October 28, 2025 • 37 mins
Merry Christmas, Ted Cooper! brings festive chaos and charm to Hallmark Channel. Robert Buckley stars as Ted Cooper, a relentlessly cheerful weatherman determined to turn his holiday luck around after three terrible Christmases. But when he heads home his optimism is tested by a string of comical mishaps including an urgent care visit and an unexpected reunion with his high school crush, Dr. Hope Newberry (Kimberley Sustad). Ted’s holiday comeback might just be the forecast of the season.
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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 are back with weekend two of Countdown to Christmas
behind us, and we're here to talk about Merry Christmas
Ted Cooper, which originally premiered on the Hallmark Channel on Saturday,
October twenty fifth, and is currently available to stream on
(00:44):
Hallmark Plus. And I'm here to tell you right now,
go and stream it. Spoiler alert.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Oh, because you liked it so much, I thought you
might have like some news and notes about friendly TV.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
I do. We'll get to it, but first let's remind
it everybody. Y'all were everywhere. We're on Instagram, We're on
TikTok where Girls Gone Hallmark. Our website is also very
easily Girls Gone Hallmark dot com. If you're not on
our website, you're missing out. There is some great stuff
over there, detailed show notes, way more blog posts than
we talk about here, deep dives into your favorite shows,
(01:21):
favorite actors, and you can also sign up for our
newsletter dropping weekly Girls Gone Hallmark dot com is it?
I'm not signed up. I don't like it either, so
is it weekly?
Speaker 2 (01:38):
It is? Now? What a witch cackle before Halloween?
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Appreciate Look, we are deep in holiday whiplash over here,
Like my house is very fall but we're talking all
things Christmas and I'm like, man can believe with stellth
pumpkins out y'all. It's October two, twenty seventh. That's we
record this.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Yeah, As I was watching Merry Christmas, Ted Cooper on
Saturday night in my neighborhood, they do a a like
a golf cart sort of drive by to look at
all the Halloween decoration.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Nice as I'm watching a Christmas where they're like beebeep
as I drive by. Were I really love that? I
thank cute, but I was like quiet out there Christmas? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (02:27):
No, Hey, you know we love a good mail bag episode.
We do, but we need our listeners help with that.
So if you have thoughts on Merry Christmas, Head Cooper,
or any of what Hallmark is offering right now, we
encourage you to email us your thoughts at Girls Gone
Hallmark at gmail dot com, or you can leave us
(02:48):
a voicemail at nine four nine three two nine eight.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Zero nine zero. Nobody's going to answer.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Just call, share your thoughts and then we'll play that
on an episode.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
That's right, we will. You did mention a little bit
of news and notes regarding Friendly. So Friendly is a
streaming app that many people use to watch Hallmark and
there are a lot of ways to watch Hallmark Friendly.
We actually, you and I, between the two of us,
have quite a few ways to watch Hallmark. You have cable.
I have YouTube TV, which is basically streaming cable. We
(03:20):
both have Friendly. We both have Hallmark Plus. I like Friendly.
I feel like it's a really budget friendly option and
it kind of gives you the best of both worlds.
You can watch live, it has a DVR. My favorite
thing about Friendly is that you can scroll back three
days in the guide. By the way, this is not
an ad for Friendly. No, but we would be more
than happy to partner with them if they wanted to
reach out to Girls Gone Hallmark at gmail dot com.
(03:43):
Girls Gone Hallmark brought to you by Friendly this holiday season?
Come true? It doesn't it sound good? We also can
be bought if you would like. A Girl's Gone Hallmark
brought to you by Hallmark Plus. We use them all
and genuinely there's different things we like about all of them.
But you can go back in that Friendly guide and
hit record on anything you might have missed, which is great.
(04:03):
This is not an ad for Friendly, though. We're here
to say is Hallmark has started talking about the fact
that they are in the middle of negotiations and Hallmark
maybe leaving the app. You've seen this happen before, right,
Like you're watching network television and it's like Spectrum is
no longer going to carry CBS. You're at risk of
losing your favorite shows, and then they always seem to
strike a deal. Something always works out. So I'm not
(04:25):
sure if that's going to happen. Interestingly enough, if you
do click the link that Hallmark shares with this information,
there is of course a heavy promo for Hallmark Plus
on that link, which makes sense, which got me thinking,
what's the best move for Hallmark here?
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Right?
Speaker 1 (04:41):
I think Hallmark is one of the biggest draws on Friendly, probably,
I imagine. So they have a lot of channels there,
Lifetimes there, the channel, the channel not be named there.
There are a lot of channels. Now they've beefed up
their programming, but I do think Hallmark is one of
the biggest draws, so I think it would be beneficial
to Friendly to make the deal ill Friendly was recently
acquired by Roku. But then I'm like, well, if it
(05:04):
goes away, is that good for homework because then it
drives more people to Homewark plus Or is it not
the best time for that to be happening, because you
don't want to lose your viewers in the middle of
the season, and many of them may not make that jump.
Many of them are gonna say, I'm I'm sorry, I'm
not going to do another streamer. I'm curious. I'm curious
(05:25):
to see what can happen. I'm curious to see what
will happen. But if you've seen that on your Friendly streaming,
that's the deal as we know it as of right
this minute.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
That could be old news by tomorrow when this episode
comes out.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Who knows. Speaking of news, let's hear a synopsis for
Merry Christmas, Ted Cooper.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
A weather man, reunites with his high school crush well
on vacation in his hometown. Like. I didn't write this,
I pulled this from IMDb. The man was not on vacation.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
A he went home.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
For the holidays to help his sister on a fun true.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Very true. He was working, he was not on vacation.
True anyway. Russell hayn Line is credited with the teleplay.
Russell has seven writing credits and has written some of
Hollmark's recent hits like The Santa Clas, Three Wiser Men
and a Boy and The Santa Summit. The movie is
based on an original concept by Robert Buckley, and the
story credit is given both to Robert Buckley and Russell Haynline.
(06:26):
Robert Buckley has two previous writing credits, The Christmas House
and The Christmas House Two Deck Those Halls, both co
starring Jonathan Bennett. I've never seen either of those movies.
I have seen the first one. I'm not sure if
I've seen the second.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
I feel like I need to go on a little
bit of a Robert Buckley deep dive.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Yeah you think, I think you should think. The Christmas Contract,
I believe is a Robert Buckley favorite. And I have
heard that it is dreaming on Netflix. Oh really, I
don't even know if it's a home and we've just
seen a lot of people talk about it recently. I
saw some Instagram shares about it this morning, so I
may have to give that a watch in all of
our free time. M hm.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Jason Bork directed. Jason has sixty two directing credits, including
A Reason for this Season, Our Holiday Story, and Scouting
for Christmas.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Robert Buckley plays Ted Cooper. We last saw Robert Buckley
in an unexpected Valentine earlier this year, and he also
started one of our favorites from last season, twas the
Date before Christmas. It's really been a Robert Buckley kind
of year. I just every time I see him, I
like him more and more.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Yeah, I'm still waiting for Robert Buckley not Junior from you.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Well. I know, I actually appreciated that someone used it
in our Facebook group the other day talking about it.
I was like, oh, it's good to be seen. In
my mind, he will always be Robert Buckley not Junior. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
I can't even remember we thought he was junior.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
I did Robert Buckley Junior? I have a long time.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Did we reference him like that for a while.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
At least once? I definitely did. He's not.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Kimberly says Dead Place Hope. It's been almost a year
since we've seen Kimberly on Hallmark, where she co starred
in The Santa Class and Three Wiser Men and a Boy.
We will see her reprise her role as doctor McLaren
in the upcoming Three Wisest Men later this year.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Megan Hefferin plays Kate Cooper. Meghan has seventy acting credits
and fans will recognize her from Autumn at Apple Hill
and The Cases of Mystery Lane. Death is listening? Speaking
of the Cases of mistery Lane, did you see that
screenshot that Eric co host of Hallmark Mysteries and Moore
posted of one Paul Campbell commenting the Cases of Mister
(08:40):
Lane has been canceled. What isn't that devastating?
