Hallmark Channel Announces Full Line-Up of Original Premieres During "Countdown to Christmas"

I think it depends on if they are movies made by Hallmark & when they were made, or just some random movies they've acquired the tv rights to broadcast. Like, listing a movie they're gonna show that's really old and has prolly been shown by other networks over the years would be pointless to list here as "New".

All the Sharknado movies are made by and shown on the SyFy channel, which is why they would be ok to have here.

I would say that they definitely do not qualify as a series.

They have nothing to do with each other. "Countdown to Christmas" is not a series, nor part of the movie-titles, just the banner/label Hallmark use every year for holiday-themed movies. (Similar to ABC using "25 Days of Christmas" when they air movies with only the holiday theme in common.)

Sharknado on the other hand, are sequential movies, all using the word "Sharknado" in the title, and starring some of the same actors. So not comparable.

TonyMayhew wrote:
I think it depends on if they are movies made by Hallmark & when they were made, or just some random movies they've acquired the tv rights to broadcast. Like, listing a movie they're gonna show that's really old and has prolly been shown by other networks over the years would be pointless to list here as "New".
All the Sharknado movies are made by and shown on the SyFy channel, which is why they would be ok to have here.

These 19 New Movies are all Hallmark originals.

P.S. One of the items on the list you posted is part of the "When Calls the Heart" TV-series, so it will be listed on that showpage.

Also, you say "this year", but Hallmark has used the "Countdown to Christmas" label/banner for several years now, when they air holiday-themed movies or specials, be it new, old, Hallmark originals, or made by other companies.

momijigari wrote:
P.S. One of the items on the list you posted is part of the "When Calls the Heart" TV-series, so it will be listed on that showpage.
Also, you say "this year", but Hallmark has used that label/banner for several years now, when they air holiday-themed movies, be it new, old, their own, or made by other companies.

Added to "When Calls the Heart" TV-series.

I haven't checked the links yet, but they're most likely not allowed. From the policy:

Made for TV movies with at least two parts, airing on the same network, all with a common and continuous plot

Just an umbrella name isn't good enough, the plot itself would have to be shared amongst the different movies.

david wrote:
I haven't checked the links yet, but they're most likely not allowed. From the policy:
Made for TV movies with at least two parts, airing on the same network, all with a common and continuous plot
Just an umbrella name isn't good enough, the plot itself would have to be shared amongst the different movies.

OK, thanks for responding David, I thought I should check anyways to be positive!

OK, its' time for me to get back up on my Soap Box! Maybe some year this site will get with the times and 98% of the TV sites on the Internet and allow 1 time Specials & 1-off Made for TV Movies? However I really believe the site cannot claim to be a TV site yet with all of those things not allowed? Why are they not allowed by the way, just because the 2 Big Guys don't want them? It doesn't hurt the site to have that information readily available for anyone that may come looking for it does it? All the other sites have had those things for years and it hasn't heard them or their traffic 1 bit. Don't care about having more Traffic because you don't need the hits? I would really truly like to know the real Good reason those 2 things are not allowed here please? Before you decide you do not want to answer that question and remove my Post altogether so no one sees it please consider being polite and adult and respond in kind?

The whole site is built around the assumption that a show will have multiple episodes - for example it would be nonsense to have an "episode", "season" or "guest cast" for a one-off special or TV movie.

We prefer to do a few things right, rather than do a lot of things half-assed. So we choose to not allow the things that would be half-assed.

david wrote:
The whole site is built around the assumption that a show will have multiple episodes - for example it would be nonsense to have an "episode", "season" or "guest cast" for a one-off special or TV movie.
We prefer to do a few things right, rather than do a lot of things half-assed. So we choose to not allow the things that would be half-assed.

So basically you are saying tvguide.com, futoncritic.com, zap2it (now screener.com) and many others are half-assed sites? Are you willing to tell them personally that they are 1/2 assed?

JAGUARDOG wrote:
So basically you are saying tvguide.com, futoncritic.com, zap2it (now screener.com) and many others are half-assed sites? Are you willing to tell them personally that they are 1/2 assed?

I'm saying it would be half-assed in our current system. For another site with a different system it might not be :)

david wrote:
I'm saying it would be half-assed in our current system. For another site with a different system it might not be :)

OK, sorry, I misunderstood what you had previously said because I can't read between the lines. So in closing is there any chance that some year the site would be setup to allow these?

If there was a lot of demand we'd consider it, though I can't remember seeing any requests for it before.

david wrote:
If there was a lot of demand we'd consider it, though I can't remember seeing any requests for it before.

Well maybe no one has said anything because they are complacent or they were afraid to say something or ask? It could be any number of reasons. How about adding that in the "Pending Features" Forum for People to Vote on over time? Or Possible Pending Feature?

A quick side tangent on the discussion above - please delete or move to another area if this is running too far off the rails in topic deviation. :-)

I would call TV.com, TV Guide, screener, TitanTV, etc half-assed. And I would tell them that to their face. :-)

It's simply because they are still built on a traditional model that is becoming more archaic every year and doesn't reflect the changing landscape. The whole reason I started seeking out sites like tvdb, trakt, tvmaze, tvrage, next-episode, etc was because the tv listings sites simply don't work anymore for my needs. In an era where I watch programs not only from traditional sources, but also from Hulu, Netflix, Amazon, webisodes that supplement the program content, etc - they simply don't measure up.

