Happily NEVER After

Happily NEVER After: Murder She Baked: A Chocolate Chip Cookie Mystery, ep. 42

Does your life feel more like a true crime drama than a Hallmark romance? Us too. And with all of this quarantining, mark our words... Snapped is going to have A LOT of content to pull from. With that in mind, Happily NEVER After is taking a sharp left into the Hallmark Movies and Mysteries films! We have had such a blast reviewing this genre, we've decided to go all in. They manage to mix some flirtation into these murders, so it's really the best of both, you know? Anyway, our first ep bac...

Happily NEVER After (Trailer)

Happily NEVER After: In the Key of Love, ep. 41

Y'all...we are back with another episode after a long break! This one is a special request before we kick off our holiday season... So my good friend asked us to recap In the Key of Love starring Laura Osnes and Scott Michael Foster. Never heard of them? Not surprised. Maggie (Osnes) abandons her promising singing career to run her grandmother's wedding photography biz and, of course, her ex-singing partner-boyfriend, Jake, walks back into the picture when his sister is getting married. This ...

Happily NEVER After: Bottled With Love, ep.40

We're back with episode 40! Bethany Joy Lenz and my main man, Andrew Walker, return to the Hallmark silver screen for Bottled With Love! Abbey is the totally non-Hallmark-typical type A control freak with a high powered marketing job who's got to deal with her boss's prodigal son, Nick, who leaves a salmon boat fishing expedition to return for a quick stint at the family biz. You know, as one does. Before all that, though, Abbey gets stood up at a wedding and puts a message in a bottle - als...

Happily NEVER After: Flip That Romance, ep. 39

NEW EP! It's Spring Fever, y'all and HNA is bringing you Flip That Romance with Julie Gonzalo and Tyler Hynes. Jules Briggs and Lance Waddell used to be a thing...two years ago...until their flip project went flop and Lance ran for the Portland, OR hills in search of solo fame and fortune as a... contractor. But when the paparazzi didn't flock, Lance came crawling back to daddy's business in Bedford where he ends up, once again, faced with a still-salty Jules. Not so coincidentally, the two ...

Happily NEVER After: Love, Romance and Chocolate, ep. 38 feat. Drew Current

Welcome to Bruges where the players play, and they ride on them gondolas everydayyy... OK, perhaps not. This is a Lacey Chabert joint, after all. Join your fave hosts and our super special guest, the super lovable Drew Current (@drewbutwithpants), producer of Lifetime Uncorked, as we try our best to explain our take on Hallmark's Love, Romance and Chocolate. This wannabe piece of foreign-style cinema follows accomplished baker Emma (Chabert) as she gets brutally dumped, sheds not one tear an...

Happily NEVER After: Hailey Dean Mysteries w/ Chad Lowe, ep. 37

We're baaaaaack!  And as promised, our first ep back from the break is a three movie mystery series starring Life Goes On stars, Kellie Martin and Chad Lowe. We know...you can barely contain your excitement either!!Hailey Dean is an ex-DA turned therapist who sees no patients, but still moonlights hard core at the local police station in the very small town of ATLANTA. Her fiancé Will was tragically murdered in an alley 20 years ago and she was the target, a fact that has haunted her for all ...

Happily NEVER After: A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding, ep. 36

So, y'all, we couldn't say we got through Christmas 2018 without bringing you our very special recap of the Netflix sequel, A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding. Amber (ugh yes, that's still her name) and Richard are back to not only get married but save the Aldovian kingdom from financial ruin. Of course, we had to bring back our favorite guest, Ashley Proctor, to judge and snark along with us through this ridiculous second act. Richard is now King, remember? No, we know you forgot. We kep...

Happily NEVER After: Welcome to Christmas, ep. 35

On the 8th day of HNA Christmas, Hallmark gives us a movie where the townspeople of struggling Christmas, CO (yep, Christmas is the name of the town) basically work day in and day out over the course of several days to keep a female ski resort exec from Denver trapped in their town so they can BRING, not stop from bringing, but BRING a fancy ski resort to their town, which will undoubtedly bring hardship and eventual failure to any of the existing small business currently operating in their ...

