It's Christmastown
113 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 1 month ago - ★★★★★ - 128 ratingsJournalists Jeb Lund and David J. Roth step away from real world anxieties and step into the gentle, cornball, consequence-free world of the Hallmark Channel. Each time, we discuss a different Hallmark original movie—from Christmas cheer, to wedding jitters, to junk-store detectives—and break it down into recognizable components of angels, moms, moppets, sugary foods and themed sweaters, and try to make sense of when the stories veer away from comfort films and land in the uncanny valley. Welcome to a sweet, stilted vision of the world—not an escape from modern life, but a relaxing trip to an alternate universe where everyone is silly, chaste, nice, and mostly doing fine.
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Episodes
081 - The Sick Bed of Fitzpatrick
February 24, 2020 19:17 - 1 hour - 104 MBIreland stays FOREVER IN MY HEART (2019), but: It's Ryan Fitzpatrick again ... Harvard Boy ... Kicked by a donkey or slapped by an elephant's trunk? ... The greatest QB of his era ... BREAK ... Interrupted intro ... Happy birthday! ... Uncular ... Six weeks off ... Annual January depression ... Crown Media sources ... Jeb's dad injuries ... Backup dad Ryan Fitzpatrick ... The 25th best in your world at your job ... Foreign architecture, busted ... BREAK ... Cast rundown ... "Are these movies...
080 - Bruce Yams' Juche Christmas
February 14, 2020 05:51 - 1 hour - 138 MBCHRIS COLLISION opts for A BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAIN CHRISTMAS (2019) and: Kim Jong-un's perfume ad ... THEME ... Collective hangovers ... The movie is our fault ... Opening old beer ... I studied The Blade ... Foyer or Foyer ... BREAK ... Cast rundown ... The Expositional Challenge: Vindication! ... Plot wrap-up ... Not an actual movie ... Overlook Hotel Caretaker ... Spot the Angel: Mrs. Sacks, hotel haint; African-American prospective buyer; no angel candidate; Paul Auster and later DeLillo; Ra...
079 - Flea Market Von Trapp Behavior
February 05, 2020 19:51 - 1 hour - 111 MBKAREN GEIER laces up her black-and-white Nikes for CHRISTMAS AT GRACELAND: HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS (2019) and journeys to: An important announcement ... THEME ... Oprah intro ... Hallucinating your own death ... Cult podcasts and grief ... Hallmark, holidays and cult behavior ... Caganer update ... BREAK ... Cast rundown ... Plot in One Segment: Back from Europe, on a couch, taking every job ... Thin plot, montages, filler ... Disrupting HIPAA for for-profit hospitals ... Insane fundraiser and...
078 - He Didn't Understand a Hammer
December 30, 2019 14:42 - 1 hour - 109 MBCHARLES STAR and ROBERT WHEEL pair up for a HOLIDAY DATE (2019) and: Act cool in the hardware store ... THEME ... Patty and Shelby shout ... Truly vs. Claw ... Foremost Jewish thinkers ... Hallmark's first "Hanukkah" movie ... Unfamiliar with Christmas AND Hanukkah ... Jeb screws up the actor name ... BREAK ... Cast rundown ... The Expositional Challenge ... "Plot in Philly" ... Bad fake architect, bad everything ... "I've never had ham" ... Jewish prayers and phlegm ... Insulting to Christi...
077 - Card It Forward, Actually
December 19, 2019 01:54 - 1 hour - 112 MBMEREDITH HAGGERTY returns to get WRITE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (2019) and, actually: It's a holiday from holidays ... THEME ... Love, actually 50 percent shorter ... Cast of lug nuts ... Good premise, big swing, not enough movie ... Death cards ... Hanged Jesus and Boston racial violence ... BREAK ... Cast rundown ... Lachey manque ... Plot in One Segment: Santa bed ... Optician ... Romcom proposal breakup ... Plot sampler! ... Beasley callback ... Lolita Davidovich thirst trap ... Oversharing dog-...
