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Christmas at Sea Preview · Girls Gone Hallmark | Hallmark Movie Reviews

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: This is a Bramble Jam podcast. Welcome to Girls Gone Hallmark,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: a Hallmark review podcast. I'm Megan and I'm a longtime
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Hallmark fan. Wow the way you turn to the homegirl.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: That's right. I'm Wendy.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: I'm a former Hallmark hater.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Today we have a very special episode because we were
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: given early access to the Hallmark Christmas at Sea reality
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: series coming to countdown to Christmas, and we want to
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: talk about it specifically. We want to talk about it
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: because I think there's been some reticence in the Hallmark
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: community towards reality programming on Hallmark, and having seen it,
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: we're gonna run down why we think you should watch it.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: But let's be clear, we are fans of reality on Hallmark.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: Like we were the original og super fans of Finding
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: Mister Christmas.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we were.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: I feel like we put that show on the map,
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: you know. Jonathan Bennet had a little bit of something
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: to do with it, Melissa Peterman, but we really champion
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: on that show. We were talking about it early, Yeah,
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: we were. So we're not new to the reality game
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: on Hallmark, but we're going to dive in. I got
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: a Hallmark champagne. Cheers cheers. I think the first thing
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: to talk about when it comes to this series is
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: you and I watch a lot of reality television. You're
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: probably more than me, but I'm no stranger to reality.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: And we just spent a lot of time earlier today
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: diving into our thoughts on Love Island and the Valley.
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: This is not that show, No, no if. If that's
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: what you're thinking Hallmark is going to put out in
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: terms of like a docuseries or a reality show, this
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: is truly feel good TV.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: There's no drama.
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: There's no drama, and that's nice.
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: That's what we come to Hallmark for. That's why we
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: talk about Hallmark being the place we go when we
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: need to feel good, when we need to just let
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: our stress melt. The way. People don't watch Hallmark for
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: the drama. Even in a competition show like Finding Mister Christmas,
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: the drama is very minimal. Those dudes were all on
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: each other's team.
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know what you're gonna get from Hallmark. You're
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: going to get a feel good ending, Happily ever after,
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: Happily ever after. Yeah, and this is no exception. Yeah.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: The pocus is really on connection as opposed to drama
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: and I think it's important to note that the connection
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: happens on two levels. First of all, the docuseries follows
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: several groups of people. We have a mom, her daughter,
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: and her daughter in lam. We have two lifelong best friends,
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: we have a couple, we have two sisters, and so
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: they're all on the trip for a specific reason to
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: spend time with each other, and each of them has
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: something that they're going through. But they also do a
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: nice job of connecting these people with Hallmark stars in
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: real intentional ways, and so they get personal connections with
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: these Hallmark stars.
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: Which is not the experience that everybody on the cruise had. Yeah,
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: I mean, let's if we're going to talk reality, let's
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: be real. Like we were on cruise number one. We
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: didn't have access. We were not meeting like Paul Campbell
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: in the gym, right, we were going to the gym either,
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: But we didn't get.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: To ride ATVs with Tyler Hines.
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: So they had access beyond the regular cruiser correct. But
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: the storytelling, I think is really all about connection.
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: I agree, and I think the true Hallmark fan will
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: see a parallel between the stories of these real people
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: and kind of familiar story raise Hallmark Tells on their
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: channel in their movies. You know.
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: One moment that didn't make the documentary, but Taylor Cole
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: did share during our press call was the stars were
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: asked what their favorite moment on the cruise was, and
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: Taylor shared that she had recently lost her best friend
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: to breast cancer and the cruise was over her best
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: friend's birthday and she had asked the passengers to say
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: happy Birthday to her friend and that was just a
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: powerful moment for her. So it wasn't just these cruisers connecting.
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: The Hallmark stars had moments of connecting too. And I
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: think you and I talk a lot about how these
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: celebrities are humans m h. And they don't exist on
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: a different plane from everybody else, and so it was
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: nice to see them connect in a way that was
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: meaningful both ways.
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree with you. Even though this scenario is
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: a produced, manufactured Scenariooh, there are real heartfelt moments I
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: believe it between the Hallmarks star and the cruiser that
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: they have.
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it was produced, but genuine. Yeah, one hundred percent.
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: I agree. I think we all have ideas about who
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: these people are, but getting to see them outside of
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: a role playing themselves. Was kind of nice, and some
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: of them are exactly who you expect them to be.
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: You're talking about the Hallmark stars. I'm talking about the
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: Hallmarks stars.
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: And we met a very special person in this documentary
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: that we've never seen before.
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: We see her name quite a bit on the internet.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, because people are scammy.