Speaker 2 (08:45):
I've I honestly just feel like I've been punched in
the gut.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
I know I had not seen that.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
How is that possible? Those movies are fan freakantastic big mistake?
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Right?
Speaker 2 (08:58):
What huge mistake?
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Huge?
Speaker 2 (09:01):
I'm literally feel so pissed off right now. I don't
know how to recover Barbara Pollard please Ruth Mittens. Barbara
has thirty five acting credits and last appeared in Confessions
of a Christmas Letter from twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Read and Elizabeth plays Hope's best friend Sydney. This is
her first role on Homewark, but you might recognize her
as Officer Brooks on the series Alert Missing Persons Unit.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Brendan Penny appears as newscaster Ken. Brendan has sixty three
acting credits and we last saw him as Gabriel in
the Hallmark mini series Providence Falls. Brendan will star and
the upcoming The More the Merrier opposite Rachel Boston. Merry
Christmas Ted Cooper was filmed in early summer twenty twenty
five in and around Vancouver.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
We are going to take a quick break and we're
going to come right back with our first impressions. Hey, Wendy,
what was your first impression of Merry Christmas Ted Cooper?
Speaker 2 (10:00):
A little bit of a spoiler? Five stars before Halloween.
I didn't have that on my bingo card, but wow,
Hallmark came swinging' this year.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
We have similar themes to our first impressions of mine. Look,
I had so many. I don't know about you. When
you take notes and you watch these movies, do you
think like, oh, that's a great first impression. Oh that's
a great I could have said so many things because
there were so many notable things about this movie, but
I simply went with freakin' Russell Hainline does it again.
He's too good. He's too good. When we say he
only has seven writing credits, and believe me, seven writing.
(10:33):
He's written seven movies. That's a lot. I've written zero movies.
But he's so good, and they're all so good. This
movie brought me so much joy. Does he not get
enough credit? I think he's getting the credit, but I
think I think it's special that this is year four
with Russell Hainline movies in the lineup, and they all hit,
(10:56):
They all hit, they all do. We're not like ol
Flone was a stinger on. It hasn't happened yet. No,
not yet. Let's talk what we liked. The list is long.
Buckle up, y'all.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
I want to kick off the likes section with a
comment from our Facebook community. Yeah, it comes from listener
Steven and he wrote in Facebook, this may not be
only the best movie of the Christmas season, but maybe
the best movie of the year. Russell Hanlin wrote this
movie and there are many similar vibes to the Santa Summit.
(11:30):
He has a very individual, unique style.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
So let's start with the first part of that. When
I was watching this, I was like, oh my gosh,
this is a runaway hit. I watched this twice and
I was so excited to get to watch it again,
and I was like, I'm gonna watch this multiple times
this season. I rarely think that, simply because we have
so much holiday content to get through with this. It's
not like I didn't like that movie enough to watch
it again. It's like, I'm probably not going to make
(11:55):
the time I am going to read this. I agree
could be the best movie of the use. That's a
big statement. It is. As recording October twenty seventh, I
know it could be the it really. I mean, it's
gonna be hard to beat it haul out the Halloween,
huge runaway hit.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
In my mind, this like out of the Park, Grand
Slam on World Series Weekend time.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
By the way, wend Yes, I was smiling as I
was watching this. We love some calm in our rom
and Russell brings the calm. Yeah, but you know also
brings the calm. Robert Buckley. Robert Buckley is this whole cast,
This whole cast. The pairing of Robert Buckley with Brendan
(12:42):
Penny is so good. It's so good. Brendan Penny is
the arrogant newscaster. His final line, he goes, I'm gonna
have to sell my boat. I laughed out loud. I've
seen three times. I laughed out loud every single time.
I made you rewatch it this morning. Yeah, I was like, my.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
Favorite line here, we have to watch it again, Like okay, yeah,
I love their sparring at the top of this movie
where they're like on the news, and then when there's
scene ends and he makes a comment about Ken's hair
not being his own, I just was like, wow, we
(13:19):
went there.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Your hair looks so good you almost can't even tell
it's fake. And he just keeps walking out and Brendan's.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Like, what the cut? Deep is so good. It was
the perfect amount of it. It wasn't just a cameo.
It carried it through from beginning to end. It's so good.
They're like brotherly energy, like just kind of mean enough
to each other. Yeah, exactly exactly. I want to talk though.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
I really when I think of Robert Buckley, not Junior,
he doesn't come I wouldn't initially like immediately be like,
oh he's a funny guy, right, But I feel he's
got some comedy chops about him. He is so good
in this movie. The delivery, the timing, the self deprecating
(14:08):
humor in this it was all pitch perfect to me.
There is an effortless charm that is there that reminds
me every time I watch him.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
I go, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He's one of
hallmarks funny guys. We just need more of it. We
need more.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
I'm going to talk a little bit later about it,
but we just need more of that energy I do
in my life.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Me too. Ruth Mittens, Yeah, Ruth Mittens, mis Mittens. She
might be my favorite homeworks I kick of the season.
We're three movies in she says you can call me Ruth. Actually,
you can call me anytime you like. And then when
he says, like easy, there're Mittens. It made me laugh
every single freaking time. I'm hurt ted, I'm not blind.
(14:55):
She's so good. And then the addition of the Lackawanna Walkers,
the Soul Sisters a gift, like they take him shopping.
He's like, oh, they had me to the group chat.
Oh my god, can I tell you a funny story?
Speaker 2 (15:07):
I laughed out loud when I saw this, this walking
group of mature ladies and their soul sister.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Is that what they're called soul sisters? Yes?
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Recently say a similar walking group in my neighborhood, who
were also wearing matches show their name is street Walkers
love three walkers on their shirts.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
I want to join their group. I know, I really,
I would like my own matching track suit.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Look, I thought all that stuff was so funny, so
well executed. When they show up to the Christmas party
and they're dressed like mean girls from the christ.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
I don't know if you caught that. I don't think
I did.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
They're dressed up like the four who do the mean
girls like Santa dance.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Santa dance. Yeah, I didn't notice. I didn't notice. Look,
there may be Soul Sister's merch coming to a girl's
gone Hallmark shop. I love it, so let's do it.
Let's do it.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
One of my favorite things about this, and you touch
on it briefly, but I loved how they cut back
to the new station, like this running gag throughout the
entire movie of everybody keeping tabs on Ted's accidents and
like where they were on their like bedding. I thought
that was so funny. I thought it was so clever.
It just added a lot of layers to why we
(16:29):
would care about Ted's accidents. It wasn't just like, oh,
Ted's accident prone and that's just like an overarch, Like
everybody was invested in it.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
I loved it, loved it, loved it. Yeah, they landed
the plane on that bit one hundred percent. The representation
in this movie did not go unnoticed, and it's done
in a way that I would like to see it
done in every movie. We have a wheelchair user as
one of Hope's besties, we have patient communicating via There's
(17:01):
a decent amount of racial diversity in the movie. This
makes the stories richer and they are incidental to the
story Hopes. Besty could have been anybody, and the fact
that she just happens to be a woman who uses
a wheelchair, it's not part of the narrative, no at all.
That's what that's how it should exist. It's not like
(17:22):
this is a movie about a person who uses a
mobility a It's like, this is Hope's bestie who happens
to get around differently than you do. Yeah, the end,
I just it's good. It's good, super appreciate it. Can
I talk about my favorite emotional moment? Yes, I cried
in this movie. I cried. I cried. Do you cry
(17:43):
when Ted asks her out via ASL? No?
Speaker 2 (17:46):
I did not, But I did love that scene though
with he asked around.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Via I got very and she signs back your cue.
Such a touching moment they look talking about landing the plane.
