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Holiday Touchdown: A Bears Love Story (Hallmark Channel 2026) · Girls Gone Hallmark | Hallmark Movie Reviews

• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Girls Gone Hallmark, a Hallmark Review podcast. I'm Megan,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: and I'm a longtime Hallmark fan.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: I'm Wendy. I'm a former Hallmark hater.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: On today's episode, we're discussing Holiday Touchdown, a Bears love story,
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: which originally aired Saturday, October 17th, and is currently available
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: to stream on Hallmark Plus. We are everywhere on social
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: media as Girls Gone Hallmark, and we'd love for you
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: to follow us on Instagram to keep up with our
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: latest episodes and for hot takes from us on Threads
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: and Blue Skies. That's on the Facebook page, Facebook group,
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: and our website, girlsgonehallmark.com, which, by the way, y'all, do
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: you like free stuff? We got some free printables over there.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: There's the standalone Countdown to Christmas checklist, but we have
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: a full Countdown to Christmas bundle. There are bingo cards
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: and party planning sheets, and there are Instagram story templates,
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: and there's a recipe in there, and there's movie scorecards,
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: and it's all free, and it's all at girlsgonehallmark.com.
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: Recipe? Recipe. Reindeer food. Oh, gosh. I haven't had that
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: in like a whole year. A holiday classic. I love
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: it so much. Just about time. So good.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: Also, BT Dubs, because you guys asked, we did publish
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: the Lifetime Christmas schedule.
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: And guess what? It has a free printable over there
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: as well.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: So if you're a dual network watcher, hippity hop on
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: over to girlsconhallmark and sometimes lifetime.com.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: That's not the website. Just girlsconhallmark.com. Thank you. I'm going
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: to have to see. I know you wrote the Lifetime piece,
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: but I got to see what they got going on
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: over there. There's a lot of crossover actors, right? There
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: are several crossover actors.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: There is one movie that has almost the exact same
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: title across two networks.
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: Really? As I'm saying that out loud, I can't think
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: of the name of it. I have to go look. Also, Lifetime,
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: as I told you this morning, is doing vertical movies,
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: like TikTok movies. Yes. I'm a little nervous. Those are
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: obviously app exclusive. I'm a little nervous about those. Peacock
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: has been doing that too. If you guys stream anything
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: on Peacock, Peacock has a little vertical series. Have you
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: ever watched one? No, I haven't. I feel too old
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: for it.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: My concern is, and I said this in the post,
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: is that my TikTok adult brain or attention span is...
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: can't handle a full movie in a vertical format. Like
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: I watch things at two times speed. If a video
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: is like longer than a minute and a half, I'm like,
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: I don't know if I can do it. So perhaps
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: I am not the target audience, but I don't think
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: the younger generation has a longer attention span.
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: I don't think so either. I don't know. Maybe they're
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: the best things ever. I do know that they're both sponsored. Oh, interesting.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: Like this movie. Always discreet. We're going to talk about it. Hey, look.
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: Always discreet. Look, no shade to always discreet. Megan and
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: I did... Was it with Always? We did some sponsor
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: work many, many, many years ago with a brand similar
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: to Always Discreet. Yeah. If they're paying. People are using
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: the products, man. And they know their audience here. So... Look,
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: no shade. None. My question.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: When I saw this, the first thing I thought is
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: I missed on first watch the King's Hawaiian product placement.
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: And it didn't embed in my brain the way it
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: did in yours. And so my memory of it is
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: only of you talking about it.
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: Really?
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: Like when I see product placement, I picture you going,
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: King's Hawaiian.
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: Now in that scene.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: In last year's Three Wisest Men, did they say King's Hawaiian?
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: Yes, Paul Campbell at the dinner table. They're passing around
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: the King's Hawaiian rolls. And he's like, and I do
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: this with my arms, like the swishing, because I swear
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: to God, like, I don't know if he's passing it
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: or what it is. But he's like, ooh, King's Hawaiian.
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: Got it, got it. No shit. I love a King's
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: Hawaiian roll too. Me too.
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: They're my top holiday dinner roll. Yes, and I love
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: a mini sandwich with a King's Hawaiian roll.
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: I'm so freaking lonely. So when Always Discreet came up
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: on the thing, did you see me going King's Hawaiian?
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: I did. No, picture Paul Campbell's face doing that. Got it. Hey,
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: let's hear a synopsis. A Chicago firefighter seeks media coverage
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: for his grandmother's 500th Bears game attendance. When a reporter
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: is assigned to the story, romance develops between them. Excuse me.
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: Matt does not seek media coverage for his grandma's 500th game.
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: I guess he does. Oh, that's right, because he emailed...
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: You're right. I take it back. I take it back.
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: I take it back. He did email the Herald many, many, many,
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: many times, and then they finally sent a reporter. Okay.
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: My bad. Dustin Riker directs Holiday Touchdown, A Bear's Love Story.
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: He's also the director of last year's Holiday Touchdown.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: A Bill's Love Story, making this his second consecutive installment
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: in Hallmark's NFL Christmas franchise.
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: I mean, amongst... many others.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: Is that synthetic cinema brainchild they they make good movies they.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: Do make good movies yeah he like directs and also
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: produces christine garver stephanie jackson and marcy holland wrote the
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: teleplay for holiday touchdown a bear's love story story credit
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: goes to christine garver and stephanie jackson Lindsay Fonseca stars
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: as Avery Clark. Fonseca is known for playing Ted Mosby's
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: daughter on How I Met Your Mother and for her
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: Hallmark Christmas movie, Single on the 25th, among many others.
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: Robert Buckley stars as Matt. Hallmark viewers will recognize Buckley,
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: not Junior, from Chesapeake Shores, while One Tree Hill fans
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: know him as Clay Evans. You didn't watch that show,
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: did you? No. Should I? Has it aged well? I
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: don't think you'll like it. Yeah, it hasn't aged well.