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I don't like any of that. But we do
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: meet Tyler Hines's mom. He brings his mom Betty on
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: the cruise on the cruise, and I just think that
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: is the sweetest thing ever. Its great And to actually
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: see this woman is was like kind of a weird
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: like we he talks about her all the time, right.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: Yes, and a bunch of people impersonate her on the Inn, right.
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: But to see her now shown on the show, Yeah,
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: and she's interacting with CRU's passengers.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: I thought it was real sweet. I thought it was
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: sweet too. She referred to him as the bad boy
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: of Hallmark, and they kind of play into that storyline
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: a little bit. That persona with some of his activities
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: with the passengers, which I loved.
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: But it's real fun to see him kind of surprise
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: passengers and have heartfelt conversations with them, like at one
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: point we're watching this. Megan and I watched this together
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: and I was like, man, he's such a nice guy.
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: I know I can't help, but wonder.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: You know, is he is?
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: Is this the Tyler? Like? Is he the person we
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: see on TV?
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: Now?
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: A little behind the scenes, I won't give anything away,
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: but we've had a conversation with someone who has worked
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: on a Hallmark production with Tyler, and we asked this
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: person this very question, like is he that good of
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: a guy?
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: And the answer was yes. So I think what.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: We see in this docuseries is really white you'll get.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: From him if you met him in person.
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: I think he's just a nice dude.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: You know. We we had like a sliver of the
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: Tyler Hines experience and it was nothing like what was
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: shown in the show. But we did attempt a Tyler
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: Heines selthy on our cruise because we were on sale one.
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: Wendy bailed early because she did get elbowed in the
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: head by a man jockeying for position for his wife.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: But I hung tough.
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: I'm not a.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: Quitter, and I stayed and I got my blurry Tyler
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: Heine selfie as people were pushing me out of the way,
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: and I have to say that man was cool as
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: a cucumber. People were closing in on him, people were
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: pushing each other out of the way, tripping over each other,
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: and he just he was like, I got time. I'll
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: stay for everybody. Just be cool.
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he's a nice guy.
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: He's a nice guy.
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: I couldn't hang though. I mean, once I got the
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: elbow in the face, I was like.
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: Back, I'll meet you over here.
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: I just yeah, I have a feeling I'll get my
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: time again. Oh, manifest six, we'll see.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: Hey, let's take a quick break and we're going to
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: come back with more thoughts on Christmas at Sea.
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: What we think you will see in this docuseriies is
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: it's a real love letter to Hallmark fans. I think
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: we the series celebrates the viewer, like, it gets into
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: the deep emotional connections fans have with Hallmark movies, and
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: it does showcase it in just a meaningful, beautiful way
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: that the community. Ye does that make sense? What?
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah? That was a surprise to me though, because the
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: cruise is about the celebrities. Yes, it's about the fan experience. Yes,
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: it's about creating this Hallmark experience, but it really was
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: for most people on the cruise. It was about the celebrities.
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: And I thought it was a really interesting and wise
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: choice to make this documentary about the fan, because you
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: want to see yourself in this experience. Yeah, and it
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: was told from the perspective of the fan, as opposed
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: to telling it from this like behind the scenes experience
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: that nobody's gonna get. I'm not going to get the
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: behind the scenes Hallmark celebrity experience if I go on
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: this cruise. Yeah, there's nothing that's gonna get me that.
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: But I can have this fan experience.
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: I can watch the Christmas tree lighting. I can run
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: into Christopher Poulaha in the buffet as we did. I
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: can perhaps happen upon somebody in the gym, although some
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: of those scenarios are less likely than others. Not the
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: buffet even nothing of it based on a true story.
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: But I loved the choice to tell this from the
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: fan perspective. I think that was a.
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: Smart move on Hallmark to do it that way because
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: in contrast, remember remember when Oprah had her show and
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: she would do the Favorite Thing show?
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: Do I remember? It's my lifelong dream to be in
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: that audience.
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: Okay, but I would watch those episodes and feel bad
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: about myself afterwards that I didn't get to experience those episodes.
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: I understand that feeling.
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: And so I think that the way Hallmark made these,
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: you're not if you're if you didn't go on the
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: cruise last year, and if you're not going to be
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: on the cruise this year, you're not gonna watch this
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: and feel bad that you didn't get to go on
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: the cruise. Like they don't make you feel like you're
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: missing out on.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: Something that's so interesting. Because I mentioned before that I
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: was nervous about watching this because I felt like I
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: was gonna feel fomo we went on the cruise, But
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: I still can't locate where that feeling's coming from. I
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: think maybe because it's over. It was something we looked,
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: we booked it, we had a year and a half
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: to look forward to it, and then it was over,
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: and it's always kind of sad when that happens. And
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: I think I was worried that seeing this would make
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: me feel like, well, we did it, but it's done.
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: But I didn't feel like that at all.
