So, in recent days, the Hallmark Channel aired this ad for Zola, a wedding service and registry, and then promptly pulled it, apparently due to complaints about the fact that there are two women getting married in the ad. The network then proceeded to get destroyed in every direction from social media to Saturday Night Live, which prompted them early today to put the ad back on and apologize. I will make a couple of comments about this before I get to the main crux of my complaining.
1. Who are the people that complained about this? Clearly not men because I don't think the idea of two women marrying is that abhorrent to them. (Hell, two women kissing probably turns them on) and secondly, the Hallmark Channel is not really in the male demographic.chasing game. (More on that later). So given that logic, women must have complained about this, which is kind of unsettling considering it's a lesbian wedding.
2. I would understand the complaining if it was rubbed in that it was two women marrying and pushed into your face. But it really isn't in this ad. You could interchange the two women for a man and a woman in that ad with that dialogue. Now some people would say that proves it's pushing the agenda. But I would counter that by saying that it is normal now for two women or two men to have a wedding. It is not out of place in our society now to see these. So in essence, the fact that it is two women is irrelevant. Which is what it should be. This is not a same-sex wedding. This is a wedding. Pure and simple. And the dialogue goes along with that.
BTW, how did they choose who wore the dress and the suit? Coin toss? I don't know.
Okay.
Now to my real problem.
In my usual ADD way, it got me thinking about these cable Christmas movies that are produced by Freeform and Lifetime, and most guilty of all, The Hallmark Channel. These movies......these "movies" are all frickin' produced/shot in Canada so that the companies can save tons of money on shooting. They hire actors and actresses that are B to C list celebrities that are recognizable but are not high level (or salary methinks) Examples include Holly Robinson-Peete, Alison Sweeney, Alicia Witt, Candace Cameron-Bure, Lori Loughlin (NOT ANYMORE! HAHA!) Colin Ferguson, Chad Michael Murray, Jesse Metcalfe etc.
These movies also always feature the same two plots, if you read the blurbs.
1. Girl X goes to a new area either in love with Christmas or against Christmas and changes the atmosphere in some fashion. She also meets a handsome stranger Y with whom she butts heads with initially but then eventually they get together.
2. Girl X, who hasn't been home in forever for some negative reason, goes home for Christmas. Not only does she deal with said issues, but she also runs into her "old flame" (Y) with whom she rekindles a romance.
That's it. That's the lot. There are little changes here and there, but they are essentially all the same. But that is not even the the biggest thing that bothers me about them, despite how tedious and mediocre the whole thing seems to be.
I went to look at the titles on the channel guide and I was stunned at how many times the word "Christmas" was used. These are solid filmmakers. You would think they would be able to come up with some creative titles that would be more spread out with references to the Christmas Season.
Nope.
You know what's coming. Here's a list of the titles that I discovered on the Hallmark Channel itself:
Picture a Perfect Christmas, A Christmas Love Story, Reunited at Christmas, Hats Off to Christmas!, Check Inn to Christmas, On The Twelfth Day of Christmas, Christmas at Dollywood, Christmas in Love, A Bride For Christmas
That was how many I got through before I got to the first title without "Christmas" in the title. But then we continue. There are a few in there without the word but I will skip those
The Sweetest Christmas, Welcome To Christmas, Christmas at the Palace, Christmas at Graceland, The Christmas Club, Christmas at the Plaza, Christmas Town, Crown for Christmas, Christmas Joy, It's Christmas, Eve, My Christmas Love, Write Before Christmas, A Perfect Christmas, The Christmas Cottage, A Dream of Christmas, Christmas Getaway, A Christmas Melody, The Christmas Parade, Christmas Next Door, My Christmas Dream, With Love, Christmas, The Nine Lives of Christmas, A Cheerful Christmas, A Christmas Detour, Love You like Christmas, Miss Christmas, Switched for Christmas, Coming Home for Christmas, Christmas in Evergreen, Christmas under the Stars, Christmas Under Wraps, A Royal Christmas, A Wish for Christmas
Do you hate the word "Christmas" right now? Then I've done my job. And that was JUST the Hallmark Channel. On the sister channel; Hallmark Movies and Mysteries, they have MORE movies including two seperate movies with these tites
Time For "ME" to Come Home for Christmas, and Time For "YOU" to Come Home for Christmas.
I AM NOT KIDDING. These are two separate movies.
MY GOD.
Whomever makes up these titles needs to be either sent away and put in a loony bin muttering "Christmas" over and over again, or just needs to be taken out for his or her own good.
Because it is clear that the persons who make these titles have no brain cells whatsoever and also think the same of the audience. "Let's make sure that the people know that all of these movies are related to Christmas by putting Christmas in the title"
BECAUSE THE FACT THAT THEY ARE BEING SHOWN IN NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER ISN'T A BIG ENOUGH HINT!
Hallmark has to make a profit off these things otherwise why keep doing them? Sigh. I will just stick with A Charlie Brown Christmas and A Christmas Story......
DAMMMMMMMITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT
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