November 5, 2025 • 25 mins
Hallmark is reporting for Christmas on Duty! Former rivals Blair (Janel Parrish) and Josh (Parker Young) find themselves stuck working Christmas duty together. When a massive snowstorm threatens to ground holiday deliveries to the base, these two opposites must set aside old grudges and team up to save Christmas - one mission at a time. Can cooperation melt years of rivalry, or will the blizzard freeze any chance of peace on earth? Tune in to see if sparks fly where snowflakes fall.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is a bramble Jam podcast. Welcome to Girls Gone Hallmark,
(00:24):
a Hallmark review podcast. I'm Megan and I'm a longtime
Hallmark fan. I'm Wendy. I'm a former Hallmark hater. Today
we're discussing Christmas on Duty, which originally premiered on the
Hallmark Channel on Saturday, November first, and is currently available
to stream on Hallmark Plus. Hey, give us a follow
on the socials on Instagram and TikTok. We are Girls
Gone Hallmark.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
I gotta tell you, I love that we've started posting
first impression call to actions over on our Instagram because
the community is coming through.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Yeah, they're showing up.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
They love to tell you what they thought about these
movies and I love to read them me too. Hey,
if you want to join our Facebook group, we have one.
It's called Girls Gone Hallmark in Facebook Groups. Also, I'm
gonna put another pitch in here to visit our website,
Girls Gone Hallmark dot com. We have tons of stuff
(01:18):
coming down the pipeline. I always question if that's what
it is.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
I don't know either the pike, the pipe, I don't
know it's comin.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
There's a lot of stuff happening over there, and if
you're looking for Hallmark news in depth, who's in this movie.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Et cetera, et cetera, let us be your source. Yeah,
Girls Gone Hallmark dot Com, dive in, take a look around.
I would like to also plug our Patreon. The episode
this week is called Popculture Club, and that's where we
dive into everything we're watching, reading, and listening to outside
of the Hallmark universe. So if you want to know
what we're doing when we're not watching Hallmark, that's a
good place to get it. Next week's episode will be
(01:58):
a full blown crash out on both of our parts,
So if you want that, get it at Patreon dot com.
Slash Megan and Wendy. Your first week there is completely free.
We did toy with adding some Hallmark content over there,
but you know that will be based on demand. So yeah,
if you sign up over there, let us know because
I have an idea for a bonus episode over there,
(02:19):
Hallmark specific weekly. This feels news to me. Maybe let's
talk Christmas on Duty with a synopsis.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Former rivals Blair and Josh must work Christmas duty together.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
When a snowstorm threatens holiday deliveries to the base, they're
forced to cooperate to save Christmas despite their past conflicts.
Christmas on Duty was directed by Jake Van Wagner, marking
his seventh project as a director and his second for Hallmark.
He previously homed last year's Decked the Walls this screenway.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
The screenplay was written by Alexis Sigal, a rising talent
which just two official writing credits on IMDb according to
her LinkedIn. She's also contributed to the limited series The
Beast and Me and the Fox show The Prodigal Sun.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Janelle Parrish stars as Blair. Earlier this year, she led
return to office and dazzled audiences in last year's Sugar
Plumbed and Haunted Wedding. Hallmark fans will also recognize her
from Finding Mister Christmas season two, where she appeared as
a scene partner in the very first episode, So Adorable.
On Finding Mister Christmas, quack Quack Parker Young co stars
(03:32):
as Josh. Christmas On Duty marks his Hallmark debut, though
audiences may recognize him from his impressive television resume including
Nine to One, One, Lone Star, A Million Little Things,
and Impostors. Peter Jacobson plays Richard. We last saw Peter
as Lacey's dad in Haul Out the Halloween. This movie
marks his one hundred ninth acting credit. Aletta Miles plays Zoe.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
While new to the Hallmark family, fan recognize her from
numerous episodes of the sketch comedy series Studio C, a
show also connected to director Jake Van Wagner.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Melanie Stone appears as Amanda, a first time or to Hallmark.
She's a familiar face in the feel good movie world,
with over forty acting credits spanning Hallmark style romances and comedies.
Scott Reeves plays Cliff. Scott is both an actor and musician,
with longtime roles on General Hospital and the ABC series Nashville.
He co founded the country music duo Blue Country. Season
(04:33):
one winner of Finding Mister Christmas. Ezra Morland appears as Fred.
This marks Ezra's second Hallmark project, following his twenty twenty
four debut and Happy Holidays. Let's take a quick break
and come right back with our first impressions. Hey, Wendy,
(04:54):
what was your first impression of Christmas? On duty?
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Somewhere between Saving Christmas and saving on premiums Our Heroes
reminded us what holidays are really all about.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
USAA. My first impression is Christmas on Duty had the heart,
the snow, and the charm, but the story couldn't quite
pull itself together. Oh, the message, not the mess. Let's
talk about it. What did you like about this movie? Well,
to start, cute opening credits, real cute love the animated
(05:26):
opening credit bessive and creative. I love you graphics team,
whoever put us together. I thought that was really really cute.
I love anything that's not the same b roll with
the title card over it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I thought
Zoe and Blair had nice friend chemistry. Their relationship felt
easy and believable, and I liked Zoe as a character.
(05:48):
Did you fun Did you think Zoe and the dad?
I saw someone say that, but I think they're no.