Happily NEVER After: Northern Lights of Christmas, ep. 34

HNA's 7th day of Christmas brings you Ashley Williams as airline pilot turned Alaska ranch owner Zoey Hathaway in the Northern Lights of Christmas! Y'all, Ashley has done A LOT of TV Christmas movies by now, but she takes cooky optimism to a whole other level in this one. Whatever happy dust she's under the influence of is only amplified by Corey Sevier who plays her polar opposite as the grouchy ranch groundskeeper, Alec.  Zoey's hometown mentor, Gus, has died - naturally - and left her his...

Happily NEVER After: Mingle All the Way, ep. 33

The 6th day of HNA Christmas brings you Mingle All the Way! Get your techy hats on y'all because Hallmark takes us into the very complicated - and super hard for your accountant mom to understand - world of (gasp) dating apps. The perky and delightful Jen Lilley plays Molly Hoffman, creator of a professional "dating" app called Mingle All the Way. It's designed for "platonic plus ones" to find that special someone that they can fake date for the holidays. Remember that old Hallmark classic, H...

Happily NEVER After: A Shoe Addict's Christmas, ep. 32

On the 5th day of Christmas, HNA gave to me some flashbacks and CCB...! OK, here we go with A Shoe Addict's Christmas, people. This was a highly anticipated 2018 holiday movie as it features one of the Hallmark queens herself, Candace Cameron-Bure as Noelle (yep, in a Christmas movie), a personally and professionally stuck department store HR manager who finds herself planning the annual firefighter's Christmas gala. She meets Luke Macfarlane, firefighter hottie and new neighbor, who is consi...

Happily NEVER After: Christmas at the Palace, ep. 31

On the 4th day of HNA Christmas, Regan and Robyn bring to thee an ice skating royal movieeeee! Bring it on down to Sansanova, y'all where the king is smokin' hot and the ice skating is luke warm, at best. Christmas at the Palace stars Merritt Patterson as Katie, a long since retired figure skater who is on the cusp of owning her very own ice rink in beautiful, crime-free Trenton, NJ with her gal pal Jessica. The only thing standing in their way is Jess's last skating hurrah in the kingdom of ...

Happily NEVER After: It’s Christmas, Eve!, ep. 30

For our 3rd day of HNA Christmas, we’re bringing you It’s Christmas, Eve! LeAnn Rimes (yep, same one you’re thinking of) plays the title character, Eve, a no-nonsense temporary school superintendent who’s used to breezing into town, cutting budgets and taking names. Until this latest assignment brings her back to her hometown of Franklin (no state provided) where she meets smokin hot single dad, Liam played by Tyler Hines. Y’all, he is still stunning in these cable knits and henleys, FYI. Tha...

Happily NEVER After: Christmas at Pemberley Manor, ep. 29

Our 2nd day of HNA Christmas brings us to Hallmark's Christmas at Pemberley Manor! Jessica Lowndes plays Elizabeth Bennett and Mark Rady is Mr. William Darcy, himself. Don't be fooled, though, people... The actual congruence to anything Jane Austin-related here is completely non-existent. If you were hoping for a nice period piece, prepare for disappointment as you drive up to Pemberley "Manor" which is really just a big house in Lambden, CT. Darcy is a rich NYC business guy who has divorced ...

Happily NEVER After: Christmas at Graceland, ep. 28

Welcome to Memphis, y'all, where it's Christmas and the CGI snow is brimming! Episode 28 is LIVE and our first Hallmark Christmas episode of our 12 Days of Christmas! Our first pick is Christmas at Graceland with Kellie Pickler and Wes Brown. You guys remember Kellie from American Idol, right? From the super sad season that Taylor Hicks won?? No? Anyway, Kellie is Chicago financial shark and single mom, Laurel who heads back to her home town of Memphis to close a bank deal with a bank owner w...

Our "Why": The Happily NEVER After Pod Mission

Why do we do what we do? How did this thing get started? What is important to us about watching these crazy movies and sharing our views? How are we the same and what makes us different than other podcasts that deliver similar content? All of these questions and more will be answered when you listen to this super fun (and, of course, hilarious) bonus episode of HNA! We also shout out some other really fun and generous folks at other pods - what up to Lifetime Uncorked and The Bubbly Sesh - fo...

Happily NEVER After: BONUS Ep! Falling For You

Have you ever lived in a small town that had it's own radio station? Did you ever need to save that radio station by having a bachelor bake-off? Did you then happen upon a new-in-town bachelor that couldn't bake but who was also willing to enter that bake-off with an excitingly delicious vanilla cake? If you have, then you had better watch Falling For You with Taylor Cole and Tyler Hines! And if you don't feel like watching the movie, in this bonus ep, @happilyneverafterpod gives you all the ...