There are multiple hallbacks that are so good. It wasn't
just like, oh, there's this patient that uses ASL. It's
Ted learns that Hope knows ASL because her father was deaf,
and then he shows up and has this really meaningful
moment it asks out, Yeah, it was good. It was good.
(18:16):
Here's the scene where I cried. They go to the
bar where they're gonna get the burgers.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Right, It's like they come in. He goes, let me
go get let me go get us some beers, which
I loved because if you don't follow Russell on Instagram,
you're missing out. But he likes a good beer, and
I was like, oh, I wonder if this is somehow
connected here. Anyway, he goes, let me go get some
Christmas ale and he goes to the bar and she
goes and sits down, and he turns around and looks
at her from across the room, and the music swells,
(18:42):
and oh my god, I get choked up.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Me too. I was like, wait, what is looked at
each so good? It's it's it gives the we like
each other. Something's happening here. It was they just and
she kind of looks away. Oh my gosh, I have chills.
I also thought I thought it was a real nice
pairing of sweet and humor. When Hope's trying to open
up about losing her dad, as Ted's face is rapidly
(19:05):
swelling and his throat is closing due to his allergic reactions,
and it is the perfect exemplification of him not wanting
to inconvenience people. There's a lot of good things in
the relationship between Hope and Ted that I liked, a
lot of things. We don't see a lot. We have
the misunderstanding. And as Hope realizes that they've had a misunderstanding,
(19:26):
she races to his house and confronts him about it
and is like, this is what I thought, and this
is what I heard, and these are why I thought this.
I love that, but even more in that moment, she
says to him, advocating for yourself isn't an imposition? Needle
point that on a pillow. Yeah, it was great. It's
a great line because I am not like Ted and
(19:46):
that I am a bright sider. I'm very much not
a bright sider, but I am like Ted in that.
It is one of my biggest nightmares to think that
I am imposing on somebody. Yeah, and I will almost
every time choose a path that might potentially make my
life harder if there's a chance that makes someone else's
life easier. Right, And I needed to hear advocating for
(20:08):
yourself as in an imposition. I liked that line.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
I really That scene was incredible. It was incredible. We
watched it back this morning too. When she tells Ted
that he's surface, I my heart broke in that moment.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Oh, it was so good. And he's just quiet. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
We haven't talked about the brother Sister dynamic. No shout
out Megan heffern She's great in this. I really like
her in a lot of other roles too, like she's.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
In the We just talked about it. I can't remember
gone but not forgotten. Guys, this is a mystery lane.
Oh yeah, Oh my God.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Anyway, I enjoy her quite a bit. I thought they
were great in this. It's part teasing, part love like
it nails adults at Christmas time. I you know, adult
siblings at Christmas time.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
I loved it.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
I loved all the poking and teasing, loved all of that.
I loved several moments in terms of writing the whole
classic misunderstanding, where like Miss Mittens was like, oh, this
is a classic misunderstanding.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
It's felt very.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Meta, like this is like, okay, Hallmark fans, we see you,
like we know that the Hallmark movies have been built
on classic misunderstandings.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
I thought it was great.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
There was also a personal fave. There's a Liam nian
line in this movie from one of my favorite Liam
Nison movies called Taken, and it comes from Bestie Sidney
where she was talking.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
About how she has skills.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
She says, and this is a very famous leam Nison quote,
I have a very particular set of skills and like
it goes dot dot dot. I know you've heard me
reference more than once good luck. Do you know what
I'm talking about? No, I think I'd say at home
a lot. But it's this conversation in this liambay movie.
The movie, it's one of my favorites. It's one of
(22:06):
my favorite It's terrifying.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
It is terrifying. That's why I could only watch it
the one time. But Liam Neeson is fantastic.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
He kicks ass in this movie. And this is where
he comes.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
He's light.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
The guy on the other end of the phone is
like threatening him, and then Liam Neeson goes into this
whole thing.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Like I have a very particular set of skills, basically.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
Like I'm going to come and get you. And then
the guy goes good luck. And so I always say
good luck to like a lot of people anyway, maybe.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Not to you. Anyway. I loved it. I loved it.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
I love the Taylor swift eras tor mentions in that
I love a pop cultural reference. Thank you to Russell Hanline.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
So I was prepping my notes and I posted on
one of the many social media so it's Blue Sky.
I think. I was like, I'm trying to come up
with a list of lines that made me laugh out loud,
and my list is so long. I said, Russell, how
about you just send us a script. We'll do a
live read on Girls Coming.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Oh my god, because my list was so long, but
I just need to share some memorable lines.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Well please, women cannot handle the hustle and grind of datium.
Meteorologist Ted calling his burger Mayo forward, Yes, yes, Ted,
and Hope. She's telling him five things about herself and
she's like, like romance novels and I like ramen.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
And he's like, what kind of spice level? And she's like,
you know pg thirteen? He goes, I meant the ramen,
not the books.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Great, not a line, but simply Kate. At the holiday
party when Hope shows up and she walks into the
background head to toe buddy the Elf, I laughed out loud.
The Mark Harmon even smelled handsome. Oh my god, Mark
Harmon loved it. I also love the escape room. Oh yeah,
(23:42):
that was fun. Have you done an escape room? I have?
First of all, I loved Brendan because one of my
least for parts about the escape room is when the
escape room employee has to get into character and be
like an art heist has occurred and you need to
find the culprit before it locks you in the room.
Are you embarrassed for them a little bit? Okay? Mostly
because I'm no fun hm. So when Brennan was like,
(24:06):
you are Sanna's else, it just made me laugh. I
thought it was a great take on escape rooms. I
also thought the escape room itself, production wise well done. Yeah,
when the bear sinks into the box, I was like, hey,
look at that. They spent a little money in this space.
I thought it was a fun idea. I thought it
was well executed. I agree, well, let've talk wishes. I
(24:27):
have just one y.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
It's not even, it's not even. It's about commentary. I
read about the movie. Oh okay. I don't remember where
I saw it at, but somebody commented that they thought
Ted's bright siding would also be annoying.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
Oh. I saw that on our Instagram and I just
feel for me.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
Personally, life right now is dark. It's hard, it's sad,
it's rough for a lot of people, and I think
it's refreshing to have somebody who is joyful and who
can bright side. I need more Ted Cooper.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
I need more Ted Cooper too. I was thinking about
their misunderstanding and I thought, how nice to have someone
who when Hope shows up to clear up the misunderstanding,
he's like, oh, that's what happens, and She's like, don't
you have more to say about that? He's like, well,
it's over, like you're here, like we're good. Yeah, why
would I dwell on? Okay, you ran away and you hid,
but now we've worked through that, Like why are we
(25:33):
gonna okay, let's be happy about it?
Speaker 2 (25:35):
I know, I feel like because I think we're so
accustomed to like and then that leads to a fight
and like a bigger or a bigger misunderstanding. And I
just was like, okay, yeah, what's a surface, But it's okay.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
Sometimes that's okay. Y. Yes, I did think she was
right to push back on you should advocate for yourself more.
But that is really my only wish because I do
think Hope maybe is a little bit too frustrated that
he's not willing to get up. And I think those
are two different things. Like I wanted Ted to advocate
for himself. Pick the job that you want, not because
some person gave you a job at one time. I
(26:09):
wanted that for him too, But I really feel like
she pushes a little bit too hard into wanting him
to be like, well, let's fight about this, so let's
get mad about this. And I really love Sydney's Oh no,
a handsome, gainfully employed man in a good mood. I
loved that. Yeah, to kind of bring her back to
(26:30):
where she made it to be. Also, I want to
say this is not a knock against the script at all,
but the limo scene packed with people blaring music when
you get in.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
I was like, this is an absolute nightmare. And my
husband's like, wow, just a party of mi in and
over there.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
And I was like, hashtag no fun. It's well known.