076 - Cyrano Fieri's Love Passport
December 06, 2019 07:14 - 1 hour - 98.1 MBROBERT WHEEL returns for THE MISTLETOE SECRET (2019) and might get: Lubricious ... Always bet on Duffles ... Underused Patrick Duffy ... Improved Hallmark experience ... Moments of Mirth ... Competent leads, improved Pickler ... Kathleen Madigan on Kellie Pickler ... BREAK ... Cast rundown ... The Expositional Challenge ... Plot cleanup ... Patrick Monahan shout-out ... Uneven pacing, treading water ... Sterling Masters' heel j-turn ... Hallmark's version of Cyrano ... Spot the Angel: Duffy,...
075 - I Want My Baby Back Home, and Ribs
November 26, 2019 20:38 - 1 hour - 108 MBNICK BOND takes us on a CHRISTMAS SCAVENGER HUNT (2019) to look for: Tom Arnold is sick ... THEME ... Brainwash your parents ... Sharing Hallmark with socialist whodunit mom ... Bona fides check ... Really enjoying the movie ... Saddam Hussein is so handsome ... BREAK ... Cast rundown ... The Expositional Challenge: A Dark Abyss ... Plot mop-up ... Flip your damn tie ... Hallmark people being normal people ... Spot the Angel: Nobody, or Tom Arnold ... Naturalistic acting, or is the movie jus...
074 - Agent Cody Banks 3: Destination Stepmom
November 22, 2019 04:07 - 1 hour - 97 MBWe close our eyes to PICTURE A PERFECT CHRISTMAS (2019) and see: Honkey Grandma be trippin' ... THEME ... Hello again to the AI horse ... Two good leads, one frictionless movie and one maximally shoplifted pootie ... Merritt Patterson and Jon Cor Appreciation Station ... Desi Jedeikin shout-out ... Authentic trauma ... Bad parenting, out-of-control moppeting ... David Brooks Castigation Station ... BREAK ... Neurotic vamping ... Plot in one sentence ... Stay in your lane, gramma ... Plot in ...
073 - The Hallmark Version of Intercourse
November 18, 2019 18:03 - 1 hour - 115 MBDAVID T. COLE fortifies himself for PUMPKIN PIE WARS (2016) and the rising: Dave Quotient ... IMDB savant, finite memory ... Non-romping splenda oatmeal ... Magnum, PI's "Paper War" ... BREAK ... Cast rundown ... The Expositional Challenge: May be written ... Karen Geier plug ... Pie breach origins, bakery bailouts ... Just get a chair ... The Hallmark version of intercourse ... Hallmark-level naughty ... Falling off a ladder ... Some braless work ... "Winning the bake-off will bring in the ...
072 - Doohickey Woodworking
November 13, 2019 06:56 - 1 hour - 85.9 MBWe settle our brains for a NOSTALGIC CHRISTMAS (2019) and: A computerized programmable horse ... THEME ... Ethnically Kasem ... Led astray by Brooke D'Orsay ... Trevor Donovan streak ... Victor Webster's lotion ... The Expositional Challenge: Dunnnkk ... Powerful wooden Santa totems ... Alicia, the smartest person in Hallmark history ... Dullards ... Going back to Miss Christmas ... Leads failed by material ... Brooke D'Orsay Appreciation Station ... BREAK ... Spot the Angel: City of angels,...
071 - Law Bud and The Wheelbarrow Man (Teaser)
November 05, 2019 15:54 - 5 minutes - 8.13 MBMeredith Haggerty runs afoul of LOVE, FALL & ORDER and finds: Sound problems! ... Crossover: Law Bud ... Love, Fall & Order: Special Vermont Unit ... Terence Malick's Love, Fall & Order ... All the Real Girls: Secret Hallmark ... MUSIC: "Surfboard," by Esquivel ... [LINK] Full episode available here. [LINK]
070 - Exile in Goalville
October 28, 2019 18:10 - 1 hour - 94.8 MBWe forget everything and start FALLING FOR VERMONT (2017) and: Hard at work or hardly working? ... THEME ... Pepperidge Farm doesn't remember ... Letters to Santa: We want it jauntier; listener Jack's bullet-point recommendation ... Not the most insane amnesia plot ... Flavor of Love ... The Expositional Challenge: Honk ... The most disturbing image in Hallmark ... Veronica Mars trauma callback ... Exploiting the vulnerable, and overnight medical ethics ... "I am not a crackpot" ... Hand ove...
