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A Nashville Christmas · Girls Gone Hallmark | Hallmark Movie Reviews

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, Welcome to Girls Gone Christmas, a series of
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: bonus episodes from Long Story Short the Podcast. Today we
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: are discussing a Nashville Christmas Carol, but first a little
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: bit of housekeeping. Like we said, this is a bonus
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: episode of the podcast, which means we have regular standard
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: podcast episodes that come out every Tuesday, and this week
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: this podcast is coming out early as a Thanksgiving gift
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: to you, so you can listen while you're in the
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: kitchen prepping your smaller than usual Thanksgiving meals. But you
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: can find us every Tuesday and bonus episodes on Thursday.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: And you can find more from us at meganand Wendy
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: dot com.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: But we really love are your emails, so if you
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: want to send us an email, you can do so
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: at meganand Wendy at gmail dot com. And we're also
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: on Instagram at Megan and Wendy LSS, which stands for
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: Long Story Short. Find us over there.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: We're everywhere, and today we're so excited because we have
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: our very first Long Story Short the podcast guest so
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: Maryann Farmer, Canada is an executive producer with Discovery Digital
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: Studios in Knoxville, Tennessee. Where she heads the webby nominated
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: HDTV Handmade brand. In addition to serving as HGTV's Handmaids
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: Executive producer, she is an on camera personality on the
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: channel and a general expert in crafting, parenting, and entertaining
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: for HGTV dot com. Now, perhaps you know selfishly more importantly,
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: Wendy and I have known Marianne for years. We met
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: originally online as all good friendships began, and we had
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: our first long story short collaboration with marian years ago
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: when we did a ill fated taste test video when
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: Marianne was in town. Only a link to that one
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: in the show notes, Harrianne, thank you so much for
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: joining us.
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, you guys, thank you for having me.
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: I am so excited to be here in my closet
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: talking here.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: You're one of the team man three.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you're in good company.
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: I had forgotten about that taste us. That was a
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: wild ride.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: It was a wild ride.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: That was a long time ago. How long ago? Was
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: I four?
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: Five years?
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: It's been a long.
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: Time four yeah, four, I would say four or five years.
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: Was that your last VidCon? Did you guys?
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: It was? That was my first in lave no, I
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: went to BIDCN twice. That's that's incorrect, But that was
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: my first dcon.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: It was our first and last and only forever. Really,
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: if you're not a screaming thirteen year old, it's perhaps
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: not yea.
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: I am just not the target audience for dcom.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, me, neither my daughter. My daughter this year, well
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: earlier this year was like, mom, vid Con is coming
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: to Anaheim, Can we go? And I just was like,
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: oh no, we cannot. I'm sorry, it's not happening.
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: Well now it's all virtual, so you can just let
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: her attend to her heart's content exactly.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: This is the one silver lining of coronavirus. I didn't
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: have to go to VidCon again.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: So this week, as we talked about, we are discussing
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: a Nashville Christmas Carol, and Wendy's gonna read the ya
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: old synopsis here.
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: A Nashville Christmas Carol stars Jesse Shram and Wes Brown.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: A tele television producer is forced to work with the
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: man who broke her heart on a country music Christmas
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: special while being interrupted by Christmas spirits determined for her
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: to revisit her past.
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: Man, that's a mouthful.
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: That is one whole sentence. There's not a comma in
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: there or anything.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: I need to say that. One of the reasons we
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: reached out to Marianne in addition to just generally enjoying her,
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: is on her own Instagram. She two years ago that
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: you started this.
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: Yes, this is my third this is my third holiday
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: season reviewing Christmas movie.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: So it kind of just started just for fun. You
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: were just kind of chatting about it, and then the
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: people demanded more. So it morphed into a whole thing.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: And now she has a whole Instagram story template that
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: she fills out and you can play along. You typically
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: don't do Hallmark specific movies, right more of Netflix.
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't. I am brand agnostic. I will watch
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: Anny and every holiday movie across all platforms. But this
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: is one of the first Hallmark movies that I've actually
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: actually watched se Megan, because I don't I don't have cable.
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: I think Megan's a rare breed. I've never watched a
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: Hallmark Christmas movie until this year, so and Megan's flagged
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: by that.