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: Marsha Mason plays Darlene Donnelly. Mason is a four-time Academy
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: Award nominee for Cinderella Liberty, The Goodbye Girl, Chapter Two,
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: and Only When I Laugh. Television audiences may also recognize
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: her from Frasier and Grace and Frankie.
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: Barbara Allen Woods plays Jodi, Avery's mother. Woods is best
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: known for playing Deb Scott on One Tree Hill. Little
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: mini reunion for the fans. I kind of love that.
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: She's someone's mother on One Tree Hill? She's Nathan's mom.
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: And who's Nathan? The lead star. Got it. Lead co-star
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: with Chad Michael Murray. Kari Payton plays Ron. Payton is
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: widely recognized for playing King Ezekiel on The Walking Dead
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: and for his extensive voice acting work. For a full
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: list of cameos, visit girlsgonehomework.com for a deep dive into
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: the news and notes of this movie. I gotta tell you,
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: I watched this with my husband, and he's like, Peanut Tillman!
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: That's like a player from the Bears. He was so excited.
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: Is your husband a Bears fan? My husband's brother is a...
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: huge Bears fan. So my husband is a fan by association.
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: My husband is a big NFL fan. He knows who
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: all these people are. And how did your husband's brother
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: become a Bears fan? No idea. Yeah.
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: I mean, look, one of my husbands here at baseball
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: teams is the Mets. Like, has he ever lived in
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: New York?
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: No, he has not.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: You know, he saw them win the 86 World Series
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: and it like imprinted on his brain and now that's
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: his team.
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: Exactly. Exactly. Hey, Wendy, what is your first impression of
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: a Bears love story? Forget Bears Nation. I'm joining Italian
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: Beef Nation. And I have backstory here. Of course I do.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: What's your first impression? Justice for the architectural boat tour. Oh,
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: you know, yeah. I didn't put that in my notes,
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: but we're going to, can we talk about it? Yeah. Okay.
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: Let's talk about what we liked. Marsha Mason, Marsha Mason,
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: Marsha Mason. Really? Yeah. I was not familiar with Marsha
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: Mason's game. She's adorable. Now, I have seen every episode
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: of Grace and Frankie, and I probably saw her there.
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: You still don't remember the character?
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: No, but you know, I have the memory of a
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: goldfish when it comes to things like that.
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: You know, it just let it wash over me. I
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: thought she was really lovely. I, of course, loved the scene.
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: I need to talk about it with you, though, with
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: her and her husband after her diagnosis. I thought that
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: was incredibly lovely. I loved the moment with her after
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: the game where... She's like solo out in front of
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: the stadium. Yeah, that was real cute.
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: I found her story very touching.
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: I thought she nailed the role. I loved her little
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: trio of besties. Yeah.
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: I just was very touched by her in a way
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: that I'm not always. These holiday touchdown movies... Do a
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: nice job with the extended families.
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: They do. Agree. Okay. Let me stop you there. No
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: shade to director Dustin Reichardt. I'd like to see Jeff
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: Beasley get his hands on this. Oh, yeah. Because he's
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: so good at like an extended. The ensemble cast. The
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: ensemble cast.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: But, you know, I'm not calling for like a different director.
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: I just. A shake up. I'm not calling for that whatsoever.
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: I just. And we've talked so highly about how well
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: he works with a large cast. And these movies have
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: these large casts. Absolutely. But Reichardt's doing a great job.
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: I enjoyed Marsha Mason as well. She definitely was the
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: heart of the story. I liked that. I liked that.
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: She was kind of meddling to get Avery and Matt together,
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: and it wasn't, like, a big surprise. Like, they were
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: aware it was happening, too. And they weren't really that
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: bothered by it. No. No. I thought that was really cute.
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: At first, when they were like, oh, we're going to
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: cover this lady's 500 game milestone. I was like, what?
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: I don't understand what is so great about that. Other
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: than that's a lot of games. But in the end,
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: what was lovely about it for me was like the
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: lifetime of like memories and traditions and the community. And
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: I'm going to tell you this. I was recently in Chicago. Yeah.
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: I was there on a Sunday. We did not go
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: to the game, but it was a game day. And
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: there was an energy in the city that was like,
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: everybody was really excited. Everybody kind of like, no pun intended,
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: was like on the same team. You know what I mean?
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: There was something there that was like, This feels warm
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: and great, and I want to be a part of it.
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: So I will say, like, that really translated, like, what
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: I felt in real life in Chicago three weeks ago,
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: I felt through this movie. We've talked about it before.
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: We don't really have that here. We don't really have
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: that sense of community around our teams.
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: A question. Were you anywhere near the stadium? Yes.
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: So several years ago, my husband and I were in Chicago.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: We went to a Bears game, and we– Everyone's walking.
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: In this movie, there's a tailgate situation. And I was like,
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: where would that have been? I need a Bears fan
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: who's been to a Bears game to weigh in.
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: Where would you set it up? Where would you put
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: the stuff? Your car's not there. Like, where are you tailgating?
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: Because that walkway that they were tailgating on. Yeah. Like,
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: we walked there. That's like the big path you walk
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: to get to the field. Mm-hmm. Anyway, I need someone
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: to weigh in. That's not a like.
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: It just reminded me because it's not in my notes,
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: but it was something we talked about during the movie.
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: Interesting. I have a feeling maybe Jackie. Jackie, call in. Yeah, Jackie,
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: let me know. Or send us a text or an email.
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: One of the things I love about this movie, and
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: we're going to talk a little bit more about fan
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: reaction later in this episode, but the number of people
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: in the comments on Instagram and in our emails who
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: were like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: That wouldn't have happened this way. Like people were all
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: in on this movie and seeing, yeah. Oh, interesting. Go on.
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: I loved Lindsay Fonseca and Robert Buckley. You know what?
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: I got a shout out to our Girls Gone Hallmark
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: community because I was reading through like the first impressions
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: and somebody was like, Robert Buckley, not Junior, was great.
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: And I was just like, that warmed my heart.
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: Nobody outside of the GGH group knows, but If you're new, welcome.
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: And I was convinced this time last year that his
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: name was Robert Buckley Jr. And I called him that
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: in an episode. And so now we call him Robert Buckley,
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: not Jr.
