mm1991I can't imagine them (Hallmark) killing off another character, I would lean towards Abigail Stanton (Lori Loughlin) leaving Hope Valley on a mysterious vacation/trip for the rest of season 6 and a recast for season 7 (which was announced on Saturday 4/13). However with the way past episodes have been structured that might not work, it looks like a lot of season 6 is/was? heavy on the Abigail Stanton plots.
SnowAngel

Isn't that just shocking. My mom loves those shows & I used to watch Full House all the time when it was on. I doubt they have her return to shoot scenes for the show. They might just go the Jussie Smollett route and kill her character off. Seems easiest to do.

Well, Lori Loughlin is long gone from When Calls The Heart and any other Hallmark projects, it's just a matter of how her character is removed/replaced on the show. The preview for the upcoming episodes doesn't even hint at how that will be accomplished.

Two-thirds of the way through season 2 of Zorro with the family, although the plots aren't quite as good as season 1 we're still enjoying it. Favorite episodes in this season so far are the last episode set in Monterey and the three episodes guest starring Jeff York.

I stumbled across the fact that three of four seasons of The High Chaparral are now available on DVD.  I have wanted to see more of The High Chaparral for years, I remember seeing a handful of episodes on Hallmark's High Noon on the Hallmark Channel as a kid. I am so tempted to order them...however I can't at this time, so I have put in a request for them at the public library. *fingers crossed*

SnowAngel

I'm gonna go ahead and call this one and say that they just handle it in a very soap opera fashion and either kill off the character or just have her leave off screen. I don't think they would recast. You guys can let me know as I don't even watch these shows, but I am aware of them & definitely what is happening with the actress.

Down to the last couple episodes of Zorro, I've had so much fun watching this with the siblings and parents.  

The library already has season one of The High Chaparral on order! And yes, I am just a little bit excited.  

SnowAngel

I enjoyed the recent miniseries of Les Miserables but I was somewhat disappointed by it too. I was hoping it would be of comparable quality to the 2012 movie version of the musical so I could recommend it as an introduction to the story for people who wouldn't want to read the book and don't like musicals. But I have to say the movie was superior. (I know the 2012 movie has its detractors. Suffice to say I'm not one of them.)

Andrew Davies the screenwriter is really good at taking classic novels which are hard to get into and making them faster paced and more engaging on screen while still keeping the elements that make them classics. But he has some annoying tendencies, mainly a desire to sensualize these classic works of literature. The gratuitous dream scene in episode 4 was a particularly annoying case in point since it involved changing a major character's personality for no reason. (PM me if you really want details.) Since I'm against sensuality on screen, this makes it hard for me to recommend this miniseries as an introduction to the story. (It's true that the 2012 movie also has a bit of sexual content but less of it and it doesn't feel like it was shoehorned in for its own sake like that of this miniseries.)

Most of my problems with the miniseries have to do with the writing. The sets, cinematography and music were great. And the casting was pretty inspired too. Dominic West (Jean Valjean), David Oyelowo (Javert), Lily Collins (Fantine) and Olivia Colman (Madame Thenardier) all gave great performances. The younger generation of characters sadly weren't quite as well cast. Ellie Bamber (Cosette) and Josh O' Connor (Marius) were somewhat bland though they did have some really good moments. I'd also have liked to have felt more chemistry between them.

Speaking of Cosette, she was probably the main character whose personality got changed the most which I'm used to. Cosette's personality in the book is very un-PC for a heroine anyway. Now I really admire what Victor Hugo does with Cosette in the book. How many people can take a ditzy fashion-preoccupied teenage girl, who is oblivious to most of the drama going on around her, and make her feel like and real person whom you sympathize with? But I'll admit that's even harder to do in a cinematic medium so I can understand changing the character a little. This miniseries takes a page from the 1998 movie by having Cosette be more aware of the limitations of her life on the run and more rebellious towards Valjean. I can't stand this in the 1998 movie but I'm mostly good with how it plays out here. Maybe it's because where that movie wanted to portray Cosette as the good guy and Jean Valjean as the bad guy, this series portrays them both as flawed but sympathetic characters like they are in the book. Maybe it's because while the movie pretty much scrapped Cosette's whole character from the book and replaced her with a generic 90s heroine, the miniseries character still seems like it's broadly anchored to her arc from the book. (I know the 1998 movie has its fans. Suffice to say I'm not one of them.)

I wish some scenes had contained more dialogue from the book. Because of the characters' tendency to go off into lengthy and somewhat incoherent speeches, a word for word adaptation would not only be impractical but undesirable. But I still feel the book had some great lines which the miniseries could have used. There were also a lot of little changes to story which I thought didn't make sense, even in the episodes in which I thought the show was really firing on all cylinders. (Episodes 2, 3 and 6 for those interested.) None of these changes are enough to ruin the miniseries but they're annoyingly frequent.

Still, for all my nitpicking, Andrew Davies really did an admirable job with the herculean task of adapting Les Miserables. While it has a lot of exciting scenes, it's a really hard book to translate to a visual medium, not only because of its length and complicated structure, but because so much of the drama is internal. That's why the most popular adaptation is a musical in which the characters can express what they're thinking and feeling out loud. This miniseries did a great job finding visual ways for the characters to express what was going on inside them. (Well, it did for Valjean anyway. ) While I wouldn't recommend it over the 2012 movie, I would recommend it over pretty much all of the movie versions I've seen.