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  Speaker 3: Well, they're very potular, it is a huge business. They
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: dominate the ratings, literally dominate the ratings every Christmas. I
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: just now. I'm so glad you guys told me about
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: like the app that I could download to watch them,
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: because now I literally while I kept being served ads
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: for other homemark Christmas movies and now I have a
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: whole list.
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: We have to record I know, well we don't. We
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: don't have cable either, and so we use YouTube TV,
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: and there's no homework channel on YouTube TV. So we
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: have to subscribe to the app because we've got to
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: have the movies. So we will leave a link to
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: Marianne's Instagram in our show notes so you can play along.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: She has already begun the process of reviewing twenty twenty
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: Christmas movies? Is that how we say this year twenty
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty twenty Christmas movies? Friends, initial reactions to this
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: movie go ahead, Marianne.
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: Well, right off the bat, I love just about any
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: retelling of a Christmas carol like that is catnip for me.
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: I love a ghost. I love a holiday Christmas ghost.
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: So immediately I was like, oh, a national Christmas Carol.
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: Sign me up.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: Yes, Wendy, what did you think?
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: I loved it?
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: Yes, I've been waiting so long for that reaction.
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: From top to bottom. I have watched it twice. I
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: loved it it.
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: Really enjoyed it too. I have to say the first
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: time we watched it, I fell asleep, which is not
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: a reflection on the movie, just the fact that I
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: can't stay up past time m and so I had
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: to go back and rewatch parts of it. And what
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: I realized is that I missed all the best parts.
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: So I was rewatching all the parts where they're reconnecting.
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: I was like, this is a great movie. I really
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: enjoyed it. I feel relieved that it was a good
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: one on our first movie where we invited a guest
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: to watch along with us, because if I had given
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: you homework that was also a dud, I would have
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: felt terrible.
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: But wait, I don't think Marianne actually said if she
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: liked it or not.
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: Well, you're right, I didn't.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: I how much I was tost to.
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: I actually and I have watched these like Christmas romance movies,
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: and I was I will admit, going into it, I
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: was very skeptical because one the lead character is a producer.
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: I'm a producer to the movie takes place in Tennessee.
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: I live in Tennessee. I don't live in Nashville, but
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: still I live in Tennessee. So I was like, Oh,
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: here we go. It's gonna be like very like country
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: and cheesy, and you know she's going to be an overworked,
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: crazy television producer. I mean, you know, it's a little
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: close to home. But I actually I really liked it.
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: Now our movie couple, and we'll discuss them in depth.
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: But overall, Wendy, were you rooting for them? Let me
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: overall I thought that they I was, I'm conflicted, can
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: you tell? I thought that they had a lot of
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: like friend vibes for a majority of the movie. There
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: was one scene middle of the movie where I don't
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: know if you recall, but she was putting the star
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: on the tree and he was helping her come down
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: the ladder, and I that was kind of romantic to me.
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: She like tumbles into his arms, not so much, but
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: he put his hand on her back and then they like,
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: I don't know. I just thought it was kind of romantic,
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: and then from there on I was rooting for them.
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: That was literally the first time he actually touched her.
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: I was watching. I was waiting for him to like
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: because he obviously was vibing on her, but I didn't
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: feel there was not a lot of like sexual chemistry happening.
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: That's my biggest problem with all of these movies, that
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: there is no sexual chemistry.
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: And I think that's a Hallmark thing overall, Like that's
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: a Hallmark umbrella. They're very chased movies, you know, like
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: you're lucky to get a kiss at the end and
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: that's it, and.
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: It's like a close mouth yess like we're naughty.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: No tongue, no tongue, no, no no.
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: I have two questions. One, since this is my first
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: year with these Hallmark movies, is there always the like
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: love interest romantic storyline in every one of these movies?
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: Yes, they're always a les sure. See.
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: I was kind of hoping that it would be more
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: like empowering about her and her job. And so this
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: is where I struggle with this movie a little bit,
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: because I really really liked it, but I wanted it
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: to be it to be more about her discovering like
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: her own self and not so much about how she
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: felt about the guy. Does that make sense?
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: You wanted kind of like the I choose me moment.
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: Exactly, thank you, And in the end she does get
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: the best of both worlds, but not because of her
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: own advocating for herself. Right, she decided like, I'm just
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: going to stay here because this is where my family is.
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: And then they're like, you can have the job anyway.
