via press release from The Hallmark Channel:
CROWN MEDIA FAMILY NETWORKS
GIFTS VIEWERS
GIFTS VIEWERS
WITH AN EARLY CHRISTMAS
HALLMARK PRESS RELEASE:
May 13, 2016
May 13, 2016
Hallmark Channel's Annual Holiday Preview 'Christmas Keepsake' Airs July 8-17, Featuring the Original World Premiere of 'A Perfect Christmas' Starring Susie Abromeit, Dillon Casey and Erin Gray
Hallmark Movies & Mysteries Presents Christmas Classics With 'Gold Crown Christmas' July 1-10
STUDIO CITY, CA - May 13, 2016 - Crown Media Family Networks -- the #1 viewing destinations for holiday - unveils its treasured annual programming events, Christmas Keepsake on Hallmark Channel and Gold Crown Christmas on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries.
Hallmark Channel's Christmas Keepsake will offer favorite holiday movies airing Friday, July 8 to Sunday, July 17, highlighted by the world premiere of the all-new original "A Perfect Christmas" on Saturday, July 16 at 9pm ET/PT starring Susie Abromeit, Dillon Casey and Erin Gray.
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| "A Perfect Christmas" Susie Abromeit (Snow Bride) and Dillon Casey, via Instagram |
"A Perfect Christmas" follows a newlywed couple celebrating their first Christmas together. They invite their families to join them for the holidays, but when Steve (Casey) is laid off just before Christmas and Cynthia (Abromeit) discovers she's pregnant, they both keep their news secret in hopes that the celebration runs smoothly.
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| "A Christmas Detour" - Crown Media |
Christmas Keepsake will also feature a 10-day lineup of Hallmark Channel favorites including "Christmas Under Wraps" and "Christmas Detour" starring Candace Cameron Bure, "Crown For Christmas" starring Danica McKellar, "A Christmas Melody" starring Mariah Carey and Lacey Chabert and "Northpole: Open for Christmas" starring Lori Loughlin, Dermot Mulroney and Bailee Madison.
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| "Northpole: Open for Christmas" - Crown Media |
Gold Crown Christmas on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries airs Friday, July 1-Sunday, July 10 and will roll out the most popular original movies that have aired on the network in recent years, including "Christmas Note," "A Christmas Wish," "Magic Stocking," "Debbie Macomber's Dashing Through The Snow," "Christmas Secret" and more. On July 4, the event will present a marathon of Hallmark Hall of Fame titles including "Christmas In Conway" at 7pm ET/PT and "Christmas With Holly" at 9pm ET/PT.
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| "The Christmas Secret" - Crown Media |
"Our viewers look forward to this programming event every year, even planning their summer schedules around the celebration," said Michelle Vicary, Executive Vice President, Programming, Crown Media Family Networks. "It's a special way to bring the magic of Christmas to our audience year-round, and to give them an exclusive glimpse at what's in store for both networks this holiday - Countdown to Christmas on Hallmark Channel and The Most Wonderful Movies of Christmas on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries."
ABOUT CROWN MEDIA FAMILY NETWORKS
Crown Media Family Networks is the umbrella unit subsidiary of Hallmark Cards, Inc., housing cable's leading family friendly networks, Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, as well as their corresponding digital extensions HallmarkChannel.com and HallmarkMoviesandMysteries.com. The company operates and distributes both channels in high definition (HD) and standard definition (SD) with Hallmark Channel available to 89 million subscribers and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries in 65.5 million homes in the United States. Hallmark Channel features an ambitious slate of original content, including movies; scripted series, such as When Calls the Heart, and Good Witch; annual specials like Hero Dog Awards and Kitten Bowl; world premieres of Hallmark Hall of Fame presentations, and a daily 2-hour lifestyle show, Home & Family. Hallmark Channel is also home to annual holiday franchise, Countdown to Christmas, featuring a lineup of 24/7 holiday programming. Rounding out the networks' lineup are television's most beloved sitcoms and series, including The Golden Girls, The Middle, Little House on the Prairie, and Frasier. Hallmark Movies & Mysteries is a 24-hour digital cable network featuring a unique mix of original movies and acquired series focused on the lighter side of the suspense and mystery genres. The network also features its own annual holiday programming franchise, the Most Wonderful Movies of Christmas, as well as presentations from the award-winning Hallmark Hall of Fame library.
