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more. On

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this podcast, we explore fantastical

0:39

thinking, moral panics, conspiracy theories,

0:42

and urban legends. Examine the

0:44

forces that shape our culture,

0:47

and tell the stories that

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create the realities we share,

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and sometimes the realities we

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don't. I'm your host,

0:57

Chelsea Weber-Smith, and this is

0:59

American Hysteria. Will

1:03

she take over the town's cookie factory?

1:05

Before he steals her heart in a

1:07

Hallmark Channel original movie. They will

1:09

keep traditional marriage at the core. I

1:11

do Christmas almost all year round, just

1:14

sharing the Christmas message. There's gonna be

1:16

more Christmas. After Christmas, more Christmas. I

1:22

think to start this episode,

1:24

we all need to get

1:26

into the Hallmark Christmas movie

1:28

mood. And so, just

1:31

for you, I'm going

1:33

to describe the entire

1:36

plot of the record-breaking

1:38

2014 Candace Cameron Bure

1:41

vehicle, Christmas Under

1:43

Wraps. If,

1:45

for some unknowable reason, you

1:47

don't want to listen to

1:49

this section, you can go

1:51

ahead and skip to about 10 minutes

1:54

and 10 seconds, and

1:56

get in to the rest of the episode.

1:59

So grab one of those. extra soft

2:01

blankets from Target and

2:03

your favorite mid-priced Cabernet

2:05

and cuddle right up

2:08

for a true Hallmark

2:10

moment. As

2:13

Christmas approaches a third-year resident

2:17

surgeon named Dr. Lauren Brunel

2:19

finds herself beaten out

2:21

for the Big City

2:23

Boston Medical Fellowship of her

2:26

dreams, relegated instead

2:28

to the depressing academic

2:30

limbo of the wait

2:32

list. Not only

2:35

that, but her shitty little sweater

2:37

vested boyfriend has just broken up

2:39

with her at a dinner she

2:42

believed would culminate in

2:44

a public restaurant engagement.

2:47

But no, not so. You see,

2:50

Dr. Lauren Brunel just

2:53

isn't spontaneous enough. She's

2:56

a workaholic. Her

2:58

life is planned to the minute. No

3:00

room for the kind of love that

3:02

defies all her

3:05

chilly logic. Sorry,

3:07

Lauren. It's over. Arriving

3:10

back at her familial mansion,

3:12

she speaks to her parents

3:15

in the parlor. Dr. Brunel's

3:17

father, Dr. Brunel, has

3:20

always encouraged his daughter

3:22

to follow in his

3:24

affluent workaholic footsteps, but

3:27

her keenly observant mother

3:29

senses something isn't quite

3:31

right and continuously reminds

3:34

Lauren to live in

3:36

the moment, telling

3:38

her you can listen to

3:40

your mind, but you have

3:42

to follow your heart. Unsure

3:46

of her future for the

3:48

very first time, she

3:51

spontaneously takes a job

3:53

in a small town

3:56

outside Anchorage, Alaska. Only

3:59

accessible by a tiny

4:01

plane flown by the

4:04

flanneled town handyman and

4:06

eligible bachelor, Andy

4:08

Holiday. They fly

4:10

shakily over these terrifying snowy

4:13

mountains, the kind where if

4:15

they crashed, they would never

4:17

be found and would have

4:20

to survive by any means

4:22

necessary. It's as if

4:25

the Andy's plane crash incident

4:27

never even happened, which of

4:29

course, in the crystalline hallmark

4:31

universe, it didn't. Safely

4:34

and calmly, they descend into

4:37

this small town called Garland,

4:41

and Andy, somewhat smugly,

4:43

questions Dr. Brunel's big

4:46

city personality and

4:49

her noteworthy lack of

4:51

Christmas cheer, which she

4:53

soon discovers overfloweth in

4:55

this small town, blanketed

4:58

in snow, so pristine

5:00

that one has to

5:02

wonder if dirt even

5:05

exists in this alternate

5:08

plane. She's immediately

5:10

confronted with that small town

5:12

attitude. No fancy espresso drinks

5:14

here, lady, but we got

5:16

all the hot coffee and

5:18

all the plain white sugar

5:21

you could ever want here

5:23

in the single restaurant in

5:25

town, Hattie's Diner, that is

5:27

long sat beside the only

5:30

general store in town. As

5:32

Andy explains, in Garland, things

5:35

may not be fancy, but

5:37

they have everything they

5:39

need. Dr. Brunel,

5:41

however, has not yet shaken

5:44

the snoot of the city

5:46

from her laughably thin coat.