Zoe was playing like in the role of daughter. Yeah yeah,
I didn't think there was romantic energy. I didn't think
so either, but I did think it was I don't know,
give the man well. I was like, give the man
(06:08):
a love interest, but he did just lose his wife,
so maybe it's too soon. Yeah, too soon. Did you
like Janelle Parish? I thought Janel Parish was great in
this I always liked Janelle Parrish. I actually thought she
and Perker were really good together. I think she's so
cute and fun to watch. I will say I love her.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
I think she's cute, She's always watchable. I didn't think
this role gave her a ton to work with. No,
But with that said, I did love her singing at
the end. That was a surprise to me. I'm like,
have I ever seen her sing before?
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Yeah, she's sang in Hunted Wedding as well, but really,
oh my god, I don't remember that at all. I
liked her singing at the end, and I liked her
just casual singing in the car. I thought that was
a real sweet moment as well. The thing I liked
probably most about this movie was I like the central
messaging in the movie. There's the idea of like ask
(07:10):
for help, let yourself enjoy the holidays, which is a
message I could probably use right now. Listen to our
Patreon guys. Yes, you know the idea of like Blair's
dad was trying to recapture magic, and he had a
very like pragmatic like these are the things we're going
to do to make holiday magic. I feel that too,
(07:30):
and I think there was a real message about like
living in the moment and finding things that are meaningful
to you, and I think that's the part of this
movie that resonated with me.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Well, I will tell you kind of along those lines,
I did. I did love the argument that non traditional
things can still be enjoyed during the holiday, just because
you all do like the cookie decorating and baking and stuff,
and that's traditional to you, even though those don't apply
to me, like my things are still fun and memorable
(08:02):
and meaningful as well. So I liked that, and I
think that's where I come from. It's one of the
reasons why I'm a holiday hater is because like I
don't want somebody to tell me that I need to
bait cookies to be in the holiday spirit. So I
enjoyed that. I want to circle back real quick to.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Parker.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Yep, Parker Young, we talked about it recently. I'm enjoying
the fresh Faces on Hallmark.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Yeah. Did it make you wanted to watch more of
his stuff? Yes? And here's why. Because I didn't think.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Like this movie was great, no Siler, and I was like,
let me see him in something.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Now. I thought he was good. I enjoyed him. I
saw a comment that he's really good and enlisted, which
is kind of a military comedy. Oh interestingly, well, he's
only in eleven episodes. I don't know how many episodes
of it there are. I don't even know where it
streams or anything. But I was like, maybe i'd maybe
I'd give that a try. I don't know. I want
to say, there's a snowing scene in this movie. Yeah,
(09:02):
I was like, that's real snow. They were what, Yeah, yeah,
that's not soap. I had wondered. I didn't look this up,
but I was like, was this filmed in Utah? I
don't know, let me look real quick, Okay, Christmas on
Judy was filmed in Utah, with key locations including Midway,
Herbert City, and South Salt Lake City. And it says
(09:23):
it was right around Easter, so definitely there could be
snow there. Oh in March yep, yeah, because I was
there the first week in April and it dumped the
snow on us. See you're right, hat, So yeah, definitely
could have been snowing. Definitely was real snow. One tiny
like I definitely felt the frustration when Josh's dad couldn't
get that. Damn gingerbread house to stick together. It was struggles, real, man,
(09:47):
I hate building gingerbread houses.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Yeah, that was really funny. I was like in my head,
I'm like hot glue gun, dude, you know you're not
eating that thing, so just together, crumbled or bus Yeah,
I know, I know, but sometimes pretty symble come broken
and like you don't know until you open the package.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
It is true. My husband loves a gingerbread house and
sometimes he'll buy them and when I'm like pre assembled, man,
pre assembled.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Yeah, they're too hard to put together with frosts. That's
why I'm like, just get get on down to the
home depot and get some good call E four hundred
or whatever.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Way together. Yeah. Yeah, did you like anything else? I'm sorry,
I talk wishes. Okay, I have a big list. Okay.
I thought this movie was a little bit of a snooze,
and I think I just needed they're doing something sort
of magical, right, Like they're trying to make the Christmas
(10:43):
Day happen for all these families that are on the base.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Give me a little bit of magic, give me a
little bit.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Of Smarkle, you know. Yeah. I there was a lot
of like a lot of talk, which I know, goes
against what we talked about recently in our review of
Angel Christmas Match, where I'm like, I don't have the
bandwidth to listen to all the talking. Show me some stuff. Well,
(11:09):
I think I think it depends on what the content
of the talking is that makes makes it watchable. I
just felt like the plot was very contrived mm hmm,
and that the pacing was uneven. Okay, I agree, like
the store worker who was like, yeah, man, I'm not
helping you. Give me a break. What toy store owner
(11:32):
is going to have members of the military on Christmas
Eve coming in trying to provide Christmas for children of
servicemen and women and being like, yeah, I'm not going
to get my hands dirty. You're on your own, no one,
no one. I know.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
There were so many things that were wrong with all
of that to me. When I was like, this is
completely unbelievable that this lady would be like, you guys.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Are on your own. Yeah, And then the hijinks were
a hijink scene and all of that whole I just
was like, I hate all of this. Well, they're always
in such a rush, but they're finding time to like
sword fight and dance at the parade.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
I'm like, just move, stop wasting time. That was my
other big problem. I was like, you have these two
people who have to get one hundred plus gifts from
these remote towns in whether that I did not see happening,
and deliver all those things back to these families before
Christmas Day. I'm it's impossible, yes, and you were Your
(12:32):
boss was like you need to be back here or
you're in big trouble.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Right, you have a time crunch. I'm giving you twenty
four hours, and they just were messing around. It was like,
can youact together? You think that boss?