069 - The Sex Number
October 17, 2019 16:21 - 1 hour - 98.8 MBSARA KATE WILKINSON finds LOVE AT FIRST DANCE (2018) leads to: Cat intercourse ... THEME ... It's a beautiful day in Hallmarkia ... Rockin' pneumonia ... Pleasant and frictionless ... Pretty movie ... The Expositional Challenge ... Prescribe more air horn ... BREAK ... Plot in 15 Minutes: Inoffensive meet-cute conflict ... Swedish New York aristocracy ... Gorgeous business fiancée ... Niall Matter Appreciation Station ... Busy time for the market ... You take care of the flowers ... How to h...
068 - The Matrix, but for Marriage
October 02, 2019 15:02 - 1 hour - 94.7 MBThe Oracle says we'll meet MY ONE AND ONLY (2019) and: Make a hashtag out of #UandMe ... THEME ... Ballooning away ... Locked-in disorder experience ... Refrigerator poetry/Taco Bell menu plot ... Bean unit ... 5-layer burrito ... Rude zingers ... When Pascale Hutton talks ... BREAK ... The Expositional Challenge ... The wrap-up ... Self-aware but self-Hallmarking dialogue ... "I worked at Big Dogs" ... Juvenile lean-in to meta-commentary ... Crowded by Crown Media formulas ... Selsen Blue's...
067 - We Named the Dog Boyfriend
September 25, 2019 17:48 - 1 hour - 97.6 MBWe experience LOVE AT FIRST GLANCE (2017) and forget about: The tango ... THEME ... Cuckolding nurse ... This movie's f'ing crazy ... 1.5 deaths ... Repeatedly traumatizing one boy ... Mount Igneous ... Canadian polygamy ... Dave makes it normal ... Pausing before the insanity ... Whiffs of The Mistletoe Promise ... Amy Smart Appreciation Station ... BREAK ... Plot in 20 Minutes: Still in the quirky Hallmark era ... Jump to Conclusions Editor ... Exclusive: The Meaning of Love ... Dumped by ...
066 - The Cheeseburger Address
September 09, 2019 19:00 - 1 hour - 97.5 MBIt's an embarrassment of riches with the SISTER OF THE BRIDE (2019) and: Extra Hot Great, SVU and the cultural canon ... Vartan Dadian ... THEME ... Cast rundown ... The Expositional Challenge ... Oxford School of Economics ... Professor of Factoidal Weddingology ... Cherry T-Bird ... Golfing without golfing ... Jack Welch, Lee Iacocca ... Hallmark Inversion: A talented golfer feigning incompetence ... Mind if we film-through? ... Michael Gross brings you to tears ... A B&B with strangers, a...
065 - Day Drinking Through Dog Trauma
August 22, 2019 06:14 - 1 hour - 120 MBSTACEY GOTSULIAS has comps and will travel for PUPPY LOVE (2012) and: A Parental Advisory from TV's Andy Levy ... THEME ... No regrets ... Jeb picked a turkey ... Actor athleticism ... Terminally predictable ... 18 minutes of abandonment and anxiety ... Collar foley work ... The Expositional Challenge: Called for rain ... How we bork the Expositional Challenge ... Plot wrap-up ... Jamie Moyer and John Franco's hospice ... BREAK ... Spot the Angel: Gail vs. Jake The Dog ... Darin Erstad dog c...
064 - Are You Afraid of the Badge?
August 16, 2019 06:24 - 1 hour - 94.6 MBSARA KATE WILKINSON meets THE CONVENIENT GROOM (2016) only to fall in love with: Our best friend Phylis ... THEME ... Dave is off tanning ... Fake spouses, a favorite thing ... Shakespeare tropes ... The Expositional Challenge ... Stone b*tch fake mother-in-law ... First-act cheater ... Confessing during technical difficulties ... Twentysomething with teen hairstyle love ... Mr. Lorelai Gilmore ... When we started liking it ... Vanessa Marcil Appreciation Station ... David Sutcliffe, delight...