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah. That's the origin of that. They were great. I
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: liked them. I have a little bit of a wish, too,
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: that I'm going to talk about. But they're so likable
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: as leads. And both of them have great comedic timing.
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: You know, a lot of our... actors try to be
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: funny but it's not like totally natural i just feel
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: like these two have like comedy embedded in them yes
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: agreed and i like this pairing i like they feel
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: young i know they're i don't want to say i
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: know they're not young they're they have a youthful energy
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: they have youthful energy that's that's what yes that's that's
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: you know we're not like watching like somebody our age
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: fall in love for the first time. Yeah. Who wants
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: to watch that? Not me. I'm like, run. Stop the wedding. Anyway,
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: I enjoyed them. Did you like them together? Loved them.
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: Loved them. Loved them. This was an excellent pairing.
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: We've had some great stars in these holiday touchdown franchise,
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: but I, there were things that I loved about this
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: movie and I have a couple of wishes too, but
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: I couldn't have asked for two better lead actors in
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: these roles. I thought they had great chemistry with each other.
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: You're right that they both have great comedic timing just
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: in their delivery of lines. Lindsay Fonseca, I'm going to
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: be real superficial here. Her hair in this movie is
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: the best hair I've ever seen in a Hallmark movie.
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: Can I stop you there?
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: I noticed. Hold on. Tell me what you noticed. I
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: noticed in the opening credits, and I've never noticed this.
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: I watch the opening credits every single week, guys. I've
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: never noticed this before. Hair and makeup design. Yeah. And
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: it gives credits to... And I'm going to butcher this
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: last name. I'm so sorry. Jessica... Look, the internet says
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: to pronounce it shy tooth, but I don't know. It's
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: S-C-H-E-I-T-H-E and Avery Rasmussen. So back to talking about her hair.
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: Are you talking about the scene where she had the
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: cute braids?
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: Well, not only am I talking about that scene because...
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: I was so distracted by her hair in that scene.
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: I kept trying to figure out how they.
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: Had done it. Yeah, it looked like braids and then
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: like flipped and then braids again and flipped. Yes, it
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: was very cute. So cute. You could totally do it
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: with your hair.
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: It's not just that. It's that she had such a
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: variety of hairstyles. She had it down and wavy. She
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: had it down and blown out for the gown.
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: She had it half up. She had it in a ponytail.
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: She had it in cute braids. She had it swept
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: back in a bun. She had, it was adorable. I
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: have never, first of all, every style was so, Lindsay
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: Fonseca's adorable. Every style was so cute. I'm a hair person.
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: I notice hair. If you got good hair, I'm going
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: to notice it. Lindsay had great hair. I loved it.
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: I also loved her glasses. I would like to know
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: where they're from and I would like to buy them.
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: They were cute and they were green. And I loved
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: the shape of them. And I loved that she wore
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: glasses in this movie. I'm going to have to go
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: back and look. Maybe for another show, Keith Nielsen had
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: something to do with the glasses?
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: Perhaps. Perhaps. Jump on the DM. I have a question
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: for him, too, anyway. Can I speak about Keith Nielsen? Yeah.
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: Keith Nielsen, who is just as much an embedded part
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: of this franchise as anybody because he has done all
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: three movies. And I'm not sure that can be said,
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: certainly not the director or the writers.
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: If you didn't know Keith Nielsen, would you notice these things? Like,
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: I look for these things because we know Keith Nielsen.
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Right?
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: In the opening scene with Grandma and Grandpa's adorable little
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: meeting and they go to the game. First of all,
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: I love the entire scene. Like, the way they made
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: it look old. Yep.
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: The coloring of it. I wish I could have been
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: an extra on that scene. Right? I loved it. Yeah. Yeah.
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: But the coloring of it, they made it look very vintage-y.
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: They made it look vintage-y and it's done both with,
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: I'm sure there's like filters used, but it's largely done
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: via costuming. And I would imagine that Keith and his
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: team had to costume that whole group to give them
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: that look. Right.
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: As opposed to the modern day look, which was very
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: vibrant and blues and oranges and all of that. I
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: loved everything about the look of that opening scene cut
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: to the Bears Cares Gala where Avery is wearing this
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: stunning deep blue dress that's reminiscent of Bears Blue holding
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: an orange clutch.
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: It's not a costume. She looks fantastic. But it's perfectly
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: in line.
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: And you're not always going to get a, as Keith
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: calls it, a gown moment in these football movies.
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: Now they've managed to do it.
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: And I do like the way they do it and
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: tie in the team's charities. And I know some people
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: feel like those get a little bit infomercially. And I
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: understand that feeling, but I think the benefit is like
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: it puts that name, especially if you're a Chicago fan.
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: native or a Chicago resident or in and around the
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: area to know about these organizations and to have your
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: nonprofit organization, they say Bears Care 800 times. There's real
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: value in that.
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: And so making sure that the messaging is on brand
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: does certainly make it feel like an infomercial, but I
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: think it's important.
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: I loved... Avery's bear's jacket at the end, too. It's
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: kind of like that crop jacket. Is that a custom design,
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: Keith Nielsen? I need to know. I need to know.
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: It was so cute. So, so cute. Loved it. One
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: more comment about Matt and Avery. The two of them
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: could bring the heat. Oh, interesting. Okay. Well, they have
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: a dance at the Christmas market. You didn't think that
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: was hot. No, I thought the scarf scene was hot.
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: Where he wraps the scarf around her and then they
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: almost kiss and it gets like interrupted. Yes. I thought
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: that was hot. Yes. I know what you're talking about.
