GAC Family review: What Hallmark used to be for the better

 

Now that all the new Christmas movies have aired, I figured this was the perfect time for a real review of this channel. This may also be the only positive review you might read of this channel because I'm not a leftist critic. 😂 Here we go...

Back in early 2014, I only watched Hallmark for 'Little House on the Prairie' reruns (back when Hallmark aired them in the afternoon). Then the holiday season arrived, and I kept seeing ads for 'Countdown to Christmas', and got curious.

My very 1st Hallmark Christmas movie was 'When Angels come to Town', and it was on Hallmark Movies and Mysteries. And well, it was love at first sight.

After that, I started spending 4 to 8 hours a day watching movies on both channels. (My family didn't get a DVR until 2016). The new Christmas movie lineup from 2014 is what gave me my very high standards for Christmas movies, and what made me fall in love with Hallmark. (Try finding their movies from 2014 and way before, on DVD, they're soooooooo good!!).

For the next 6 years, I'd not only look at Hallmark as the very high standard for Christmas movies, and year round seasonal movies, while also occasionally checking out the 'competition' on Lifetime and ION Television.

And then Hallmark decided to go woke with sneaking in gay couples in a few of their movies last year. That's when my feelings for Hallmark started to drop.

I used to try and watch the new Christmas movies in 1 or 2 days, but now, I just let them sit on the DVR for days (Plus, it's really clogged now, so...), and I even delete them when someone who watches Hallmark movies says that there was a gay couple snuck in. Because I have no interest in throwing support in sneaking in gay couples in an attempt to 'evolve', No matter how cute the movie may look. I may have put up with it with last year's movies, but not anymore!! (The 'Sister Swap' movies and 'Every Time a Bell Rings' looked really good from their descriptions for this year, but alas, they involve gay couples. Sad, real sad.).

It's not just the bad attempt to go woke that's making my feelings decline either. Past couple of years, since maybe 2018 or 19, the new Christmas movies have been starting to look, bleh. Sure, there's still a few standouts that I'd love to own on DVD, but that's kind of it. This year, I can only think of maybe 2 or 3 new movies of theirs that I'd like to own. (Plus, Lacey Chabert and Candace Cameron Bure's new movies didn't even really interest me this year, and I love these 2 ladies and their movies!), (Not to mention, there hasn't been a new Hallmark Hall of Fame movie since 2019).

Plus, the 2 channels aren't showing most of their older movies so much anymore. 2 years ago, their 3rd channel, Hallmark Drama, aired a bunch of their older movies, but I have yet to see 1 older movie on there this year. (Not to mention, I haven't seen the 'Finding Father Christmas' trilogy airing anywhere this year!). I can name 2 older movies, 'Christmas festival of Ice' and 'Ice Sculpture Christmas', that I haven't seen reaired on any Hallmark channel in the few years since they first aired! I had to buy 1 of them on DVD just so I could rewatch it last year!

I love their older movies, but these newer movies haven't really impressed me in a 'I want this on DVD' way, especially with the politics being snuck in with casting.

Then GAC Family came around this year, and so far, I have been beyond impressed with their movies! There's several that I want to own on DVD next year! With Hallmark, there's only like 3 or 4 new Christmas movies of theirs that I'm really interested in owning.

I first heard of GAC Family back in September before the rebrand took place when I heard of a jerky Hallmark fan complaining about how 'bigoted' the network would be. That's when I knew I had to take a look at it. Because these days, anything that makes conservative-hating liberals so angry sounds good to me! :)

After watching a couple of charming older movies from different studios, and the network's 1st original movie An Autumn Romance, I knew that this was a network worth sticking with. No politics infused with plots or casting, just good clean fun! And their Christmas line up for this year? It reminded me of how amazing Hallmark used to be back when I first started watching their movies, which is a very good thing. (Plus, the ads that are aired during the breaks aren't that bad. I'm pretty sure Hallmark still occasionally airs that disgusting Uber Eats ad. 🤢)

The promos for the movies themselves are pretty basic, aside from maybe an extended trailer here and there. Which isn't bad, because being basic can be a good thing. Hallmark's ads for their movies are sometimes good, but their promos for their Christmas movies this year? Very bland IMO. I loved the couple of years when they played 'All I want for Christmas is You' in their Countdown to Christmas trailers.

GAC has a bright future ahead of it, as long as it sticks with it's family friendly values, which I'm confident at the moment that it will.

Don't miss the channel's first new 2022 movie: The Winter Palace, premieres January 8th at 8 pm EST! (Saw a promo for it last night and it looks really good!)