I mean I wouldn't want to get in. I love this.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Ted's like, yeah, crank it up right Like that wouldn't
be me. I'd be like, oh my god, Christmas music.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
Stop right. If you order an uber and it shows
up with six people blaring music, I cancel it right there,
like duck and roll. Don't even stop. Just slow down
a little bit. I don't know who you're looking to
pick up. That's not me. Let's talk. Did you see that? Okay?
I have a few. Okay.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
My first one is Ted's parking job. Oh, when he
locks his keys and his phone in his car. There's
an overhead shot and Ted's car is parked in between
two parking spaces.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Oh, he's straddling the line. Yeah. Oh, Ted, I was like,
that's so funny that that's like where there's no other
cars in the lot, he is in between like two
parking stalls. I wonder if there was some filming logistical
reasons of that. Perhaps When Ted and Hope go on
their first pub date pre date, Ted had been shopping
with the ladies with the Soul sisters and they're like,
(27:49):
I don't know, in a coffee shop or a restaurant together,
and Hope walks in. Ted is still in his pinks,
which we haven't even talked about the wardrobe. Ted's commitment
such a great bit that he's wearing the clothes. And
also one of my comments was like, how does he
look good in a sorority sweatshirt and his own jacket,
Like he look good in that outfit.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
Yeah, but he's still in that sorority sweatshirt.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
In the moment when Hope comes in, they leave, they
they leave the ladies, they walk, He's like, I need
to drop this stuff off of my car. Commercial break,
next scene they're in the pub, he's in like a
nice cablenit sweater. Oh. And then as we were watching,
I was like, when did he change and I had
to rewind. There's when did he change? Maybe in the
(28:32):
car he just rips off that sweatshirt and he's like,
I it look good for Hope.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
We missed a shirtless Yeah, Robert, we did we get
a shirtless street change?
Speaker 1 (28:41):
Yeah? The scene that got cut and he's like, maybe
I should get out of the sorority somebody way in.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (28:46):
Is that on the cutting room floor? Our email is
girls Gone homework at gmail dot com. Question for you
when he grabs the wrong suitcase where you're like, uh oh,
here we're going with this? Yeah, And it was so
perfectly execute because he's like, I'm just gonna wear this
crop sweater. Yeah, so good. Loved it.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
One of the scenes we didn't talk about is just
here the ring camera footage of a camp practicing his
phone calls to Hope and the sister watching it.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
Chef's kiss Perfection. Can I tell you one of the
most embarrassing moments of my life. When I was in college,
we had a like an we could send robocalls basically
like if you were like in an organization you need
to be like, hey, folks, we have a meeting whatever,
Like you could send it straight to voicemail, and I
was the director of an organization and would send them
(29:35):
regularly to my committee and I would re record them,
and one time it wasn't erasing the re record, so
I sent probably a seven minute message that goes, hey special,
Hey special, Hey special, games commit like I have not
(30:01):
forgotten it.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
If the nineteen ninety nine Special Gang Committee is out
there and you remember the robo call that wouldn't quit,
that's me.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
Oh audio editing is your brand? Oh my godness. And
the worst part is this is pre cell phone ubiquity.
Like a lot of people I knew didn't even have
cell phones, and it wasn't something we used. So these
were going to their on campus telephones that you shared
with your roommates. Oh so we didn't even have like
our own voicemail. It would be like there was one
(30:35):
voicemail because you had one phone number, right, so the roommates.
I vividly remember one of the guy's roommates who happened
to be probably the most well known person on campus
because he was this tall, handsome volleyball player who then
went on to play in the Olympics twice. And I
(30:57):
heard that person's feedback on that message. Oh my god,
the humiliation thirty years later still lives. Oh my god,
that is so funny. So I definitely I thought I
was afraid that was was gonna happen, that all of
those messages were going to go through. The trauma is real.
There's two Brendans in the movie. What There's a Brendan
(31:19):
at the escape room and then the guy who loves
the heiress tour, the producer, the camera guy. I thought
name's Brendan too.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
I thought the guy in the escape room was named Russell.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
Oh. They say it over and over. They say Brendan,
like at the escape room.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
It seems to me that it would be kind of
weird where there are two characters of the name Brendan.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
That's why I put it in my notes, his name
is Brendan. You also did not feel well this weekend,
so I really didn't. But I'm why would I have
thought there were two Brendans.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
You were just so taken by a Brendan Penny in
this movie, and Penny.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
Well, welcome to escape rooms his workshop. Okay, Brendan, So
now go to the end. The cameraman, what's his name? Hi,
I'm Sydney. Brendan Brandon. Who's Russell.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
I don't know, there's no Okay, maybe I'm confused about that.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
So there's Brendan and Brandon. That's confusing. My fault.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
You say you watched This Life? Did you fast forward
through commercials if you watched it unfriendly?
Speaker 1 (32:27):
Yes? Okay.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
There was a Hallmark Keepsake ornament commercial, oh, which I
don't think I've ever seen before during a Hallmark movie.
Usually it's like Balsom Hill or whatever. And didn't we
learn earlier this year that Hallmark was trying to marry
like the Hallmark movies and the ornaments like together.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
I think staffing wise. Yes, Oh, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
I just I've never seen a Hallmark Keepsake ornament commercial
before during a movie.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Oh. Interesting, I don't Yeah, that's all I play. The
Hallmark counted on a Christmas seepstakes, I'll do you and I.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
Never went anything, but they often give away Hallmark keeps
It ornaments, Hallmark decor.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
I gotta tell you.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
My husband to order the Lacey Schebert ornament for his brother.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
We have spent quite a bit of money on Hallmark
ornaments this year because they have a Gilmore Girls line
and my daughter is newly into Gilmore Girls, so we
bought the gazebo and they also have a Gilmore Girl's collection.
We bought the little, the tiny, little lore Line Rory
stuffed animals. They have a Gilmore Girl's lounge fly that
is so freaking cute. Yeah again not an ad but
(33:38):
no call us. Uh yeah. Also, my son really loves
the Pokemon character Piplup and I was I was like,
he doesn't have a piplup ornament and my husband's like, oh,
good call. And I googled it. There was a Hallmark
keep saying pip plup ornament A couple of years ago.
Found a new in box one on Poshmark Nice for twelve.
(34:00):
It definitely costs more than that in store when it
came out, I'm sure. And it has arrived at my
house and it is in approximation. Yeah, good thing. My
son doesn't listen to a Girl's Cone homework. One last
did you see that? Thank you to listener and Facebook
group moderator Mackie, who emailed us that in the original
airing of this movie, writer Russell Hainline's name was spelled
(34:20):
with just one L, and we do know from our
interview with him that He's like, everyone does that. He goes,
there's no Russell's with one l Russell Crowe two els. Yeah,
he says it happens all the time, right. She messaged
director Jason Borg and as it is currently streaming now,
it has been corrected Russell with two els. Yeah. I
noticed it when too, when I was watching the movie. Yeah,
(34:42):
you mentioned it, and then as I was watching, I
was like, it's done twice. Yeah, one right back to back.
So Maggie, good for looking out. You're a good person
getting that corrected. Russell, you have Maggie to think for
that correction. Although maybe you messaged. He's like director Borg
as well, my name is fe wrong. Yeah twice. Hey, Wendy,
(35:03):
I don't think I need to ask. What did you
rate Merry Christmas? Ted Cooper?
Speaker 2 (35:07):
Five freaking stars by freaking stars.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
One last question. It's time for the smoochometer.
Speaker 3 (35:14):
Oh you know I've.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
Been wanting to make those images. Yeah, I know, it's
on my list. It's on the list, Smoocha meter.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
Trying to remember the scene it's on camera. You know
it was good? It was Is it a ten? Flaming lips?
I you give it a good eight and a half oh,
I give it a nine okay, eight and a half
nine flaming lips for the Smoochimeter. Hey, thank you for
listening to this episode of Girls Gone Hamewark, a Bramble
Jam podcast. If you love this podcast, it's not too late.