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: Their first almost kiss moment. This is their second. It's
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: not so much an almost kiss moment because it's not interrupted,
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: but their faces are so close to each other. You
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: didn't like it. Or it didn't register. It didn't register
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: for me. Oh, man. I thought... If I were either
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: of their significant others, I would be so mad watching
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: this scene. Really? Yes. It's acting. I don't care. I
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: thought it was great. Oh, my gosh. I don't operate
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: like that. You what? I don't operate like that. If
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: my husband was an actor and he was like, yeah,
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: I know. I don't know. So there are two things
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: happening here. If my husband, who I am currently married to,
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: was an actor. Oh, you're talking about like if you
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: were married to. Yeah, if I was Mrs. RBJ, I
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: would have been mad. R-B-N-J. R-B-N-J. R-B, not J. All
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: I see is R-B-N-J. The letters. Oh, my God. Like
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: the personality style. I'm an R-B-N-J. Oh my God. That's
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: so funny. I haven't had a good laugh like that
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: in a really long time. Okay. But wait, wait. The
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: other part that I really loved at the end was like,
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: he's like, look, we're going to figure it out. Logistics.
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: I don't care. If you need to go back to
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: New York, there's FaceTime, there's phone calls, there's airplanes. Like
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: it wasn't like a deal breaker of a situation. You
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: know what I mean? I was like, fuck. It wasn't like, oh,
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: you're staying. Now we can date. He was like, oh,
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: we're adults, and it's the 21st century. Yeah. He's like,
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: I'm not letting you go. And I was like, that's
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: the answer. There we go. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Okay, let's
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: talk about Ron. Well, I want to talk about both
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: Ron and Jodi. I liked the way that the Jodi
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: and Avery storyline developed, and we see that Avery is
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: struggling a little bit with the way life has changed. Yes.
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: And I thought that was so....
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: Based in reality that her mom had a new-ish relationship.
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: Avery was trying to figure out where she fit into that.
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: And Avery wasn't coming from a place of like, everything's
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: changing and I hate it.
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: Why can't we go back? But she was struggling with
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: the change, which was very real. And she, you see
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: it happen in her face. And then she finally says
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: to her mom, like, I'm having a hard time. Like
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: things are different. And there was no accusatory tone to it. Yeah,
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: it was great.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: I just thought they handled it so well.
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: And I thought they had such a nice, lovely parent-child relationship.
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: I loved all of that. I also loved that they
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: lighten it up with Avery being a cornhole savant. Yeah.
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: And so she and Ron get to have this connection
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: and win the bags tournament together.
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: It's so exciting. I thought that was cute. And then
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: she gives him the bags, personalized cornhole bags. That was adorable.
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: It was cute. I liked Ron. I thought Ron handled it,
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: the character of Ron handled it really well because, you know,
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: he wasn't trying to like step in and be like dad. Yeah.
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: You know what I mean? And I love that we
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: have a midlife romance, not even romance, relationship that has
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: taken place after somebody, you know, I guess her former
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: husband died. I don't know. They like briefly like Yeah.
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: We miss him. Yeah. I mean, that was like as
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: much attention they put on it, which is fine. Like
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: they didn't need that other layer of storyline. Right. I
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: didn't think. Yeah. But I thought it was great, especially
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: from the young adult perspective of Avery's like, where do
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: I fit in in this life now? Yeah. You know,
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: I thought, yeah, I thought that was good. That was
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: really good. A couple of other things I liked, obviously
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: the bears cameos and football culture. Like I told you,
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: I watched with my husband and he was like having
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: such a fun time, like spotting like all the, you know,
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: who this was and who that, and that's the coach
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: and that he, the whole entire movie. Where's Caleb Williams?
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: Where's Caleb Williams? Caleb Williams is the quarterback. He appeared
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: in the very last, like kind of scene where he
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: came up on the screen at the game and thank
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: to Darlene. They don't actually ever like name Caleb. They
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: call him the ice man. That's his, NFL nickname, the Iceman. Oh,
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: they don't say? They don't say Caleb. He might say, like, hi,
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: this is Caleb Williams, but I don't think he does.
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: I kind of thought they said, and now a message from... Oh,
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: they might have. They might have. I can't remember exactly. Anyway,
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: but one of Darlene's friends talked about when they were like,
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: it's our year. They were like, yeah, we have the
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: Iceman on your team. That's who they're referring to is
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: Caleb Williams. And I did wear my Caleb Williams hat
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: yesterday because I bought one when I was in Chicago. Anyway,
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: I liked all that stuff. I like seeing all the
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: little cameos in it. Yeah. Especially. especially the coach, because
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: when I first told my husband that the Bears were
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: being part of it, he's like, Oh, that coach is like,
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: no nonsense. Like, he's like, no personality. He's like, he's
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: in it. And I was like, I apparently he like
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: has a cameo in it. And I actually thought it
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: was very funny. The, the part of the scene where like,
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: I can't remember the other guy's name. He's like, kind
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: of a young player. And he, the coach was there.
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: And he was saying something like, Am I going to
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: be back next year too? And the coach gave him
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: like a side eye look. Yeah. I just thought it
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: was very funny. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I thought maybe it
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: was very reminiscent of who he is as a coach. Sure.
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: I think people know what their reputation is, right? Yeah.
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: And so it was perhaps leaning into that. Totally. Totally.
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: Speaking of coaches, I love the Mike Ditka tribute. Now,
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: I don't know if it was just Quincy. Do you
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: know that Mike Ditka just recently passed? Yes. A couple
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: weeks ago. Yes. I'm like, was this done and in
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: the can? They had the little picture of him and like, oh,
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: that's coach's seat and so on and so forth.
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: Well, because I kind of think, I don't know. I
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: don't know the answer to that. I would imagine it
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: would have had to have already been. I mean, he's
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: an iconic. Was he the coach the one year they
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: won or the last time they won the Super Bowl?
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: You would have to think that that was pre-planned.
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I don't know. It was nicely done though. Nicely done.
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: I liked that our third act wasn't about like a
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: misunderstanding between our, in our romance story, but instead about
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: where's Darlene. Yep. She's going to miss her, which I
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: laughed out loud because like they were all at this
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: tailgate and then they're like, where's Darlene? I was like,
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: you've just now noticing, you're not asking earlier how long
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: you've been at this tailgate. Yeah. Yeah. I thought that
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: was really funny. Um, I finally want to go back
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: to the story of Darlene. And this is the scene
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: when we learn that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer.