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Uh, my apologies, I don't understand. Like, not that I
don't understand, but I'm where the official ranks are. Yes,
wouldn't he be like, this job requires more than the
two of you. We're trying to save Christmas, including his
own like kid or grandkid or something like that, Like,
wouldn't you put more people on this job?
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Yeah? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But they were being punished, they
had to work that day, and.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
So that was the other thing I hated to They're
being disciplined and what's his.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Name, Josh?
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Josh is like, well, I have family plans, No, sir,
you're being disciplined, Like, yeah, no that your family plans.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Everyone has family plans on Christmas too, damn bad. Also
in terms of timing, they get back to the base
and they do like eight hundred things before they deliver
the presence. They make tea, they have a snowball fight,
they clean up after the snowball fight. The dads have
a moment. Blair and Josh have delivered the presence. Man.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Yeah, this is when the timeline defies reality and it
drives me crazy.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
I have only seen it. It is only recently been
really bugging me in movies because I know I've talked
about it recently. Sounds particularly egregious. Those kids are up
at five am waiting for their gifts. You got them
wait until mid afternoon? Yeah, sad give them their presence. See.
I think there's a missed opportunity here. I feel like
(14:10):
we could have maybe leaned more into the military families
at Christmas. Yes, like make that more of the story. Yes.
Can I share some thoughts from our Instagram? Yeah, I
think are important to read here. So, as we've talked about,
we've been putting up a first impression post on Instagram.
(14:31):
As these movies are airing and people are sharing their
first impressions as they watch, which we are Loving and
Christmas on Duty received some comments like this movie wants
to be silly and serious at the same time from
Christmas aficionado. But here's one that I liked. As a
member of the military community, I feel seen happy for
(14:53):
Hallmark to shine a positive light on service members. However,
the cringeometer for the storyline was off the charts in
this way. I love Janelle Parish and I love anything
that supports our military, but this movie was a struggle
to finish. Premise had promised, but the movie did not deliver.
So I think it's important that we appreciate a military
storyline and there's a story to be told there. I
(15:14):
agree that this one didn't land the plane. Yeah, didn't
get there all the way. It could have been very touching.
I cry at every TikTok video of a military homebok right,
So should it have been less less? Maybe we didn't
need to lean into the humor as much as I
love rom com Yeah, maybe we needed a little more serious,
(15:35):
a little more tell the real stories. I think that
two families are sacrificing during the holidays for.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Sure, for sure. Let me tell you one other thing
I hate. I hate the enemies to lover's trope. I
hate it so much. It just never never works for me.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
I hate it. Aiden on Instagram said it's like Romeo
and Juliet, except they're thirty and not sixteen. Yeah. And
when you have Josh's dad talking about how Blair's dad
cost him that job, I'm like, no, he didn't. I
know he didn't right now. I know that's going to
be the misunderstanding that you have held over his head
for the past forty years. And then of course you
find it at the end that no, not only did
he not cost you the job, he wanted you to
(16:14):
have the job. Everyone else hated you.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Right, You've been holding this grudge all this time, right,
tell me your thoughts about I think it was at
the beginning, but when they were still in like the
boot camp stage or whatever, and she was going to
get the job that he wanted and he basically wanted
her to like step aside so he could have the job.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
And I was like, oh bad. Yes, well that's like the.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Tone for me where I was like I automatically hated him.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Yeah, like, oh, now you're going to compete with me,
and so now we can't be friends anymore. Right, It's
sorry that you both want the same job and she's
going to get it over you. And then when he
shows up at the holiday party and now they're working
on the same base and he winks at her, I
was like it, Yeah, it takes a lot for me,
like now to turn me back to like, oh they
have to be together, so great? No, I just wasn't there.
(17:02):
It was so weird because in the beginning it felt
like Zoe was hinting at like Blair maybe had a
little bit of a crush on him, because she was like, oh,
our time here is ending. What are you gonna do?
And she's like, I don't know. And then he comes
to her and it's like, oh, you're gonna go after
that same job I want, And so all of that
magic is gone from their relationship because of the way
he treated her. Yeah, I need an apology for that. Yeah,
(17:25):
are you ready for digit se that? No, not yet? Okay,
well actually it could go and let's yeah, we can
put it in the digit see that it was in
my first impression. Let's talk about USAA.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Yeah, did you hate the clunky like pride placement in.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
All of this. Yes, yeah, I know, Dad, you always
told me usaa I more than once too. Yeah, they
show up to help pack the truck later on. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Part of me is like, you know, I I understand
that's the part of business, like how things get paid
for is sometimes with you know, product placement, brand collaboration.
I just think there might be better ways.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
To do it. Look, I say this every time. If
you haven't seen Wayne's World recently, please rewatch it or
at leaks look for the product placement clip of Wayne's World,
because that when I see product placement is that's what
I envision, Like it's so blatant. I was watching Nobody
Wants This and there's an Esday Lotter product placement in that,
(18:28):
and they like zoom in on the Esday Latter recovery
serum and I was like, come on, I mean like,
it's hard to do it well, and if you have
examples of places that have done it well, I just
I rarely see it done well where it's not like
please notice me. It's that Wayne's World's get for me
(18:49):
every single time. Yeah. Yeah, one of my digitsye, that's
is that singing doll that they have to get. It's
absolutely an American girl doll. Oh I didn't look that closely,
or a bobo American girl dog. Yeah, but it had
the look target has like a bobo our generation, our generation.