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, And why is there always this threat of,
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: like you have to leave town? And every single one
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: of these movies I swear we've watched, there's always this
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: threat of she's not going to do good at her
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: job and therefore has to leave town, or she is
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: going to do good at her job and leave town.
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: I don't get it.
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: It's like these movies are all about security. So they're
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: all about the security of family, the security of your home,
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: the security of a traditional romantic relationship. You know, they
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: really hinge on on like those basic because I guess
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: at our core all human beings can relate to that. Sure,
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: I get it, But I would have liked I don't know,
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: I would have liked for her. Can we talk about
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: the end? Well, you you mentioned like the job thing.
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: I would have liked for her to have been, like
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: to have set out on her own, to have gotten
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: out from under the thumb of this like weird production
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: company that only produces music show events, which I'm sure like,
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: don't act me production companies, But you know, I would
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: have liked her to be like I miss when I
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: was that girl with the camera and you know, made
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: things because they made me happy.
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: Well, and she back to the weird job descriptions, like
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: she's going to produce this one award show and that's
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: going to be like her job full time. When it
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: seems to me it's like, okay, then you wanted the
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: next and you're going to produce several things over the
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: course of the year, so you go do this thing.
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: I don't know. I guess it doesn't make for quite
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: the compelling story if it's like you can actually be
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: a multifaceted person. What did you love? I know Marianne
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: talked about you loved a movie with a Christmas Carol storyline.
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: What else do we love about this movie? Go ahead, Wendy.
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: I love that it was actually filmed in Nashville, which
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: so the other night it was parts of it were okay.
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: The other night when I was watching it, there's a
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: scene where she goes in where she meets I don't
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: remember the character's name, but it was Winonah Jed in
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: that bar, and I was way yes, And I was like,
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: that place looks really familiar. Now. My sister lived in
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: Nashville for several years and when she graduated from college,
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: we all went out there and my sister took us
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: to that bar and I was like, I know that place.
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: It's called Robert's Western World. So I was like, this
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: was actually filmed in Nashville, which was very exciting.
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: I literally wrote down in my copious notes, is that
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: actually Roberts?
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: Like I really was like, see Roberts or did they
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: actually snows?
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: You did?
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: You knew? And you got it right? I was also,
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: but I was not completely convinced that it was shot
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: in Nashville because one, there was so much snow, and
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: I know you can fake a lot of that, but
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: it does not snow very often in Tennessee. That's actually
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: a big bone to pick. There are a lot of
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: Christmas movies set into and they all have snow, and
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: it snows here like once a year, and when it snows,
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: it shuts the state down, like there's no industry going on,
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: there's no quaint Christmas markets, Like it's it's the logistical nightmare.
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, a lot of the filming was done in North Carolina.
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: I don't know how much of the exterior scenes, but
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: this was also my entending is I think it was
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: shot in the summer, so all the snow is staked.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: They are getting better at fake snow on the ground.
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: My husband and I watched a movie it was like
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: eight years old, and it was literally like white cotton
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: batting on the ground for the snow, and we were like, oh, oh, Mark,
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: get it together. So they have come a long way
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: in their production value, so I did.
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: I really loved the Ghost obviously. I loved Winona Judd
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: and as like the Jacob Marley character and you know,
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: just Marilyn jin Way Jacob Marley, like it's an inverse
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: of the same initi So that was really fun. I
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: wanted more of the ghosts, like I just like the
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: ghost hygiinks. When Kimberly Williams Paisley showed up, I was like,
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: there she is. I feel like she's the patron saint
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: of Hallmark movie and it just felt right to have
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: her show up in this movie.
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: Yes, I loved her over the top Ghost of Christmas Present.
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: I loved her dress, I loved her ridiculous accent. I
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: loved everything about Kimberly Williams Paisley. Okay, so that's my question.
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: So I only know her from Father of the Bride.
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: I don't think I've ever seen her in any other movie.
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: So does she have an accent like that in real life?
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: Or was that like put on for this movie?
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: Was? No, as far as I could tell, she was
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: channely Reba McIntyre, like pull on, here's your one chance,
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: fancy red dress.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: I love the little tweaks they did to the Christmas
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: Carol story, like there's no ghost of Christmas future because
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: it's not written yet, like hasn't happened. And I also
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: loved like this isn't just that you're a piece of
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: garbage Ebenezer Scrooge story. It's like, Okay, let's take a
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: look back at your life, but also let's look at
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: the good things and the ways that you're positively affecting
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: other people that you can't really see. I liked that.