5:49

When Andy walks her to her

5:51

stunning little rustic cabin where she

5:53

will be living, she

5:56

sighs, this will

5:58

have to do. Later

6:00

at Hattie's Diner, she

6:03

meets Andy's suspiciously jolly

6:05

father, Frank Holliday,

6:08

who literally only eats

6:10

plates of brightly frosted

6:13

cookies. She discovers

6:15

that he founded the remote

6:17

town and built a business

6:19

called Holliday Shipping with a

6:22

factory providing most of the

6:24

jobs in the area. So

6:27

what they do seems to be a strange garland secret.

6:33

When Dr. Brunel begins

6:36

her stressful tenure as

6:38

the single doctor in

6:40

town, she becomes a

6:42

bit of a celebrity, with

6:44

even the garlandites she has

6:46

never met greeting her as

6:48

she shuffles through town on

6:50

the pristine sidewalk. Hey

6:52

Doc, ho Doc, how ya doin'

6:54

Doc? Even Andy calls

6:57

her Doc. At

6:59

his request, she also begins

7:01

a mission to get Andy's

7:03

ailing father in healthier shape,

7:06

first demanding that he begin to

7:08

eat more than just frosted cookies,

7:10

to which he protests in a

7:13

huff. As Dr.

7:15

Brunel settles into her new

7:17

role, she is charmed by

7:19

this quieter, friendlier life. Whoop,

7:22

a new possible foe. A

7:25

man, she finds out, was

7:27

once a workaholic himself, an

7:30

architect in Seattle who gave

7:32

up the rat race to

7:35

return to his hometown. Like

7:37

Lauren, Andy has to decide

7:40

whether he is staying in

7:42

his hometown to keep his

7:44

aging father's business alive, or

7:47

return to his big life in

7:49

the big city. Then

7:52

things get a little weirder.

7:54

She starts seeing things out of the

7:56

corner of her eye, which she thinks

7:58

are elves. skittering outside

8:01

holiday shipping, but upon asking

8:03

what the fuck is going

8:05

on, the increasingly kissy-eyed Andy

8:07

does a little flirty gaslighting.

8:09

Then they do a little

8:11

almost kiss, but then Lauren's

8:14

old life flashes before her

8:16

eyes and she flips out

8:18

and decides she's gotta get

8:20

back to her big-time career

8:22

plans right now. As emo

8:26

Andy drives her to his

8:28

plane, they start to say

8:30

their serious goodbye. But

8:33

wait, an urgent call. There's

8:35

a medical emergency back in Garland

8:37

and they need her right now. The

8:42

arcs the car around and speeds through the

8:44

town, but when they get to the emergency,

8:47

it is an injured reindeer

8:49

leg. And Dr. Brunel is

8:51

like, seriously? And Frank Holiday

8:53

is like, I need him

8:55

healed by Christmas Eve. And

8:57

she is like, why Frank?

8:59

And he's like, for the

9:01

Christmas Eve festival? And she's

9:03

like, okay. And then Dr.

9:05

Brunel finds out that the

9:07

fellowship of her dreams in

9:09

Boston is hers. And

9:12

she tries to leave again. Then

9:15

another call. Frank has collapsed. It's

9:17

his heart. Lauren comes to his

9:19

aid. He begs to be discharged

9:21

in time for the Christmas festival.

9:24

Andy tells his dad he will stay in

9:26

Garland. Then Lauren's like, you know what? I

9:28

also need to follow my heart like my

9:30

mom said, even if my dad is disappointed

9:32

in me. She triumphantly

9:34

returns right into the

9:37

town festival and under

9:39

strings of colored lights,

9:41

beside glittering expanses of

9:43

snow. Her and

9:45

Andy kiss it out. B.F.

9:48

and G.F. for Ava

9:50

now, because guess what

9:53

everybody? Dr. Brunel is

9:55

staying in Garland.