That's what it is. That's what it is. My did
(19:12):
you see that one of them? Is?
Speaker 2 (19:13):
There is a camp Pendleton mention. And the only reason
I Camp Pendleton is literally like five ten miles from
my house, and it's always so funny to me. Actually
it's further than that. It just feels closer because I
can hear it. But it's always so funny to me
when I hear it, like mentioned in movies, like that's.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
My backyard sort of when they have that snowball fight. Yeah,
they throw the snowball at Josh's dad. He gets snow
straight up lodged in his ear. Oh funny. And it's
funny because in that scene it cuts back and forth
and like sometimes he has a dizzier and sometimes he doesn't. Oh,
but it's like, I'm like that that's real snow that
they threw it and it's in his yark. Now, I
(19:51):
bet that hurts. Must have hurt. It must have hurt.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Remember when we were at Kansas City last year and
Barbara Nevin was telling about how she got hit in
the face with a Was it a.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Fake snowball though? And then it was like all up
in our grill. Yes, am I remembering that from Leah's
Perfect Gift? Yeah? Yes. Also, this is just a minor complaint.
When I first started watching this movie, I was watching
it live on the Hallmark Channel and there were so
many on screen placements it was distracting, and so much
(20:26):
so that in the early scene we cut from that
first scene where they're finishing up their training to Blair
in the future in the classroom and it says something
blank years later, can't read it because there's a big
candend to Christmas logo over it. Oh maybe six years
later it said, I don't know. I watched the second
half of this movie on Hallwark Plus because I like
the commercial, free, distraction, free environment. There's a Hallmark Plus
(20:48):
right there, and it was a much more pleasant viewing experience. Yeah,
there's so much on screen on Hallmark Channel, and I
get it they're trying to use that time because we
were watching a Newport Christmas last night and it was
like promos, We're finding mister Christmas promos were baked with
love and it was a lot. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Yeah, my next to do to see that they're stupid.
But Josh's mom, I think it's supposed to be his mom,
but she's a real.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Glandma, you know. Yeah, they don't really even introduce her
as his mom. I was like, is it a stepmom?
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Yeah, she just like comes in, she's kind of like
she takes the review.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Yeah, yeah, and then she's just around in the background
and another scene but she's like very like, yeah, I'm
a hip I'm not your Hallmark grandma totally. You know.
Let's talk Ezra.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
Oh yeah, I'm happy to see Ezra show up in
another Hallmark movie. Like great, I'm glad they gave him
another opportunity.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
That's all I gotta say about it.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
Yeah, sure is handsome. He sure is fun. Fact, my
daughter and I are watching season one of Finding Mister
Christmas because she didn't watch it. She we're currently watching
season two together as well, but now she wants to
see season one and she knew he won, and when
he came on the screen, she's like, She's like, oh,
he's the winner, right, And I was like, yeah, he
(22:05):
did kind of make a splash in that first episode,
and I have to go back to remember what you
said when you first saw him, you thought he.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Was going to be the winner as well. I went
back and listened to episode one, and I do say,
based on first impressions, he's my winner. You know.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
It was kind of funny the festive face off challenge.
They had to do like the like a runway walk
and like a DIY Santa sweater or something like that,
and he did like the running man or he did
some sort of dance moves and I was like a
little bit embarrassed for him, second hand embarrassment.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
But I mean, see the one who rollerbladed on stage.
He yep, that's him. Yeah, yeah, you really went for it.
Look at him continuing to get a homemark work you guys,
it's possible. What did you rate Christmas on Duty? Sadly?
I gave it two stars. I gave it two point
five stars. I don't even remember the kiss to give
it a Spoocho meter rating. I couldn't even give you.
(22:58):
I don't even know. I like their slow dance, I didn't.
I thought it was weird during the parade. I thought
that was weird timing. Why are you slow dancing during
a parade? I don't get it's no music. I mean
there's music playing on the screen, but it's not at
the parade. Thought it was weird. I liked that. I'll
give that a dance ometer. Yeah, would you get the
dance ometer? That was five stars? I thought that was
(23:18):
really good. Hey, thanks for listening to this episode of
Girls Gone Hamewark, a Bramble Jam podcast. If you love
this podcast, we do love your five star rings and reviews.
You want to hear a recent five star review Inndy, Yeah,
I do, and in the City says I was looking
for a podcast that gave general overviews of Hallmark holiday
movies so I could pick the best ones to watch.
And I have listened to many of these podcasts trying
(23:39):
to find the best one. In my opinion, this is it.
It's pretty short and sweet, organized, not annoying, and perfect
to digest on my way to work or walking the dog.
I only listened to the Hallmark holiday movie ones haven't
expanded to the greater Hallmark universe. Oh, come listen to
you know, finding Mister Christmas or Friday Mister Christmas is
so funny home. Yeah, Hey, thanks for that, and and
(24:04):
thank you for listening. We'll be back next time with
more Hallmark reviews. Goodbye bye all right friends, before we go,
just to quick heads up, you're about to hear some ads.
