Amahl and the Night Visitors

Hallmark Hall of Fame

Away and Back

Hallmark Hall of Fame

The Magic of Ordinary Days

Hallmark Hall of Fame

Miss Rose White

Hallmark Hall of Fame

Riding the Bus with My Sister

Hallmark Hall of Fame

Sarah, Plain & Tall

Hallmark Hall of Fame

The Last Valentine

Hallmark Hall of Fame
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Fill 1
December 08, 2016
Features

The Originals

With so many new outlets touting high-quality originals, the folks (and, yes, it’s that kind of business) at Hallmark Hall of Fame are entitled to a chuckle.

Liane Bonin Starr

In its 65 years of programming,the Hallmark Hall of Fame anthology series has served up a smorgasbord of classy entertainment — Shakespeare, adaptations of esteemed films, original operas, even documentaries.

What has remained consistent, however, is a focus on quality content that doesn’t include nudity, meth labs, automatic weaponry or f -bombs splattering all over the action.

Still, when even the broadcast networks push the envelope of family friendliness in the eight o’clock hour and R-rated naughtiness runs amok on basic cable, a commitment to family friendliness can seem old-fashioned at best, perilous at worst. Instead of changing with the times, however, Hallmark Hall of Fame is doubling down.

Leaning on strong brand recognition and a company-wide commitment to quality that eschews edginess for happier vibes, the brand is betting there’s still an audience for good stories sans rating advisories.

“Our beliefs and values were articulated by my grandfather and father over the years and have shaped the foundation of our company for more than 100 years,” says Don Hall, chief executive officer of Hallmark, Inc.

“It’s always been Hallmark’s goal to provide great storytelling in a manner that’s appealing and appropriate to the widest audience possible — programming that all ages can enjoy together or alone. We provide an escape from the daily news headlines and a chance to celebrate life’s special moments and relationships.”

That aw-shucks slogan about caring enough to send the very best? It goes deep.

When HHoF programming transitioned from radio to television in 1951, its high standards were already ingrained. Hallmark Playhouse, hosted by James Hilton and later by Lionel Barrymore, had set the tone with established talent and upscale material (much of it already familiar, such as Around the World in 80 Days).

It’s hard to imagine now, but back then it wasn’t a stretch for HHoF to commission an opera, the first for the still-fledgling television format, centered on the first Christmas story.

Amahl and the Night Visitors was not only a success for NBC, it was re-staged almost every remaining year of the 1950s and into the ‘60s.

“It’s incredible when you look back and see what Hallmark had on television then,” says Glenn Close, who coproduced and starred in the Sarah, Plain and Tall trilogy for HHoF in the ‘90s.

“I remember Amahl and the Night Visitors. I was absolutely obsessed with it. I loved the music and everything about it. And when [coproducer] Bill Self and I decided where to do Sarah, there was no contest.”

Over the decades, as TV movies and anthologies became more run-of-the-mill and less expensive-looking, HHoF went in another direction. It continued to produce lush adaptations of classics, including Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities (1980) and John Steinbeck’s The Winter of Our Discontent (1983). It also added original content and adaptations of more recent plays and books.

While most anthology programs were weekly, HHoF retained special-event status by airing six or fewer presentations per year. The current schedule is three or more specials per year, tied to holidays such as Thanksgiving, Christmas and Valentine’s Day; a new HHoF production is currently in development for Mother’s Day.

“Certainly Hallmark does an incredible job of making sure things are done in a Hallmark way, and we are relentlessly focused on character development that creates great content,” says Bill Abbott, president and CEO, Crown Media Family Networks, the home of Hallmark programming.

Early on, HHoF adopted a two-pronged strategy to attract high-quality writers, directors and other talent, both above and below the line. The company committed sizable resources to its telefilms, with budgets two and even three times those allocated to standard TV movies.

Hallmark movies are made on location and have shooting schedules of 21 to 24 days — making them more like independent films than TV movies. The combination of high budgets and superior, family-friendly content has attracted name actors. To date, 25 percent of all Oscar-winning performers have appeared in at least one HHoF presentation.

“Hallmark has a classy reputation, just like Alfred Hitchcock,” says two- time Oscar-nominated actress Diane Ladd, who starred in the 1991 remake of Shadow of a Doubt, helmed by frequent Cagney & Lacey director Karen Arthur.

Though remaking a Hitchcock classic risked inviting critical hand-wringing, the Hallmark brand provided reassurance. “Why would I not go forward with a great director and a classy production company?” Ladd recalls. “I had to think they just might pull this off.”

Even the commercial breaks are different. Viewers sit through fewer breaks and commercial minutes overall during HHoF movies than they do while watching network programming. The average movie is 92 minutes of content, compared to the standard 84.

Hallmark buys every commercial spot, so every special is intrinsically linked to the Hallmark brand, and the spots, like the specials, are often lavishly produced tear-jerkers. “I used to love those ads,” Close says. “They expressed something, one of the threads in the fabric of this country.”

The strength of a brand based on sincere emotions made HHoF a home for content that might be rejected by most other networks.

Sarah, Plain and Tall screenwriter Patricia MacLachlan also wrote the Newbery Medal–winning children’s books that inspired the movie. She admits, “It’s a slow-moving story about this family on the prairie, and I think Hallmark really liked the idea of it. They trusted [Close] and they trusted me.”

