Hallmark Movies and Mysteries: Who are you???

I’ve always enjoyed the Hallmark Channel, especially when it had a bit of everything for everyone, from about 2000-2007. One of my favorite features was the original Hallmark Mystery Movies, almost all featuring female protagonists except for McBride and Murder 101, which I also enjoyed. However, it was the Jane Doe and Mystery Woman series that I truly adored. I believe that was because I was finally embracing the legitimacy of studying and teaching television and understanding that television skewed toward the women's audience more than men. But the funny thing was, I still hid my pleasure of watching the Hallmark Channel from fellow academics. Let’s just say, there is highbrow television (which back then would have been The Sopranos—male lead, male-skewed) and lowbrow television that still, ironically, was typically associated with the female target audience of 25-43 and older.

In the Summer of 2015, I discovered the newer installments of the Hallmark Mystery Movies. These included Garage Sale Mysteries (Lori Loughlin), Gourmet Detective (Brooke Burns), Murder, She Baked (Alison Sweeney), and Aurora Teagarden Mysteries (Candace Cameron Bure). This time the mysteries tended to be based on mystery novels instead of original ideas like the earlier Mystery Movies.

While several other shows followed including the Flower Shop Mysteries, Hailey Dean Mysteries, Darrow & Darrow, Emma Fielding Mysteries, Fixer Upper Mysteries, and Morning Show Mysteries, it started to feel like Hallmark Mysteries were all over the place. Most of these ‘movie series’ releases were inconsistent. I never knew when I could expect one to appear. Sometimes, almost a year would go by before another release would pop up. Then once the pandemic hit, along with the loss of Garage Sale Mysteries, it felt like Hallmark Movies & Mysteries was in a freefall. Understandably, there had to be a pause during the pandemic for everyone’s safety; however, what I don’t condone is just leaving fans hanging, like the controversial decision to stop making the Murder 101 series. This Murder 101 series was considered a revamp of the older one staring Dick Van Dyke. What I truly dislike about how these series were handled is that I am a viewer whose opinion doesn’t matter. I have invested my time and money since I have to pay more for Hallmark Movies & Mysteries no matter what outlet I’m using. I get invested in the characters and stories and then—nothing for at least two-thirds of these film series.

I feel like Hallmark’s approach to making these decisions is akin to a bunch of college seniors getting drunk and throwing cooked pasta on a wall to see if it sticks. I know they must be using all their information from ratings, data, etc. but I don’t believe they were listening to their fans. They certainly didn’t listen to me. I wrote and asked what was happening to the mysteries. I never got a response. Most media companies at least send something canned.

One of the other issues that should be addressed is that most the film series that featured female leads over 40 were phased out. Is Hallmark ageist? Suddenly I was wathcing most of the new mysteries with 20-something girls running around still living at home. Okay, yes, that is part of the viewing audience but Hallmark: your core audience skews older. Embrace it. I’m shocked that in this day and age, in the United States, they still make most of the shows for younger audiences. I know I shouldn’t be shocked. I’ve taught TV History for years but I still can’t believe how backward some corporate thinking can be (and this is across the board with American media in general).

For the most part, I feel that American TV outlets could do better. If you are going to be so careful to be inclusive, then you are being ageist. Remember, prejudice isn’t just about race and gender, it is also about age. Throwing a token old person in your shows isn’t enough. One of the only shows in the US I can think of that features older actors is Only Murders in the Building on Hulu. And those older actors are men. Granted, this last season Meryl Streep guest-starred which is great but I’m wondering why we can’t we watch old ladies do the same thing as Steve Marin and Martin Short? Approximately one-third of the US population is over 50. Those are the people that began watching TV as children in the 1950s or 1960s and think of the television like people thought of the radio one hundred years ago. It is a constant stream of entertainment that is always on. I can’t believe nobody wants to exploit this audience.

I have to ask: Do you people at Hallmark not watch shows from the UK, France, Spain, Germany and Scandinavia? Because I see loads of older women in shows from all these countries and in the United States, apparently if a woman goes through menopause, she can’t think. She can’t investigate and she obviously can’t act and carry a show; however, a woman whose brain hasn’t fully developed can! And while I am obviously exagerrating for effect, I am gravely disappointed in the clear attempts to skew younger. It all started to skew much younger around 2019-2020. What happened Hallmark Movies & Mysteries?

Maybe I just enjoy dark shows like Vera, Happy Valley, Tatort: Lindholm, Tatort: Vienna, and anything Nordic. I do realize, these are not cozy mysteries, which are the ones that Hallmark will make. But here’s the thing: I like reading and watching cozy mysteries as much as I love watching Happy Valley and reading Viveca Sten. It doesn’t need to be dark but I would like to see far more women over 50 in your shows and The Golden Girls and Murder She Wrote repeats don’t count since they are 30-40 years old and you are using them for filler, not original programming. And, just a note, you are a family viewing company, well, families watched Murder She Wrote. I know I used to every Sunday night with my parents. I didn’t care that Jessica Fletcher was an older lady, all I cared about was that I was entertained by the story and that Jessica had a backbone, something girls in the 1980s didn’t always see on television.

While looking at the upcoming mystery series, I thought for a moment, there was some hope…One movie, Crime Time: Freefall, had a description that started off: “…when crime series actress Hadley Warner retires to a small town…” Great, but wait she doesn’t look old enough to retire. That is because the actress playing Hadley Warner is 40! Not sure what everyone is thinking here but the economy is not great and retiring at 40??? Well, okay, yes, sadly that used to happen to a lot of actresses but then they moved to television. And while I don’t want to see Lydie Greenwood not have a job because I’m sure she is great in the show, I’m just throwing it out there…Could you maybe have someone in their late 50s or 60s or even 70s star in one of these mystery movie series? Of course, if you take as long as you normally do to decide which series you are going to continue, it is true, your older actress might die while she’s waiting, so, this is a plea—Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, please get it together and start making more mysteries (that is the title of your channel that differentiates it from your other outlets) and please give us some shows that feature older women. Please. Do it for your audience, you know, the people who actually watch the shows and pay for those cable or streaming fees. Thanks!