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The future of Hallmark Channel?

C

carolinaradio

I've scratched the surface of this channel a couple of times on the thread about poorly performing cable channels, but this one might deserve its own thread.

What's the future of the "Home" block on Hallmark now that Martha has been axed? The whole block was built around her show and she, to my knowledge, controlled that time period (10am-3pm, at first it was way longer).

More interestingly -- what is the future of Hallmark Channel? They said in 2010 that the network needed Martha and the demographics that she would bring to keep the network afloat, nearly, IIRC. Their issue wasn't necessarily low viewership (although that could be a problem, who knows), but an older audience. They've come a long way in the past few years, replacing shows like "Perry Mason", "M*A*S*H", "Matlock", "Murder She Wrote", and various older dramas and dramatic movies with lighter sitcoms such as "The Golden Girls", "Frasier", ''Mary Tyler Moore", etc. 'Little House' and "The Waltons" are the big mainstays . Still, I'd venture to guess that the channel still gets an older audience than most other cable nets, which they may not like.

I'm not a regular Hallmark viewer (I did watch "Who's The Boss" and "Empty Nest" when they aired them last year, though), but it would be kinda sad if something eventually happened to them. They still have some...class, unlike so many of the other cable networks out there these days. At times, INSP seems like it's turning in to the "old" Hallmark, sans the crime material.
 
Back last December, Charter moved Hallmark Channel from expanded basic to digital cable. It went from where pretty much anyone could watch it, to where only people who pay extra for a digital cable box can watch it.
 
I think they did that with ABC Family around here, as well. That's becoming a pretty gradual process.

Forgot to add that Discovery owns 50% of Hallmark (as they do in OWN and The Hub).
 
Marie Osmond will host a daytime talk show in the fall on Hallmark.
 
Before you know it, Hallmark will give that family-friendly figure known as "The Octomom" her own show. Then we can start talking about the network's "future"...
 
Couldn't the Hallmark Channel picked a much better time slot for both Mary Tyler Moore and Bob Newhart than rerunning them while people are asleep? I would do something like TV Land is doing and doing double dips of shows in the mornings and placing Mary and Bob in those slots instead of endless reruns of Golden Girls and the food/talk shows that Hallmark is running now.

Hallmark could also get a hold of the rights to Newhart, Three's Company (when TV Land's contract expires), Rhoda, Phyllis and even Lou Grant and also cut back on their talk shows to at least a couple of hours a day. At least that is what I would do if I was Hallmark.
 
I've usually watched Hallmark when they've had MASH and Cheers. I'd watch MTM and Bob Newhart if they were on at times when I wasn't working or asleep. I agree that if they could get more MTM shows, especially Newhart (80's) and WKRP it would be good.

If Discovery owns half of Hallmark (Something I didn't know) why couldn't they combine the retro shows that they have on Hallmark and The Hub into a retro TV channel that could take on TV Land or be like a cable version of ME TV? But I'd prefer less of the Waltons and Little House and more sitcoms.
 
One can tune to 'I Love Lucy' or 'Golden Girls' and easily get into it, no matter if one was born in the 70s or earlier, 80s or even 90s, whereas MTM and Newhart are nice, but feel more from the era that they were aired- in my opinion. Also Me-TV currently airs them primetime and is gaining national exposure via it's affiliates, so the shows do have more exposure again now than 5 years ago.

As for Hallmark, I think it's signature thing are the Hallmark movies and miniseries. They are light, family but female oriented (but not victim centric like Lifetime). Perhaps they'd rename the Hallmark channel to the Hallmark Gold Crown channel eventually which is similar to the retail side. It has its own sister channel, Hallmark Movie Channel, as well.
 
The Hallmark channel is not available in Canada.
I trust Canadians are not missing much?
 
Yeziknoradio said:
I trust Canadians are not missing much?
Click to expand...
Not unless you enjoy cheesy telefilms that are birthed at the rate of rabbits, and sitcom reruns that are hacked to bits (their latest acquisitions, The Bob Newhart Show and The Mary Tyler Moore Show, air with their iconic opening credit sequences cut out).

As for Martha, I think she'd have been better off keeping her show in syndication (was it in danger of being canceled?) or going to HGTV.
 
