Tag: Michelle Vicary

Word on the Street: Michelle Vicary Receives New Role Upon Returning to Hallmark

On By 18cinemalaneLeave a comment

Way back in 2021, I wrote a Word on the Street story about Michelle Vicary’s departure from Hallmark. At the time, she was the company’s executive for programming and production. Now, four years later, Michelle has returned with a new title. In a recent article from Variety, Emily Longeretta reports how Michelle will now become Hallmark’s “head of programming”, allowing her to “oversee all production and original programming across Hallmark’s content platforms”. Her new role comes at a time when Hallmark has been attempting to bring their assets under one umbrella as “One Hallmark”. Their goal is to “deliver incredible content, incredible products and incredible experiences that leverage the full breadth of the brand” by “tying all of those things together in really unique ways”. When reflecting on Michelle’s importance in the company, Darren Abbott, Hallmark’s Chief Brand Officer, stated, “She was really the missing piece of the puzzle, I think, around the way I’m thinking about the brand.”

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In the 2020s, so far, Hallmark’s viewership has been gradually declining. As of the publication of this Word on the Street story, 2025 hasn’t seen any movie premiere achieve two million viewers or more. In fact, the latest film release, Providence Falls: Chance of a Lifetime only attracted 695,000 viewers. This is now the second movie in a row to garner less than a million viewers, as the previous premiere, A Machu Picchu Proposal, received 964,000 viewers. Based on everything I just said; I’m not surprised Michelle Vicary came back to Hallmark. She worked at Hallmark when the network was in its prime, so I’d like to think she knows how to bring the company back to success. Though only time will tell how Michelle’s leadership will impact Hallmark as well as its consumers.

What are your thoughts on this piece of movie news? Are you happy to see Michelle Vicary return to Hallmark? Tell me in the comment section!

Have fun at the movies!

Sally Silverscreen

References in this article:

Article from Variety: https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/michelle-vicary-hallmark-head-of-programming-1236478202/

Viewership numbers for Providence Falls: Chance of a Lifetime: https://programminginsider.com/saturday-ratings-fox-still-tops-the-night-despite-rainout-of-mlb-speedway-classic/

Viewership numbers for A Machu Picchu Proposal: https://programminginsider.com/saturday-ratings-fox-tops-all-key-prime-time-figures-with-mlb-action/

Word on the Street: Executive Leader, Michelle Vicary, Walks Away from Hallmark

On By 18cinemalane8 Comments

Last January, I reported how Bill Abbott stepped down from his presidential and CEO position at Hallmark. Now, another business leader from the Gold Crown company has decided to walk away. On May 17th, Nellie Andreeva, from Deadline, published an article about the departure of Michelle Vicary, who was Hallmark’s executive for programming and production. The article states how Michelle will step down from her position “at the beginning of June”. While no replacements have been announced at this time, Randy Pope and Darren Melameth, the company’s SVPs for Programming, Development, and Content Strategy, will serve “as interim co-heads of the department”. The article does not mention why Michelle decided to leave the company. However, Nellie does write how Wonya Lucas, the current CEO of Crown Media Family Networks, “has led a major restructuring” and made diversity and inclusion “a top priority”.

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2021 has, so far, left me wondering if Hallmark has less money than they let on to the public. While everything I’m about to say is pure speculation, I have noticed some things that lead me to believe Hallmark’s entertainment division might not be fiscally strong. Nellie states in the aforementioned article how Lucas’ restructuring of the company has “resulted in some layoffs this year”. Even though the number of layoffs is not mentioned, the news of layoffs is not a good sign for any business. As of mid-to-late May, there have been no announcements for upcoming movies in the Picture Perfect Mysteries series, the Ruby Herring Mysteries series, the Signed, Sealed, Delivered series, and Hallmark Hall of Fame. In fact, there were no new Hallmark Hall of Fame or Signed, Sealed, Delivered films released in 2020. This makes me believe Crown Media Family Networks may be quietly moving away from these series in order to cut costs. In March, it was reported that daytime talk show, Home & Family, would be ending on August 4th. No official reason has been given for the show’s cancellation. Now adding the news of Michelle’s departure, Hallmark appears to be experiencing a rough patch. Everything I said is pure speculation. But I think a tell-tale sign of financial troubles would be if Hallmark created less Christmas movies than they did last year.

What are your thought’s of Michelle’s departure from Hallmark? Do you like the direction the network is currently moving in? Please tell me in the comment section!

Have fun at the movies!

Sally Silverscreen

Here are the links to the articles I referenced in this post:

Michelle Vicary Steps Down As Crown Media Family Networks’ EVP Programming Amid Continuing Overhaul At Hallmark Channel Parent

Home & Family Cancelled at Hallmark