Happily NEVER After: All Of My Heart (the series), ep. 25

Episode 25 is out! Y’all... the doc and I are so tired right now in our lives for so many reasons, and one of them most certainly has to do with getting behind 3 of these movies to spit out one (albeit fab) pod episode. The All of My Heart series is most def a #Hallmarkie fave and so we could not let Fall Harvest pass without giving our unforgiving take on these crazy lovers, Jenny and Brian, and their goat-infested inn. AOMH features Hallmark queen Lacey Chabert and the effervescent Brennan ...

Happily NEVER After: Truly, Madly, Sweetly, ep. 24

Every now and then when the cosmos align perfectly, your dearly departed cupcake truck customer leaves you a garage...err, carriage house... behind a used-to-be bakery in the heart of a major metropolitan city. The other part of this super realistic fantasy is that she left the attached bakery to her distinguished-hot nephew who only kind of remembers he had an aunt. These two star-crossed bakery owners, Nikki Deloach - Natalie - and single dad Eric, Dylan Neal, go back and forth a bunch of t...

Happily NEVER After: Along Came A Nanny, ep. 23

We’re back with episode 23! We took a left turn into Hallmark Murders & Mysteries on this one, but don’t worry – they found a way to weave plenty of romance with these robberies and aggravated assaults into Along Came a Nanny. The effervescent Cameron Mathison plays Mike Logan, a fun-loving detective who goes under deep cover as a, you guessed it, nanny in order to crack a local robbery case. Mike effortlessly infiltrates the local nanny group, including Jessie (expertly played by Sarah Lanca...

Happily NEVER After: Bridal Wave, ep. 22

Yes, yes, ya'll... It's ep 22 of Happily NEVER After! It's still the #summerofbadtitles and we're bringing you Bridal Wave with none other than the delicious pairing of Andrew Walker and Arielle Kebbel. Georgie is a rhinoplasty nurse who is about to marry her super vanilla, rhinoplasty surgeon fiancé, Phillip Hamilton. This lukewarm relationship is rudely interrupted when during their wedding weekend, Luke (Walker, yum) busts onto the scene in his crew cut and sandals. He used to be a success...

Happily NEVER After: Accidentally Engaged, ep. 21

There’s no time like the present to kick off our #summerofbadtitles with a recap of Accidentally Engaged! This very 90s feeling 2016 release stars Lexi Giovagnoli and Brant Daugherty as two “actors” who embark upon the most unrealistically happenstance romance any of us has ever seen. Clarissa is a waitress/aspiring actress who gets fired from a bit part in one of Chaz (yes, Chaz) Hunter’s latest hit movies. Chaz is caught up in his own complex relationship with a married, party girl creeping...

Happily NEVER After: The Perfect Bride: Wedding Bells, ep. 20

Alright HNA fans, episode 20 caps off our take on Hallmark June weddings because, frankly, two of these was all we could take. The Perfect Bride: Wedding Bells is the sequel/finale to what we can only guess was it's riveting prequel, The Perfect Bride - not sure, we didn't bother to watch it. Anyhoo...Molly, played by Pascale Hutton, has effectively moved on from her heartbreaking altar fiasco with Steven and is primed and ready for happily ever after with Nick, Kavan Smith. If you're also st...

Happily NEVER After: Love at First Dance, ep. 19

Yay! @happilyneverafter is back in full effect! For episode 19, we are bringing you Love at First Dance from the June Weddings series! Becca Tobin, from the late (and not as great) Glee seasons, plays rejection-fatigued dance instructor, Hope Maze and Niall Matter, of other Hallmark pursuits, is Eric Gunderson, an up and coming financial executive. Eric’s getting married to his super hot financial robot fiancé, Adriana, and this wedding is all business. Also, Eric can’t dance. How on earth is...

Happily NEVER After: The Dater's Handbook, ep. 18

Heeeeyyyyy… Bringing you episode 18 of @happilyneverafter! Wanna watch a one more movie where Hallmark tries to convince us that Meghan Markle is full Caucasian? If so, then you are going to LOVE our recap of The Dater’s Handbook, starring the Duchess of Sussex herself! Cassandra Brand, self-made marketing exec and corporate business owner is, GASP, unlucky in love. After dating a string of men who find no value in carrying on meaningful conversations or attending family functions with her, C...