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: And the whole scene with her husband, we get it
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: in flashback. I loved it. But I will tell you
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: that I groaned out loud. Did you? When she was like,
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: I was diagnosed with breast cancer. And I went, ugh.
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: And this is why. Because that's my own personal baggage.
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: Not anybody else's. Whatever. One, I was like, I said it.
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: this is why it was premiered in October. Even though,
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: and I could be totally wrong, but I was like,
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: they never said like, oh, this is a story about
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: this woman who survived breast cancer and it's in October
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: during Breast Cancer Awareness Month. But they never put any
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: of that. So I'm probably projecting my own bullshit onto it. Maybe.
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: I mean, they did. Yeah, they certainly didn't promote it
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: that way. It was a surprise reveal in the movie.
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: And the other thing I liked about it On the
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: flip side, I did like that they named a specific
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: cancer for her and it wasn't just like, I got sick. Yeah.
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: It didn't keep it like vague. Yeah, yeah. So, you know,
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: it was an interesting layer that I did not see coming. Honestly,
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: when I said one day at a time, I believe
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: that's like a scene for like alcoholic. Thank you very much.
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: Thank you very much.
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: When she asks him about it and he's like, that's
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: her story to tell. I'm like, oh, she's an alcoholic.
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: I said the same thing to my husband. And he
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: was like, no, she's going to have cancer, which makes
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: more sense for a Hallmark movie. Let's take a quick
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: break and we will come back to talk about our wishes.
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: All right, Wendy, are you ready to talk wishes? I am.
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: I have one big one. I'm dying to hear it.
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: It's about comedy. Okay. I was.
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: Perhaps unfairly, in my mind, comparing the three holiday touchdown
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: movies to each other.
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: And going into this, I liked the Bills movie more
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: than I liked the Chiefs movie and rated it pretty highly.
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: And the thing I liked a lot about the Bills
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: movie is I thought the script was very current.
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: Full of humor.
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: And I think as I was watching this, you pointed
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: out that Lindsay and rb and j both have great
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: comedic timing yeah and they infuse comedy where it's available
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: but i think this script and this is not a
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: knock on the script but i think this script leans
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: more on warmth than on comedy based on who the
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: writers are having robert buckley with his gift for comedy
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: is It's a little bit of a bummer to not
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: have him be able to run.
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: Yes. So in comparison, I kept thinking about the Ted
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: Cooper movie and how freaking funny he was in that.
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: Even An Unexpected Valentine with Lacey Chappell, he was funny
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: in that too. So you don't. Who wrote An Unexpected Valentine?
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: An Unexpected Valentine. Nicole Baxter. Freaking Nicole Baxter. She's so good. Yeah,
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: that makes sense, right? When you think Nicole Baxter and then,
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: of course, Russell Hainline wrote Merry Christmas, Ted Cooper.
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: And I am not knocking this script. I thought it
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: was well done. I thought it was well developed. I
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: liked the story we were telling here. I don't think
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: this was a strongly comedic script.
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: So you wish it was more? I do. I wish
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: there was more comedy. Yeah. Okay. This is my biggest wish.
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: And that's funny that you wanted more comedy. I agree.
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: I would have liked more of that, too. When it
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: was over, I thought... I liked the Bills movie better.
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: And I couldn't name specifically why I liked it better.
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: I went back to my notes. I gave that movie
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: like four and a half stars, I think. I liked
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: this movie but didn't love it because if you strip
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: away the Bears stuff and the Chicago stuff and the
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: football traditions, we are left with a very familiar Hallmark formula.
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: We have an ambitious woman who... goes home, meets a
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: handsome local guy, calls, her career, conveniently finds a reason
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: to stay. The setting was unique, but the story was not. Hmm.
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: The romance part of it. Yes, Darlene's layer of it,
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: of the grandma and her story. I loved all that
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: part of it. Sure. But down to the basics is
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: just a very unremarkable Hallmark story. Interesting.
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: I don't disagree with you, but I think I don't
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: mind the Hallmark formula when it's done well.
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: And for me, those added layers work. Make it better.
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: I agree, too. That's... That's why I struggled with it
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: because I was like, okay, we're playing in the sandbox
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: of Hallmark and then we're adding all these other kind
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: of cool, fun things on top of it. And I
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: like all that bear stuff. I like all that football
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: stuff and the cameos and the this and the that.
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: So it does make it more exciting to watch to me.
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: For sure. But that's why I struggled when it was over.
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: I was like, whatever. Like, it felt like the Bills movie,
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: there was a whole element of, like, magical Santa and
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: stuff happening. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then that wasn't in
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: this movie. In fact, at one point, you know, because
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: now I'm watching it with my husband. My husband never
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: watches these movies with me. So I had somebody to, like,
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: talk to while we're watching it. Yeah. the character of
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: Darlene was always busy, right? And I was like, she's Mrs. Claus.
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: And my husband, he's like, oh, maybe. And I point
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: to my brain like, I'm no dummy here. Like, I've
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: got it figured out. I was really wrong. But that's
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: what I went into it thinking. Like, oh, there needs
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: to be some sort of Santa magical element to it. Right. Right.
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: And it wasn't.
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: No.
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: It was just, you know, a very busy woman who
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: was not Mrs. Claus. Yeah, she was too busy helping others.
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: Which is fabulous. In a way, she was Mrs. Claus. Yeah,
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: sort of. But yeah, anyway. We kind of already talked
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: about it. I did want some more romantic chemistry between
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: Lindsay and Robert Bookley, not Junior. I'm telling you, I
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: thought that scarf wrapping scene was a taste of what
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: these two were capable of. Like, you know, I want
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: that romantic tension. Mm-hmm. I don't know if you noticed,
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: we did get a measuring scene again. Not a sexy one,
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: but we got a measuring scene in this movie. I
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: don't remember at all. The two friends of Darlene had
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: like matching sweaters and Avery's like, oh, I love your sweaters.