063 - The Encyclopedia of Pining
August 09, 2019 06:39 - 1 hour - 98.4 MBWe go back to the CHRISTMAS LAND (2015) and: We will never forget our granddaughters ... You can't go out there and die ... THEME ... Monsoons and painter's scaffolding ... Picking Richard Karn, Maureen McCormick and Christmas tree farms ... Tree farms, Staten Island, egg nog ... Dave's yokel safari ... Jurassic Park ripple ... Luke MacFarland Appreciation Station ... The Mistletoe Promise callback ... The Expositional Challenge ... Plot wrap-up ... Cooper, Cobbler, Baker, Apothecary ... Two...
062 - The Piglet Level Is Just Rising
July 24, 2019 22:54 - 1 hour - 104 MBSARAH D. BUNTING's back, and we're gonna get in corrals for 2016's LOVE IN PARADISE and: Pomeranian ... THEME ... Unprepared to get worked up about Luke Perry ... The bone-marrow level of Luke Perry pop-culture weight ... Erred on the side of Priestley ... A very generous actor and good dude ... "We shoulda taken him more seriously" ... You can legally punch Brian Austin Greene ... The Luke Perry Kidding-The-Material Rating ... The face does the work ... Two 90210 eras ... I got the job squi...
061 - Gail Is the Haint
July 18, 2019 22:56 - 1 hour - 112 MBSARA KATE WILKINSON gets sent to CHRISTMAS CAMP (2018) to learn: All these people are dead ... THEME ... Ready for Christmas in July ... Can't find this movie ... Normie Hallmark Facebook ... Inert but fascinating ... A delightful vision of organized cabin fever ... Adults at camp ... Not taking work seriously ... The book isn't better ... BREAK ... Plot in 30 Minutes ... Bobby Campo IRL ... Greg Evigan's daughter ... Krampus as himself ... The most goth Hallmark character to date ... The ha...
060 - Horse Whisperer Has Come Unstuck in Time
July 12, 2019 04:39 - 1 hour - 107 MBWe're horsing around for eternity with VALENTINE EVER AFTER (2016) and doing unpaid labor on: A dude ranch ... THEME ... Knee calipers ... Going in optimistic ... Eric Johnson Appreciation Station ... Cast rundown ... The Expositional Challenge ... Plot mop-up: Rock-mount failure; dude ranch; hospital raffle ... Alana Smithee, or Alana Smithee? ... Heavy tropery and peak overdeterminism ... BREAK ... Journalismism: One perfect catastrophe of news layout; Hyphen Stanheight; Hello, mako; Rahm ...
059 - Quantum Leading to Robert McNamara
July 03, 2019 08:04 - 1 hour - 104 MBWe will drop THE LAST BRIDESMAID (2019) until: A question mark leads to an exclamation point ... THEME ... The bipartisanship ceremony ... Better than the new churn ... The busier oeuvre of Nina Weinman ... Hallmark realism as foreign policy ... Kissinger, Scowcroft, Armitage, Oh my! ... George Mitchell's pipe ... Cast rundown ... Matt Harvey actor ... The Expositional Challenge ... The Magic Mountain ... The Sutton Foster of the Hallmark universe ... Tell your auteurs no sometime ... Jeb's ...
058 - Royal Rumspringa in the Denver of the Soul
June 27, 2019 22:27 - 1 hour - 103 MBWe watch A WINTER PRINCESS (2019) and confess: I went to a Mets game, and this movie made me come down with something ... THEME ... Happy Father's Dave! ... Preemptively apologizing ... Summer power outage ... The Expositional Challenge ... Dee's Nuts ... Zealous pro-family convert ... A double-guitar tuned to John Gielgud ... Happy Hour ... Ontario's #1 Michael York ... BREAK ... Echoes of "The Sweetest Christmas" ... A latticework pie-crust plot ... The Princess-to-Mom Party-Planner Axis ....
057 - Wetwork for the America Pageant
June 12, 2019 01:00 - 1 hour - 120 MBSara Rue makes the leap and joins the pantheon in ALL FOR LOVE (2017) and we must get buff for: The further vindication of Sara Kate Wilkinson ... THEME ... Semper Christmas ... Lorenzo Lamas is Snake Eater 2 ... Journalism isn't a prank call ... Getting fired ... Real troop tropes ... Will Sara Rue make The Leap into the Pantheon? ... Funny people in Hallmark humanely kidding the text ... The acting strictures of Hallmark rules ... BREAK ... The Expositional Challenge: The Most Beautiful Be...