These little gems help us keep the show running and
(24:26):
the Hallmark love flowing. So do with that info what
you will, Grab a snack, hit the skip button, or
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Bye usus
This is a bramble Jam podcast. Welcome to Girls Gone Hallmark,
(00:24):
a Hallmark review podcast. I'm Megan and I'm a longtime
Hallmark fan. I'm Wendy. I'm a former Hallmark hater. Today
we're discussing Christmas on Duty, which originally premiered on the
Hallmark Channel on Saturday, November first, and is currently available
to stream on Hallmark Plus. Hey, give us a follow
on the socials on Instagram and TikTok. We are Girls
Gone Hallmark.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
I gotta tell you, I love that we've started posting
first impression call to actions over on our Instagram because
the community is coming through.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Yeah, they're showing up.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
They love to tell you what they thought about these
movies and I love to read them me too. Hey,
if you want to join our Facebook group, we have one.
It's called Girls Gone Hallmark in Facebook Groups. Also, I'm
gonna put another pitch in here to visit our website,
Girls Gone Hallmark dot com. We have tons of stuff
(01:18):
coming down the pipeline. I always question if that's what
it is.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
I don't know either the pike, the pipe, I don't
know it's comin.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
There's a lot of stuff happening over there, and if
you're looking for Hallmark news in depth, who's in this movie.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Et cetera, et cetera, let us be your source. Yeah,
Girls Gone Hallmark dot Com, dive in, take a look around.
I would like to also plug our Patreon. The episode
this week is called Popculture Club, and that's where we
dive into everything we're watching, reading, and listening to outside
of the Hallmark universe. So if you want to know
what we're doing when we're not watching Hallmark, that's a
good place to get it. Next week's episode will be
(01:58):
a full blown crash out on both of our parts,
So if you want that, get it at Patreon dot com.
Slash Megan and Wendy. Your first week there is completely free.
We did toy with adding some Hallmark content over there,
but you know that will be based on demand. So yeah,
if you sign up over there, let us know because
I have an idea for a bonus episode over there,
(02:19):
Hallmark specific weekly. This feels news to me. Maybe let's
talk Christmas on Duty with a synopsis.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Former rivals Blair and Josh must work Christmas duty together.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
When a snowstorm threatens holiday deliveries to the base, they're
forced to cooperate to save Christmas despite their past conflicts.
Christmas on Duty was directed by Jake Van Wagner, marking
his seventh project as a director and his second for Hallmark.
He previously homed last year's Decked the Walls this screenway.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
The screenplay was written by Alexis Sigal, a rising talent
which just two official writing credits on IMDb according to
her LinkedIn. She's also contributed to the limited series The
Beast and Me and the Fox show The Prodigal Sun.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Janelle Parrish stars as Blair. Earlier this year, she led
return to office and dazzled audiences in last year's Sugar
Plumbed and Haunted Wedding. Hallmark fans will also recognize her
from Finding Mister Christmas season two, where she appeared as
a scene partner in the very first episode, So Adorable.
On Finding Mister Christmas, quack Quack Parker Young co stars
(03:32):
as Josh. Christmas On Duty marks his Hallmark debut, though
audiences may recognize him from his impressive television resume including
Nine to One, One, Lone Star, A Million Little Things,
and Impostors. Peter Jacobson plays Richard. We last saw Peter
as Lacey's dad in Haul Out the Halloween. This movie
marks his one hundred ninth acting credit. Aletta Miles plays Zoe.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
While new to the Hallmark family, fan recognize her from
numerous episodes of the sketch comedy series Studio C, a
show also connected to director Jake Van Wagner.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Melanie Stone appears as Amanda, a first time or to Hallmark.
She's a familiar face in the feel good movie world,
with over forty acting credits spanning Hallmark style romances and comedies.
Scott Reeves plays Cliff. Scott is both an actor and musician,
with longtime roles on General Hospital and the ABC series Nashville.
He co founded the country music duo Blue Country. Season
(04:33):
one winner of Finding Mister Christmas. Ezra Morland appears as Fred.
This marks Ezra's second Hallmark project, following his twenty twenty
four debut and Happy Holidays. Let's take a quick break
and come right back with our first impressions. Hey, Wendy,
(04:54):
what was your first impression of Christmas? On duty?
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Somewhere between Saving Christmas and saving on premiums Our Heroes
reminded us what holidays are really all about.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
USAA. My first impression is Christmas on Duty had the heart,
the snow, and the charm, but the story couldn't quite
pull itself together. Oh, the message, not the mess. Let's
talk about it. What did you like about this movie? Well,
to start, cute opening credits, real cute love the animated
(05:26):
opening credit bessive and creative. I love you graphics team,
whoever put us together. I thought that was really really cute.
I love anything that's not the same b roll with
the title card over it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I thought
Zoe and Blair had nice friend chemistry. Their relationship felt
easy and believable, and I liked Zoe as a character.
(05:48):
Did you fun Did you think Zoe and the dad?
I saw someone say that, but I think they're no.