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: No, I had happy feelings watching this, see seeing the
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: decor and remembering that feeling. When I walked through the doors,
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: I heard Christmas music. You guys, I'm a former Hallmark.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: Hater and a former Christmas hater. Let's be serious.
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: So when I walked onto that cruise ship and heard
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: do you remember what they're playing? Yes, the song is
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: called Christmas Rapping. It's by a band called The Waitresses.
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: That was playing when I walked through those doors, and
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: I saw the big wreaths and the ribbon and the
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: big ornaments, and then we ran into somebody who knew
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: who we were, and that was just mind blowing to me.
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: So it was like I was having all these like emotions.
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it was a really immersive experience when you first.
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: Watched Yeah, exactly exactly. So watching this, I was like, oh, man,
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: like that was fun. So I there was happy feelings
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: watching this. For me, it wasn't. I wasn't feeling sad.
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: Or film tho at all. So I think your point
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: about all the day cores is an important one because
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: people have expressed some consternation that there aren't any original
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: movies this Christmas. In July, we do have the Unwrapping
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: Christmas movies which did air on Hallmark. Plus some people
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: have seen those. Some people haven't. But we don't have
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: additional new Christmas movies this season. I think you're still
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: going to get the Christmas magic with this series. We
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: have Christmas music, as you mentioned, there's snow on the
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: last night. The de Corps is off the charts. The
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: themed days and nights, there's a Christmas pudgy night, there's
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: an ugly sweater party, there's a holiday ball, the Hallmark
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: stars are decked out. There's really no cutting corners on
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: the Holiday cheer. They had themed drinks the fans. I
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: felt this on our ship and I felt it watching this.
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: People really went all out with their clothing and their
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: accessories and they were all in.
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: That's probably my biggest regret is I didn't lean harder.
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: It wouldn't have mattered anyway because my luggage didn't make
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: out of the boat.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: So if I did, I walking around as a single reindeer.
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, if I did have a suitcase full of like
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: fun themed costumes, it wouldn't have mattered anyway because it
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: wasn't there with me.
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: So I felt that too. When I saw people's cute
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: outfits and cute matching shirts and cute themed clothing. I
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: do wish we had leaned a little harder into it. Yeah,
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: maybe next time. Maybe next time. Can I tell a
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: little story about the decores. Yeah, So it was really
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: funny because in the first episode, one of the women
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: clocks the cute theme pillows all over the ship, and
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: they had like Hallmark Christmas cruise pillows and some just
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: had like little Christmas logos on them, and they were everywhere.
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: They were in all the lounges, all the public spaces,
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: down the halls. Very cute. Well, this is a behind
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: the scenes moment on our cruise. At one point they
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: had to start making announcements that people needed to put
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: the pillows back and that those pillows were to remain
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: in the common areas, and I was scandalized that people
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: were stealing pillows. And then we ran into people who
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: were like I just saw lady walk them by with
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: two pillows in her toe bag, just brazenly. So they
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: must have restocked on the pillows between Chris one and
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: Chris two.
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's really funny. I did notice two in episode
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: one when when the guests points out the cute pillows,
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: they were mixed in with regular like.
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: Cruise decor pillows.
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: When we walked in on cruise one. I mean those
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: pillows were everywhere overflowing, and then they just one by
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: one witnessing, especially.
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: The ones that said Hallmark Christmas Cruise. You notice by
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: the end of the cruise there were no pillows that
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: said Hallmark Christmas Crews.
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: Still, Yeah, that's a shame.
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: It was a shame. Also in terms of a magic
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: this is another behind the scenes story. At dinner one night,
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: you and I just by chance sat next to the
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: couple who owned the company that did all the decor
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: for the ship. Yeah, they had a really small team,
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: there were maybe seven or eight of them total that
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: put everything together and took everything down. And on the
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: last night we saw them starting to take things down
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: and they had to fully address the ship, undress it
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: because in between the two cruises there was another rock
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: and roll themed cruise. Yeah, they couldn't just leave it up, No,
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: and then they had to come in and do it
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: in the few hours between. They've got a completely transform
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: that ship. Yeah, it's crazy.
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: I do you remember that last night sitting in the
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: lounge that was That was actually a really fun night
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: sitting in the lounge. We're having some drinks with some
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: friends and watching them come through takedown, come through and
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: take down decor. Yeah, it's over.
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: We're going home. Backing up, everybody.
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: You gotta get on.
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: What is it? You can't go home, but you can't
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: stay here. You don't have to go home, but you
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: can't stay here.
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, Hey, we're gonna tell you right now.
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: You're probably gonna cry if you watch this docuseries. We
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: both did in a good way. We both did. Like
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: I was actually shocked. I was shocked. When is not
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: a big crier?
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: I'm not, And there was something in one of the episodes.