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: I liked their adaptation of the Christmas Carol trope.
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: And I just mentioned one thing that I thought was
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: weird and hilarious that because she's so busy at Christmas,
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: she shipped her dad to Tahiti some.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: Of these so one of the movies we reviewed. Many
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: of these movies have way too many subplots, and there's
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: a lot of like off camera family members, And I
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: almost wonder if they have contracts with these people that
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: they're like, we got to put them in a movie.
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: Let's put them in a zoom call off camera and
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: they're just out of town. I don't It doesn't make
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: any sense to me otherwise because it didn't serve the
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: story at all at all.
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: It was so strange, and I really thought we were
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: gearing up. I feel like in a lot of these movies,
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: we often have like either the dead dad or the
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: dead mom. Like it's just always like dead mom alert,
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: here's why she, you know, can't embrace her inner child anymore.
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: And in this case, it was just like a vaguely
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: gone mom who never I thought the mom was going
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: to come back, since they kept talking about it and
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: it's like they kept referencing her dad being in Tahiti.
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: I just thought that was so strange, Like why have
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: the parents in the storyline at all?
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think you can tell a complete story, right,
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: her dad's part of the past. You get that. But
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: I don't think we needed him in her story. In
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: the present, we can know that he exists off camera.
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: I don't think he served the story at all.
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: Well, I think the same goes the same. I think
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: we could say the same about his name is Gavin,
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: his parents, like what was the point of having them
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: in this storyline as well?
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: Truly appearance of like his wood working dad who likes
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: proofs of his successful sun exactly for some reason.
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: Totally did not get it, like I thought. I even
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: told my husband today, I go, I wonder if this
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: was part of a larger story and they ended up
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: like cutting most of it out or like, what was
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: the point of that? I have no idea.
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: Well, and the number of that's another thing we see
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: all the time is he's like disapproving family members and
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: a lot of times there was one movie we watched
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: where she was like, if I don't get this promotion,
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: I have to move back home. But in the movie,
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: she still have a very successful job, she still had
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: to play. It wasn't like she couldn't support herself on
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: her own. But these families, I don't know the picture of,
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: like you have to come home to be part of
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: our family and do what we expect you to do
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: is perhaps a trope they could let go of.
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: It's a little it's a little problematic. It's a little
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: like do you need help, like blink once or I
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: need us to come extract you from this situation.
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: So we've kind of already gotten into it. But let's
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: transition to our Did you see that portion of the
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: podcast where we talk about questions, plot holes and things
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: we need to talk about?
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: I got a lot here, really, I have none, so
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: let me hear what you have to say.
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: Okay, well, I just want to say, first of all,
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: we have our first that I have noticed of the
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: movies we've watched this year, blatant product placement. Did you
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: see it?
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: I saw a car, yes, yes, brought to.
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: You by Infinity, like parked perfectly on an angle. There's
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: not a speck on that car that they've driven through
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: the snow and what would likely be salty streets, like
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: the logo was displayed perfectly. That's a fun game.
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: I like to you know, you got to grab that
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: bag all you can. They did. They employed one of
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: my favorite I guess elements when there's time travel in
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: a movie, which is only changing their hair. So It's
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: like when she goes back in time, she has straight
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: hair and he has these bangs. Says truly like they
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: are alive out of a Dracar Noir. Odd from this
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: just claw like bang situation on his head. It was
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: very distracting. I'm glad he let go of those bigs
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: as he aged I have a did you see that moment?
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: And that is their live to tape show had no audience.
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: I didn't literally any of that. What is happening? Like
• 19:25
  Speaker 3: they keep calling it Country Christmas Live And at one
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: point someone even says to tape at which I felt
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: like was literally just for those of us that work
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: in production, because what was the point, Like why would
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: you not have a live audience? Why are you in
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: this huge, beautiful theater, like what is happening?
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: And I'm one hundred percent sure that it was COVID
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: restrictions right, like they couldn't have all these people in there. However,
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: you need to pivot your script a little bit and
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: just be like we're filming a Christmas special. Cut the
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: live nonsense and because showing the big empty theater and
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: and they're like that's a wrap, and I was like,
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: this is the actual show nobody in the other.
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: The two songs they did, and it's.
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: Not like they spent so much money on these amazing
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: Country Christmas live graphics like you would have redone it.