(35:48):
It is never too late to leave us a five
star rating and review in the Apple Podcast app, and
we'll be back next time with more Hallmark reviews. Goodbye, bye.
(36:08):
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 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
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 are back with weekend two of Countdown to Christmas
behind us, and we're here to talk about Merry Christmas
Ted Cooper, which originally premiered on the Hallmark Channel on Saturday,
October twenty fifth, and is currently available to stream on
(00:44):
Hallmark Plus. And I'm here to tell you right now,
go and stream it. Spoiler alert.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Oh, because you liked it so much, I thought you
might have like some news and notes about friendly TV.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
I do. We'll get to it, but first let's remind
it everybody. Y'all were everywhere. We're on Instagram, We're on
TikTok where Girls Gone Hallmark. Our website is also very
easily Girls Gone Hallmark dot com. If you're not on
our website, you're missing out. There is some great stuff
over there, detailed show notes, way more blog posts than
we talk about here, deep dives into your favorite shows,
(01:21):
favorite actors, and you can also sign up for our
newsletter dropping weekly Girls Gone Hallmark dot com is it?
I'm not signed up. I don't like it either, so
is it weekly?
Speaker 2 (01:38):
It is? Now? What a witch cackle before Halloween?
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Appreciate Look, we are deep in holiday whiplash over here,
Like my house is very fall but we're talking all
things Christmas and I'm like, man can believe with stellth
pumpkins out y'all. It's October two, twenty seventh. That's we
record this.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Yeah, As I was watching Merry Christmas, Ted Cooper on
Saturday night in my neighborhood, they do a a like
a golf cart sort of drive by to look at
all the Halloween decoration.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Nice as I'm watching a Christmas where they're like beebeep
as I drive by. Were I really love that? I
thank cute, but I was like quiet out there Christmas? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (02:27):
No, Hey, you know we love a good mail bag episode.
We do, but we need our listeners help with that.
So if you have thoughts on Merry Christmas, Head Cooper,
or any of what Hallmark is offering right now, we
encourage you to email us your thoughts at Girls Gone
Hallmark at gmail dot com, or you can leave us
(02:48):
a voicemail at nine four nine three two nine eight.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Zero nine zero. Nobody's going to answer.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Just call, share your thoughts and then we'll play that
on an episode.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
That's right, we will. You did mention a little bit
of news and notes regarding Friendly. So Friendly is a
streaming app that many people use to watch Hallmark and
there are a lot of ways to watch Hallmark Friendly.
We actually, you and I, between the two of us,
have quite a few ways to watch Hallmark. You have cable.
I have YouTube TV, which is basically streaming cable. We
(03:20):
both have Friendly. We both have Hallmark Plus. I like Friendly.
I feel like it's a really budget friendly option and
it kind of gives you the best of both worlds.
You can watch live, it has a DVR. My favorite
thing about Friendly is that you can scroll back three
days in the guide. By the way, this is not
an ad for Friendly. No, but we would be more
than happy to partner with them if they wanted to
reach out to Girls Gone Hallmark at gmail dot com.
(03:43):
Girls Gone Hallmark brought to you by Friendly this holiday season?
Come true? It doesn't it sound good? We also can
be bought if you would like. A Girl's Gone Hallmark
brought to you by Hallmark Plus. We use them all
and genuinely there's different things we like about all of them.
But you can go back in that Friendly guide and
hit record on anything you might have missed, which is great.
(04:03):
This is not an ad for Friendly, though. We're here
to say is Hallmark has started talking about the fact
that they are in the middle of negotiations and Hallmark
maybe leaving the app. You've seen this happen before, right,
Like you're watching network television and it's like Spectrum is
no longer going to carry CBS. You're at risk of
losing your favorite shows, and then they always seem to
strike a deal. Something always works out. So I'm not
(04:25):
sure if that's going to happen. Interestingly enough, if you
do click the link that Hallmark shares with this information,
there is of course a heavy promo for Hallmark Plus
on that link, which makes sense, which got me thinking,
what's the best move for Hallmark here?
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Right?
Speaker 1 (04:41):
I think Hallmark is one of the biggest draws on Friendly, probably,
I imagine. So they have a lot of channels there,
Lifetimes there, the channel, the channel not be named there.
There are a lot of channels. Now they've beefed up
their programming, but I do think Hallmark is one of
the biggest draws, so I think it would be beneficial
to Friendly to make the deal ill Friendly was recently
acquired by Roku. But then I'm like, well, if it
(05:04):
goes away, is that good for homework because then it
drives more people to Homewark plus Or is it not
the best time for that to be happening, because you
don't want to lose your viewers in the middle of
the season, and many of them may not make that jump.
Many of them are gonna say, I'm I'm sorry, I'm
not going to do another streamer. I'm curious. I'm curious
(05:25):
to see what can happen. I'm curious to see what
will happen. But if you've seen that on your Friendly streaming,
that's the deal as we know it as of right
this minute.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
That could be old news by tomorrow when this episode
comes out.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Who knows. Speaking of news, let's hear a synopsis for
Merry Christmas, Ted Cooper.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
A weather man, reunites with his high school crush well
on vacation in his hometown. Like. I didn't write this,
I pulled this from IMDb. The man was not on vacation.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
A he went home.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
For the holidays to help his sister on a fun true.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Very true. He was working, he was not on vacation.
True anyway. Russell hayn Line is credited with the teleplay.
Russell has seven writing credits and has written some of
Hollmark's recent hits like The Santa Clas, Three Wiser Men
and a Boy and The Santa Summit. The movie is
based on an original concept by Robert Buckley, and the
story credit is given both to Robert Buckley and Russell Haynline.
(06:26):
Robert Buckley has two previous writing credits, The Christmas House
and The Christmas House Two Deck Those Halls, both co
starring Jonathan Bennett. I've never seen either of those movies.
I have seen the first one. I'm not sure if
I've seen the second.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
I feel like I need to go on a little
bit of a Robert Buckley deep dive.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Yeah you think, I think you should think. The Christmas Contract,
I believe is a Robert Buckley favorite. And I have
heard that it is dreaming on Netflix. Oh really, I
don't even know if it's a home and we've just
seen a lot of people talk about it recently. I
saw some Instagram shares about it this morning, so I
may have to give that a watch in all of
our free time. M hm.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Jason Bork directed. Jason has sixty two directing credits, including
A Reason for this Season, Our Holiday Story, and Scouting
for Christmas.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Robert Buckley plays Ted Cooper. We last saw Robert Buckley
in an unexpected Valentine earlier this year, and he also
started one of our favorites from last season, twas the
Date before Christmas. It's really been a Robert Buckley kind
of year. I just every time I see him, I
like him more and more.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Yeah, I'm still waiting for Robert Buckley not Junior from you.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Well. I know, I actually appreciated that someone used it
in our Facebook group the other day talking about it.
I was like, oh, it's good to be seen. In
my mind, he will always be Robert Buckley not Junior. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
I can't even remember we thought he was junior.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
I did Robert Buckley Junior? I have a long time.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Did we reference him like that for a while.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
At least once? I definitely did. He's not.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Kimberly says Dead Place Hope. It's been almost a year
since we've seen Kimberly on Hallmark, where she co starred
in The Santa Class and Three Wiser Men and a Boy.
We will see her reprise her role as doctor McLaren
in the upcoming Three Wisest Men later this year.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Megan Hefferin plays Kate Cooper. Meghan has seventy acting credits
and fans will recognize her from Autumn at Apple Hill
and The Cases of Mystery Lane. Death is listening? Speaking
of the Cases of mistery Lane, did you see that
screenshot that Eric co host of Hallmark Mysteries and Moore
posted of one Paul Campbell commenting the Cases of Mister
(08:40):
Lane has been canceled. What isn't that devastating?