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: I just was like, my gin is quivering. I'm like,
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: what is wrong with me? But I cried several times.
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: Several times, same, same, same, same. I think, whatever is
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: going on in your life, you're going to connect to
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: one of the stories of the people that are profiling
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: on this show. I connected to several different stories. It's
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: nicely done.
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: It is very nicely done. You are all in on
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: these cruisers.
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and we're talking like it's not You're not gonna
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: walk away and feel.
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: It's not gut wrenching, no, exactly, it's touching exactly, which
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: I think is very hallmark yes, speaking of this does
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: feel like a real Hallmark movie come to life. The
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: stories are real, we have real life people, but it's
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: all the same things we see in a typical Hallmark movie.
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: At one point when he was like, second Chance Romance
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: just one of our one of our favorite tropes. But
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: you know, there is a storyline with a daughter moving
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: away from home and they joke about her moving away
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: to the big city, and there's there's some health scares
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: and the ith. It really is all of those Hallmark moments,
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: because Hallmark is, you know, reflecting your real life. Sure
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: in a theatrical way, of course, but they did a
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: nice job. When they were casting for this show, I
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: had absolutely no idea what kind of people they were
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: gonna choose. They asked for people who had a story
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: to tell. Of course, I am incredibly impressed with the
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: people they cast. Yeah, they were all very likable, they
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: were all people you wanted to root for. They were
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: all very dynamic on camera. The casting was, in my opinion,
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: on pretty impressive. I agree, especially for their first time
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: doing this, especially because they didn't really know how this
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: was all going to play out. They'd never done the
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: cruise before. When they were casting it, and I was
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: kind of surprised, like I just thought like they would
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: show up and there would be some like shots of
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: them sitting in the lounge getting some b roll talking
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: about their lives. It's fully produced, like they're in their
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: homes before they leave. There's footage of them in their
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: real lives. That was more than I expected. I agree.
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: While we were watching this, Megan's like talking about a
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: specific gal. She's like, this Gual is so good on camera,
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: she's so engaged, she's perfect, Like she's perfect reality TV
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: in the best way. And we talk about reality TV
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: a lot, obviously, you and I do, and sometimes the
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: criticism that we have is that it's hard to find
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: a story.
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: Like if you're not bringing like a story to.
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: TV and it's sensational lives and whatever, then then you
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: usually don't get picked up for the second season. And
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: I was kind of surprised that these people they weren't
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: telling like since they weren't being sensational.
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: Oh right, no, And there was nothing shocking about their stories,
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: like we know some one in each one of these situations,
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: but it was compelling.
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's so too.
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: As we said, the series is very meta, like We've
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: turned this cruise full of Hallmark superfans into a series
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: about joy, about connection, about holiday magic. It, I will admit,
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: is better and more than I anticipated it being I
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: wasn't sure what to expect. There was a lot of
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: when they announced it. There were a lot of mixed
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: feelings about it from the cruisers themselves. If it's not
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: clear from this episode, I'm pleasantly surprised with how it
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: turned out.
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree. I had wondered what the endgame with
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: this docu series was going to be. I was like,
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: are they making this to sell more tickets to a
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: cruise that is already sold out? Like what is the
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: point here? And now I kind of realize, Oh, this
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: is the points It's the human story. Hallmark is so
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: good at telling, and that's what the.
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: Series is about.
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: You'll you'll enjoy it if you just want to tune
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: in and see, like which stars are on it. I
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: don't think you're gonna be disappointed at that either. You
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: do kind of get like these like little nuggets of
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: like a lot of Tyler Hines and a lot of
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: binn Airs, and you get a little bit of Andrew
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: Walker and some Nikki Deloch and like, yeah, nice to
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: see like.
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: They participate in these stories and really special ways, and
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: we don't want to give those away because I think
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: it's nice to see them play out on camera, but
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: I use them very wisely in this series. That was
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: my other question because we were on the cruise, we
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: saw how busy the stars were from start to finish.
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: I was wondering how they were gonna how they're gonna
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: make that work with them. Yeah, that's a really good question,
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: and they figured it out. So Christmas at Seat will
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: air Mondays in July, starting with episode one on July
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: seventh on Hallmark Channel. Tune in let us know what
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: you think. Girls Gone Homerk at gmail dot com. Thank
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: you for listening to this episode of Girls Gone Homework,
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: a Bramble Jam podcast. We'll be back with more homework
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: reviews very soon.
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: Goodbye bye.
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: All right friends, before we go, just a quick heads up,
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: You're about to hear some ads. Thee Little Gems help
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: us keep the show running and the Hallmark love flowing.
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: So do with that info what you will, Grab a snack,
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: hit the skip button, or maybe just maybe listen in
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: and discover your new favorite product.
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: Bye