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: Well, that is another thing that I have to say,
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: and that is we have our very first movie logo
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: of the Allmark Christmas season. Usually we get like an
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: animated canvas script across the screen, free script. They had
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: an actual animated logo that was designed specifically for this.
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: I took a screenshot of it because I noticed the
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: same thing. I was like, Oh, we're fancy.
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: Now national Christmas Carol logo.
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: Might be the only one you see, so.
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: One other plot hole or just it didn't add up
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: to me. And that's such a minor thing. But I
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: feel like, if you're going to have a character who
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: is too busy for Christmas, too busy to even have
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: a Christmas tree inside her home, maybe don't make the
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: outside of her house beautifully decorated with hundreds of dollars
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: worth of garland and Christmas lights. It just doesn't you know.
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: If you're going to be a scrooge, be a scrooge
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: like commit.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: Well, but she kept buying trees and then taking them
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: to work, and I was like, seriously, why why would
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: you drag these trees back? You don't have enough trees
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: in that prop room that's magically a portal to a bar.
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: I don't understand, Wendy. You said this is not a
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: big area for you. You don't have no no. I mean,
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: I just loved it. I picking it apart.
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: I love Dway Nona, I loved Sarah Evans, I loved
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: Kicks Brooks. I just love now Raylan. I don't know her, Like,
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: where is she from? She was on a competition singing show.
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: Is that right? Do you know?
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: I don't she's new to.
• 21:52
  Speaker 3: I literally yeah, I literally only knew when owt to Jed.
• 21:56
  Speaker 3: I have a strict no googling rule while I watch these,
• 21:59
  Speaker 3: because I feel like you'll just go into like and
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: I kind of like not knowing. So I spent a
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: lot of the movie being like, who is that? Probably
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: a famous country? I don't know. The only people I
• 22:14
  Speaker 3: knew were Kimberly Williams, Paisley and Winona Judd. The lead
• 22:20
  Speaker 3: kind of looked like Takay actresses from Pitch Perfect, Yes
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: crossed like mixing a Petri dish with James Ray Jones. Yeah,
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: and then the male lead. I was like, he looks
• 22:34
  Speaker 3: like he I don't know, like, like was he like
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: One Tree Hill? Where I feel like I should know
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: who he is, but I don't.
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: He reminds me of an actor who was on Dawson's
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: Creek and I don't know what his name is.
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: Yes, No, the one who was Cousins, the cousin of
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: Michelle and he was gay.
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: Yes, that's who it is.
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: Yes, he does.
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: Look like that guy. I think. That's what I'm thinking
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: is some kind of like tea nineties romance.
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: So both Jesse Shram and the Gavin actor were on
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: Once upon a Time. She played Cinderella and we started
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: watching the movie. I was asked my husband because we
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: watched that show, he said, you know who that is?
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: He goes, yeah, she's in Pitch Perfect and I was like, nope,
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: But if you google Jesse Shram, it says is Jesse
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: in Pitch Perfect.
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: It's not.
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: She's not in a camp. But she was Cinderella and
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: Once upon a Time, and he was guest on, which
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: was a much smaller Once upon a Time character. He
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: does a lot of these made for TV movies. He's
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: been in a lot of the Graceland movies, which I
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: assume he's playing some Elvis related persona because he's got
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: the look.
• 23:39
  Speaker 3: I mean, as long as he does those bangs.
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: Jesse Shram, does she do a lot of these Hallmark
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: movies or is this the first one you've seen her in?
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: This is the first time I've seen her as a
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: lead actress, but she's been in several made for TV movies.
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: But I enjoyed her. Some of these Hallmark actresses are
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: not good actresses. I loved her. I believed her me too.
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: She was great. I thought she was super great. That's
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: why I thought like, maybe this is why this movie
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: is better for me, or not better for it. But
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: I liked it better because I thought the acting was
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: so much better than some of the other ones that
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: we've seen.
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: So I do think she was really good. She was
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: very enjoyable, not I rolly. I really liked her well.
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: And I was a little worried because the Kicks Brooks
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: character is a main like, he has a big role.
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: He's the ghost of Christmas past, and you know, who
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: knows if these singers can act. I loved him. I
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: thought he was so fat and lovable, as the Ghosts past.
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: I loved him too.
