Hallmark joins the plus party, in a big way

No one would accuse Hallmark of being trendy or jumpy.
The company has been around for 114 years, still family-owned. For years, its cable channels seemed to keep re-making the same movie.
But now it’s joining TV’s biggest trend – streaming services with a “+” in their names. And it’s doing it in a surprisingly ambitious way with everything from a mini-series (“Holidazed, shown here with Erin Cahill) to reality shows.
“Hallmark+ will be more than just a streaming platform,” Mike Perry, the Hallmark CEO, said. “It will be the very best of Hallmark all in one place.”
Details arrived Aug. 14 (see separate story), but the general idea was sketched earlier, at Television Critics Association sessions:
Hallmark shows will continue to appear on Peacock and Prime Video; “we definitely saw a younger and slightly more diverse audience on streaming,” said Lisa Hamilton Daly, executive vice-president for programming. But sometime in September, the small Hallmark Movies Now services will be folded into the new and larger Hallmark+.
That name may suggest an unneeded addition to a world that already has Disney+, Paramount+, Apple TV+, AMC+, MGM+ and ESPN+. But this one will be go beyond the shows themselves.
The key, Perry said, is the link between the cable channels and the Hallmark stores. “Our viewers are our shoppers and our shoppers are our viewers.”
So for about $80 a year, subscribers will get a monthly greeting card, an occasional gift and discounts involving stores and cruises and such. They’ll get the shows that movies and series that run on the cable channels, plus some made-for-streaming ones, including:
— “The Chicken Sisters,” a series based on a novel about sisters with competing chicken restaurants in a small Southern town. Schuyler Fisk and Genevieve Angelson star, with Lea Thompson and Wendie Malick in support.
— “The Groomsmen,” a movie trilogy. “You’ll see three best friends fall in love, fall out of love, find new love,” said Jonathan Bennett, who came up with the idea and stars with Tyler Hynes and B.J. Britt.
— “Holidazed,” an eight-parter focusing on Christmastime for six families on a cul-de-sac. The story entwines 37 characters, older (Dennis Haysbert, Virginia Madsen, John C. McGinley, Loretta Devine) and young. “It’s a complicated web,” said writer-producer Gina Matthews, and has interlocking stories. The daughter in one family, for instance, is dating the son in another, “and these two families are at war over Christmas lights.”
— And reality shows. “We’re really thinking about that younger audience that does consume a lot of reality programming,” Daly said. The idea is to “infuse the Hallmark DNA into reality in a fun and different way.”
The quickest way tor a show to feel like Hallmark is to have one of the channel’s actors be the host. “We decided to build shows around talent,” said David Stephanou, who’s in charge of reality shows.
That idea tickled Ashley Williams, a busy actress-writer-director. She said she “started pitching him the strangest unscripted ideas ever, including me dressing up with prosthetics as my Aunt Diana and attending a Hallmark cruise. He was very polite about it, but he passed on all my ideas.”
Then he turned around and hired her to host “Small Town Set Up,” a show that tries to make romantic matches. Other stars include:
— Wes Brown once starred in a movie about a lights competition. Now he hosts “Ready, Set, Glow,” which celebrates spectacular holiday displays.
— Bennett hosts “Finding Mr. Christmas,” which has 10 actors (all relative newcomers) vying to become the male lead in a holiday movie.
— Luke McFarlane says he’s “always been a woodworker.” In “Home Is Where the Heart Is,” he’ll listen to someone’s story and then help craft something special “It’s not cookie-cutter; it’s not something you can buy.”
— And Lacey Chabert hosts “Celebrations,” creating parties to honor everyday heroes. “We call her a walking empath,” said producer Gena McCarthy. “She is the warm, beating heart at the core of this lifestyle.”
Or, as actress (and “Finding Mr. Christmas” judge) Melissa Peterman put it: “Every time Lacey Chabert sneezes, a kitten is born.”
Which, of course, clearly fits the Hallmark DNA.