Now listen people, I don’t fangirl much. At least, I don’t think I do. Sure, I’m a huge fan of some folks, and have my obligatory fake boyfriend list, but I don’t consider myself a “fangirl” in a typical sense.
Lin Manuel-Miranda comes to mind, if only because his mind is approaching musical genius levels.
Colin Firth comes to mind because he played Mr. Darcy in 1995 and all bets (and waistcoats) were off after that.
Fictional character Peter Kavinsky, who I have opined about on my another site, is a fictional character over whom I 100% fangirl.
Now, in real life I’ve made no secret of the fact that I love Hallmark movies. I may not have talked about it much on my original blog, but let the record reflect: I LOVE HALLMARK MOVIES. I love that they are sweet, and innocent, and wholesome, and family friendly, and good old-fashioned romantic. They are the decided opposite of most of what you find on TV nowadays. As such, I watch Hallmark movies all throughout the year (although for some reason I was not a fan of their “June wedding” series of movies this year).
A few years ago I watched what has become my all-time favorite Hallmark movie: “Love on the Air.” Starring the Princess of Hallmark, Alison Sweeney (Candace Cameron Bure being Queen), it was a fun non-holiday related Hallmark movie about two dueling radio talk show hosts who become friends despite their differences. I loved Alison’s chemistry with her co-star, Jonathan Scarfe, and thought that some of their interactions were really well done (and well-written in that many of their conversations were more natural than some schlocky dialogue that Hallmark tends to have). Sure, the movie has a ton of weird plot holes and side notes that made no sense, but I DON’T CARE. I love that movie. It is permanently saved on my Tivo.
Since I was charmed by Jonathan Scarfe in that movie, I started following his work, and so the next year when he came out with a Hallmark movie called “The Dater’s Handbook,” I knew I’d watch it. But what I discovered was that my new favorite Hallmark guy was the OTHER guy in “The Dater’s Handbook,” Kris Polaha. “Dater’s Handbook” was another Hallmark movie that had fun, snappy dialogue. It was during a scene revolving around an old iPod they were using at the gym that I realized that I was going to really like this movie, and really liked the guy playing Robert (the aforementioned Polaha).
Hallmark Podcasts
So now’s the time we come to my next wonderful Hallmark discovery. Last week, a friend of mine posted on Facebook about a friend of his doing a podcast all about Hallmark movies. The podcast is called “Deck the Hallmark” and features three guys – one who loves Hallmark Christmas movies, one who likes them, and one who despises them (my friend’s friend is Grumpy Dan, the one that hates Hallmark Christmas movies). They have committed themselves to watching all 37 Hallmark Christmas movies this year, and recording their thoughts and feelings on each and every movie.
You guys. YOU GUYS! I binge-listened to all of their episodes in three days, and have not laughed that hard in a long time. We’re only 4-5 movies into the 2018 Hallmark Christmas season and I already think Grumpy Dan’s head is going to explode. He has said many times he’s not sure he’ll make it to the end of the movie season, and I tend to agree with him. *lol* What I love is that they pick apart the movies in fine detail – commenting on things I’ve noticed and wondered about, but also catching things I completely missed. And it’s all hilarious and wonderful and the perfect addition to my Hallmark Christmas holiday season. If you do nothing as a result of this post, AT LEAST go find their podcast and give it a listen. You won’t regret it.
How Awesome is Kris Polaha
But let’s go back to Kris Polaha for a moment. After the very first episode of “Deck the Hallmark” was released, somehow the podcast guys got in touch with the lead actor of the first movie they reviewed, an entry from 2017 called “Rocky Mountain Christmas.” The actor agreed to go on their second episode to dissect and answer some questions about the movie. The actor? Kris Polaha. And it was during that episode that I became an even bigger fan of his – he had a light and generosity and humility about him that completely charmed me (turns out he is a born-again Christian, which might explain some of that as well). On Sunday while I was running production at church I had a break between services and hopped onto Twitter, where I told the podcast guys that I binge-listened to their entire series to date and now loved Hallmark movies even more, and was also now a bigger fan of Kris Polaha. I tagged the actor in that tweet just for fun.
After the third service at church was over, I hopped back onto Twitter and saw that someone had liked a couple of my Tweets that had links to my blog posts (they are automatically uploaded into my Twitter feed when I post them). That person? KRIS POLAHA. He even commented back on Twitter about a post on my regular blog about getting ready for Christmas!
You guys. YOU GUYS! That 100% made my day. And has made me 100% a fangirl of Kris Polaha.
So watch your Hallmark movies, people. Look for Kris Polaha in his 2018 entry, “Small Town Christmas,” which airs on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries on December 16. And then listen to the “Deck the Hallmark” podcast for all the hilarious commentary and questions that Brandon, Panda and Grumpy Dan have to share. It’ll make this Christmas all that much more special. You can count on it.
