Deck The Hallmark

It's Festive Friday with a brand new holiday movie!
ABOUT UNEXPECTED CHRISTMAS
A family's perfect Christmas reunion is upended when old rivalries, secrets, and romantic mix-ups come to a head.
AIR DATE & NETWORK FOR UNEXPECTED CHRISTMAS
November 7, 2025 | Starz
CAST & CREW OF UNEXPECTED CHRISTMAS
Lil Rel Howery as Richard
DomiNque Perry as Marissa
Reagan Gomez-Preston as Kerry
Terrence Terrell as Michael
Trell Woodberry as Kyle
Cecelia Friday as Alicia
BRAN'S MOVIE SYNOPSIS
Richard and Marissa are hanging out in bed, they're having funnnnnn. They're dating and Marissa is like what are we? Richard is like we're having funnnnnn. That's not enough for Marissa. But after he goes to the restroom, his bag falls and a ring pops out! HE'S GOING TO PROPOSE! She's very happy now and now she wants him to come to family Christmas with her in Texas.
We meet more of her family - there's brother Kyle. He's married to Alicia. Alicia and Kyle aren't doing great. Kyle is just always too tired for the fun times.
And then there's Kerry who lives out in LA. She works in real estate, buying up buildings to build new business centers and what not. She finds out that the next purchase she needs to help push forward is actually her parents' church in Texas. She claims it won't be a problem. She gets a call from someone named "DO NOT ANSWER". Whoever is on the other line is shooting his shot and trying to get back with her which she agrees to.
Richard comes over and breaks up with Marissa. She's heartbroken. But off to Texas she goes to be with her family.
And Marissa is shocked when her sister shows up with her boyfriend....RICHARD!!! That's right.
It's an absolute mess. So she called up her gay best friend to have him come and act like her boyfriend to make Richard mad.
We find out that Marissa & Kerry are actually step sisters - Marissa's mom married Kerry's dad shortly after her dad passed away and Marissa has always been pretty mad about it.
One night, Marissa and Richard are able to talk and he promises that when he was with her, he and Kerry were on a break.
Richard is like next in line in his father's doctor practice thing and Kerry is always like you need to go ahead and make that official but Marissa is always like you do what you wanna do.
Well, one night, everything blows up. It comes out that Richard isn't going to follow in his dad's footsteps and Kerry isn't mad and he's like Marissa always supported me. So now everyone knows. And everyone is fighting. While that's happening, Alicia and Kyle are also fighting because she thinks he's cheating on her with a girl who is texting him. Turns out, it's just his therapist checking up on him because he apparently has yet to tell his wife that he has ED. And now the entire family knows. It's a mess.
Ultimately, Richard scrams, the sisters make up, Kerry quits her job because she doesn't want her family to sell the church that brings them so much joy, Alicia and Kyle make up, and everyone has a merry Christmas.

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Jacks joins us this week to continue our Season 13 viewing of the hit Hallmark Channel show, When Calls the Heart.
ABOUT: WHEN CALLS THE SEASON (SEASON 13 EPISODE 7)
A business proposition brings folks together as they help Minnie out of a jam. Nathan's fire investigation puts him in harm's way.
AIR DATE & NETWORK FOR: WHEN CALLS THE SEASON (SEASON 13 EPISODE 7)
February 15, 2026 | Hallmark Channel
CAST & CREW OF: WHEN CALLS THE SEASON (SEASON 13 EPISODE 7)
Erin Krakow as Elizabeth Thornton
Kevin McGarry as Nathan Grant
Chris McNally as Lucas Bouchard
BRAN’S WHEN CALLS THE SEASON (SEASON 13 EPISODE 7) SYNOPSIS
Minnie is in the jam business and it might get better. A hotel wants to stock it, but she only has 5 cans. She needs 500 cans by the morning. Rosemary and Elizabeth insist they help her. And they think the town will want to help!