Happily NEVER After: My Summer Prince, ep.17

We are staying on this #Markle train with episode 17 of @happilyNEVERafter with My Summer Prince! When you’re a PR assistant with a dragonlady for a boss, the best thing you can really hope for is… No, not to find a new job with improved chances for upward mobility. You are simply hanging out waiting for a prince to whisk you away to his castle far, far away. Right… But anyway, Taylor Cole – Hallmark veteran, and Jack Turner – new to me, are riding this REO Speedwagon gravy train all the way ...

Happily NEVER After: Once Upon A Prince, ep. 16

Happily NEVER After is back with episode 16! What can I say about this movie? Sometimes you’re having a bad day, get a flat tire and a prince stops to help you change it. After that, at his sage Black valet’s chagrin, prince Nate excitedly volunteers to work (seemingly for free) at your family’s garden supply store AND gets you, a budding yet unexperienced landscape architect, a once in a lifetime gig redesigning the gardens of the hottest estate in town. Yes, people. This is where Susanna Tr...

Happily NEVER After: Royal Matchmaker, ep. 15

Hey, hey… episode 15 is live! We kicked The Sweetest Heart to the curb for the #Markleseason celebration that is the movie Royal Matchmaker. (Bethany) Joy Lenz – seems she’s also kicked her first name to the curb – is celebrity matchmaker Kate Gleason who has been sought out by the kingdom of…wait for it… Valdavia, because it seems that you can just make these Eastern Euro names up. Kate’s challenge will be to successfully match Prince Sebastian with his future queen, as daddy king is tired o...

Happily NEVER After: When Sparks Fly, Ep. 14

Like we said, people, it’s #Markleseason so we’re letting it rip with When Sparks Fly, starring the soon-to-be-duchess herself as Chicago newspaper writer Amy Peterson. It’s pretty shocking to find out that after seven years of being away from your hometown, your BFF is marrying your old super serious flame with whom you might still be in love but don’t realize it yet. When we head back to Lakeside, WA, we not only learn that Amy’s best friend Sammy is 4th of July obsessed, but that she’s als...

Happily NEVER After: Love on Ice, ep. 13

We’re baaaaaack!!! After what feels like AGES, we are psyched to bring you episode 13 of Happily NEVER After! As promised, our latest recap is the North Carolina Hallmark fave, Love On Ice. Why a state that barely sees snow has hitched its wagon to a movie about figure skating in sub zero Michigan is beyond us. But here we go. Emily James is a former championship figure skater played by General Hospital alum Julie Berman (remember Luke and Laura’s daughter Lulu?) and Andrew Walker, aka Mr. @o...

Happily NEVER After: Very, Very Valentine, ep. 12

Are you a mid-30s professional with a fine AF best friend that you are secretly in love with and who is also secretly in love with you? Do you enjoy masquerade balls, but only if you have three months notice to attend? Have you donated money to your local botanical gardens lately?? Do you even like flowers??? If you can answer yes to any or all of these questions, then Very, Very Valentine starring Danica McKellar (not Patrick), AKA Winnie Cooper, is your sure-fire road map to everlasting lov...

Happily NEVER After: My Secret Valentine, ep.11

Come along on a journey with us to a vineyard in the Oregon countryside where Chloe, neglectful daughter to a loving, but oddly dismissive, father and an overly confident country boy, turned New York city boy, turned back to country boy named Seth fall in love – but not into a marriage, thank goodness – in about four days…TOPS. An eraserless chalkboard ensconced in Chloe's late mother’s cabin plays a critical role in “Handyman” and “In Need of Repairs” – yeah, ew, gross – getting to know each...

Happily NEVER After: The Hallmark Formula, ep. 10

For our landmark 10th episode we're taking a break from recapping and having a detailed, and fiercely opinionated, chat about what we call The Hallmark Formula. With the help of a couple of fun articles and videos we found on the interwebs, we discuss the key elements of these movies that have made them and the Hallmark Channel so "successful" and what also make them maddeningly frustrating to the reasonable viewer. Because yes... If you think falling in love in three days is normal, I'm call...

Happily NEVER After: Frozen in Love, ep. 9

Welcome to our Hallmark movie podcast where a friend and I watch one of these ridiculous movies, get together and proceed to dismantle them trope by trope and stereotype upon stereotype...until there is nothing left. Oh, while we drink. This time, we bring you Frozen in Love to close out our Hallmark Winterfest recaps. Rachel Leigh Cook – remember She’s All That? Heck yeah you do! – is the owner of a failing bookstore who’s oddly attached to the classics and has never left her parents’ dinner...

