After Brian and Jenny exchanged their wedding vows in All of My Heart: The Wedding, Hallmark took the time to announce their upcoming Christmas movies during Christmas: A Second Look Preview Special, the network’s television program where one of the stars of a new Hallmark Christmas movie shares movie clips and behind-the-scenes videos for some of the line-up’s most anticipated films. Because Hallmark aired a Christmas preview special during the “Christmas in July” marathon, the network thought it would be a good idea to air the second preview special closer to the start of “Countdown to Christmas” and “Miracles of Christmas”. After watching this preview special and compared to the preview specials from Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries last year, this presentation was, to me, a let-down. The entire production felt like it was rushed and put together with a “let’s just get this done and over with” attitude. The program was approximately 30 minutes, which wasn’t enough time to present enough content to satisfy a casual Hallmark movie viewer. As much as I respect Kellie Pickler for trying something new and going out of her comfort zone, I will admit that she is not one of Hallmark’s strongest hostesses. Her on-screen presence felt stiff and unnatural, which made her look as if she was uncomfortable on camera. As for the movies that were previewed during this special, the selection of films that were focused on was very underwhelming. During the entire presentation, only four new movies were previewed. These movies are the following:
- Road to Christmas – 3 movies clips and 1 behind-the-scenes featurette – After Kellie described the story for this movie, it increased my interest in this film. I thought that this movie would be very similar to A Christmas Detour, but it appears that Road to Christmas is an original concept. I liked the movie clips and featurette that I saw and the film definitely looks like it has potential!
- Mingle All the Way – 2 movie clips – I think the story sounds like an interesting concept, but I wasn’t thrilled with the movie clips that were featured in this special. While the part where Jen Lilley says “So you think I’m impressive” was funny, I didn’t feel like Jen and Brant Daugherty had any on-screen chemistry.
- Christmas in Evergreen: Letters to Santa – 2 movie clips – Both of the movie clips for the Christmas in Evergreen sequel (yes, Hallmark did confirm this) made the film look like it has potential. However, I’m confused about the movie’s continuity. In this movie, there will be a new protagonist, portrayed by Jill Wagner this time. Also, when Kellie announced this movie during the preview special, she didn’t mention Ashley Williams, who was the lead actress in the first Christmas in Evergreen movie. From what I’ve read, Ashley is still a part of this cast, which makes me wonder how much involvement her character will have in this story.
- A Majestic Christmas – 1 long movie clip – I really liked this movie clip that was included in this special because of Jerrika Hinton and Christian Vincent’s performances! They appeared like they had good on-screen chemistry and like their acting talents truly complimented one another! Seeing this movie clip raised my interest in seeing this film.
For the rest of the preview special, Kellie re-capped all of the movies that were brought up during the first Christmas movie preview special. This made it feel like the purpose of the first preview special was totally defeated. Adding to my disappointment about this second preview special, none of the movies from Hallmark Movies & Mysteries were even talked about during this presentation (excluding Marrying Father Christmas because that movie was a part of the first preview special re-cap). For a second year in a row, the Christmas movie for When Calls the Heart was ignored. Even though the Hallmark Hall of Fame movie, Christmas Everlasting, is still in production, I think there should have been a behind-the-scenes featurette or a video chat segment between Kellie and the director or cast talking about the film. Unlike last year’s preview specials, there was no list of which movies would premiere during both Christmas movie line-ups. As I’ve mentioned earlier, this presentation was a let-down. I understand that Hallmark creates these preview specials for their seasonal line-ups to get their audience excited for the movies to come. If I wasn’t already looking forward to this year’s Christmas line-ups, this second preview special would not have done anything to add to that excitement.
Did you watch either of the Christmas movie preview specials? What is your most anticipated Hallmark Christmas movie? Please tell me in the comment section!
Have fun at the movies!
Sally Silverscreen
If you want to learn more about this year’s Hallmark Christmas movies, you can watch the first Christmas preview special by typing “Full Episode – Christmas: A First Look Preview Special” into Youtube’s search bar or by visiting Hallmark Channel’s official Youtube channel, visiting Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries’ Christmas pages, or by visiting these links:
https://www.crownmediapress.com/PressReleaseList/Details?SiteID=142&NodeID=144&ID=665
https://www.crownmediapress.com/PressReleaseList/Details?SiteID=142&NodeID=144&ID=667
18 Cinema Lane 