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: Is he the Brooks from Brooks and Dun Yes, okay, okay,
• 24:52
  Speaker 3: I'm putting it together.
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: Yes. I enjoyed him quite a bit. And you never know,
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: I was a little nervous going into it because you know,
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: they picked him for the country music tie in, But
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: how's that gonna go?
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: Why? No?
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: NOA was of course fabulous, and Sarah Evans her voice
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: blew me away.
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: I love her, loved her. I tweeted that her voice,
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: she has a voice of an angel, and she she
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: liked my tweet, so that made me very happy.
• 25:19
  Speaker 3: And they sounded great together, the two. I wasn't familiar
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: with either of the lead singers, but I did think
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: they sounded really good together.
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: I agree. And because it's Thanksgiving week as you're listening,
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: typically these movies have been coming out, there's a new
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: one every Saturday and Sunday, but this week it's Saturday
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: previous all the way through next Sunday. There's one every night,
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: so that's the There's one tonight, there's one tomorrow, every
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: a new movie every single night. So there's Christmas movies glore.
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: It's almost Candace cameraon Berets movie time.
• 25:51
  Speaker 3: I really want to watch The Christmas House with the
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: Gay couple. I watched.
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: So good.
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: It's really good.
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: Okay, I'm really excited.
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: I've recorded it. I haven't watched it yet, but I
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: have a great cast. It has a really great cast.
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: I think you'll really like it. It's a really sweet story.
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: And Wendy, there's another date. My dad cameo in there.
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, okay, what did you wish for in this movie?
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: Well, there was no niece in this movie.
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: That's a one of the things we've noticed is that
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: almost every one of these movies has a niece that
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: like drives the connection. There was no niece in this movie.
• 26:30
  Speaker 3: Was not that I was but there was a little sister.
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: We did have the little sister.
• 26:34
  Speaker 3: Yes, did you notice their stockings. By the way, the
• 26:37
  Speaker 3: little sister stocking said Georgia, and the lead character her
• 26:42
  Speaker 3: stocking just said big sister.
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: Not Vivian.
• 26:45
  Speaker 3: Apparently I got really bogged down in the details of
• 26:48
  Speaker 3: this one, but the set dressing decisions were really interesting.
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: Well, but I almost wonder so the mom leaves they're
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: both little girls. When the mom leaves the fact that
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: her sister is younger and that the I'd let her
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: take on this like mom roll and all of a sudden,
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: Vivian gets no Christmas and it all goes to Georgia,
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: her sister. I did not understand that. I know we've
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: already left the plot whole section of the movie, but
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: I didn't really. She was still a child and her
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: dad let her just like, Okay, well, we'll just focus
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: all our attention on your little sister.
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: I mean, maybe that's why they sent him to Tahiti.
• 27:23
  Speaker 3: You're kind of a jerk.
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna have my own Christmas now, Dad. Anything else
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: we wished did.
• 27:31
  Speaker 3: I wish for anything?
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: Well, you know, I need hot sexual tension, and it
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: wasn't there yet, not with this movie. But I still
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: thought it was romantic.
• 27:41
  Speaker 3: Considering how much I did like the actors. I would
• 27:45
  Speaker 3: have liked a little more chemistry. I would have liked
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: even more ghost hijinks, because you know, I love a ghost.
• 27:55
  Speaker 3: And I will say, this is something I'm always looking
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: for in these movies because a lot of them have
• 28:01
  Speaker 3: big issues with diversity, and this one did have a
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: decent amount of diversity in the supporting characters. But I
• 28:10
  Speaker 3: just always liked through out there I would like to
• 28:11
  Speaker 3: see more diversity in the lead characters. I feel like
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: a ghost could have been a personal pillar or something
• 28:17
  Speaker 3: like that. So that's just it's always one of my
• 28:20
  Speaker 3: things that I'm a stickler about.
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: I agree with that, and we've talked on other episodes
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: that Hallmark in their other movies has done a better
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: job of bringing in a more diverse cast. They still
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: have a long way to go. You know, We've got
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: one movie with a gay couple and they're not even
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: the lead couple. I do I have seen steps in
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: the right direction, but they do have a long way
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: to go with that. Anybody else laugh at the emmylou
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: hairless joke.
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: I did laugh out loud. I thought it was so funny.