(All Details above via Hallmark Press Release)
Source: Futon Critic
Source: Futon Critic
It's exciting news, isn't it? What's even more exciting is that, by the time July gets here, Hallmark will probably have the start date for the Countdown to Christmas ready to be revealed. I think it's a big mystery what is happening this year, as 10/31 is on a Monday and Saturday, 10/29 might be too early.
ReplyDeleteI must admit that, seeing how Hallmark is rolling out the Christmas movies across both channels in July, I have to wonder if they might do a similar thing for the holiday season -- maybe they will start the movies on one channel a week ahead of the other channel. For example, they might begin the movies on 10/28 on HMM and then on 11/4 on the main channel. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.
One thing I wonder about July is, if they are running several movies each day in July, as they have on the main Hallmark Channel for the past couple of years, or if they are going with the 'one-movie-per-night' deal that they did during the Countdown to Valentine's Day. That kind of short schedule would make a huge difference in which movies could be shown or not shown.
Another thing I notice is that they are not promoting any premieres of theatrical movies this time around. Hopefully there won't be 10 hours of "Home Alone" again -- not in a 10-day marathon.
Yes, Sherry, It is exciting news and I can't wait!! I've got a little over a month and a half to clear my schedule so that I can do a "deep couch city" for the whole ten days!! Yipee!!
ReplyDeleteLol. It's 17 days in deep couch city if you have both channels!
DeleteWhen I first read about the staggered schedule this year -- HMM getting started with the Christmas movies one week before the main channel starts -- I thought, "Well, that won't be at all confusing..." ;) ;)
But then, when I started to think about it a bit more, I decided that it's a good idea to do it that way for this short time in July because people can watch what's on one channel without worrying that they're missing something on the other channel (with the exception of those 3 days of overlap time). It might draw more attention to the HMM channel as well, if people realize that HMM has begun the movies ahead of the main channel.
I just wonder how extensive the schedules will be, because -- when the 2 channels were running simultaneous 10-day marathons in the past -- the main Hallmark Channel had a less extensive schedule, while HMM had a more extensive schedule (more movies shown per day, in other words). Now that the schedules are doing a back-to-back thing, with 3 days of overlap time, I wonder if it will be the same -- HMM shows more movies per day and Hallmark shows fewer movies.
Cool that the movies I liked from the movie channel will be showing too!
ReplyDeleteMisty
I have been anxiously awaiting this press release. Thank you for posting it. Cannot wait for July!! Yay
ReplyDeleteI love that they're not running both channels at the exact same time. We get 17 days of Christmas movies. Yayyy!!!!
ReplyDeleteI agree with the other people here in Hallmark's scheduling decision between the two channels. For those of us that are fortunate to get both channels, having Christmas movies playing from July 1st to the 17th is wonderful news! I can't wait. I'll be watching daily since I absolutely love Christmas movies any time of the year!
ReplyDeleteThe Christmas Secret DVD will be released in October - see CBD. Angel of Christmas also.
ReplyDeleteI'VE NEVER SEEN OR HEARD OF ANGEL OF CHRISTMAS. IS THAT HALLMARK OR HALLMARK M&M ???
DeleteYes, "Angel of Christmas" is a lovely, charming Hallmark movie! It first premiered on the Hallmark Channel (thanksgiving weekend) in 2015.
DeleteWhen it aired last year at Christmastime, "Angel of Christmas" was only played then on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries.
You can see my post on it, with pictures, here:
http://itsawonderfulmovie.blogspot.com/2015/09/hallmark-channel-movie-angel-of-christmas.html.
Plus, it is available at Amazon on DVD, see here: http://amzn.to/2s8k9JW.
Hope this helpful to you! If you have any more questions, I'll be glad to help, if I can.
Blessings! Net :)
Oh my gosh, Sherry, how'd I get so confused?? We get 17 days between both Hallmark channels...well, I'll be rockin' round the clock this year so I better get caught up on all my sleep now!! LOL!!