056 - The Scarborough, Ontario Wild Drumettes
June 05, 2019 08:35 - 1 hour - 94.9 MBIt's three yards and a cloud of pixie dust with LOVE ON THE SIDELINES (2016) and: Dr. Moreau wasn't wrong about the climate ... THEME ... The lines are open ... Hunter St. James ... Football or graftass ... One of the good ones! ... Joe Theismann picks interesting Hallmark movies ... Snowcoming nostalgia ... The Cremation of the Care ... Any Given Regretful Sunday ... Al Pacino reverie ... Hallmark Sports Channel ... JD and the Straight Shot ... The Expositional Challenge ... Plot cleanup: A...
055 - The USS Walter Mondale Love Cruise
May 29, 2019 07:51 - 1 hour - 95.2 MBWe sail away from SAILING INTO LOVE (2019) and: "I think it's great" ... THEME ... Seattle Pilots ... Dickie Thon (redux) ... Dave Lopes, Grant Balfour ... Swaddled in torpor ... Four Weddings and a Funeral, on paper ... Plot with no wake ... Instant bread podcast ... The Expositional Challenge ... I got nothin' ... Plot mop-up and island love ... Boy falls in water ... Welcome back to Costner Chat ... BREAK ... Still so featureless ... Spot the Angel: Nobody ... Like a table read ... Fiona ...
054 - Raspberry Glazed Milk Pig
May 20, 2019 09:11 - 1 hour - 104 MBAh, Paris, and SUMMER VILLA (2016), and time to ask: How's the writing going? ... THEME ... Who's a medical model, by the way ... Expecting swill, getting a delightful soufflé ... Moments of silence ... The Expositional Challenge ... He's a thicc lad ... Plot wrap-up ... Jean-Luc and The Butcher ... Bill DeBlasio, Child of the Corn ... The Democratic Candidate Night Club ... Beto's eternal relaunch ... It worked! ... Hilarie Burton is bae ... BREAK ... Spot the Angel: No ... Wallace Shawn, B...
053 - America's Most Floridian Hallmark Podcast
May 08, 2019 07:47 - 1 hour - 104 MBIt's podcast time, when TRUE LOVE BLOOMS (2019), and: We're resolving tension ... Baby arms ... So overdetermined it might be ironic ... Old Tampa actors ... THEME ... A Tampa Bay Hallmark movie! ... Authentic St. Petersburg ... You! The Tampa Kid! ... St. Pete skyline ... America's Most Floridian Hallmark Podcast ... BJ's Holocaust museum ... We liked it! ... Sara Rue Appreciation Station ... Jordan Bridges: Thicc Novak ... Fewer indoor cats, more unstoppable female force ... Matthew Diamon...
052 - Dr. Chocolate's Great Metamorphosis
May 01, 2019 02:52 - 1 hour - 100 MBIt's undercover boss time with EASTER UNDER WRAPS (2019) and: A special message from the dead ... "You have 8 vitamins" ... Ramps! ... Crass lead-in ... CREDITS ... Food based and not good ... Like eating a brick of cream cheese ... Good Capitalists > Bad Capitalists ... A fairy tale of business-shaming ... A framed photo of the undercover boss in HR's office ... BREAK ... The Expositional Challenge ... Plot cleanup ... Spot the Angel: Twinkly black couple fakeout ... *Bane voice* Chocolate ...
051 - A TV Edit of Glengarry Glen Ross
April 16, 2019 19:30 - 1 hour - 101 MBIt's time to FLIP THAT ROMANCE (2019) and reveal: This movie was bad ... Whose fault is it? ... Like a fountain-drink suicide of Hallmark going wrong ... Expanding the Hallmark topic zone ... Jeb, pain management and HGTV ... Tyler James Tyler LOVED the flips in this movie ... Welcome to Casa Leone ... Apartment dwellers and home builders agree: This is a valueless story conceit ... Heroically making human needs more expensive ... A house flipper vs. the concept of house flipping ... "Little...