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: And they said, we'll make you one. And then they
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: started like measuring her. Oh, yes. I do remember. You're right.
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: That's all it was. I just was like another measuring scene.
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: Not a sexy one, but that's funny. A measuring scene.
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: Are you ready for Did You See That? I am. Okay.
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: The first one, Malort shots? I've never seen anybody in
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: a Hallmark movie take shots before. Have you ever had
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: Malort before? It's like, it's supposed to taste awful. But
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: apparently it's like a notorious Chicago liquor. But I love
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: that they did it. They were in a bar taking shots. Yeah,
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: it was great. I mean, maybe in the, what's the
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: Santa crawl? The Santa Summit. The Santa Summit. Yeah, maybe.
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: Maybe they did shots there. I can't remember. I don't.
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: taking shots. I couldn't believe that. I want to go
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: back to my first impression. I talked about the Italian
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: beef sandwich. Now, like I said, I was recently in Chicago.
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: We did a food tour and we had an Italian
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: beef and they were saying like, do you like it
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: dry or dipped or double dipped? And I knew what
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: that meant. I love that I knew what that meant.
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: Just how much like juices on it. Sure. Those sandwiches
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: are delicious. Delicious. The comments on our first impressions post said,
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: should have been dripping. It was entirely too dry. We
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: said the same thing when we were watching it. It
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: was way too dry. Even the mom goes, oh, she'll
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: take double dipped. I'm like, it's not even wet. It
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: wasn't wet at all. Yeah. My other, did you see that?
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: Is we got karaoke again. God, I don't like it.
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: I don't like it. Now, granted, we're recording these a
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: little bit out of order. So I don't know if we,
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: I feel like we've seen a lot of movies with
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: caroling karaoke already this season. Yeah. Sing something else.
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: Also, Avery was looking at the karaoke music screen as
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: if she didn't know the words that every four-year-old knows.
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: I was like, why are we looking at the monitor? Oh,
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: my God. That's funny. Deck the halls with Battles of Holly.
• 34:13
  Speaker 2: Fa la la la la. Gosh. What do you have
• 34:17
  Speaker 2: for it to do that?
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: In the home of Jodi and Ron, there is a
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: thermostat at one point, and it is 75 degrees in
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: the house in the middle of a Chicago winter.
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: I noticed that. That's quite warm. Inside a house in
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: the winter. Yeah. Like, I think you're sweating if it's
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: 75 with the heat cranked up like that. Yeah.
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: Of course, the always product placement. Grand's neighbor comes in
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: with the groceries like that.
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: Always discreet is not discreetly sticking out of the top
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: of the bag.
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: And then they set it down in the front of
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: the frame.
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: I mean, great. Loved it. Loved it.
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: This is interesting only to me, but at one point
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: in Avery's story voiceover, she talks about September 19th, 1985.
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: September 19th is my birthday. It's only important to the
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: bear's history and to me.
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: How old were you? Six. Aw, cute. The Marquee. Now,
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: this is a running theme in holiday touchdown movies.
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: It's been in each one. And Wendy spotted this. I
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: missed it, but our Mackie... Our Mackie. Girls Gone Hallmark
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: team member Mackie spotted this and emailed us. The movie
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: marquee shows Next Stop Christmas, which stars Lindsay Fonseca and
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: was directed by Dustin Reichert. The Christmas House starring and
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: written by Robert Buckley, not Junior, on the marquee.
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: Love that. Yep. Interestingly enough, Mackie, in our 2024 review,
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: had emailed us about the marquee. I was looking back
• 35:46
  Speaker 2: at our review notes. Oh, really? And she had emailed
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: us about the Chiefs marquee. She's great. Love Mackie. Did
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: you love that we have our recurring Santa? You know,
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: some people really don't like this Santa. Why? It's not
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: the Santa. They don't like the actor Abraham Ben-Ruby. Why?
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: I have no issues with him.
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: I like that he exists across all three Holiday Touchdown
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: universe movies.
• 36:12
  Speaker 2: I kind of like that he didn't. have a hand
• 36:16
  Speaker 2: in making the magic happen, so to speak. He just was,
• 36:19
  Speaker 2: you know, he was their Santa. And that's it for
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: Did You See That for me. Oh, I got one more.
• 36:24
  Speaker 2: The Hallmark Ornaments. Did you watch this live? No, I
• 36:28
  Speaker 2: watched it on a screener. Oh, you, okay, okay. So
• 36:31
  Speaker 2: Avery and her mom are out shopping. They pick up
• 36:34
  Speaker 2: one of the Hallmark Ornaments and then while watching live,
• 36:37
  Speaker 2: it was like a QR code and the thing at
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: the bottom was like, get your own... santa got it
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: chicago bears i was like wolf and then they had
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: another one too they picked up one that was i
• 36:50
  Speaker 2: think is like their 2026 i think it's like two
• 36:54
  Speaker 2: mugs or something i don't know but i was like
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: i saw the ornaments but yeah you know interactive television
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: Before we get to our ratings, I would like to
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: do an additional segment I'm calling From the Inbox. Okay.
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: First of all, I DMed Tamara Mowry-Housley because she does
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: have a cameo in this movie as an employee of
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: the bar.
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: And I just basically was like, hey, it was fun
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: seeing you. How did that come to be? Because it's
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: such a small role.
• 37:18
  Speaker 2: So random. That I was like, in my mind, I
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: like to know how these... Was she in Chicago? Like,
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: are they flying her in for this? So I.
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: I honestly wasn't sure if she would respond, but I
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: shot my shot and she responded short and sweet, right?
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: Hallmark called and asked if I'd like to do a
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: fun cameo.
• 37:36
  Speaker 2: I said, sure. Easy peasy.
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: They randomly pick a few of the Hallmark actors to do.
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: Some of them were a big family and always love
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: to help. So they just asked.
• 37:45
  Speaker 2: So I kind of like the vibe that her character had.
• 37:49
  Speaker 2: I wish we got more of that in her movies.