Happily NEVER After: Love on the Slopes, ep.8

Welcome to our Hallmark movie podcast where a friend and I watch one of these ridiculous movies, get together and proceed to dismantle them trope by trope and stereotype upon stereotype...until there is nothing left. Oh, while we drink. We are coming in hot with our first Hallmark Winterfest movie, Love on the Slopes. Frightened of all things life Alex Burns (Katrina Bowden) is a copy editor on a stalking…err… work trip, while Cole Taylor (Thomas Beaudoin) is a self-proclaimed-expert-at-every...

Happily NEVER After: A Christmas Prince, Ep.7

Welcome to our Hallmark Holiday podcast where a friend and I watch one of these ridiculous movies, get together and proceed to dismantle them trope by trope and stereotype upon stereotype...until there is nothing left. Oh, while we drink.If you haven’t heard of A Christmas Prince on Netflix, exactly what extremely heavy rock have you been living under??? Rose McIver (familiar-ish?) and Ben Lamb (nope) meet at his soon-to-be kingdom in fictional Aldovia, fall in love and into a snowy proposal ...

Happily NEVER After: Christmas Belle, Ep. 6

Welcome to our Hallmark Holiday podcast where a friend and I watch one of these ridiculous movies, get together and proceed to dismantle them trope by trope and stereotype upon stereotype...until there is nothing left. Oh, while we drink. Christmas Belle stars Haylie Duff and Nicholas Gonzalez. Haylie’s character, Belle Everheart, a realtor whose job is made to seem far more involved by having her additionally moonlight as a rare book dealing estate cataloguist. In a poor attempt at a modern,...

Happily NEVER After: A Bride for Christmas, Ep. 5

Welcome to our Hallmark Holiday podcast where a friend and I watch one of these ridiculous movies, get together and proceed to dismantle them trope by trope and stereotype upon stereotype...until there is nothing left. Oh, while we drink. A Bride for Christmas stars two Hallmark circuit regulars – Arielle Kebbel and Andrew Walker – yes, we know you don’t know who they are. Now, if you think love has been fast-tracked in previous episodes, this one takes two commitment-phobes on a bullet train...

Happily NEVER After: The Flight Before Christmas, Ep.4

Welcome to our Hallmark Holiday podcast where a friend and I watch one of these ridiculous movies, get together and proceed to dismantle them trope by trope and stereotype upon stereotype...until there is nothing left. Oh, while we drink. Our newest episode brings it on down to Frumptown with Mayim Bialik (you know, Blossom) in her debut/finale Hallmark triumph, The Flight Before Christmas. What makes this episode so special – because it ain’t the movie – is that Dr. Robyn and I have invited ...

Happily NEVER After: Holiday in Handcuffs, Ep. 3

Welcome to our Hallmark Holiday podcast where a friend and I watch one of these ridiculous movies, get together and proceed to dismantle them trope by trope and stereotype upon stereotype...until there is nothing left. Oh, while we drink. In this episode, The Doctor and I are taking you back to 2007 because Hallmark Channel absolutely struck gold with this classic. Two nutbuckets, Melissa Joan Hart and Mario Lopez, fall midly in love when one "kidnaps" the other and they go home for Christmas...

Happily NEVER After: Broadcasting Christmas, Ep 2

Welcome to our Hallmark Holiday podcast where a friend and I watch one of these ridiculous movies, get together and proceed to dismantle them trope by trope and stereotype upon stereotype...until there is nothing left. Oh, while we drink. In this episode, I'm back with the lovely Dr. Robyn as we (barely) make it through Broadcasting Christmas, starring Melissa Joan Hart and Dean Cain. Proof positive that double the stars sometimes makes only half the movie. Listen and enjoy!

Happily NEVER After: Hitched for the Holidays, Ep 1

Welcome to our Hallmark Holiday podcast where a friend and I watch one of these ridiculous movies, get together and proceed to dismantle them trope by trope and stereotype upon stereotype...until there is nothing left. Oh, while we drink. In this episode, my esteemed guest, Dr. Robyn, and I walk each other through Hitched for the Holidays. It stars Joey Lawrence...and Emily Hampshire. Yes, a woman you've never heard of. Listen and enjoy!