My one and only requirement from a TV site is that I don't miss anything I don't know about. If I missed content that is a failing somewhere in the process. I don't care much about tracking what I've watched. Never understood the fascination with it. But if others do - more power to them. For me - making sure I have access to as many delivery sources as possible is the thing I judge a site's usefulness by.

I recall about a year ago or so - in the two or more countries thread - David mentioned that TVMaze is not a listings site .. and has no desire to be. I certainly agree with that sentiment. To be honest - if TV listings are what someone wants, you are better served going to a TV Guide, Zap2it, etc. They are listings sites. That's what they do. They get data from networks and don't have to depend on whether somebody has submitted something. For pure TV listings - they do it better. But a listings site doesn't serve as many people's needs as it used to ... certainly not mine. This is a TV database site. That's a little closer to what I now need from 'listings' - and in this scenario the database/user submission model appears (at the moment) to be beating the pants off those other sites. In my quest to have knowledge of when programming I'm interested in is available - it's that model that is letting me know. It's not perfect - it depends on somebody else knowing about a program if I don't - but it's better than the 'listings' models above. If webisodes show up for The Walking Dead, for example, adding them as a special means I'm aware of it. The 'Doctor Who - Power of the Daleks' special coming up in November I wouldn't have known about except it showed up on FutonCritic. It hasn't been added yet either here or the TVDB yet, but I will soon - and other fans will be aware where they wouldn't be if using a 'listings' site.

At the moment - no site I use quite meets all of my needs. Listings sites certainly don't (at least anymore). Database sites rely on people making decisions on what is 'special'. Press release/scraper sites (looking at you, Futon) dump info - but don't have a way to make that info usable.I thought TV Guide was actually going to finally bridge the gap between network-supplied listings and non-traditional offerings when Watchlist was introduced. They even had an animated video and everything that explained the problem of having shows on multiple services. Unfortunately, in practice the thing is a giant turd. Add 'The Mindy Project' to your TV Guide watchlist and you'll be told on your watchlist that there are 'no new airings'. It knows it is on Hulu - and when you click on the show details - it knows new episodes are released on Tuesdays - but none of that makes it to Watchlist. When emailed about this failing last year - I got a response that they were aware that their online provider integration was not functional for Watchlist -- even though that was the very thing they created Watchlist for.

Swing and a miss, TV Guide ...

To be honest, I find Futoncritic to be the first source I usually hear about new items. I get they use production numbers and press releases to populate ... and they must be scraping a listings xml from somewhere to populate because there is no other way they are accounting for repeats -- and although sometimes they correct entries when things change (did a decent job with World Series adjustments), other times they don't. I've sent them corrections for Ghost Adventures, for example, that still show as repeats in their scraper even though they are new episodes. But press releases and notice of special content, they are usually far-and-away quicker than most. The FTWD Passage webisodes, for example, I was first aware of because of the press release there. (On an aside, I still don't think moving them to their own 'series' here is the right call without some link back to the originating show. I'm more in favor the tvdb method of keeping them under the originating series. If using only Maze as source - it violates my Prime Directive of not missing things if I'm not aware of them). :-) What Futon can't do is make this info easily exportable to either databases or calendars. They supply knowledge - but not in an easy way to make that knowledge actionable.

Which brings me back to the point of TV databases.

Prior to a show's airing (or viewing) - the database has value in holding data that is easily actionable. I can make use of that data to set the DVR, make an addition to my online service's watchlist, make note of items I'll rip to my media library later, etc.

After airing (or viewing, if you watched it later) - the entries have value in one major area ... media databases. The reason (right now) that tvdb and items like Trakt that use them have the share they do is simply because of their media database integration. My Plex server matches against them. Kodi, Emby, etc all have traction there. In thinking about the future goals of the site - I wonder if more consideration needs to be in regards to how entries match up to media databases after they have been viewed? If the goal is to preferably have people come to the site so that page views are higher - or have revenue primarily propagate from premium sales, not much needs to be changed. (Well - maybe 'watched' on calendar). :-) But if the goal is to turn the data itself into something usable (or marketable with having viewed numbers accessible) then how media matches up while scrobbling becomes more important - and consideration into changes in either policy or functionality for entry match-up to media databases becomes more important. For example, in this scenario it doesn't matter how many votes alternate ordering gets in Pending Features - it is actually a critical piece of functionality to move forward down that path. A rethink of specials to broaden media rips, how metadata should be delivered (so you don't run into Trakt's image bandwidth problem), etc.

Just some thoughts circling in my head the last few months that bubbled up while reading the discussion above. I also agree that TV Movies have a place - especially when considering a media database path. If not considering that path - I see the argument for not including them - as it pushes the notion that this is a listings site ... which it is not.

Hope there are items above to think about and toss around the conference table next time the Maze 'Board of Directors' meets. :-)

Ghost Adventures is a Great example of their ineptness. They may get a lot of information 1st but close to 50% of their Episode information is almost always wrong. I would not trust that site if it was the last TV related site on the Internet. I too sent them emails on 17 different occasions pointing out Episodes that had wrong titles or airtimes of days of the week as well as shows they claim had ended or were on hiatus but they were not. I pointed out over 100 mistakes over a 3 month period. They never responded back to me even once and never fixed their bad information. When I saw all the Episodes for Ghost Adventures they claim are repeats that have yet to air I just said to myself they still have idiots in charge who don't know what they are doing or don't care or both! They are the worst TV related site on the Internet bar none. All TV sites have errors here and there from time to time but none have anywhere near the mistakes and problems that they not only have but have had for over 3 years. No improvement have I ever seen over there at all!