Family

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Awards Shows

Power to the pooches: Hero Dog Awards air Friday on Hallmark Channel

November 10, 2011 Ryan Berenz

By Jacqueline Cutler Follow @TMSJackCut When an earthquake leaves shards of buildings in its path, or a wildfire tears through a neighborhood and only hulks of dryers and chimneys still stand, or when a blind or deaf person needs to be steered toward safety, dogs come to the rescue. Please, cat fanciers, don’t start the usual protest. Dogs are heroes. Not all dogs, just like not all humans, qualify as heroic. But the dogs celebrated on Hallmark Channel’s American Humane Association Hero Dog Awards (Friday, Nov. 11, at 8pm ET) at are magnificent examples. The 90-minute special, hosted by Carson […]

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Comedy

Hallmark Channel’s “Countdown to Christmas” is almost here

November 8, 2011 StayTuned Staff

When it comes to making TV a part of your holidays, there are a lot of options out there, but you have to give this at least to the folks at Hallmark Channel: commitment. As of Nov. 12, the network’s Countdown to Christmas begins, bringing more than 1,300 hours of holiday-themed programming to viewers over seven weeks. Each Saturday and Sunday, Hallmark Channel will premiere at least one new original movie, collectively featuring an impressive array of talent both familiar and unexpected for Hallmark viewers, including Billy Ray Cyrus, Vivica A. Fox, Melissa Gilbert and Sir Roger Moore. Daytime will […]

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Family

“Haunting Hour” gives Dylan Minnette a “Brush With Madness”

November 4, 2011 StayTuned Staff

I started my conversation with Dylan Minnette by telling him how much I hated his guts. And the young star took it as the compliment it was intended to be. We were on the phone to discuss Minnette’s turn in this week’s episode of R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour, where he plays the lead role in a nasty little ditty called “Brush With Madness.” But I had just finished ushering in Halloween a couple days earlier by rewatching Let Me In, the intense vampire story that features Minnette all-too-convincingly portraying a loathsome bully (link NSFW) who makes the main character’s […]

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Family

Frankie Jonas gets the creeps on tonight’s “The Haunting Hour”

October 29, 2011 StayTuned Staff

By Stacey Harrison Follow @ChannelGuideSRH Being the youngest sibling of a world-famous musical trio may bring you lots of perks, but it might not be enough to protect you from an evil pumpkin farmer. Frankie Jonas finds this out in tonight’s episode of R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour, which premieres at 5pm. In “Pumpkinhead,” Jonas plays the youngest sibling in a group of kids who find themselves alone on Halloween night. Living in a town where kids have gone missing the last few years, trick-or-treating has been severely restricted. Looking for a little excitement, they head out to a pumpkin […]

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Animation

Hallmark’s “Jingle” toy and TV special to top kids’ 2011 holiday gift list

October 21, 2011 Barb Oates

By Barb Oates Back in August, I returned from the TV critics press tour with an interesting new toy. It was a plush little husky pup named Jingle that had a red tag attached to it urging you to: “Press my button to hear how I work.” Jingle sat on my desk for months and was greeted with much adoration and intrigue (OK, annoyance for some) as my colleagues and visitors pressed his little red button and were told: “Jingle’s ready for you to read his story to him.” Jingle is a Hallmark creation and is accompanied by an interactive […]

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Family

“Real Steel’s” Dakota Goyo flies the scary skies on “The Haunting Hour”

October 21, 2011 StayTuned Staff

It’s a good time to be Dakota Goyo. The 12-year-old actor has been earning wild praise for his role in Real Steel, the current No. 1 movie in America, in which he more than holds his own against co-star Hugh Jackman and a bunch of giant CGI robots. He also shared screen time earlier this year with Anthony Hopkins, playing the younger version of Chris Hemsworth in Thor. This weekend his path to stardom makes a pit stop on The Hub, where he will star in “Flight,” an episode of R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour airing at 5pm Saturday. Goyo […]

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Family

“Downsized” finale: It’s time to move on

October 18, 2011 Lori Acken

By Lori Acken Follow @ChannelGuideLLA After a brutal season of medical scares, financial ups-and-downs and relationship crises and more, tonight’s Season 2 finale of Downsized (9pm on WE tv) seems to usher in a time of fresh starts for some members of the Bruce-Rumsey family. • MORE: Did Season 2 go the way the Bruce’s planned? We talked with Todd and Laura before the premiere. Bailey continues to insist to Laura that her bruises were caused by mutual roughhousing with her new boyfriend, leading her siblings and her friends to take sides on what actually happened. Unwilling to accept Bailey’s injuries, […]

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Casting Calls

Lifetime is casting families for new reality show “America’s Supernanny”

October 18, 2011 Lori Acken

By Lori Acken Follow @ChannelGuideLLA With legendary Supernanny Jo Frost now retired from naughty steps, passy fairies and the stay-in-bed technique to focus on a family of her own, Lifetime has decided it’s time America had a brand new tot-tamer. After what the network calls “an exhaustive search and numerous casting calls,” Lifetime has tapped Virginia-based wife, mom and highly-educated early-childhood specialist Deborah Tillman to fill the bill and take over the sensible suits, comfy footwear and surefire techniques of America’s Supernanny.