Zoe was playing like in the role of daughter. Yeah yeah,
I didn't think there was romantic energy. I didn't think
so either, but I did think it was I don't know,
give the man well. I was like, give the man
(06:08):
a love interest, but he did just lose his wife,
so maybe it's too soon. Yeah, too soon. Did you
like Janelle Parish? I thought Janel Parish was great in
this I always liked Janelle Parrish. I actually thought she
and Perker were really good together. I think she's so
cute and fun to watch. I will say I love her.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
I think she's cute, She's always watchable. I didn't think
this role gave her a ton to work with. No,
But with that said, I did love her singing at
the end. That was a surprise to me. I'm like,
have I ever seen her sing before?
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Yeah, she's sang in Hunted Wedding as well, but really,
oh my god, I don't remember that at all. I
liked her singing at the end, and I liked her
just casual singing in the car. I thought that was
a real sweet moment as well. The thing I liked
probably most about this movie was I like the central
messaging in the movie. There's the idea of like ask
(07:10):
for help, let yourself enjoy the holidays, which is a
message I could probably use right now. Listen to our
Patreon guys. Yes, you know the idea of like Blair's
dad was trying to recapture magic, and he had a
very like pragmatic like these are the things we're going
to do to make holiday magic. I feel that too,
(07:30):
and I think there was a real message about like
living in the moment and finding things that are meaningful
to you, and I think that's the part of this
movie that resonated with me.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Well, I will tell you kind of along those lines,
I did. I did love the argument that non traditional
things can still be enjoyed during the holiday, just because
you all do like the cookie decorating and baking and stuff,
and that's traditional to you, even though those don't apply
to me, like my things are still fun and memorable
(08:02):
and meaningful as well. So I liked that, and I
think that's where I come from. It's one of the
reasons why I'm a holiday hater is because like I
don't want somebody to tell me that I need to
bait cookies to be in the holiday spirit. So I
enjoyed that. I want to circle back real quick to.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Parker.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Yep, Parker Young, we talked about it recently. I'm enjoying
the fresh Faces on Hallmark.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Yeah. Did it make you wanted to watch more of
his stuff? Yes? And here's why. Because I didn't think.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Like this movie was great, no Siler, and I was like,
let me see him in something.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Now. I thought he was good. I enjoyed him. I
saw a comment that he's really good and enlisted, which
is kind of a military comedy. Oh interestingly, well, he's
only in eleven episodes. I don't know how many episodes
of it there are. I don't even know where it
streams or anything. But I was like, maybe i'd maybe
I'd give that a try. I don't know. I want
to say, there's a snowing scene in this movie. Yeah,
(09:02):
I was like, that's real snow. They were what, Yeah, yeah,
that's not soap. I had wondered. I didn't look this up,
but I was like, was this filmed in Utah? I
don't know, let me look real quick, Okay, Christmas on
Judy was filmed in Utah, with key locations including Midway,
Herbert City, and South Salt Lake City. And it says
(09:23):
it was right around Easter, so definitely there could be
snow there. Oh in March yep, yeah, because I was
there the first week in April and it dumped the
snow on us. See you're right, hat, So yeah, definitely
could have been snowing. Definitely was real snow. One tiny
like I definitely felt the frustration when Josh's dad couldn't
get that. Damn gingerbread house to stick together. It was struggles, real, man,
(09:47):
I hate building gingerbread houses.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Yeah, that was really funny. I was like in my head,
I'm like hot glue gun, dude, you know you're not
eating that thing, so just together, crumbled or bus Yeah,
I know, I know, but sometimes pretty symble come broken
and like you don't know until you open the package.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
It is true. My husband loves a gingerbread house and
sometimes he'll buy them and when I'm like pre assembled, man,
pre assembled.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Yeah, they're too hard to put together with frosts. That's
why I'm like, just get get on down to the
home depot and get some good call E four hundred
or whatever.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Way together. Yeah. Yeah, did you like anything else? I'm sorry,
I talk wishes. Okay, I have a big list. Okay.
I thought this movie was a little bit of a snooze,
and I think I just needed they're doing something sort
of magical, right, Like they're trying to make the Christmas
(10:43):
Day happen for all these families that are on the base.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Give me a little bit of magic, give me a
little bit.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Of Smarkle, you know. Yeah. I there was a lot
of like a lot of talk, which I know, goes
against what we talked about recently in our review of
Angel Christmas Match, where I'm like, I don't have the
bandwidth to listen to all the talking. Show me some stuff. Well,
(11:09):
I think I think it depends on what the content
of the talking is that makes makes it watchable. I
just felt like the plot was very contrived mm hmm,
and that the pacing was uneven. Okay, I agree, like
the store worker who was like, yeah, man, I'm not
helping you. Give me a break. What toy store owner
(11:32):
is going to have members of the military on Christmas
Eve coming in trying to provide Christmas for children of
servicemen and women and being like, yeah, I'm not going
to get my hands dirty. You're on your own, no one,
no one. I know.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
There were so many things that were wrong with all
of that to me. When I was like, this is
completely unbelievable that this lady would be like, you guys.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Are on your own. Yeah, And then the hijinks were
a hijink scene and all of that whole I just
was like, I hate all of this. Well, they're always
in such a rush, but they're finding time to like
sword fight and dance at the parade.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
I'm like, just move, stop wasting time. That was my
other big problem. I was like, you have these two
people who have to get one hundred plus gifts from
these remote towns in whether that I did not see happening,
and deliver all those things back to these families before
Christmas Day. I'm it's impossible, yes, and you were Your
(12:32):
boss was like you need to be back here or
you're in big trouble.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Right, you have a time crunch. I'm giving you twenty
four hours, and they just were messing around. It was like,
can youact together? You think that boss?
