didn't get it at all. No blood. Yeah. I'd be a little disappointed. Obviously, I don't want anyone to die. Oh. But a flesh wound. Well, you know. Yeah. The presence of perceived danger you'd like, though. That's all I'm saying. That's all I'm saying. That's all you're saying. Dano? Yeah. I mean, I know that there's going to be a lot of people who want to write this off.

[00:32:01] But guys, this is Deck the Hallmark and this was a Hallmark movie. In fall. Fall into love. Everyone in this movie is wearing fall outfits. The air looks folly. It's a summer festival. Yeah. I don't. If I don't bring this up, we got to shut the podcast down. Yeah. Guys, you have one job. What happened here? How do all the signs? The biggest word isn't Shakespeare. It's summer.

[00:32:31] The biggest word on the sign is the summer Shakespeare festival. That is the order of the sign. What are we doing? Everybody wants to pitch a fit. People who watch Hallmark, the year that Bill Abbott canceled all the fall movies but two and they both sucked. Everybody got so angry. Everybody loves fall. They get their pumpkins and their flannel and their whatever. You have a fall movie with the queen of fall, as I'm now calling her. Sure.

[00:32:59] And a bunch of fall outfits and a great topic for a fall movie. And you have a summer festival. Don't. Don't. Just don't put it on screen anywhere. Just find a way to digitize it and make it just say Shakespeare festival. Anything other than summer. We have to talk about that. That can't just go by. Has to be addressed. It has to be addressed. Somebody in the chat while we were watching this movie live,

[00:33:28] you can watch us watch these Hallmark movies live. Anything. Yeah. Take it to the tape. Take it to the tape. That's right. Rainbowjamplus.com. And some of the chat said this was just the board. But basically what is pitched to Ashley's character, Bia, is that for her to take control of the festival, it basically has to do great money and the critics have to love it. Critically acclaimed. Yeah. That's tough for a play outside at a fall summer festival.

[00:33:54] Like I don't, like if we're talking about just the board members, well, I would wager to say that at least one board member might have a problem with the fact that the dialogue has changed characters. I wouldn't. I loved it. But the idea that you pitched was the critics have to love it and it has to be a financial success. And that seems arbitrary a little bit. Like it's not going to be for everyone.

[00:34:21] Like the critics loving it was like immediately like a record scratch to me. You know what else is a record scratch? Is these two dudes having a fake conversation with Ashley comes in and they lead by yelling, I love female directors. Like there's a number one way to make sure that the Ashley, Bia's character knows that you're doing a bit by talking in this voice and then screaming, I love female directors.

[00:34:46] I think that would probably clue her in a little bit that you're wanting her to hear a made up conversation. Speaking of made up things, this gymnasium is just a house. It's just a house. It is a living room and a sunroom and they've put random workout stuff in and we're supposed to believe that it is a gym. It is just fundamentally not a gymnasium in any way, shape or form.

[00:35:12] And then we talked about the tablecloth scene, maybe the best scene, definitely the best declaration of love we've seen a long time here on Hallmark. They finished the scene, tears in their eyes and they're like, all right, we got to go real quick. They finished the scene and it's like, wrap it up. We got to go. That's how you run out on a bill. That's how you run out on a bill. You got to get out of there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like they didn't sit in that moment and like bask in the glow of each other or anything. It's like, all right, we both upside down wrote in crayon I love you perfectly. Not even take a moment to talk about how impressive that is.

[00:35:43] And then they're like, all right, let's go. The box. It's exhausting to write upside down so well. You have to, everybody's tired. Yeah. That's all I got. It's time for the Hallmark. I guess we're wondering what could have been. Maybe it's a clarity question we still have. What are we still wondering about? I'll start with you, Brian. Yeah, mine is, it's sort of a, oh, wait, what, but my, it's a big question because I, did they rehearse more than what we saw? Because they, I want more rehearsal. Here we go. I can't help, but in this, I feel like it's justified.

[00:36:09] Like I wanted to, a big part of this was I wanted to see Ashley be a, I want to see her direct. Like I want to see her in that role doing, we saw actor stuff, like Niall working with her on the memorization and things that actors do. But I wanted to see like more director stuff and her at work in this role. And I was like, we could have got more of that with more rehearsal. And I just feel like there was a lot of rehearsal we didn't see. So like how much are you always rehearsing outside on the stage where you're going to perform?

[00:36:39] Do they do anything inside that's not in full view of anybody who's around? Like I just wanted more about the rehearsal because I feel like a lot probably had to happen and we just didn't get to see a lot of it. But yeah, well, this guy wanted more rehearsal. He wanted more rehearsal. Yeah, this is dumb, Ryan. Let's go to mine. I want to know more. This is a pretty, this week in particular for this play, you have it being directed by a real TV director. That's right.

[00:37:07] Director of the newbie and a real actor. Benny is an actor. Benny is, I believe, also on TV or something like that. And then Lindora is about to go overseas for a thing. She's getting a gig. That's right. The rest of the summer of summer Shakespeare, they're doing a few different plays, right? This is the last one. Who else are they bringing in for this festival? Like, is this the big, is the closer where they put all of the heavy hitters?