9:57

Townspeople, you shan't be.

10:00

be doctorless in a hamlet

10:02

only accessible by a two-passenger

10:04

plane. But wait, there's

10:07

one more surprise. Andy's

10:10

dad, Mr. Frank Holiday

10:12

himself, pulls up in

10:14

a reindeer-drawn sleigh for the

10:16

culmination of the Town Christmas

10:19

Eve festival. And

10:21

then with a little look like,

10:23

dink, he takes off into the

10:25

fucking sky. What? The

10:28

end. Is this place for real?

10:31

That's garland for you. I'm not getting go

10:34

underway! The

10:37

star of Christmas Under

10:39

Wraps is Candace Cameron

10:42

Beret, Hallmark's former Queen

10:44

of Christmas, also

10:46

a major Christian influencer with

10:48

her own clothing line, a

10:51

shop full of spiritually inspirational

10:53

products, and of course, a

10:56

whole bunch of cozy Christmas-themed

10:58

products for adults. She

11:01

sells through partnerships with

11:03

QVC, Dr. Lancer's anti-aging

11:06

products, and Dayspring, where

11:08

she has her own line of

11:10

Bibles that come in what the

11:13

Wall Street Journal referred to as,

11:15

beachy colors. She's

11:18

also spent time as

11:20

the starkist Tuna spokesperson,

11:22

who's appeared in commercials

11:24

alongside their longtime cartoon

11:26

Tuna mascot, Charlie. In

11:29

one ad, he floats beside her

11:31

on the red carpet, both

11:33

posing for the cameras, when

11:35

she gets a little hungry

11:37

and pulls a convenient on-the-go

11:39

pouch of snack tuna from

11:41

her designer clutch to give

11:43

her that little boost she

11:45

needs. But, zooming

11:48

out, we realize that

11:50

she's just casually eating

11:52

mutilated tuna beside her

11:55

Tuna friend, or perhaps

11:57

her Tuna date. made

12:00

clear. But before she

12:02

put the star in StarKissed

12:04

Tuna, she was known as

12:07

the tween-turned-teen DJ

12:09

Tanner on the massively

12:11

popular 90s sitcom

12:14

Full House that ran

12:16

for eight whole seasons

12:18

and provided family-friendly entertainment

12:21

that all ages could

12:23

enjoy together. She

12:26

continued to have success

12:28

with this family-friendly brand,

12:30

working as Hallmark's major

12:32

star for 15 years. But

12:37

recently, Candy Cane Beret

12:39

has announced her departure

12:41

to produce and star

12:43

in more overtly faith-based

12:45

programming on the

12:47

Great American Family Network,

12:50

Hallmark's newest competitor.

12:53

Due to the timing of this

12:55

announcement and the wording

12:57

in her explanation, many

13:00

determined that she was leaving

13:02

because the network had started

13:04

to use storylines that didn't

13:07

align with her beliefs about

13:09

gay relationships. When

13:11

asked if the Great American

13:13

Family Channel will include gay

13:16

couples, she responded that she

13:18

believes that they will, quote,

13:20

keep traditional marriage at the

13:22

core. She also

13:24

claimed that Hallmark was, quote,

13:26

basically a completely different network

13:29

due to changes in their

13:31

leadership. These

13:33

changes came after Hallmark

13:35

faced a major backlash

13:38

in 2019 for pulling a

13:40

Zola wedding ad that featured

13:43

two women kissing at their

13:45

marriage ceremony. A conservative

13:47

group, one million moms took issue with the

13:49

ad campaign and more than 40,000 people

13:52

signed this petition, telling Hallmark the

13:54

ad did not align with the

13:56

network's, quote, family-friendly content. That

13:58

pressure from the infamous fundamentalist

14:00

organization One Million Moms, or

14:03

as GLAAD refers to them,

14:05

One Meddling Anti-Gay

14:07

Mom, was enough for then

14:09

CEO Bill Abbott, who pulled

14:12

the ad hoping

14:14

to quietly avoid

14:17

controversy. LOL. Of

14:19

course, social media caught

14:22

on quickly, with many

14:24

blasting the homophobic decision,

14:26

with others praising Hallmark

14:28

for standing up to

14:30

the greedy Grinch of

14:32

winter wokeness. So

14:35

despite the desire to remain

14:37

as apolitical as possible, Hallmark

14:40

was embroiled in a heated

14:42

debate about exactly

14:44

what it hoped to avoid.