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: You know what I mean? Well, I want to say
• 37:57
  Speaker 2: to you that she went on to say. Does it
• 38:00
  Speaker 2: have anything to do with that movie that she's got
• 38:02
  Speaker 2: coming up where she owns a bar? Yes. Ah. She said,
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: can't wait for you to see Chris and I's film.
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: It's more mature. My good friend Chris. And the chemistry
• 38:11
  Speaker 2: is all the network talks about. Oh. Fire emoji. Finally
• 38:16
  Speaker 2: found my match. Yippee. What? Think cozy, sleepless in Seattle,
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: 90s romance, but Christmas. Yes. 90s. I produced this one.
• 38:26
  Speaker 2: Can you tell? Yeah.
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: And I simply responded, we cannot wait. Which is true
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: for Mistletoe and Mimosas.
• 38:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah. That's a Russell Hainline weekend, back-to-back movies. Oh, God,
• 38:38
  Speaker 2: I can't wait. That's going to be a good weekend.
• 38:40
  Speaker 2: I was recently interviewed, and I don't know if any
• 38:43
  Speaker 2: portion of my interview will make the actual story.
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: But they asked, what movies are you looking forward to?
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: And it's that back-to-back. It's the Tyler and then the
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: Chris and Tamara.
• 38:53
  Speaker 2: Jesus. I did. To you. I did. I did. Now
• 38:58
  Speaker 2: I'm like really excited to see the pairing of Chris
• 39:02
  Speaker 2: and Tamara. I know. Wow. I can't wait. And that
• 39:07
  Speaker 2: the network's talking about it. Fire emoji. I can't wait.
• 39:12
  Speaker 2: My good friend Chris. Our good friend Chris. Wow. By
• 39:16
  Speaker 2: the way, y'all, you can email us, Girls Gone Hallmark. Nope.
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: You can email us hello at girlsgonehallmark.com with your thoughts
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: on these movies. It's really fun when we get to
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: include them in our reviews. Shannon from Australia said, what
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: a great movie.
• 39:28
  Speaker 2: Love the pairing. Can't go wrong.
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: With robert buckley not junior not me sobbing when they
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: showed the video tribute on the jumbotron with photos of
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: grandma and her husband and then again when she said
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: to the heavens we did it yeah so beautiful i
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: really enjoyed this one now we got an email from
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: listener kia she writes thoughtful and also hilarious emails So
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: she is a Chicagoan who lives in LA.
• 39:51
  Speaker 2: She is? Lifelong Bears fan. No way. I feel like
• 39:55
  Speaker 2: we need to hang out with her. I know. We're
• 39:59
  Speaker 2: Southern California, local to each other. She says, I remember
• 40:03
  Speaker 2: one of you has a husband who's from Chicago and
• 40:06
  Speaker 2: is from a Bears fan family. So I think we
• 40:08
  Speaker 2: clarified that. Wendy's brother-in-law is a big Bears fan. Yes.
• 40:12
  Speaker 2: And your husband's Bears adjacent. My husband is a big
• 40:16
  Speaker 2: Caleb Williams fan because Caleb went to USC and my
• 40:19
  Speaker 2: husband is a USC alum. Yes.
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: She adds a disclaimer, this review is full of biases
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: as a Chicagoan living in LA and a huge Bears fan.
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: A family friend was an extra in this movie, working
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: the table when Avery and her mom were looking at ornaments,
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: and her Chicago friend was the prop master for this movie.
• 40:35
  Speaker 2: She talks about the Malort shot. Yes.
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: She says she's never had it, has heard it's gross,
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: but confirms that it is an absolute staple. It's famously
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: aggressively bad. That's the point of it.
• 40:47
  Speaker 2: Mm-mm. Now, in my notes, I had written like, is
• 40:50
  Speaker 2: Cornhole actually a Chicago tradition?
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: And Kia wrote, this is the game of the summer
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: at every festival, a backyard, and sidewalk. The team behind
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: incorporating the Chicago touches got it right. The Chicago touches
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: were perfect. Donny Hathaway's This Christmas. He's one of Chicago's
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: sons who died tragically by suicide. But this song is
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: a must have on anyone's Christmas music rotation to open
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: the movie. The Chicago Tribune proxy. They called it the Herald.
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: But when they said you can find it anywhere, that's
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: the Trib. Using real locations, the Iris Nobleman and Danny's
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: Family Hardware Store is a real store in Andersonville. Italian
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: beef sandwiches, Chicago Fire Department.
• 41:26
  Speaker 2: Old style beer lookalikes. Old style is a brand. Capital O,
• 41:30
  Speaker 2: capital S.
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: I wish they had gotten old style on board for
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: product placement, she says. Even barometers on the wall of
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: Granny's house. Both of her grandparents had barometers on their walls.
• 41:40
  Speaker 2: Aww. She calls them the 80s for Brady granny knockoffs. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 41:47
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure we got closure on Danny and wanting
• 41:50
  Speaker 2: to move to a different firehouse. I don't think we did.
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: I don't think that storyline was given enough weight.
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: I was like, oh, it's okay. You're okay. You earned it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah,
• 42:02
  Speaker 2: I hadn't thought about that.
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: Kia says, Ron, Ron, Ron, we need even more Hallmark movies.
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: Loved him, natural, super funny, handsome, and a delight on screen.
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: Agree.
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: Although, she says, realistically, knowing how segregated Chicago is in
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: certain areas of the city, having a bar on the
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: north side called the Irish Nobleman was a miss for me.
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: I didn't focus too much on it, though, because I
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: loved the diversity of the crowd, and I don't remember
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: them orienting the viewers to where they were in the city.
• 42:26
  Speaker 2: Chicagoans will know, though. Oh, interesting. Interesting. She wishes that the.
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: Fans sang Bear Down Chicago Bears when the Bears got
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: a TD.
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: Come on. How are you going to have a Bears
• 42:37
  Speaker 2: bar or any Bears gathering and no one sings that?
