TVUSA
Crown Media Family Networks has entered into a new partnership with country music star Blake Shelton, announcing the collaboration as part of its TCA presentation.
Following the ratings success of Time for Me to Come Home for Christmas, which premiered during Miracles of Christmas on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries in December 2018, the network has inked a development deal with Shelton for an all-new Christmas movie for 2019. Shelton will serve as executive producer of the original movie, which will chronicle the emotional journey home at Christmastime. Songs from Shelton’s library of Christmas music would be featured.
Crown Media Family Networks also revealed its first original movie adaptation from Hallmark Publishing’s The Christmas Company, its best-selling novel to date. The new movie will be part of the network’s Countdown to Christmas holiday slate.
Hallmark Channel also revealed the 10th anniversary of the Countdown to Christmas franchise. Hallmark Channel will honor the anniversary with the biggest holiday season yet, featuring a record number of original premieres. Currently, the network is in production on its first original holiday movie, The Christmas Song, starring Kristin Chenoweth, Scott Wolf and directed by Eric Close.
Hallmark Channel has renewed its hit original series Chesapeake Shores, based on the novels of the same name by New York Times best-selling author Sherryl Woods, for a fourth season. The network has also greenlit a spin-off movie based on characters from Chesapeake Shores. The world of Chesapeake Shores will expand into the movie genre with more stories from the O’Brien sisters, Abby, Bree and Jess, played by Meghan Ory, Emilie Ullerup and Laci Mailey, respectively.
Meanwhile, When Hope Calls, Crown Media Family Networks’ first-ever streaming series, will premiere in August on Hallmark Movies Now, the network’s digital streaming service. The series is spawned from Hallmark Channel’s When Calls the Heart, currently entering its sixth season.
Hallmark Drama is developing another installment of the movie franchise Signed, Sealed, Delivered, created by Touched by an Angel executive producer Martha Williamson. Signed, Sealed, Delivered is a comedic drama franchise that follows the lives of postal workers—known as the POstables—who transform themselves into an untraditional team of detectives to track down intended recipients of undeliverable mail.
Hallmark Movies & Mysteries will launch Signature Mystery, a Sunday night destination for mysteries featuring a slate of all-new franchises and the return of the network’s highest-rated mystery series. On the heels of successful ratings in Q4, the network unveils plans for new installments of returning, popular mystery franchises including Garage Sale Mysteries, starring Lori Loughlin; Aurora Teagarden Mysteries, starring Candace Cameron Bure; Hailey Dean Mysteries, with Kellie Martin and based on the books by Nancy Grace; and Morning Show Mysteries, starring Holly Robinson Peete and Rick Fox and based on the books by Al Roker and Dick Lochte.
