Hallmark Channel Bulks Up Programming

LOS ANGELES: Hallmark Channel has increased its programming slate for the 2009/10 season, with 35 original movies to offer.

Films in production include Mrs. Miracle, about a single father and the housekeeper he finds who helps bring his family together again; The National Tree, centered on a father and son’s cross-country road trip; and A Soldier’s Love Story, about a young boy’s letters to a soldier serving overseas. Also in production is Uncorked, featuring a high-powered executive who meets a handsome widower in wine country.

Hallmark Channel is in development on a slate of eight originals movies as well. Christmas in Canaan looks at two classmates from rural Texas who wind up having an unlikely friendship; The Christmas Gift, which follows three spirited orphans who get a family; Home Sweet Home, about a career-driven fashion designer who returns home to her small town; and The Night Before the Night Before Christmas, about a family who is initially lacking Christmas spirit. Meanwhile, Puppy Love follows a single mother who decides to share the responsibility of raising an unruly canine with a handsome former baseball player. Shadow on the Mesa looks at a half-Indian gunfighter who meets the white father he has never known, while The Wild Girl features an aspiring news photographer who winds up on an unexpected journey. In Working Miracles, an ordinary guy receives the ability to heal others.

Also new in the way of films, Hallmark Movie Channel has formed a partnership with the Maurice Kanbar Institute of Film & TV of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts to showcase short films from students and alumni filmmakers. The films will begin airing in October under the branded banner "Film Positive."