Hallmark vs. GAC

These days the entertainment industry's intrigues can seem more interesting than the content it offers up--and one such case is the rivalry between Hallmark and GAC. The Hallmark Channel, in spite of its ratings successes, never got much press--arguably because where the entertainment media lavishes its attention and its praises on "prestige TV," Hallmark has gone ever more in the opposite direction, emphasizing unashamedly conventional, crowd-pleasing, highly formulaic fare (just 12 plots for 40 movies, one reviewer of its seasonal slate quipped), and that of very specific types, particularly fluffy romantic comedies and cozy murder mysteries that, not least because so many of them are about a baker surrounded by baked goods, actually feel cozy. (There probably aren't a lot of things in this world cozier than fresh-baked baked goods.)

However, the channel could not escape the culture wars, with the result the fight that got the ex-CEO of the channels' parent company fired, after which, apparently, the man in question (William Abbott) has set up his own, competing channel of the type--GAC. Accomplishing the feat with the help of backers who, if anything, have made the whole thing seem even more political (Republican National Committee co-chair Tommy Hicks' dad's investment group backing the move, while the channel's commercial breaks are packed with Mike Lindell selling his pillows)--such that terms like "Trumpy" and "Trump-adjacent" are much heard in the press--GAC promises its audience a version of Hallmark that the old fan base, some of which has not been happy with the channel's recent direction, will find more satisfactory.

Of course, this is hardly a good time to set up a basic cable channel, given basic cable's commercial decline--and an even worse one to launch a major, high-cost challenge to an established entity in the medium. This seems all the more the case given just how far GAC remains from matching Hallmark, with a line-up consisting mostly of reruns of a handful of older sitcoms (like The Facts of Life and Full House). Their offering of anything new or different has been slight to date (a handful of Hallmark-style romantic comedies, the first broadcast airings of Netflix's Full House sequel Fuller House). Still, their picking up Hallmark's cast-off spin-off of its drama When Calls the Heart, When Hope Calls; bringing into that show's cast Lori Loughlin in her comeback role after her big scandal (which cost her her own involvement in not one but two big Hallmark series, When Calls the Heart and the Garage Sale Mystery film series); their signing so many of Hallmark's current stars to productions for their own channel (among them Jessica Lowndes, Jill Wagner, Cindy Busby, Jen Lilley, Merritt Patterson, Sarah Lind, Danica McKellar, and of course, Candace Cameron Bure); and GAC already making clear its intentions of going head-to-head with Hallmark during the Christmas 2022 season; suggest that for now, at least, GAC's management intend to go the distance in their endeavor to produce a serious competitor to Hallmark.