It’s On! Hallmark Boss Addresses Great American Family Poaching Their Actors
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The question of Hallmark actors moving to the Great American Family isn’t one that is going unasked. During Hallmark Media’s panel at the 2024 Television Critic Association Summer Press Tour, Hallmark CEO Mike Perry and Lisa Hamilton Daly, Executive VP of Programming for Hallmark Media addressed Great American Family poaching their actors and how much attention they are paying to Great American Family in general.
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“We really do not obsess over the competition. We obsess over our viewers and what they want,” Perry said. “And so, when we are looking at talent, we are looking at talent that resonates with our viewers,” adding that when it comes to the talent they are looking to secure, “it’s all about our viewers. It’s all about our brand face.”
Hallmark Entertainment/Courtesy Everett Collection
Hamilton Daly, meanwhile, added that Hallmark Channel has “a really amazing stable of talent that we’re happy to have them work with us and we’re also fine if they work elsewhere. We are not exclusive in that way right now and I think that we’re hoping to just get the best actors we can on our channel for our projects.”
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But there are, of course, some actors whose faces are very recognizably only on the Hallmark Channel. As for those, Hamilton Daly added “Our audience tells us who they love over and over,” and they try to bring those actors back for more things.
Former CEO of the Hallmark Channel, Bill Abbott, launched Great American Family after leaving Hallmark. The network has attracted some talent that was previously seen mostly in Hallmark, like Candace Cameron Bure, Danica McKellar, former Days of Our Lives star Jen Lilley, Alexa and Carlos Pena Vega, Trevor Donovan, Jessica Lowndes and Cameron Mathison.
Other actors that have appeared in Great American Family movies are Lori Loughlin, Daniel Lissing, Jesse Metcalfe, Sarah Lind, Chad Michael Murray, Merritt Patterson, Christopher Russell, Jill Wagner, Susie Abromeit, Paul Greene, and Mario Lopez.
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Lopez, in particular, recently signed a multi-picture, multi-year deal with the network, with his first project set to be a Christmas movie opposite his real-life wife, Courtney Lopez. The film is expected to be part of the network’s 2024 Christmas lineup.
The question of whether Hallmark would consider going racier as Great American Family moved further to the right was also asked of both Daly and Perry, with Daly answering with an unequivocal no. Perry gave a little more context in his answer, adding “I think we know where the Hallmark DNA is, and when we tell the stories that kind of fit in there, I think we’re comfortable where we are.”
Check out which Hallmark stars have left the network for Great American Family and why in the gallery below.