Speaker 2 (08:45):
I've I honestly just feel like I've been punched in
the gut.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
I know I had not seen that.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
How is that possible? Those movies are fan freakantastic big mistake?
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Right?
Speaker 2 (08:58):
What huge mistake?
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Huge?
Speaker 2 (09:01):
I'm literally feel so pissed off right now. I don't
know how to recover Barbara Pollard please Ruth Mittens. Barbara
has thirty five acting credits and last appeared in Confessions
of a Christmas Letter from twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Read and Elizabeth plays Hope's best friend Sydney. This is
her first role on Homewark, but you might recognize her
as Officer Brooks on the series Alert Missing Persons Unit.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Brendan Penny appears as newscaster Ken. Brendan has sixty three
acting credits and we last saw him as Gabriel in
the Hallmark mini series Providence Falls. Brendan will star and
the upcoming The More the Merrier opposite Rachel Boston. Merry
Christmas Ted Cooper was filmed in early summer twenty twenty
five in and around Vancouver.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
We are going to take a quick break and we're
going to come right back with our first impressions. Hey, Wendy,
what was your first impression of Merry Christmas Ted Cooper?
Speaker 2 (10:00):
A little bit of a spoiler? Five stars before Halloween.
I didn't have that on my bingo card, but wow,
Hallmark came swinging' this year.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
We have similar themes to our first impressions of mine. Look,
I had so many. I don't know about you. When
you take notes and you watch these movies, do you
think like, oh, that's a great first impression. Oh that's
a great I could have said so many things because
there were so many notable things about this movie, but
I simply went with freakin' Russell Hainline does it again.
He's too good. He's too good. When we say he
only has seven writing credits, and believe me, seven writing.
(10:33):
He's written seven movies. That's a lot. I've written zero movies.
But he's so good, and they're all so good. This
movie brought me so much joy. Does he not get
enough credit? I think he's getting the credit, but I
think I think it's special that this is year four
with Russell Hainline movies in the lineup, and they all hit,
(10:56):
They all hit, they all do. We're not like ol
Flone was a stinger on. It hasn't happened yet. No,
not yet. Let's talk what we liked. The list is long.
Buckle up, y'all.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
I want to kick off the likes section with a
comment from our Facebook community. Yeah, it comes from listener
Steven and he wrote in Facebook, this may not be
only the best movie of the Christmas season, but maybe
the best movie of the year. Russell Hanlin wrote this
movie and there are many similar vibes to the Santa Summit.
(11:30):
He has a very individual, unique style.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
So let's start with the first part of that. When
I was watching this, I was like, oh my gosh,
this is a runaway hit. I watched this twice and
I was so excited to get to watch it again,
and I was like, I'm gonna watch this multiple times
this season. I rarely think that, simply because we have
so much holiday content to get through with this. It's
not like I didn't like that movie enough to watch
it again. It's like, I'm probably not going to make
(11:55):
the time I am going to read this. I agree
could be the best movie of the use. That's a
big statement. It is. As recording October twenty seventh, I
know it could be the it really. I mean, it's
gonna be hard to beat it haul out the Halloween,
huge runaway hit.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
In my mind, this like out of the Park, Grand
Slam on World Series Weekend time.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
By the way, wend Yes, I was smiling as I
was watching this. We love some calm in our rom
and Russell brings the calm. Yeah, but you know also
brings the calm. Robert Buckley. Robert Buckley is this whole cast,
This whole cast. The pairing of Robert Buckley with Brendan
(12:42):
Penny is so good. It's so good. Brendan Penny is
the arrogant newscaster. His final line, he goes, I'm gonna
have to sell my boat. I laughed out loud. I've
seen three times. I laughed out loud every single time.
I made you rewatch it this morning. Yeah, I was like, my.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
Favorite line here, we have to watch it again, Like okay, yeah,
I love their sparring at the top of this movie
where they're like on the news, and then when there's
scene ends and he makes a comment about Ken's hair
not being his own, I just was like, wow, we
(13:19):
went there.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Your hair looks so good you almost can't even tell
it's fake. And he just keeps walking out and Brendan's.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Like, what the cut? Deep is so good. It was
the perfect amount of it. It wasn't just a cameo.
It carried it through from beginning to end. It's so good.
They're like brotherly energy, like just kind of mean enough
to each other. Yeah, exactly exactly. I want to talk though.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
I really when I think of Robert Buckley, not Junior,
he doesn't come I wouldn't initially like immediately be like,
oh he's a funny guy, right, But I feel he's
got some comedy chops about him. He is so good
in this movie. The delivery, the timing, the self deprecating
(14:08):
humor in this it was all pitch perfect to me.
There is an effortless charm that is there that reminds
me every time I watch him.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
I go, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He's one of
hallmarks funny guys. We just need more of it. We
need more.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
I'm going to talk a little bit later about it,
but we just need more of that energy I do
in my life.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Me too. Ruth Mittens, Yeah, Ruth Mittens, mis Mittens. She
might be my favorite homeworks I kick of the season.
We're three movies in she says you can call me Ruth. Actually,
you can call me anytime you like. And then when
he says, like easy, there're Mittens. It made me laugh
every single freaking time. I'm hurt ted, I'm not blind.
(14:55):
She's so good. And then the addition of the Lackawanna Walkers,
the Soul Sisters a gift, like they take him shopping.
He's like, oh, they had me to the group chat.
Oh my god, can I tell you a funny story?
Speaker 2 (15:07):
I laughed out loud when I saw this, this walking
group of mature ladies and their soul sister.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Is that what they're called soul sisters? Yes?
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Recently say a similar walking group in my neighborhood, who
were also wearing matches show their name is street Walkers
love three walkers on their shirts.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
I want to join their group. I know, I really,
I would like my own matching track suit.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Look, I thought all that stuff was so funny, so
well executed. When they show up to the Christmas party
and they're dressed like mean girls from the christ.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
I don't know if you caught that. I don't think
I did.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
They're dressed up like the four who do the mean
girls like Santa dance.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Santa dance. Yeah, I didn't notice. I didn't notice. Look,
there may be Soul Sister's merch coming to a girl's
gone Hallmark shop. I love it, so let's do it.
Let's do it.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
One of my favorite things about this, and you touch
on it briefly, but I loved how they cut back
to the new station, like this running gag throughout the
entire movie of everybody keeping tabs on Ted's accidents and
like where they were on their like bedding. I thought
that was so funny. I thought it was so clever.
It just added a lot of layers to why we
(16:29):
would care about Ted's accidents. It wasn't just like, oh,
Ted's accident prone and that's just like an overarch, Like
everybody was invested in it.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
I loved it, loved it, loved it. Yeah, they landed
the plane on that bit one hundred percent. The representation
in this movie did not go unnoticed, and it's done
in a way that I would like to see it
done in every movie. We have a wheelchair user as
one of Hope's besties, we have patient communicating via There's
(17:01):
a decent amount of racial diversity in the movie. This
makes the stories richer and they are incidental to the
story Hopes. Besty could have been anybody, and the fact
that she just happens to be a woman who uses
a wheelchair, it's not part of the narrative, no at all.
That's what that's how it should exist. It's not like
(17:22):
this is a movie about a person who uses a
mobility a It's like, this is Hope's bestie who happens
to get around differently than you do. Yeah, the end,
I just it's good. It's good, super appreciate it. Can
I talk about my favorite emotional moment? Yes, I cried
in this movie. I cried. I cried. Do you cry
(17:43):
when Ted asks her out via ASL? No?
Speaker 2 (17:46):
I did not, But I did love that scene though
with he asked around.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Via I got very and she signs back your cue.
Such a touching moment they look talking about landing the plane.
There are multiple hallbacks that are so good. It wasn't
just like, oh, there's this patient that uses ASL. It's
Ted learns that Hope knows ASL because her father was deaf,
and then he shows up and has this really meaningful
moment it asks out, Yeah, it was good. It was good.
