When it comes to Hallmark Christmas movies, nostalgia is everything.
For the holidays, sure, but also for the formulaic story lines (the harried protagonist travels to a small town), inevitable escalation (meets someone alluring….), delightful settings (….at a Christmas tree farm!), plot twists (she’s a Big City developer who wants to pave over the farm and build a ski chalet) and happy endings (she doesn’t — she’s a happily married tree farmer now).
Hallmark’s annual Countdown to Christmas TV movies are so popular, they have an app and sell merchandise like wine glasses and T-shirts. Last year, Hallmark Channel’s Countdown to Christmas on W Network reached nearly 10 million Canadians, making the W Network the top entertainment specialty station among women aged 25 to 54, according to a news release from Corus Entertainment.
Which is why some fans aren’t impressed by a new lawsuit that alleges a Hallmark executive instructed a former employee not to cast “old people” for Hallmark roles.
“Who do you think your viewers are? Are you trying to throw us overboard as well?” commented one person on a Hallmark Channel Instagram post about its Countdown to Christmas lineup.
“I might have to stop watching your channel I seem to be too old for you,” wrote another.
“Don’t expect any of us to watch your shows if this is your attitude toward females who grow older as we all do,” commented another person.
According to a lawsuit filed against the network this month and obtained by The Associated Press, Hallmark Media executive vice-president of programming Lisa Hamilton Daly allegedly said “our leading ladies are aging out.”
That included 42-year-old actress Lacey Chabert, with Hamilton Daly reportedly saying she is “getting older and we have to find someone like her to replace her as she gets older.”
Chabert has starred in dozens of Hallmark movies, many of them Christmas-themed, and portrayed Gretchen Wieners in Mean Girls (2004).
The lawsuit adds that the executive had this to say of 60-year-old actress and Our Christmas Journey star Holly Robinson Peete: “No one wants her because she’s too expensive and getting too old. She can’t play leading roles anymore.”
In a statement, Hallmark denied the allegations, adding: “Hallmark continues to consistently cast and maintain positive, productive relationships with talented actors representing a broad spectrum of diversity, including actors who span many age groups and cross generations.”
Several movies at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival explore themes around women’s bodies and aging, including The Last Showgirl, Nightbitch and The Substance. Nightbitch star Amy Adams says she’s happy these conversations are happening and she hopes the ‘momentum continues.’
Women aging in Hollywood
An annual study led by Martha Lauzen at San Diego State University has monitored portrayals of girls and women in the top 100 grossing films since 2002.
In 2023, she found that the percentage of female characters “plummeted” as they moved from their 30s (33 per cent) into their 40s (15 per cent). But the number of male characters in these age cohorts held steady at 28 per cent. There were also more male than female characters aged 60 and over, according to the report.
A similar trend was found on broadcast shows and streaming services in the 2023-2024 season.
“Female characters were younger than their male counterparts,” noted the report. “The majority of female characters were in their 20s and 30s, whereas the majority of male characters were in their 30s and 40s.”
And yet, recent movies and shows that do cast older women have proven immensely popular. Take Netflix’s Nobody Wants This, a rom-com co-starring Kristen Bell, 44, which has spent the last month in the top three among Netflix’s most popular shows globally since its debut.
And there’s the acclaimed film The Substance, in which Demi Moore, 61, takes a serum that promises to transform her into a younger version of herself. Since its Sept. 20 release, The Substance has grossed more than $34.7 million US in box offices worldwide, according to box office tracking site The Numbers.
“I feel like there has been a wake-up to a demographic that is deserving of being served,” Moore told The Associated Press. “I think you’re starting to see a lot more stories that are reflecting that audience, and it’s nice.”
Meanwhile, Lindsay Lohan, 38, is starring in Netflix’s Christmas movie Our Little Secret, a fourth Bridget Jones movie is coming out this year that will feature heroine Bridget in her 50s (played by Renée Zellweger, 55), and the Sex and the City reboot And Just Like That was recently renewed for a third season. The show stars Sarah Jessica Parker, 59, Kristin Davis, 59, and Cynthia Nixon, 58.
Hallmark denies allegations in lawsuit
In the Hallmark lawsuit, Penny Perry, a 79-year-old casting director who filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court on Oct. 9, alleges she was wrongfully fired from the network known for its feel-good movies because of her age, and despite stellar performance reviews.
In a statement to the Associated Press, Hallmark denied those allegations, as well as the claims allegedly made about Chabert and Robinson Peete.
“Lacey and Holly have a home at Hallmark. We do not generally comment on pending litigation. And while we deny these outrageous allegations, we are not going to discuss an employment relationship in the media,” the statement said.
Nova Scotia is going Hallmark for the holidays. Two Christmas movies were shot here as part of the U.S. cable giant’s Countdown to Christmas event. Andrew Sampson went to learn about the magic of filmmaking.
On social media, fans aren’t feeling very festive about the controversy.
“This is ridiculous…. These ladies have been the face of Hallmark movies. When does one become too old? There’s got to be room for women as they age. It is all these ‘oldies’ who watch your movies. Damn,” wrote someone on X.
“Older people need love too. They can add younger actors but don’t dump the older ones because they’re old. [Many] Gen X women have never married and they buy Hallmark cards too,” wrote another.
“It’s okay for middle-aged hotties to inherit farms/visit ailing relatives and fall in love, you know,” commented a fan on the Hallmark Movies subreddit.