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: I laugh I rewinded to watch it again, and then
• 28:54
  Speaker 3: I rewinded again to take like a screenshot of it
• 28:57
  Speaker 3: because I thought it was because I was like solid
• 29:01
  Speaker 3: cat joke and solid country music joke. Bravo.
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: Oh. My only last note is a brand new artist
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: and the brand new manager are not going to have
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: hiring decision making abilities when it comes to who they
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: choose to direct the music video. Vivian, You're wrong here.
• 29:20
  Speaker 3: I know. I don't for that to be the thing
• 29:23
  Speaker 3: that she threw away, this lifelong friendship over when he's
• 29:28
  Speaker 3: just trying to get his foot in the door. That
• 29:31
  Speaker 3: that did feel a little I know that we have
• 29:33
  Speaker 3: to manufacture some drama here, so you know, but that
• 29:36
  Speaker 3: did feel a little bit like really Vivian like grow up.
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: I just it was such a just a miscommunication that
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: could have been cleared up.
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: I hate I hate it.
• 29:45
  Speaker 3: And she's still because she got rejected from that, she
• 29:49
  Speaker 3: ended up with like her dream job. So you know,
• 29:52
  Speaker 3: at that point I maybe would have softened, but he
• 29:54
  Speaker 3: had already gone off to lay.
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: Speaking of laughs, did you laugh when that guy called
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: her sweater and ugly christmaswater?
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: I did laugh a little bit.
• 30:06
  Speaker 3: It was I missed that part.
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: So she showed up to that party and he thought
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: she was wearing an ugly christmasweater, but it was just
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: like a festive sweater. I thought it was funny. And
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: that guy was a real jerk too.
• 30:17
  Speaker 3: He really was. I read him when he goes, oh,
• 30:20
  Speaker 3: you're Gavin's little director friend. It's like calling especially women
• 30:26
  Speaker 3: and especially in production. I mean, this is a little
• 30:28
  Speaker 3: inside baseball, but like production is dominated by men. And
• 30:32
  Speaker 3: for this dude to be like his little director friend.
• 30:36
  Speaker 3: I was just like, you're the worst.
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and now she's more successful than Gavin, So yeah,
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: I am so nervous about this next question, what are
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: we rating this movie out of?
• 30:47
  Speaker 3: How many? I need to know? Four?
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: Wendy, are you waiting for me?
• 30:52
  Speaker 3: Here? I go?
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: Sorry? I give it three and a half stars.
• 30:58
  Speaker 3: And what I was going to do.
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: I will now be downloading Wynona Christmas loved it so much.
• 31:04
  Speaker 3: I was also going to say three and a half.
• 31:07
  Speaker 3: It takes a lot for me to give something like
• 31:09
  Speaker 3: a perfect score, but this was pretty close.
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: It's hard, and it's hard for me to give it
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: a perfect score because I feel like sometimes I have
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: to compare it to all the others. So would I
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: go back and maybe say that this was my favorite
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: of the bunch. Maybe, but there's still so many to come.
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: I agree with three and a half. It was great.
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: I still think there's room for another movie to completely
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: blow me away and be the best of the bunch.
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: But I really enjoyed this a lot.
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: That makes me so happy.
• 31:40
  Speaker 3: I'm so glad I got to join for such a
• 31:42
  Speaker 3: good one, because there are really some stinkers out there,
• 31:44
  Speaker 3: let's face it.
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: Oh my god, there's been some terrible ones.
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: Marian Why don't you tell everybody where they can find
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: you after this is over?
• 31:51
  Speaker 3: Oh fantastic. Well, especially if you are listening to this
• 31:55
  Speaker 3: because you love Christmas movies. Please follow me on Instagram.
• 32:00
  Speaker 3: I am at Mariann Canada m A R I A
• 32:03
  Speaker 3: N N E C A N A d A just
• 32:05
  Speaker 3: like the country. And in my story highlights you can
• 32:10
  Speaker 3: see the movies I've rated so far and you can
• 32:13
  Speaker 3: screenshot my rating card so that you can join.
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening to this episode of
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: the podcast. Thank you again to Marianne for joining us.
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: If you're listening and you enjoyed it, we would love
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: it if you would leave an iTunes rating and even
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: a review with actual words, because that is how people
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: find our podcast. And you can find us every Tuesday
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: and Thursday with new episodes of the podcast. And we'll
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: see you soon. Happy Thanksgiving, everybody.
• 32:41
  Speaker 3: Goodbye,