Mom really likes the Hallmark channel type programs. I've just been watching DVDs from the library, since I think I already said we don't have TV. And I don't know why, but I've been on a crime-show binge lately(except for Futurama). NCIS, Murder She Wrote, Diagnosis Murder, Perry Mason, Midsomer Murders, etc. But now I'm wondering about police protocol. It seems to me that if a 'suspect' is suicidal and threatening to kill themselves (with a gun), the LEOs approaching with guns drawn aka the Stop Or We'll Shoot technique loses something.

I'm thinking I want to find a good homesteading reality type show to watch now though, does anyone have any suggestions?

Stranger things season 3? Anyone??

Ironic that I'm pulling this thread out of the depths. I'm like the most non-TV person of all time, with maybe the exception of the occasional food show. However, I've been intrigued by the chatter on the socials regarding The Chosen, the newly released crowd funded show about the life of Jesus.
I did one thing right before jumping in while trying to avoid spoilers and learned that they do take the liberty of filling in the blanks surrounding the big Bible stories. Good to know ahead of time.
I'm one and a half episodes in and I totally see what they mean.

A friend has the Blu-ray set for The Chosen, and we're starting our second go-around with the episodes. I originally found the first episode a little hard to follow between editing and pacing, and I'd say the episode quality improves a lot by the third or fourth episode.

An extra feature on the set is a series of round table discussions between the producer and three advisors (a Catholic priest, a Jewish rabbi, and an evangelical), one for each episode, where they discuss things like biblical accuracy and if the added content is acceptable or believable. They are interesting to watch and help explain some of the decisions made on the content.

Thumbs up here too.

for your friend owning the DVD set Gazer. I looked and looked and LOOKED for it for a couple days because I'd REALLY like to support them (I'm ready to watch episode 6 but had to take a break for a couple of days). And because I had such a hard time finding it, I'm going to share the information on here as well.

It is on YouTube for free right now, I don't know if it will stay there indefinitely.
Episode 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vyv1W-hsmx8
Episode 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEc2zgJtp-4
Episode 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xMfU-YY3Eo
Episode 4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-YFzEI8Gt0
Episode 5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcvcDDrW0ss
Episode 6
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGvWrSwIESs
Episode 7
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K09a7l48VD0
Episode 8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lk4yq1f6DY
On YouTube, there is a lot of chatting/interviews before and after each episode, so those episodes don't run as long as it first looks from the time stamp. I skip all of that and just watch The Chosen part of each YouTube video.

The way that the creators would prefer that you watch is via their "The Chosen" app, available on both Apple and Google Play.

If you would like to buy a hard copy of the DVDs, the only way I could find it was via the app. I couldn't even find it on their website. But their website does have a phone number you can call if you need assistance (particularly for those outside of the USA) because I know there are some of you out there that don't have smart phones and don't want one.
https://studios.vidangel.com/the-chosen

Even though I tend not to be a TV watcher, and relatively few movies each year (not interested in most that come out), The Chosen is sure piquing my interest.

I think I found a way to purchase the DVDs/Blu-Ray. The link is on their Facebook page: http://www.thechosen.tv/store

I am considering purchasing this for my hubby for Father's Day, as, when I do watch something, I prefer to view on DVD, rather than on the computer. But still, 'tis good to know about the free YouTube episodes now. Thanks, fantasia and stargazer for your recommendations.

We watched the first few via the app the first time around (casting to the TV) until we found the link Jo mentioned. The DVDs/Blu-ray just seem easier to manage to me.

fantasia, we just re-watched episode 6 tonight. I really liked it the first time and that opinion was confirmed.

I'm thinking of buying the discs as well, even if we have a set in the house, to help support the making of season 2.

Thank you for those links, Fantasia. I saw the pilot episode for The Chosen a long time ago and I thought it was fine but not good enough for me to bother keeping up with the show. With the library now closed due to the quarantine, I'm hungry for diversion and I'm enjoying watching the show.

I really like the music and the characters are pretty good too. I can't quite warm up to the writing though. It's good at things like pacing and characterization. But it uses a lot of modern sounding words, like kids, stuff, etc. (In episode 1, John the Baptist is referred to as Andrew's "bug eating friend." ? ) Of course, people in the ancient world were modern people in their day. So it's not necessarily a bad idea to use dialogue like that to help bring the world closer to the viewers. But everything else about the show feels like it's trying to give the impression of a nonmodern nonwestern culture, so this anachronistic dialogue comes across less like a style choice and more like the writers couldn't be bothered to try and make it sound historical.

I think you make a valid point about the modern language, Col Klink. Sometimes I can overlook the modernisms, but every now and then one really jumps out at me and takes me out of the setting. I can't state a specific example right now, but remember it happening. To me it's one thing to talk about 'kids' - even if the ancients would have used that word to refer to young goats - but a couple of times an expression appears that seems like a very modern idiom that might serve to date the show (in a similar to a show with characters saying "Groovy" reminds us of the '60s). Sorry I can't cite the specific cases since we've watched all the episodes in the last few days.

As I recall they might have mentioned the modern language in one of their round-table discussions, if only in passing. I do recall they talked about choosing to use modern forms of the names for accessibility (such as Jesus and Mary rather than Yeshua or Miriam). The language choice might have had the same reasoning.

Once the library reopen this summer, little sis and I continued picking our way through seasons 4 and 5 of Hart To Hart which we finished last week. Next we are watching either The Fugitive (1963-1967) or Dr. Kildare (1961-1966). I'm leaning towards The Fugitive. 

Currently the family is watching the third season of Maverick, hooray for interlibrary loans. We've been wanting to see more of Maverick for years, but the dvds are so expensive. I was finally able to get it via interlibrary loan this month.

SnowAngel