Well, mostly. According to Close, Hallmark wanted to cast Don Johnson, not Oscar-winner Christopher Walken, as taciturn, widowed farmer Jacob Whitting. When Close said it was Walken or she’d walk, the matter was settled.

Still, Close says, “Hallmark is quality, and they didn’t speak down to the audience. They expected people to get it and be inspired by it. That’s why they got to be in the position they were in, because they did quality work, and people responded.”

The late ‘80s and early ‘90s represented a high point for the anthology series, with material that was family-friendly yet unafraid to tackle difficult issues such as mental illness (1986’s Promise), alcoholism (1989’s My Name Is Bill W.), the Holocaust (1992’s Miss Rose White) and drug addiction (1993’s Blind Spot).

“The strategy has always been about creating these great pieces of content that connect people emotionally,” Abbott says.

James Woods starred in both Promise and My Name Is Bill W. When he was playing the schizophrenic character D.J. in the former project, he recalls, “The cameraman started crying so hard that the operator tilted the camera a bit and the shot was misframed.” Director Glenn Jordan felt the scene was too strong to demand a second take and printed it anyway.

“If you watch it, it’s a little oddly framed. But that was the commitment we had to it, because the script was so astounding and so brilliant,” Woods says. “I had met these three boys who were schizophrenics and done a lot of work with them in preparation for the film, and I realized how important this story was.”

While Hallmark has long enjoyed a reputation for uplift, it doesn’t avoid darker themes.

“We are not afraid to tap into the human experience,” says Michelle Vicary, executive vice-president, programming and network publicity at Crown Media Family Networks.

And family-friendly doesn’t have to be synonymous with sappy, she points out. “Just by saying you’re being family-friendly, you can put a lot of things on. But virtually everyone we talk to has an experience they can remember in which they got together around the TV as a family to watch Hallmark programming, and that’s what we’re tapping into.”

While Hallmark remained dominant among the providers of quality television in the 20th century, the playing field, of course, changed. As basic and pay cable exploded, original programming — some family-friendly, most of it not — became available on hundreds of channels, carving the audience for event programming into ever-slimmer niches.

After 63 years on the Big Four, Hallmark Hall of Fame officially moved to the Hallmark Channel in 2014. New HHoF presentations will air on the Hallmark Channel, while its sister channel, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, will air classics from the HHoF library.

So far, bringing together the Hallmark Hall of Fame and the Hallmark Channel has proven that viewers still seek family programming, especially during the holidays. Last Thanksgiving, the Hallmark Channel offered a different original movie on five consecutive nights, leading to a network high in total viewers for the week and second place among all cable networks.

More significantly, the network was first among women 25 to 54 and third with women 18 to 49 in the cable category. “Demographically, we cross the spectrum,” Vicary says.

“The perception was that we were more of a 50-plus, but the reality is, we have a median age that is much more in line with a competitive set. We attract a younger audience than we’ve ever done, but we provide a great entertainment experience for all members of the family.”

This year, Hallmark Cards transferred production duties to subsidiary Crown Media Productions and brought HHoF movies in-house at the Hallmark Channel. While Hallmark Original Movies will share the same space, HHoF presentations will continue to be produced like independent films, with bigger budgets, original music, impressive locations — and name casts, writers, directors and other talent.

“Hallmark Channel’s creative team has proven they understand the Hallmark brand and how to translate our brand into heartfelt stories that resonate with their viewers, celebrate the human spirit and support our company’s overall mission of enriching lives,” Hall says.

“In deciding to move Hallmark Hall of Fame to air exclusively on Hallmark Channel and empowering the [Crown Media] team as the creative producer, we can better capitalize on Hallmark Channel’s overall expertise.”

“We’re thrilled and honored they believe in our capabilities,” Vicary says.

“We have created an expectation that we can continue that legacy and move it forward in the same way.”

Hallmark, which is still a family business, will make sure of it.

“My family and I will continue to be deeply involved in the selection and production of all Hallmark Hall of Fame presentations,” Hall says. “We’re proud to be on Hallmark Channel with Hallmark Hall of Fame. It’s a great opportunity to continue to bring something special and unique to TV. In our 65-year commitment to television, we’ve always been proud to stand for and to present great storytelling and great actors, with an unwavering standard of excellence.”

For Hallmark, HHoF remains another way for the brand to walk the walk. Hallmark may be the only company with a Hollywood presence that posts a list of company beliefs and values on its corporate website.

That list states, “We believe: that creativity and quality — in our products, services and all that we do — are essential to our success,” and “We value and are committed to: high standards of ethics and integrity.”

“Let me tell you about Hallmark,” Woods says. “I was honored as part of PaleyFest, and all of the people from Hallmark flew in for it from Kansas City. That ‘Hallmark family’ stuff? They really mean it.

“My life right now is unbelievably great, but if it were the opposite, the one place I could always call and know I’d have a home is Hallmark. There’s just no question. They really walk it like they talk it, and when they say you’re part of the Hallmark family, you’re part of the Hallmark family. When it comes to integrity that is a brand, that is owned solely and completely forever by Hallmark.”


This article originally appeared in emmy magazine, Issue No. 10, 2016

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