• 42:41
  Speaker 2: Maybe they couldn't. Yes, perhaps. Like Happy Birthday. No, they
• 42:46
  Speaker 2: can do Happy Birthday now. Oh, okay. It's in the
• 42:48
  Speaker 2: public domain. Yeah. Finally, the moment we have all been
• 42:51
  Speaker 2: waiting for. This is a wish and a did you
• 42:54
  Speaker 2: see that? Taking the ride down the Chicago River in
• 42:56
  Speaker 2: the winter?
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: Absolutely not. Very Chicago, but the river freezes and they
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: were not dressed appropriately. There was snow on the ground
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: for Christ's sake. Also, did you see that while they
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: were on the river, the trees were green and lush.
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: They did fake AI generated snow and gray backgrounds and
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: other part of the movie. Why not do it on
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: their river cruise too? Now, just a quick little backstory
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: because I know this has been a long review, but
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: sometimes y'all like that. Years and years ago, it wasn't
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: that long ago, but it was a long time ago.
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: Wendy and I, went to Chicago for a blogging conference.
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: And I said, Hey y'all, let's do an architectural boat tour.
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: And everyone was like, absolutely not because I didn't sell
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: it correctly as the, my best friend's wedding moment. They,
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: I thought everybody knew what I was talking about. They
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: thought we were talking about a tour of architectural boats,
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: not a tour on a boat viewing the sites. Anyway,
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: I have carried that with me. I have missed my
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: opportunity to go on that architectural boat tour, but Matt
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: and Avery got to do it.
• 43:52
  Speaker 2: Well, when I was there recently, my plane arrived late.
• 43:57
  Speaker 2: So we had a boat tour booked and could not
• 44:01
  Speaker 2: go because I arrived late at the airport. Hence, my
• 44:04
  Speaker 2: first impression, justice for the architectural boat tour. However, when
• 44:09
  Speaker 2: I was watching that scene, I thought it might have
• 44:11
  Speaker 2: been green screen because their hair was not blowing at
• 44:15
  Speaker 2: all on that river. Yeah. There was no hair movement
• 44:19
  Speaker 2: when they were on that boat. None whatsoever. It moves
• 44:23
  Speaker 2: pretty close, slowly. I don't know. Maybe there's no breeze
• 44:26
  Speaker 2: in June. Girl, I was just there. It was so cold.
• 44:29
  Speaker 2: It was October. It was so cold. And windy. It's
• 44:33
  Speaker 2: called the Windy City. There's no, there's, of course there's
• 44:36
  Speaker 2: going to be some wind on the water there. Chicago
• 44:39
  Speaker 2: went way in. I thought it was green screen. Perhaps
• 44:43
  Speaker 2: it was. I don't know. Perhaps it was.
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: For anybody who cares, in 2024, you rated the Chiefs
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: movie 3.25 and I rated it 3.75.
• 44:55
  Speaker 2: In 2025, you rated the Bills 4.25 and I rated
• 44:58
  Speaker 2: it 4.5. Uh-huh. What's your rating this year? Four stars. 4.25
• 45:03
  Speaker 2: for me. Okay.
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: It continues the trend that I'm rating these slightly higher
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: than you are. That's objectively a great score.
• 45:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Do you think that there will be another NFL
• 45:14
  Speaker 2: crossover next year? Mm-hmm. Who are you hoping for? I
• 45:17
  Speaker 2: know we talked about this before in our first impression,
• 45:19
  Speaker 2: but I'm just, who are you hoping for? I'm hoping,
• 45:22
  Speaker 2: I'm going to tell you who I hope for. Please
• 45:24
  Speaker 2: choose a team on the West Coast. So we can
• 45:27
  Speaker 2: go and be extras. So we can go and be extras. Yes.
• 45:30
  Speaker 2: Even Arizona. Just somewhere not on the East Coast. Who's
• 45:33
  Speaker 2: your husband's favorite pro team? Denver Broncos. Got it. I
• 45:38
  Speaker 2: would do Denver too.
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: My husband and son are 49ers fans. They're never going
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: to do the 49ers. I don't think simply because it's
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: the San Francisco 49ers. They don't play in San Francisco.
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: It's like, I think location wise, it's like, you're not
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: going to have like filming locations in Santa Clara.
• 45:53
  Speaker 2: Nobody cares. Yeah. Yeah. But it would be fun for
• 45:56
  Speaker 2: me on a personal level. Cause they would be all
• 45:57
  Speaker 2: into it, you know? Sure. But you know, me and football,
• 46:00
  Speaker 2: I'm just like, That's just not my thing. I mean,
• 46:02
  Speaker 2: there's so many teams to choose from. I'm football neutral
• 46:06
  Speaker 2: like Avery. Switzerland, baby. I would love to know from listeners, like,
• 46:11
  Speaker 2: who's your team and who do you want them to
• 46:12
  Speaker 2: do next year? Last year, we got tons of emails
• 46:15
  Speaker 2: for Baltimore. Baltimore, Baltimore, Baltimore.
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: I am going to put a question box on Instagram
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: the day that this episode pops up and let us
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: know what team you're hoping to see next.
• 46:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I would love to know that. But I'm begging,
• 46:31
  Speaker 2: West Coast, so we can be part of it. Keith,
• 46:34
  Speaker 2: please hook us up.
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: That is a wrap on our review of Holiday Touchdown,
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: a Bears love story. Thank you for listening to this
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: episode of Girls Gone Hallmark. Hey, if you love this podcast,
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: the best thing you can do for us is drop
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: a rating or review in the podcast app that you
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: are listening to us in. And make sure you're following
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: us over there on whatever app that may be. And
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: we'll be back next time with more Hallmark reviews.
• 46:59
  Speaker 2: Goodbye. Bye. All right, friends, before we go, just a
• 47:14
  Speaker 2: quick heads up. You're about to hear some ads. These
• 47:16
  Speaker 2: little gems help us keep the show running and the
• 47:18
  Speaker 2: Hallmark love flowing. So do with that info what you will.
• 47:23
  Speaker 2: Grab a snack. hit the skip button, or maybe, just maybe,
• 47:26
  Speaker 2: listen in and discover your new favorite product. Bye.