Lucas and Lee are talking about Fernando being the contractor. Lucas insists he's fine with it. More than fine.
Gowan's son Christopher is freaking out. News is out that the boys didn't start the fire and now the electric company is grilling him. Gowan tells him to go look at the birds.
So he heads out with Nathan to find the transformer. Nathan insists he's not the one who was breaking the law.
The town is all together doing their jam thing. While squishing grapes, Hickam tells Fiona he wants to start a family.
Lucas isn't wearing a vest and Edie really likes it. They're walking and talking when they see a loose horse run by. Edie yells for Fernando to come help!
While walking the path, a car comes driving fast at Nathan and Christopher and Nathan pushes them off the path and down a hill. UH OH!
Rosemary is trying to get info out of Elizabeth and while they're talking, they miss one of the buckets of jam to put sugar in. UH OH!
Lucas thinks he's the one that is going to capture the horse but Fernando swoops in and sings to it.
They realize some of the cans are sour. So they have to find the 40 cans that don't have sugar. They're running out of time!
Nathan gets Chris to the infirmary (which is poppin' today, btw) and Nathan has blood on his side as well.
They fix all the jams but did they do it in time? The Rev is gonna drive fast and find out!
Elizabeth comes to check on Nathan. He's gonna be fine and he's gonna find the people responsible for this, cuz he remembers their license plate!
THE JAM MADE IT IN TIME! They decide they're gonna use the money to buy Bill's half of the cafe, something we all remember he owned.
Lucas isn't feeling very manly, so he goes back to his office, puts his vest back on, and tells Edie he's too busy to hang out. She reminds him her and Fernando are through!
The episode ends with bad news - the license plate belongs to a stolen vehicle that was torched! And to make matters worse, Christopher has fled town. He doesn't wanna help anymore. He scared.

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We're back with some more Gilmore Girls! Join us in this journey on social media - @gilmorethemerrierpod.
ABOUT: GILMORE GIRLS (SEASON 1 EPISODE 10 & 11)
Episode 10 - Hurt and upset when she finds herself uninvited to her parents' annual Christmas bash, Lorelai is frantic when she hears that her father Richard has collapsed at the party.
Episode 11 - Lorelai tries to break up with Rory's teacher, Max, during parents-teachers meeting, which creates more troubles for her daughter at school.
AIR DATE & NETWORK FOR: GILMORE GIRLS (SEASON 1 EPISODE 10 & 11)
Episode 10 - December 21, 2000 | The WB
Episode 11 - January 11, 2001 | The WB
CAST & CREW OF: GILMORE GIRLS (SEASON 1 EPISODE 10 & 11)
Lauren Graham as Lorelai Gilmore
Alexis Bledel as Rory Gilmore
BRAN’S GILMORE GIRLS (SEASON 1 EPISODE 10 & 11) SYNOPSIS
It's Christmas time and the prep for the Christmas pageant is in full swing, despite the fact that the baby Jesus is missing an arm. Lorelai and Rory have still not made up. The tension is palpable.
While at work later, Lorelai gets a call from Emily telling her about when the Christmas party is. Lorelai is talking about how she'd be late so Emily tells her not to come at all which is shocking to Lorelai. When Rory goes to leave, she tells her that she's sure Emily didn't mean it and asks her to go but Lorelai isn't budging. After Rory leaves, Lorelai hears a knocking coming from the window in Rory's room. It's Dean. Lorelai and Dean talk about what happened at Miss Patty's and she tells him to knock on the door next time.
While at the party, Richard keeps complaining that it's hot. He goes to turn the air on but doesn't come back to the table.
Lorelai shows up at Luke's, sad that she didn't go to the party because she likes the festive food, so he makes her a Santa burger. But she gets a call - her dad is in the hospital. He collapsed.
Luke shuts the diner down to drive her to the hospital. When she gets there, she finds Emily rushing around, trying to get answers. Lorelai is very uncomfortable seeing her dad in the hospital because things are complicated with her parents.