050 - Is This Going to Lead to McBanjo?
April 01, 2019 08:48 - 1 hour - 103 MBIt's time for 2018's LOVE, OF COURSE, the harvest festival and: All right, Tumbleweed, let's row ... Your call to the Winklevosses is important ... THEME ... Good evening ... Dave's not pulling his weight ... Laughing out loud at "Love, Of Course" ... Golf movie? ... Love, Tautologically ... The Jim Furyk-Hale Irwin Axis ... Good! Mostly nothing, badly paced ... Kelly Rutherford and Cameron Mathison Appreciation Station ... Less densely plotted than Ski School ... BREAK ... Plot in 15 Minute...
049 - The Do-Over Festival
March 17, 2019 05:04 - 1 hour - 101 MBWe regret with 2019's SNOWCOMING and: SnowComing explanation ... The second-chance high school dance ... Wistful, near The Running Man ... Hey, I'm trying to finger somebody! ... THEME ... Jane Wiedlin Thrashing on a BMX ... Letter from Santa: "Joe Theismann is in it" ... Larry Csonka ... Back-to-back Heisman Trophy runners-up ... Alicia Witt's Heisman ceremony ... Ed Marinaro and Jim Plunkett shout-outs ... Dave didn't dislike it ... ART THOU BOTOWN reprise ... The Expositional Challenge: 9...
048 - Pride Goeth Before a Foal
March 05, 2019 19:22 - 1 hour - 96.7 MBSARA KATE WILKINSON returns for 2018's ROYAL HEARTS and: THEME ... Belinda's Garage ... Neti pot in The Expanse ... Sara Kate explains why she's angry she picked this movie ... Say "regency" one more damn time ... James Brolin's lethargic Sam Elliottness ... Where are the royal clothes? ... BREAK ... The Expositional Challenge: Sara Kate's Downfall ... A foreigner telling you you're rich ... Zero genealogy knowledge ... Parliamentary Privy Council ... Screw our national sovereignty ... Small...
047 - Ho, Ho, Ho...I've Got Pumps Now
February 23, 2019 02:06 - 1 hour - 111 MBANDY LEVY returns for 2018's A SHOE ADDICT'S CHRISTMAS and: Letting go of Frasier ... Bad movie choice ... Donnie, Andy Richter, Otho ... The Candace Cameron effect ... Not a real shoe addict ... Jean Smart co-stars as Jeb's mother-in-law ... BREAK ... The Expositional Challenge ... WWII-era American ethnic slurs ... Plot cleanup: Jake and Noelle's stymied fun party ... Photographer, HR Director ... Hallmark's job/hobby false dichotomy ... Save me from complete prosperity ... Murder your bal...
046 - Jack Wagner's Ring Cycle: Siegfried
February 14, 2019 01:04 - 1 hour - 115 MBTARA ARIANO and SARAH D. BUNTING of the EXTRA HOT GREAT podcast return for 2018's THE WEDDING MARCH 3: HERE COMES THE BRIDE and: This beautiful gazebo ... THEME ... Christmas memories ... Gotti ... A soothing movie ... Weather and kiss failure ... Grownup conversations ... WHEN ARE THEY GETTING MARRIED??? ... Second-sequel energy ... BREAK ... The Expositional Challenge ... Empty on Valentine's ... Spot the Angel: Duke reprise, Olivia's bullying mom, Johnny ... Duke on Stargate ... Duke's La...
045 - Bookstore Boss Goes Bonkers!
January 25, 2019 11:28 - 1 hour - 115 MBCHRIS COLLISION returns for FROZEN IN LOVE (2018) and: THEME ... Meet the Other Guys ... Title reminiscence ... The Gymkata trailer and All-In With Chris Hayes ... Rachael Leigh Cook/She's All That Appreciation Station ... Metropolitan shout-out ... BREAK ... The Expositional Challenge: The Back to the Future reversal ... Plot cleanup ... A pretty good comedy! ... You must trust RLC ... Classic coffee demand in a Canadian library ... Incompetent hockey execs, plausible hockey scenes ... Luna...