ReplyDeleteLol! Last year I couldn't pay attention to the July movies as much as I wanted to, so this year I am hoping I will be able to fully enjoy my favorites.
DeleteI had been hoping that the movies would be stretched out to cover two full weeks and 3 weekends (like the Countdown to Valentine's Day included 3 weekends), but I have a feeling that a lot of people will not realize that HMM is starting the Christmas movies one week early (7/1) and ending them on 7/10, while the main Hallmark Channel runs its own Christmas programming from 7/8 to 7/17. I have found that a lot of people -- at least many of the ones who comment on social media -- really don't know what's happening most of the time. Lol. They have a general idea about some things, but they don't realize when something has changed or that it might not be what they expect/assume.
So, to that end, I suspect that a LOT of viewers will be confused over the staggered schedule of Christmas movies between the 2 channels, because it won't be what happened last year. They will assume that both channels will be running movies at the same time, and they will end up missing something along the way.
Hallmark is largely to blame for the confusion, because, quite frankly, they are not promoting the specific schedules well enough right now, to make it clear how it's going to work on both channels. Every week they should be posting in social media, "17 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS MOVIES IN JULY!" And then they should break down the schedules and dates for each channel. And then they should highlight the fact that a brand new movie is premiering on the main channel on July 16th.
The press release from this past Friday is not something that everyone will see or know to look for. Hallmark has to give the details on its own social media pages, repeatedly, so people understand what's happening.
I'm kind of torn as to how I feel about this. We LOVE Hallmark Christmas movies and love the idea of Christmas in July. It's so great getting a dose of your favorite movies in summer. I believe a few years back it started as a long weekend full of Christmas movies and then it switched to 10 days. Now it's 17 days. I think part of the specialness of Christmas in July was waiting for that week (or 10 days) to cram as many Christmas movies in as you could. But when you get too much of something, it can lose it's luster. Don't get me wrong, my whole family is excited for it. Thanks for sharing the info and we can't wait to see the schedule!!!
ReplyDeleteSteve aka Uncle Ralph
I know what you mean, which is why I think a year-'round holiday/Christmas channel (that so many people ask for) would end up being a big mistake, and would backfire, and would end up ruining the Countdown to Christmas event. There is no way a channel like that would hold the same appeal and novelty (and pull in the same ratings) all year long, as it does for the 2 months at the end of the year, or for a brief time in July. In order to build excitement for something, you have to have some time without it. Otherwise, it's just an everyday thing that has no novelty to it, and it's no longer a "special event."
DeleteThat said, there are still only 10 days of movies in July if you only have one of the channels (which is the case for a lot of people who don't have HMM). The folks who have both channels are the ones who have 17 days of movies -- if they even realize that the schedules are different on each channel and that HMM is getting started first.
It's also not going to be an all day/all night schedule, like it is in the last 2 months of the year. In fact, I still don't know if Hallmark is going to repeat the 2014/2015 July schedule and run 4 movies each weekday on the main channel, or repeat the Countdown to Valentine's Day 2016 schedule and only show one movie each weekday. Either way, it won't be 'round-the-clock.
A lot of movies will be left out of the event, especially on the main Hallmark Channel, so that means that some Hallmark Christmas movies will only be seen in Nov-Dec. In July they will focus more on the new movies of the last 2 years, while a lot of the older ones, or even movies from 3-4 years ago, will be reduced to only one showtime. That was my issue with the July marathon last year - one showtime for "Snow Bride," one showtime for "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year," and FOUR showtimes of "A Bride for Christmas" (??)... FIVE showtimes of "Home Alone" (????)... "Mrs. Miracle" didn't even make the cut -- she was left out of the July fun completely, as was "The Christmas Ornament." It made no sense, and there was no balance.
Christmas goes so fast with all the hustle and bustle, there is not enough time to watch all the Hallmark movies. I get so excited when July is almost here, HALLMARK'S CHRISTMAS IN JULY!! There is a lot more time to watch the movies, without trying to fit them in! I also like the Hallmark movies, because they are good clean family movies!! Thank you Hallmark!!!
ReplyDelete