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Uh, my apologies, I don't understand. Like, not that I
don't understand, but I'm where the official ranks are. Yes,
wouldn't he be like, this job requires more than the
two of you. We're trying to save Christmas, including his
own like kid or grandkid or something like that, Like,
wouldn't you put more people on this job?
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Yeah? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But they were being punished, they
had to work that day, and.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
So that was the other thing I hated to They're
being disciplined and what's his.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Name, Josh?
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Josh is like, well, I have family plans, No, sir,
you're being disciplined, Like, yeah, no that your family plans.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Everyone has family plans on Christmas too, damn bad. Also
in terms of timing, they get back to the base
and they do like eight hundred things before they deliver
the presence. They make tea, they have a snowball fight,
they clean up after the snowball fight. The dads have
a moment. Blair and Josh have delivered the presence. Man.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Yeah, this is when the timeline defies reality and it
drives me crazy.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
I have only seen it. It is only recently been
really bugging me in movies because I know I've talked
about it recently. Sounds particularly egregious. Those kids are up
at five am waiting for their gifts. You got them
wait until mid afternoon? Yeah, sad give them their presence. See.
I think there's a missed opportunity here. I feel like
(14:10):
we could have maybe leaned more into the military families
at Christmas. Yes, like make that more of the story. Yes.
Can I share some thoughts from our Instagram? Yeah, I
think are important to read here. So, as we've talked about,
we've been putting up a first impression post on Instagram.
(14:31):
As these movies are airing and people are sharing their
first impressions as they watch, which we are Loving and
Christmas on Duty received some comments like this movie wants
to be silly and serious at the same time from
Christmas aficionado. But here's one that I liked. As a
member of the military community, I feel seen happy for
(14:53):
Hallmark to shine a positive light on service members. However,
the cringeometer for the storyline was off the charts in
this way. I love Janelle Parish and I love anything
that supports our military, but this movie was a struggle
to finish. Premise had promised, but the movie did not deliver.
So I think it's important that we appreciate a military
storyline and there's a story to be told there. I
(15:14):
agree that this one didn't land the plane. Yeah, didn't
get there all the way. It could have been very touching.
I cry at every TikTok video of a military homebok right,
So should it have been less less? Maybe we didn't
need to lean into the humor as much as I
love rom com Yeah, maybe we needed a little more serious,
(15:35):
a little more tell the real stories. I think that
two families are sacrificing during the holidays for.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Sure, for sure. Let me tell you one other thing
I hate. I hate the enemies to lover's trope. I
hate it so much. It just never never works for me.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
I hate it. Aiden on Instagram said it's like Romeo
and Juliet, except they're thirty and not sixteen. Yeah. And
when you have Josh's dad talking about how Blair's dad
cost him that job, I'm like, no, he didn't. I
know he didn't right now. I know that's going to
be the misunderstanding that you have held over his head
for the past forty years. And then of course you
find it at the end that no, not only did
he not cost you the job, he wanted you to
(16:14):
have the job. Everyone else hated you.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Right, You've been holding this grudge all this time, right,
tell me your thoughts about I think it was at
the beginning, but when they were still in like the
boot camp stage or whatever, and she was going to
get the job that he wanted and he basically wanted
her to like step aside so he could have the job.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
And I was like, oh bad. Yes, well that's like the.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Tone for me where I was like I automatically hated him.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Yeah, like, oh, now you're going to compete with me,
and so now we can't be friends anymore. Right, It's
sorry that you both want the same job and she's
going to get it over you. And then when he
shows up at the holiday party and now they're working
on the same base and he winks at her, I
was like it, Yeah, it takes a lot for me,
like now to turn me back to like, oh they
have to be together, so great? No, I just wasn't there.
(17:02):
It was so weird because in the beginning it felt
like Zoe was hinting at like Blair maybe had a
little bit of a crush on him, because she was like, oh,
our time here is ending. What are you gonna do?
And she's like, I don't know. And then he comes
to her and it's like, oh, you're gonna go after
that same job I want, And so all of that
magic is gone from their relationship because of the way
he treated her. Yeah, I need an apology for that. Yeah,
(17:25):
are you ready for digit se that? No, not yet? Okay,
well actually it could go and let's yeah, we can
put it in the digit see that it was in
my first impression. Let's talk about USAA.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Yeah, did you hate the clunky like pride placement in.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
All of this. Yes, yeah, I know, Dad, you always
told me usaa I more than once too. Yeah, they
show up to help pack the truck later on. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Part of me is like, you know, I I understand
that's the part of business, like how things get paid
for is sometimes with you know, product placement, brand collaboration.
I just think there might be better ways.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
To do it. Look, I say this every time. If
you haven't seen Wayne's World recently, please rewatch it or
at leaks look for the product placement clip of Wayne's World,
because that when I see product placement is that's what
I envision, Like it's so blatant. I was watching Nobody
Wants This and there's an Esday Lotter product placement in that,
(18:28):
and they like zoom in on the Esday Latter recovery
serum and I was like, come on, I mean like,
it's hard to do it well, and if you have
examples of places that have done it well, I just
I rarely see it done well where it's not like
please notice me. It's that Wayne's World's get for me
(18:49):
every single time. Yeah. Yeah, one of my digitsye, that's
is that singing doll that they have to get. It's
absolutely an American girl doll. Oh I didn't look that closely,
or a bobo American girl dog. Yeah, but it had
the look target has like a bobo our generation, our generation.