AKA said:
Not unless you enjoy cheesy telefilms that are birthed at the rate of rabbits, and sitcom reruns that are hacked to bits (their latest acquisitions, The Bob Newhart Show and The Mary Tyler Moore Show, air with their iconic opening credit sequences cut out).
Click to expand...

I don't have cable at the moment (and quite frankly don't miss it...Houston has a good number of OTA + sub channels to keep what little I devote to series TV satisfied).

That being said, I watched Hallmark quite frequently when I had cable in Great Falls, MT...especially once they picked up "Golden Girls." Then they picked up "Frasier" and good gods the first few months were madness. They had the excellent idea of "squeezeboxing" (for promo announcements) the end credits of a show that filled that time with a nod to silent films! It didn't take long for them to drop the practice, which I can only hope was spurred by numerous complaints.
 
AKA said:
Yeziknoradio said:
I trust Canadians are not missing much?
Click to expand...
Not unless you enjoy cheesy telefilms that are birthed at the rate of rabbits, and sitcom reruns that are hacked to bits (their latest acquisitions, The Bob Newhart Show and The Mary Tyler Moore Show, air with their iconic opening credit sequences cut out).

As for Martha, I think she'd have been better off keeping her show in syndication (was it in danger of being canceled?) or going to HGTV.
Click to expand...
Hallmark's movies actually used to be pretty good. Then when they started making a new one literally every week, they went seriously downhill to the point where they weren't really worth watching. The older movies from the mid 2000s, especially those focusing on crime and mystery, could be quite interesting. Those are now found on HMC.

I forgot ALL about the Marie Osmond thing. I don't think it will do really well, but who knows. Most of the 'Daytime' programming they've come up with has been terrible. "Whatever With Alexis and Jennifer" was possibly one of the worst things I'd ever seen. Hallmark didn't like the price tag for Martha's show; to my understanding, that's the main reason it was axed.

As far as the scheduling with Bob Newhart and MTM goes, there really wasn't much room for them. The best place to put them, during the day, is occupied with the home block from 10am-3pm....The Waltons and LHOTP have a very loyal following (any time they move them, there's a huge backlash), and Frasier and Golden Girls do well for them apparently. Every time they pull Golden Girls from mornings there's a backlash...they tried Bob Newhart there before. That just leaves 1-5am, really.
 
carolinaradio said:
Forgot to add that Discovery owns 50% of Hallmark (as they do in OWN and The Hub).
Click to expand...

Interesting. Link please? I'm not finding anything on Discoverying owning 50% of Hallmark
 
MTM and Newhart are on 3 networks nationally: Me-TV, Hallmark, and FamilyNet. That's pretty good exposure currently.
 
ding12 said:
MTM and Newhart are on 3 networks nationally: Me-TV, Hallmark, and FamilyNet. That's pretty good exposure currently.
Click to expand...

The Bob Newhart Show is on ME-TV. I don't think Newhart is on ME-TV.
 
wncc said:
ding12 said:
MTM and Newhart are on 3 networks nationally: Me-TV, Hallmark, and FamilyNet. That's pretty good exposure currently.
Click to expand...

The Bob Newhart Show is on ME-TV. I don't think Newhart is on ME-TV.
Click to expand...
I think ding12 was just abbreviating Bob Newhart Show as 'Newhart.'

I notice that Hallmark Movie Channel is airing scripted series lately, like Mister Ed, Perry Mason, and Murder She Wrote - IMO, that'd be a good place for Hallmark to put its older series like Lucy, MTM, and Bob Newhart that don't do particularly well for them, or they don't have room for at a decent hour. It beats the heck out of a lot of those movies...
 
MarcB said:
Hallmark has pulled the plug on MTM and The Bob Newhart Show. Hallmark Movie Channel has pulled the plug on Mr. Ed.

http://blog.sitcomsonline.com/2012/04/hallmark-channel-schedule-changes.html
Click to expand...
Hate to find out. Mr. Ed was a strange fit on HMC, though, so it might not have done well.

Bob and Mary would have been great shows for mornings or early afternoons, but that's impossible due to the deal they currently have with Martha (her programming ties 10am-3pm up)
Since they don't want to mess with Frasier, Golden Girls, Waltons, or Little House, it's difficult for them to add/schedule new shows. The good thing about Hallmark, though, is that they usually bring a show back after they pull it, for a marathon or whatever - so maybe we haven't seen the last of Bob and Mary on Hallmark.
 
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