(18:16):
Here's the scene where I cried. They go to the
bar where they're gonna get the burgers.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Right, It's like they come in. He goes, let me
go get let me go get us some beers, which
I loved because if you don't follow Russell on Instagram,
you're missing out. But he likes a good beer, and
I was like, oh, I wonder if this is somehow
connected here. Anyway, he goes, let me go get some
Christmas ale and he goes to the bar and she
goes and sits down, and he turns around and looks
at her from across the room, and the music swells,
(18:42):
and oh my god, I get choked up.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Me too. I was like, wait, what is looked at
each so good? It's it's it gives the we like
each other. Something's happening here. It was they just and
she kind of looks away. Oh my gosh, I have chills.
I also thought I thought it was a real nice
pairing of sweet and humor. When Hope's trying to open
up about losing her dad, as Ted's face is rapidly
(19:05):
swelling and his throat is closing due to his allergic reactions,
and it is the perfect exemplification of him not wanting
to inconvenience people. There's a lot of good things in
the relationship between Hope and Ted that I liked, a
lot of things. We don't see a lot. We have
the misunderstanding. And as Hope realizes that they've had a misunderstanding,
(19:26):
she races to his house and confronts him about it
and is like, this is what I thought, and this
is what I heard, and these are why I thought this.
I love that, but even more in that moment, she
says to him, advocating for yourself isn't an imposition? Needle
point that on a pillow. Yeah, it was great. It's
a great line because I am not like Ted and
(19:46):
that I am a bright sider. I'm very much not
a bright sider, but I am like Ted in that.
It is one of my biggest nightmares to think that
I am imposing on somebody. Yeah, and I will almost
every time choose a path that might potentially make my
life harder if there's a chance that makes someone else's
life easier. Right, And I needed to hear advocating for
(20:08):
yourself as in an imposition. I liked that line.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
I really That scene was incredible. It was incredible. We
watched it back this morning too. When she tells Ted
that he's surface, I my heart broke in that moment.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Oh, it was so good. And he's just quiet. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
We haven't talked about the brother Sister dynamic. No shout
out Megan heffern She's great in this. I really like
her in a lot of other roles too, like she's.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
In the We just talked about it. I can't remember
gone but not forgotten. Guys, this is a mystery lane.
Oh yeah, Oh my God.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Anyway, I enjoy her quite a bit. I thought they
were great in this. It's part teasing, part love like
it nails adults at Christmas time. I you know, adult
siblings at Christmas time.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
I loved it.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
I loved all the poking and teasing, loved all of that.
I loved several moments in terms of writing the whole
classic misunderstanding, where like Miss Mittens was like, oh, this
is a classic misunderstanding.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
It's felt very.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Meta, like this is like, okay, Hallmark fans, we see you,
like we know that the Hallmark movies have been built
on classic misunderstandings.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
I thought it was great.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
There was also a personal fave. There's a Liam nian
line in this movie from one of my favorite Liam
Nison movies called Taken, and it comes from Bestie Sidney
where she was talking.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
About how she has skills.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
She says, and this is a very famous leam Nison quote,
I have a very particular set of skills and like
it goes dot dot dot. I know you've heard me
reference more than once good luck. Do you know what
I'm talking about? No, I think I'd say at home
a lot. But it's this conversation in this liambay movie.
The movie, it's one of my favorites. It's one of
(22:06):
my favorite It's terrifying.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
It is terrifying. That's why I could only watch it
the one time. But Liam Neeson is fantastic.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
He kicks ass in this movie. And this is where
he comes.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
He's light.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
The guy on the other end of the phone is
like threatening him, and then Liam Neeson goes into this
whole thing.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Like I have a very particular set of skills, basically.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
Like I'm going to come and get you. And then
the guy goes good luck. And so I always say
good luck to like a lot of people anyway, maybe.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Not to you. Anyway. I loved it. I loved it.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
I love the Taylor swift eras tor mentions in that
I love a pop cultural reference. Thank you to Russell Hanline.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
So I was prepping my notes and I posted on
one of the many social media so it's Blue Sky.
I think. I was like, I'm trying to come up
with a list of lines that made me laugh out loud,
and my list is so long. I said, Russell, how
about you just send us a script. We'll do a
live read on Girls Coming.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Oh my god, because my list was so long, but
I just need to share some memorable lines.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Well please, women cannot handle the hustle and grind of datium.
Meteorologist Ted calling his burger Mayo forward, Yes, yes, Ted,
and Hope. She's telling him five things about herself and
she's like, like romance novels and I like ramen.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
And he's like, what kind of spice level? And she's like,
you know pg thirteen? He goes, I meant the ramen,
not the books.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Great, not a line, but simply Kate. At the holiday
party when Hope shows up and she walks into the
background head to toe buddy the Elf, I laughed out loud.
The Mark Harmon even smelled handsome. Oh my god, Mark
Harmon loved it. I also love the escape room. Oh yeah,
(23:42):
that was fun. Have you done an escape room? I have?
First of all, I loved Brendan because one of my
least for parts about the escape room is when the
escape room employee has to get into character and be
like an art heist has occurred and you need to
find the culprit before it locks you in the room.
Are you embarrassed for them a little bit? Okay? Mostly
because I'm no fun hm. So when Brennan was like,
(24:06):
you are Sanna's else, it just made me laugh. I
thought it was a great take on escape rooms. I
also thought the escape room itself, production wise well done. Yeah,
when the bear sinks into the box, I was like, hey,
look at that. They spent a little money in this space.
I thought it was a fun idea. I thought it
was well executed. I agree, well, let've talk wishes. I
(24:27):
have just one y.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
It's not even, it's not even. It's about commentary. I
read about the movie. Oh okay. I don't remember where
I saw it at, but somebody commented that they thought
Ted's bright siding would also be annoying.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
Oh. I saw that on our Instagram and I just
feel for me.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
Personally, life right now is dark. It's hard, it's sad,
it's rough for a lot of people, and I think
it's refreshing to have somebody who is joyful and who
can bright side. I need more Ted Cooper.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
I need more Ted Cooper too. I was thinking about
their misunderstanding and I thought, how nice to have someone
who when Hope shows up to clear up the misunderstanding,
he's like, oh, that's what happens, and She's like, don't
you have more to say about that? He's like, well,
it's over, like you're here, like we're good. Yeah, why
would I dwell on? Okay, you ran away and you hid,
but now we've worked through that, Like why are we
(25:33):
gonna okay, let's be happy about it?
Speaker 2 (25:35):
I know, I feel like because I think we're so
accustomed to like and then that leads to a fight
and like a bigger or a bigger misunderstanding. And I
just was like, okay, yeah, what's a surface, But it's okay.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
Sometimes that's okay. Y. Yes, I did think she was
right to push back on you should advocate for yourself more.
But that is really my only wish because I do
think Hope maybe is a little bit too frustrated that
he's not willing to get up. And I think those
are two different things. Like I wanted Ted to advocate
for himself. Pick the job that you want, not because
some person gave you a job at one time. I
(26:09):
wanted that for him too, But I really feel like
she pushes a little bit too hard into wanting him
to be like, well, let's fight about this, so let's
get mad about this. And I really love Sydney's Oh no,
a handsome, gainfully employed man in a good mood. I
loved that. Yeah, to kind of bring her back to
(26:30):
where she made it to be. Also, I want to
say this is not a knock against the script at all,
but the limo scene packed with people blaring music when
you get in.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
I was like, this is an absolute nightmare. And my
husband's like, wow, just a party of mi in and
over there.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
And I was like, hashtag no fun. It's well known.
I mean I wouldn't want to get in. I love this.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Ted's like, yeah, crank it up right Like that wouldn't
be me. I'd be like, oh my god, Christmas music.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
Stop right. If you order an uber and it shows
up with six people blaring music, I cancel it right there,
like duck and roll. Don't even stop. Just slow down
a little bit. I don't know who you're looking to
pick up. That's not me. Let's talk. Did you see that? Okay?