044 - Love in the Time of Gymkata
January 17, 2019 10:17 - 1 hour - 107 MBSARA KATE WILKINSON is back for CHRISTMAS AT THE PALACE and: How a Christmas movie ends ... THEME ... Present! ... Royalty and figure skating ... Well above average ... The Expositional Challenge: Will SK's streak continue? ... Brittany Bristow Appreciation Station ... Secondary plot almost stealing the show ... Elizabeth Reaser Apprectiation Station ... Andrew Cooper: handsome, accented, COPD ... End objectification ... BREAK ... Plug! ... SK's The Last Ship take ... Spot the Angel: Ghost f...
043 - The Unprofessional Episode
January 11, 2019 08:11 - 1 hour - 87.8 MBNORTHERN LIGHTS OF CHRISTMAS (2018) rings in our new year with: Geraldine Somerville appreciation station ... Slacking on good movies, transcribing bad ones ... THEME ... Catching up ... A powerfully soporific movie ... Bread Alert ... Let's talk sourdough ... Not a freaky bread sicko ... Mr. Frodo, the sourdough starter ... "Oh, it's the water" ... Distracting from your own shortcomings ... BREAK ... Ashley Williams and Corey Sevier appreciation station ... Gosford Park ... More Michael Gam...
042 - We'd Buy the App for a Dollar
January 04, 2019 03:38 - 1 hour - 95.9 MBSARA KATE WILKINSON is back to MINGLE ALL THE WAY and: There's an app for that ... THEME ... This made me crazy ... Title first, plot second ... 1 fake boyfriend, 1,000 plots, 3 meet-cutes ... The Expositional Challenge ... We'd use Mingle all the Way at least once ... Fake networking means fake boyfriend ... Keeping secrets by inviting people to family dinner ... Want some crepes, Beez? ... Jen Lilley a little "soap" big ... Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf-level hostile flirting ... Jeff li...
041 - Welcome to Christmas
December 21, 2018 11:12 - 1 hour - 107 MBIt's our Christmas episode! With 2018's WELCOME TO CHRISTMAS and: Worry about your driving ... THEME ... Let's talk about our Christmases! ... Going someplace colder than NYC to not do anything ... Little Rock, a place with a winter ... Cleaning before leaving ... Puddle of Mudd roadie day ... Lax-cooking relatives vs. cooking nerds ... Rope-a-doped into making dinner ... Cousin Dave ruins the demi-glace ... Avocado on sausage pasta: DIS-RE-SPECT-FUL ... Cemetery Man shout-out ... Baked past...
040 - We Found Love in a Fooded Court
December 14, 2018 04:43 - 1 hour - 106 MBGrab your chopsticks, it's won-ton soup time in 2016's THE MISTLETOE PROMISE, which vows: A frozen contract-honoring stupor ... THEME ... Centered-font intra-family legal brief ... Acknowledging the D-word ... We liked it! ... Real-life banter ... Anti-Andie MacDowell ... Is this something stupid you're doing? ... BREAK ... Doing it live: The Expositional Challenge ... Plot cleanup: The Reindeer Report, disadvantaged kid travel, negging assistant, buddy Holly, angelic office assistant, lawye...
039 - Hallmark Origins: 9/11 Never Happened
December 12, 2018 10:40 - 1 hour - 112 MBSARA KATE WILKINSON returns a fourth time for THE NINE LIVES OF CHRISTMAS, the movie that spawned the theory that 9/11 never happened in the Hallmark universe and includes: Determined to be unique! ... THEME ... Good movie, cult fandom ... Kimberley Sustad appreciation station ... "Godwink" ... Immortal Kathie Lee Gifford ... The Expositional Challenge ... Old dads and twentysomething sons getting equally hot ... Trapper John, MD, Hunter, Falcon Crest, MacGyver ... Spot the Angel: Ambrose th...
038 - Twang Mess of Grace Lint
December 07, 2018 15:18 - 1 hour - 92.7 MBKAREN GEIER is back in our dang kitchen for 2018's CHRISTMAS AT GRACELAND and: No response from the Pootie ... THEME ... Outrage on Elvis's behalf ... Not getting "Elvis" ... Drug sponge with a badge ... Bad movie, hard to remember ... EPCOT shout-out ... Kellie Pickler at Waffle House ... Crushing-clunker line reads ... BREAK ... The Expositional Challenge: Reggaeton ... Plot cleanup: Best friend Sally and house for sale; Banking Dad; endless gifts; barbecue sauce; Clay as Mark Wahlberg in ...