14:47

And then Bill reversed his decision

14:49

about the ad, especially

14:51

after Zola said they'd be

14:54

taking their business elsewhere if

14:56

these were indeed the values

14:58

of the company. One

15:00

Million Moms made their public

15:03

response, citing a Bible

15:05

verse to support the notion

15:07

that homosexuals deserved to die.

15:09

It was all

15:11

a big mess. Just

15:15

a few months after the controversy,

15:17

Bill Abbott officially resigned as

15:20

CEO, not due to the

15:22

scandal he said, but rather

15:25

a coincidence of timing. He

15:28

played no small role in

15:30

the roaring success of the

15:32

channel and has been given

15:34

credit for spotting the potential of the

15:36

made-for-TV Christmas movie market

15:39

and then leaning in

15:41

with full bravado to

15:43

incredible unprecedented

15:45

ratings. Back in

15:47

2009, the channel premiered 21 new movies under his

15:52

guidance, 33 in 2017 and 38 in 2018. Here

16:00

they're producing 41, but they're doing so with a new

16:02

leader at the reins. Hallmark

16:08

aka Crown Media appointed Wanya Lucas

16:10

as their new CEO in 2019,

16:12

and she came in with

16:16

a very different vision, one

16:19

in which the channel would

16:21

tell far more stories from

16:23

perspectives other than Hallmark's Hallmark

16:25

Straight White Christian Christmas, and

16:28

that they would change the tradition

16:30

of the friend of color who

16:32

disappears at 15 minutes in, hoping

16:35

to scrub away the hollow corporate

16:38

attempts at diversity. Representation

16:42

is one thing, making sure that

16:44

people see themselves and hear themselves,

16:46

but also trying to

16:48

move from that to cultural

16:50

authenticity. Black people in New

16:52

Orleans are not like black people in

16:54

Brooklyn in terms of their culture. The

16:57

culture that they live within, how

17:00

they may celebrate different holidays, I

17:02

mean there's a cultural nuance that

17:04

transcends race and it

17:06

transcends gender. Candace

17:09

Cameron Beret made the

17:11

decision to follow her

17:13

longtime collaborator to the

17:15

Great American Family Channel,

17:17

where he is currently

17:19

the CEO. That's

17:22

right. Mr. Bill

17:24

Abbott. She said

17:26

of the reason for her

17:28

move, quote, I knew that

17:30

the people behind the Great

17:32

American Family were Christians that

17:34

loved the Lord and wanted

17:36

to promote faith-based programming and

17:38

good family entertainment. She

17:41

said she wants to break

17:43

the Hallmark mold and tell

17:46

more spiritual stories, denying that

17:48

she left out of homophobia,

17:50

blaming the media for twisting

17:52

the story to manufacture conflict

17:54

and expressing her love for

17:57

all of God's people. explain

18:00

why great American family won't feature

18:02

same-sex couples, but said, quote, I

18:04

am called to love all people and I

18:06

do. Adding, I had also expressed in

18:08

my interview, which was not included,

18:10

that people of all ethnicities and

18:13

identities have and will continue to

18:15

contribute to the network in great ways,

18:17

both in front of and behind the

18:19

camera, which I encourage and fully support.

18:22

This is not the first time

18:24

that she's come under fire. She

18:27

also argued vehemently with Raven Simone

18:29

on the view on

18:31

behalf of that wedding bakery who

18:33

refused to serve a same-sex couple.

18:36

None of this really comes as

18:38

a surprise to anyone who's followed

18:40

the trajectory of the Cameron sibling.

