(Updated May 5)
The transition is complete: Like Russian dictators of old, Lori Loughlin has become a non-person.
Scenes were re-edited, re-shot, re-written. After seven weeks in limbo, Hallmark’s “When Calls the Heart” returned Sunday and continues Monday (May 5-6).
The feel-good show centers on Elizabeth (Erin Krakow), who left her privileged background in 1910, to teach on the Canadian frontier. Devastated by a mining tragedy, the town was held together by sturdy women, especially Abigail (Loughlin).
Abigail went to work in the same mine where her husband and son had died. She became Elizabeth’s friend and roommate. She started a cafe and was the moral center of a town and a show ….
Then Loughlin and her husband were charged with mail fraud, in a scheme that involved spending $500,000 to get their two daughters into the University of Southern California. Netflix dropped her from “Fuller House”; The Hallmark Channel said it won’t make any more of her “Garage Sale Mystery” movies. It also pulled “Heart” from the air, only three weeks into the season.
Now it’s back; Loughlin is gone from the publicity pictures and from the show.
Last season (shown here), Elizabeth finally married her Mountie, who was promptly re-assigned and killed. As the show returns:
— Sunday (May 5), Hallmark: The show spent a lot of time with the new Mountie (who doesn’t say much) and Rosemary (who does). It didn’t strain viewers: Rarely has a big-time crime or a childhood rift been solved so easily. But there were plenty of feel-good moments … especially after Elizabeth finally got her widow’s pension.
— 8 p.m. Monday (May 6): There’s a moral crisis already for the Mountie: Elizabeth catches his niece gambling, using a card trick taught to her by Lucas, the saloon owner.
— After that: The show continues at 9 p.m. for four more Sundays. That wraps up a season with nine episodes, instead of the scheduled 10. “Good Witch” takes over on June 9. Also, “Heart” has been renewed for next season.