That's what it is. That's what it is. My did
(19:12):
you see that one of them? Is?
Speaker 2 (19:13):
There is a camp Pendleton mention. And the only reason
I Camp Pendleton is literally like five ten miles from
my house, and it's always so funny to me. Actually
it's further than that. It just feels closer because I
can hear it. But it's always so funny to me
when I hear it, like mentioned in movies, like that's.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
My backyard sort of when they have that snowball fight. Yeah,
they throw the snowball at Josh's dad. He gets snow
straight up lodged in his ear. Oh funny. And it's
funny because in that scene it cuts back and forth
and like sometimes he has a dizzier and sometimes he doesn't. Oh,
but it's like, I'm like that that's real snow that
they threw it and it's in his yark. Now, I
(19:51):
bet that hurts. Must have hurt. It must have hurt.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Remember when we were at Kansas City last year and
Barbara Nevin was telling about how she got hit in
the face with a Was it a.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Fake snowball though? And then it was like all up
in our grill. Yes, am I remembering that from Leah's
Perfect Gift? Yeah? Yes. Also, this is just a minor complaint.
When I first started watching this movie, I was watching
it live on the Hallmark Channel and there were so
many on screen placements it was distracting, and so much
(20:26):
so that in the early scene we cut from that
first scene where they're finishing up their training to Blair
in the future in the classroom and it says something
blank years later, can't read it because there's a big
candend to Christmas logo over it. Oh maybe six years
later it said, I don't know. I watched the second
half of this movie on Hallwark Plus because I like
the commercial, free, distraction, free environment. There's a Hallmark Plus
(20:48):
right there, and it was a much more pleasant viewing experience. Yeah,
there's so much on screen on Hallmark Channel, and I
get it they're trying to use that time because we
were watching a Newport Christmas last night and it was
like promos, We're finding mister Christmas promos were baked with
love and it was a lot. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Yeah, my next to do to see that they're stupid.
But Josh's mom, I think it's supposed to be his mom,
but she's a real.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Glandma, you know. Yeah, they don't really even introduce her
as his mom. I was like, is it a stepmom?
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Yeah, she just like comes in, she's kind of like
she takes the review.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Yeah, yeah, and then she's just around in the background
and another scene but she's like very like, yeah, I'm
a hip I'm not your Hallmark grandma totally. You know.
Let's talk Ezra.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
Oh yeah, I'm happy to see Ezra show up in
another Hallmark movie. Like great, I'm glad they gave him
another opportunity.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
That's all I gotta say about it.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
Yeah, sure is handsome. He sure is fun. Fact, my
daughter and I are watching season one of Finding Mister
Christmas because she didn't watch it. She we're currently watching
season two together as well, but now she wants to
see season one and she knew he won, and when
he came on the screen, she's like, She's like, oh,
he's the winner, right, And I was like, yeah, he
(22:05):
did kind of make a splash in that first episode,
and I have to go back to remember what you
said when you first saw him, you thought he.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Was going to be the winner as well. I went
back and listened to episode one, and I do say,
based on first impressions, he's my winner. You know.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
It was kind of funny the festive face off challenge.
They had to do like the like a runway walk
and like a DIY Santa sweater or something like that,
and he did like the running man or he did
some sort of dance moves and I was like a
little bit embarrassed for him, second hand embarrassment.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
But I mean, see the one who rollerbladed on stage.
He yep, that's him. Yeah, yeah, you really went for it.
Look at him continuing to get a homemark work you guys,
it's possible. What did you rate Christmas on Duty? Sadly?
I gave it two stars. I gave it two point
five stars. I don't even remember the kiss to give
it a Spoocho meter rating. I couldn't even give you.
(22:58):
I don't even know. I like their slow dance, I didn't.
I thought it was weird during the parade. I thought
that was weird timing. Why are you slow dancing during
a parade? I don't get it's no music. I mean
there's music playing on the screen, but it's not at
the parade. Thought it was weird. I liked that. I'll
give that a dance ometer. Yeah, would you get the
dance ometer? That was five stars? I thought that was
(23:18):
really good. Hey, thanks for listening to this episode of
Girls Gone Hamewark, a Bramble Jam podcast. If you love
this podcast, we do love your five star rings and reviews.
You want to hear a recent five star review Inndy, Yeah,
I do, and in the City says I was looking
for a podcast that gave general overviews of Hallmark holiday
movies so I could pick the best ones to watch.
And I have listened to many of these podcasts trying
(23:39):
to find the best one. In my opinion, this is it.
It's pretty short and sweet, organized, not annoying, and perfect
to digest on my way to work or walking the dog.
I only listened to the Hallmark holiday movie ones haven't
expanded to the greater Hallmark universe. Oh, come listen to
you know, finding Mister Christmas or Friday Mister Christmas is
so funny home. Yeah, Hey, thanks for that, and and
(24:04):
thank you for listening. We'll be back next time with
more Hallmark reviews. Goodbye bye all right friends, before we go,
just to quick heads up, you're about to hear some ads.
These little gems help us keep the show running and
(24:26):
the Hallmark love flowing. So do with that info what
you will, Grab a snack, hit the skip button, or
maybe just maybe listen in and discover your new favorite product.
Bye usus
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