037 - Mariah Carey's (Long Island) Ohio Christmas
November 30, 2018 09:54 - 1 hour - 117 MBIdolator founding editor MAURA JOHNSTON joins us for MARIAH CAREY'S feature directorial debut in 2015's A CHRISTMAS MELODY and: Andy Daly in the Hallmark universe ... Camptown Races ... THEME ... Maura's Christmas bona fides ... Mariah Carey and Long Island Christmas ... "All I Want for Christmas Is You" ... Idolator shout-out ... BREAK ... The Expositional Challenge ... Are homeless Santa and janitor Santa the same Santa? ... "Oh Santa!" in the movie ... Mariah Carey's extreme filters ... M...
036 - Smash the Machines, Seize the Kringles
November 20, 2018 10:44 - 1 hour - 89.3 MBSARA KATE WILKINSON returns a third time for Countdown to Christmas Four in CHRISTMAS IN LOVE, with: I'll make the Wiki ... THEME ... Hallmark Graceland and Elvis sandwiches ... Christmas decorations: before Pearl Harbor Day? ... Balsam Hill: the ornaments your decorator buys ... Appropriate decoration density ... Hot Take: Cute, and it's good ... Adults with real motivation ... Brooke D'Orsay Appreciation Station ... Seamless ... At Christmastime, but not really about Christmas ... "Quality...
035 - We'll Do It Rimes!
November 15, 2018 12:33 - 1 hour - 98.4 MBSweeten that studio magic, it's 2018's IT'S CHRISTMAS, EVE, featuring LeAnn Rimes and: One-year-anniversary gift of the magi ... Malaise forever! ... Scouting Report: Young Werther ... Casey Kasem ... Premature rating ... THEME ... Always Christmas/always New Year's Eve ... Pastiche of pastiches ... LeAnn Rimes: Dead-weight energy and stone face ... Junket/glad-handing impatient demeanor ... Thoroughly even keeled ... LeAnn doing original songs is originality enough ... BREAK ... The Exposit...
034 - Judge Panabaker in Cookie v. Gingerbread
November 09, 2018 12:02 - 1 hour - 111 MBKAREN GEIER is cookin' in our dang kitchen for 2018's CHRISTMAS JOY and: Rap game gingerbread ... Affected by Christmas on a German level ... Caganer: The Catalan pooping figurine ... I got a capon guy ... "Do y'all eat loons?" ... BREAK ... The Expositional Challenge ... Plot cleanup ... What's sexier than a widower? ... Ersatz America without flavor ... A sorority recruitment video, but for marriage ... Department store in a train station ... An absence of egregious lines ... Spot the Ange...
033 - Pride and Prejudice and Fascism
October 31, 2018 07:43 - 1 hour - 99.7 MBFascism and criticism abound in the bleak first entry of 2018's Countdown to Christmas, CHRISTMAS AT PEMBERLEY MANOR, including: "In Puke of Lost Turds" by Marcel Poops ... Sigmund Freud vs. The Wolfman ... THEME ... Beautiful and handsome ... A bad movie, it's very bad, folks, many people are saying it ... The Expositional Challenge ... A Seth MacFarlane joke of a plot ... The market cynicism of fan-fiction ... Santa Claus in Pride and Prejudice ... Every actor in a tonally different movie ...
032 - The Stars Hollow Man
October 24, 2018 20:57 - 1 hour - 93.6 MBIt's 2015's PORTRAIT OF LOVE and time for Logan Echolls to: Pour water on your own damn computer ... THEME ... A Chopped basket of movies ... What are you even acting well in? ... The Expositional Challenge: Failed! ... Corbin Bernsen shot this in 30 minutes ... Street-legal sushi ... BREAK ... Spot the Angel: Jess, first among equals; birthing replacement customers for Stan's diner; maximum child acting; biking while sobbing; a busybodying "force of nature"; everyone in town has nothing in ...