[00:37:34] We get a real big time director, big actors in this one. Or is this festival full of, like, professional movie and TV stars and directors? Or is it only this one? I want to know more about this here festival, this summer Shakespeare festival. And who all else they have bringing in there. Because they could build this world out. They could build this world out. They could build this world out. Dano? Yeah, Lindora's character, you mentioned going to Italy.

[00:38:03] And that's my, what the hallmark. Obviously, big Lindora's staying excited to see her get a leading role in Hallmark. They make it seem initially like she's leaving to take this other role. And then we find out she's scared to do this. And she can do both. And clearly she's going to do both. And how did that go for her? Do we see, like, does she become an international TV or movie star? Does she ever come back to the Shakespeare festival in the summer or fall or whenever it takes place? How does that go for her?

[00:38:33] To that point, though, Dan, she was, like, she can do both. But this is not a one-night-only show. There's a run of this play. And Benny went to go get her at the airport because she was going over there. Was she just going over there early for kicks and kicks? During the take of the tape, I was like, she has to take this job. They can't get mad at her. And someone in the chat said, it's not a time thing. She can do both. Right. So I am, like. But then she did go. She was already heading there.

[00:39:02] So was that just for funsies? Like, I might as well already go to Italy because I got to get out there in a couple weeks anyway. After the performance, she was already going? No, when he catches her at the airport before she's going to leave. I understand that. Yeah, she was just going early, I guess. That was my question. Yeah, that doesn't, timeline doesn't quite work out. But, you know. It's time for Double Decker of the Weeks where we dive deep into a life of a double decker. We're excited for BrambleJamPlus.com. Dot com. Brian, you did that deep dive. Yeah, sure do, man.

[00:39:31] Many times it's wildly entertaining. Sometimes it's not. Dan, who do we have today? We have Bethany Jones. Beth Jones. Bethany Jones. Beth Jones. That's really good. Thanks. So Beth, yeah, Beth has, in her town, she's starting, it turns out, like a lifelong dream here that she's following. And it's a new fitness center that she's, yeah. Does it look like a house? Lifelong dream. All the rooms are. That's right. Beth, yeah, so she's got this new idea for fitness.

[00:39:59] It feels like it's, I don't want to say revolutionize. Those are her words. That's never stopped before. Wow. She's, she feels like she's going to revolutionize it. So, okay. She's going to revolutionize fitness. Right. And it's sports. You know, when you're at a gym, there's like different crowds. There are people who are the hardcores. Of course. People who want to socialize and chat. Of course. This is more for the social crowd. Okay. And it's for the people who kind of just want to hang, you know, say I'm going to the gym and be at the gym and just hang. Yeah.

[00:40:27] And so she's opening up a place called Long Waits. Okay. Or you go. Yeah. And it's mostly just standing around waiting. Is there like one set of weights? There's a couple stations, but. I think what's nice here though, Dan, is like you go to the gym and then you get, start talking to somebody. And then when you get home, you're like, what took you so long? Right. And then you, all you have to say was, it was Long Waits. And then you're not lying. That's right. That's what you were at Long Waits. All the bases are covered. That's right.

[00:40:57] That's pretty good. Long Waits. Now, are the weights actually long? They do have some because you do have to, again, you have to cover every. Comedically long. Long. Huge. From front to back. Stem to stern. And you got to get all your partners over there. Everybody together. See if we can lift this dumbbell. It's a giant weight. That's what could take the whole time too, is you get everybody on board to collaborate. You got to get a long wait up in the air. So it really, really covers a lot of. Wow. Long Waits. Yep. Interesting. An interesting business model. For sure. Waits, I'm assuming, is like weight? Yeah. E-I-G-H.

[00:41:26] Yeah, it is. Yeah. Yeah. Very good. Congratulations. Has she opened it up yet? No, we're still waiting on this actually. Yeah, we're still on. I understand we got commercials though. We do. Long Waits. Long Waits. Ever been to the gym and thought, this took not enough time. Long Waits. Have I got a gym for you. It's... Long Waits. What is it?

[00:41:54] Well, you wait a long time. Long Waits. There's also weights that are really long. Pick your poison. I broke my leg. You will not break your leg. Hopefully, that was one time. We don't even talk about it really. It's better. And it's better if you hurt. We'll work on that commercial. We'll get it up and around. We will? So is not us. Legal stuff. I know, but it does feel like we can help. It's amazing how many of those commercials have... Ba-dum. Ba-dum. Well, they all use stock.

[00:42:25] It's crazy. Stock loyalty. Great stock. Of course. All right. We'll be back tomorrow with another one. The finale. The finale of... Paris is always a good idea. So come on back for that. Until then, maybe the first to wish you a... Merry Christmas! Deck the Hallmark's a Bramble Jam podcast produced by Brandon Gray. And yeah, that Greenville, South Carolina, for more information on the show. You can go to deckthehallmark.com. Follow us on the socials at Deck the Hallmark and leave us a five-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts to help others find the program.

[00:42:54] And if you want to help the show up financially, you can become a double-decker and find the best corner of the internet with ad-free podcasting, live video watch-alones, movie chats, and so much more. That's 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.

[00:43:24] But here they come. I promise they're coming. Yep. Here they are. Happy day.