It turns out that he's going to be fine which is a relief, obviously. The big question now at the hospital is what's going on between Lorelai and Luke. Luke tells Emily it's nothing and she tells him he's stupid. And Emily & Lorelai squash their beef.
With all of that behind us, Lorelai gets back to dating Max Medina. It's going well, they're having fun. But after finding out that Rory is gonna start calling him Max outside of school because she assumes she's going to start seeing him more often because things are going well, Lorelai gets freaked out. She decides it's probably time to break things off because she doesn't want Rory to get attached.
Luckily for her, it's parent day at Chilton. A perfect time for her to break up with Max. She tries but instead, she ends up making out with him. Paris sees this happen and tells EVERYONE! Rory finds out and that leads to an argument. Unfortunately for them, it's time for Friday night dinner and Emily's heard about the kiss too. It's not great.
When Lorelai and Max finally talk about it, Max tells her that he got called into Headmaster Charleston's office and his job is in jeopardy. He thinks it's best that they take a break which Lorelai agrees to but that doesn't stop her from heading back home to cry in her bed as Rory consoles her.

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It's Tuesday which means it's time for a new Hallmark movie review!
ABOUT BECAUSE OF CUPID
Follows Naomi and Marcus, best friends and bartenders in Buffalo, New York, who enter a Valentine's Day mocktail contest to kickstart their dream business. After unknowingly adding a real love potion to their mocktail, they win the competition but spark chaos when judges-and Marcus-fall under its spell. As media attention grows, they race to find an antidote, questioning whether their own feelings are real. Ultimately, they discover their love is genuine, secure a career-making deal, and realize that the true magic was between them all along.
AIR DATE & NETWORK FOR BECAUSE OF CUPID
February 14, 2026 | Hallmark
CAST & CREW OF BECAUSE OF CUPID
Amy Groening as Naomi
Evan Roderick as Marcus
Adam Tsekhman as Hal
BRAN'S MOVIE SYNOPSIS
Meet Naomi and Marcus - best friends and co-workers. They're working at this bar but the owner is getting ready to sell it. Naomi and Marcus really don't want it to. Naomi has a plan to save it - mocktails. One day, EJ Cortland comes in. He's a famous romantasy author but no one knows that he's a he. The owner is a big fan and they get to talking. They're hitting it off until suddenly they're not. We find out that Marcus is very cynical about love. But when Naomi walks away, he opens up to this guy about being in love with her. This guy turns out to be a tea boy. Naomi really wants to work tea into a mocktail so he invites them to come to a tasting. When they go to the tasting, the dude gives Marcus a vial of tea that he says will make someone fall in love. Marcus is like wtf. Dude is like it's like how ginger soothes the tummy. Fair enough, guy.
There's this mocktail competition coming up that Marcus' rich uncle gets him and Naomi into.
She decides to make a little something something that night and includes the cupid juice, which she doesn't know about. She gives the drink to a ton of people, including Marcus. When Marcus gets on stage and sings a love song to Naomi. He figures out what happens - he insists to Naomi that he was already in love with her. But they gotta go check on everyone else that got some of the drink. And they are WILDDDDLY in love.
They go and they find the Cupid guy, "Hal". He is disappointed to find out that she didn't drink it, but he does give them the recipe to the antidote.
It takes some time but they're able to figure out what the actual recipe. But they do, and they start giving it to everyone that drank the drink. Some of them fall right out of love, but some of them (who were really in love beforehand) stay in love.
Naomi is really liking this new Marcus. She really doesn't want him to take the antidote. He is like I promise I've loved you.
It's time for the competition AND THEY WIN!!!
Speaking of winning, Marcus' uncle gets married - potion or no potion, my guy is in love. At the reception, Cupid is there and gives Marcus the antidote. It turns out....he wasn't under the spell of the potion at all. It takes two to tango.
Naomi realizes she's in love with him too and sings him a love song too. He tells her that he hasn't been under a spell this entire time.
