I have a perverse interest in Hallmark (used generically, encompassing other sources) movies -- I like to watch the first few minutes of each, long enough to know if it's too dreadful to continue. But sometimes there's some combination of better-than-average writing and acting that makes me watch further, as happens with this weekend's "Christmas Bedtime Stories." It was unusually tight and honest -- until the last five minutes. To save you time, here's what I posted to Facebook this morning:
Dear Hallmark, I watched "Christmas Bedtime Stories" last night. Thank you for having the courage to tell a story about a woman who struggles to raise her daughter on her own, three years after her Marine husband is listed as MIA overseas. Her travails and her breaking off her engagement to the great guy who's been her support in the interim were very well handled. And the ending, when she suffers a psychotic break after hearing a news story about a raid on an enemy camp where prisoners were being held and imagines her husband has returned, was powerful. What's that? He really did come back? He was in that camp, and, not knowing it was an American rescue team, he escaped in the confusion and found his way to an American embassy? And nobody in the military or government contacted her to let her know he's alive? But they had the wherewithal to give him a shave and a haircut and a new field uniform, and send him home, where he could be standing casually, staring at a wall outside the father/daughter dance, waiting for his wife to find him? Because he's some sort of emotional sadist who thought it would be great to surprise her? You must be so proud of this one. I discovered belatedly that the movie was based on a story co-written by Nancy Grace. Yes, that Nancy Grace. Not sure how much that connects to the total sell-out at the end. On Mon, Oct 31, 2022 at 6:07 PM Mark Jeffries <[email protected]> wrote: > Starting Wednesday, all three of Hallmark's channels will stream 24/7 on > NBCU's streamer, along with current and library programming available for > on-demand streaming (including those formula Christmas movies), the first > major cable channel to put the mainline channel on a streamer that isn't a > faux cable system (Sling, YouTube Live)--and speaking of cable systems, > considering that Hallmark is beloved by the audience that hasn't cut the > cord yet (along with TCM and news channels), the cable systems have to not > be happy about this: > > > https://www.thewrap.com/hallmark-movies-shows-streaming-peacock-christmas/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking_news_7164538 > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/2c107f2c-82aa-4bec-98e8-44b1deb3c755n%40googlegroups.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/2c107f2c-82aa-4bec-98e8-44b1deb3c755n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CABCcf4e6rKQZipFZmhEq-NradZsm2hd5KfcLNksooYZGTQEupA%40mail.gmail.com.