I have a few. Okay.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
My first one is Ted's parking job. Oh, when he
locks his keys and his phone in his car. There's
an overhead shot and Ted's car is parked in between
two parking spaces.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Oh, he's straddling the line. Yeah. Oh, Ted, I was like,
that's so funny that that's like where there's no other
cars in the lot, he is in between like two
parking stalls. I wonder if there was some filming logistical
reasons of that. Perhaps When Ted and Hope go on
their first pub date pre date, Ted had been shopping
with the ladies with the Soul sisters and they're like,
(27:49):
I don't know, in a coffee shop or a restaurant together,
and Hope walks in. Ted is still in his pinks,
which we haven't even talked about the wardrobe. Ted's commitment
such a great bit that he's wearing the clothes. And
also one of my comments was like, how does he
look good in a sorority sweatshirt and his own jacket,
Like he look good in that outfit.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
Yeah, but he's still in that sorority sweatshirt.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
In the moment when Hope comes in, they leave, they
they leave the ladies, they walk, He's like, I need
to drop this stuff off of my car. Commercial break,
next scene they're in the pub, he's in like a
nice cablenit sweater. Oh. And then as we were watching,
I was like, when did he change and I had
to rewind. There's when did he change? Maybe in the
(28:32):
car he just rips off that sweatshirt and he's like,
I it look good for Hope.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
We missed a shirtless Yeah, Robert, we did we get
a shirtless street change?
Speaker 1 (28:41):
Yeah? The scene that got cut and he's like, maybe
I should get out of the sorority somebody way in.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (28:46):
Is that on the cutting room floor? Our email is
girls Gone homework at gmail dot com. Question for you
when he grabs the wrong suitcase where you're like, uh oh,
here we're going with this? Yeah, And it was so
perfectly execute because he's like, I'm just gonna wear this
crop sweater. Yeah, so good. Loved it.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
One of the scenes we didn't talk about is just
here the ring camera footage of a camp practicing his
phone calls to Hope and the sister watching it.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
Chef's kiss Perfection. Can I tell you one of the
most embarrassing moments of my life. When I was in college,
we had a like an we could send robocalls basically
like if you were like in an organization you need
to be like, hey, folks, we have a meeting whatever,
Like you could send it straight to voicemail, and I
was the director of an organization and would send them
(29:35):
regularly to my committee and I would re record them,
and one time it wasn't erasing the re record, so
I sent probably a seven minute message that goes, hey special,
Hey special, Hey special, games commit like I have not
(30:01):
forgotten it.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
If the nineteen ninety nine Special Gang Committee is out
there and you remember the robo call that wouldn't quit,
that's me.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
Oh audio editing is your brand? Oh my godness. And
the worst part is this is pre cell phone ubiquity.
Like a lot of people I knew didn't even have
cell phones, and it wasn't something we used. So these
were going to their on campus telephones that you shared
with your roommates. Oh so we didn't even have like
our own voicemail. It would be like there was one
(30:35):
voicemail because you had one phone number, right, so the roommates.
I vividly remember one of the guy's roommates who happened
to be probably the most well known person on campus
because he was this tall, handsome volleyball player who then
went on to play in the Olympics twice. And I
(30:57):
heard that person's feedback on that message. Oh my god,
the humiliation thirty years later still lives. Oh my god,
that is so funny. So I definitely I thought I
was afraid that was was gonna happen, that all of
those messages were going to go through. The trauma is real.
There's two Brendans in the movie. What There's a Brendan
(31:19):
at the escape room and then the guy who loves
the heiress tour, the producer, the camera guy. I thought
name's Brendan too.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
I thought the guy in the escape room was named Russell.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
Oh. They say it over and over. They say Brendan,
like at the escape room.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
It seems to me that it would be kind of
weird where there are two characters of the name Brendan.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
That's why I put it in my notes, his name
is Brendan. You also did not feel well this weekend,
so I really didn't. But I'm why would I have
thought there were two Brendans.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
You were just so taken by a Brendan Penny in
this movie, and Penny.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
Well, welcome to escape rooms his workshop. Okay, Brendan, So
now go to the end. The cameraman, what's his name? Hi,
I'm Sydney. Brendan Brandon. Who's Russell.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
I don't know, there's no Okay, maybe I'm confused about that.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
So there's Brendan and Brandon. That's confusing. My fault.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
You say you watched This Life? Did you fast forward
through commercials if you watched it unfriendly?
Speaker 1 (32:27):
Yes? Okay.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
There was a Hallmark Keepsake ornament commercial, oh, which I
don't think I've ever seen before during a Hallmark movie.
Usually it's like Balsom Hill or whatever. And didn't we
learn earlier this year that Hallmark was trying to marry
like the Hallmark movies and the ornaments like together.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
I think staffing wise. Yes, Oh, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
I just I've never seen a Hallmark Keepsake ornament commercial
before during a movie.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Oh. Interesting, I don't Yeah, that's all I play. The
Hallmark counted on a Christmas seepstakes, I'll do you and I.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
Never went anything, but they often give away Hallmark keeps
It ornaments, Hallmark decor.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
I gotta tell you.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
My husband to order the Lacey Schebert ornament for his brother.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
We have spent quite a bit of money on Hallmark
ornaments this year because they have a Gilmore Girls line
and my daughter is newly into Gilmore Girls, so we
bought the gazebo and they also have a Gilmore Girl's collection.
We bought the little, the tiny, little lore Line Rory
stuffed animals. They have a Gilmore Girl's lounge fly that
is so freaking cute. Yeah again not an ad but
(33:38):
no call us. Uh yeah. Also, my son really loves
the Pokemon character Piplup and I was I was like,
he doesn't have a piplup ornament and my husband's like, oh,
good call. And I googled it. There was a Hallmark
keep saying pip plup ornament A couple of years ago.
Found a new in box one on Poshmark Nice for twelve.
(34:00):
It definitely costs more than that in store when it
came out, I'm sure. And it has arrived at my
house and it is in approximation. Yeah, good thing. My
son doesn't listen to a Girl's Cone homework. One last
did you see that? Thank you to listener and Facebook
group moderator Mackie, who emailed us that in the original
airing of this movie, writer Russell Hainline's name was spelled
(34:20):
with just one L, and we do know from our
interview with him that He's like, everyone does that. He goes,
there's no Russell's with one l Russell Crowe two els. Yeah,
he says it happens all the time, right. She messaged
director Jason Borg and as it is currently streaming now,
it has been corrected Russell with two els. Yeah. I
noticed it when too, when I was watching the movie. Yeah,
(34:42):
you mentioned it, and then as I was watching, I
was like, it's done twice. Yeah, one right back to back.
So Maggie, good for looking out. You're a good person
getting that corrected. Russell, you have Maggie to think for
that correction. Although maybe you messaged. He's like director Borg
as well, my name is fe wrong. Yeah twice. Hey, Wendy,
(35:03):
I don't think I need to ask. What did you
rate Merry Christmas? Ted Cooper?
Speaker 2 (35:07):
Five freaking stars by freaking stars.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
One last question. It's time for the smoochometer.
Speaker 3 (35:14):
Oh you know I've.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
Been wanting to make those images. Yeah, I know, it's
on my list. It's on the list, Smoocha meter.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
Trying to remember the scene it's on camera. You know
it was good? It was Is it a ten? Flaming lips?
I you give it a good eight and a half oh,
I give it a nine okay, eight and a half
nine flaming lips for the Smoochimeter. Hey, thank you for
listening to this episode of Girls Gone Hamewark, a Bramble
Jam podcast. If you love this podcast, it's not too late.
(35:48):
It is never too late to leave us a five
star rating and review in the Apple Podcast app, and
we'll be back next time with more Hallmark reviews. Goodbye, bye.
(36:08):
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 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
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