And the good news keeps coming....their boss is basically giving them the bar. YAY! They celebrate by dancing and kissing.

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It's Marvel Monday, and today it's Captain America's turn!
ABOUT CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER
Steve Rogers, a rejected military soldier, transforms into Captain America after taking a dose of a "Super-Soldier serum". But being Captain America comes at a price as he attempts to take down a warmonger and a terrorist organization.
AIR DATE & NETWORK FOR CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER
July 22, 2011 | Theatrical Release
CAST & CREW OF CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER
Chris Evans as Captain America/Steve Rogers
Hugo Weaving as Johann Schmidt/Red Skull
Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury
Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter
Sebastian Stan as James Buchanan 'Bucky' Barnes
BRAN'S SYNOPSIS
The movie kicks off with some scientists in the Arctic finding an old aircraft with someone frozen inside along with a circular shield. WHO COULD IT BEEEEEE?
Flash back to March 1942, during World War II. Nazi dude and Hydra leader Johann Schmidt steals a mysterious glowing cube called the Tesseract, which possesses untold godly powers.
In New York City, we meet little Steve Rogers. All Steve wants more than anything is to be in the Army, but he's rejected due to being a tiny boy. Dr. Abraham Erskine overhears Steve talking to his buddy Bucky Barnes about how badly he wants to serve his country, so he allows Rogers to enlist.
What Steve doesn't know is that Dr. Erskine is interested in Steve for something called the "super-soldier" experiment under Erskine, along with British MI6 agent Peggy Carter. Once Steve selflessly jumps on a grenade as part of a test, they know he's their guy. Erskine tells Rogers that Schmidt once took a prototype version of the super-soldier formula that gave him superhuman strength but painfully changed his appearance. So, ya know, keep that in mind.
It's lab time. Steve gets hooked up to this equipment and injected with all sorts of stuff and then put into this chamber. He's yelling and screaming but tells them to keep going. Once over, Steve comes out of the chamber and is frickin' jacked.
Turns out Schmidt sent an assassin to kill Erskine who gets away in a car. But Steve is now a super soldier, so he just races him down by running after him. Before Steve can question him, he kills himself with a cyanide capsule and destroys the formula while he's at it.
Steve doesn't get to super soldier much. Instead, he's sent on a tour as "Captain America" to sing & dance and promote war while scientists study his blood and attempt to reverse-engineer the formula. But when Rogers finds out that Bucky is MIA, he demands to fly behind enemy lines to find him. Turns out it was Schmidt all along. Steve confronts Schmidt. Schmidt's mask is taken off to reveal he is red. I suggest we call him "Red Skull".
Steve, Bucky, and some other freed prisoners form a band...of brothers... called the Howling Commandos. Steve gets a new suit in the process and potentially a new gal 'cause the sparks between him and Peggy Carter are off the charts!
Using information extracted from Zola (Red Skull's little henchman), the final Hydra stronghold is located, and Rogers leads an attack to stop Schmidt from doing all the bad things he wants to do. Right before Steve climbs aboard Schmidt's super-bomber, he and Peggy kiss big ones!
He hops on the plane just before it takes off and they fight. The Tesseract is freed from its container, and Red Skull uses it to open a portal. The Tesseract then burns through the plane and falls into the ocean. Steve knows he has to go after it, so he radios Peggy to say goodbye and then crashes into the Arctic. Everyone assumes Steve Rogers died after they ultimately find the Tesseract on the ocean floor.
Steve wakes up in a 1940s-style hospital room. He hears a radio broadcast of a baseball game that he attended in 1941 and becomes immediately suspicious. So he breaks out of his room and runs into Times Square, blown away by all the screeeens! Nick Fury shows up and tells him that he has been asleep for almost 70 years. In a post-credits scene, we basically get an Avengers trailer. Fury approaches Rogers and proposes a mission with worldwide ramifications.

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