18:43

Candace's big brother Kirk,

18:45

child star of another

18:48

90s sitcom Growing Pains,

18:50

became a born-again Christian

18:52

at 17 after living

18:54

as a self-described teenage

18:57

atheist. And almost

18:59

overnight, he began demanding changes

19:01

to the scripts that he

19:04

deemed inappropriate under his strict

19:06

new sensibilities. He

19:09

would go on to become a

19:11

kind of fringe media prophet of

19:13

aggressive Christian fiction, starring

19:15

in the apocalyptic

19:17

book-turned-movie series Left

19:19

Behind and even producing

19:22

his own 2014 film

19:24

called Saving Christmas, which

19:26

is exactly what it

19:28

sounds like. Kirk

19:31

Cameron has always been far more

19:33

forthcoming about his views on

19:36

homosexuality, whereas Candace has tried

19:38

to tow that line a

19:40

lot more carefully, not unlike

19:44

Hallmark itself. Hallmark

19:47

Christmas movies have always been

19:49

most popular in conservative areas,

19:51

in the Midwest, in the

19:54

South, in the general heartland.

19:56

But it was in 2016.

20:00

that the network got

20:02

a very noteworthy ratings

20:04

boost, the only entertainment

20:06

channel that year to

20:08

achieve a growth percentage

20:10

in the double digits.

20:13

One can actually hold up the

20:16

2016 Republican presidential election

20:18

voters map, and it

20:20

matches pretty perfectly to

20:23

the swaths of major

20:25

Hallmark Christmas fans. But

20:28

that does not mean that the

20:30

rest of us can't enjoy the

20:32

heck out of these movies, very

20:35

much including queers like me,

20:38

whether sincerely for the simple

20:40

warmth they can provide, or

20:42

for their exceptional corniness, their

20:44

cheesiness, the way you can

20:46

make a drinking game from

20:48

their ever-repeating tropes, the surreal

20:50

lines and line deliveries, the

20:52

way you can spot all

20:55

the gay actors trying to

20:57

act straight, the way each one

20:59

feels like it could be a horror movie if

21:01

you just put different music under the scenes. In

21:04

fact, they often verge on being

21:07

campy, like drag shows of the

21:09

perfect American dream. I

21:11

mean, just listen to what this anonymous

21:13

employee told Bustle in 2021, quote, many

21:17

Hallmark films were burst by producers

21:20

sitting in a conference room, sit

21:23

balling catchy movie titles, and

21:25

then working backward to shape

21:27

a plot line around the

21:29

title. If they came up

21:31

with a title they liked, say, Christmas

21:33

on the Rocks, for example, they'd

21:35

send me to surf the web

21:37

for a family who rock climbs

21:39

every Christmas, or a rock

21:41

star who falls in love with a

21:44

caroler. It was like writing a punch

21:46

line before a joke. More

21:50

after this. We are Bragg,

21:53

makers of the Apple Fatter Vinegar with the big yellow label, now

21:56

in capsule form, with even more benefits. So

22:00

you can put it in your pocket, put it

22:02

in Eugene's tiny pocket, take it with your morning

22:05

oats for your health. Go bull riding

22:07

with it. Go to the moon with it. It

22:09

has zinc and vitamin D, so it does. Carry it in your

22:11

purse. Carry it through airport security. Take that, TSA. Bragg.

22:14

It's not weird if it works. Gone

22:17

South, winner of the prestigious Edward R.

22:19

Murrow Award is back. Laredo,

22:28

Texas, a border town community where in

22:30

the fall of 2018, four women were

22:32

found dead. In

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season three of Gone South, The Sign

22:37

Cutter, join award-winning producer and journalist Jed

22:39

Lipinski as he unravels the story behind

22:41

the manhunt for a serial killer that

22:43

led to a shocking standoff. All

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episodes of Gone South, The Sign Cutter

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are available now exclusively on the free

22:50

Odyssey app or listen weekly wherever you

22:52

get your podcasts. And

22:55

now, back to the show. Hallmark's

23:03

target demographic is women ages

23:05

25 to 54. And

23:10

tugging on the heartstrings of Gen X and

23:12

millennials with 80s, 90s, and 2000s nostalgia, well

23:17

that works pretty well on viewers

23:19

no matter what their values are.

23:22

Like most big companies, they know

23:24

that this nostalgia sells. And they've

23:27

been selling back to us, the

23:29

sitcom kids we grew to really

23:32

know on TV when we

23:34

sat cross-legged on the carpet with

23:36

the friends we pretended they were.

23:40

On Full House, as mentioned,

23:42

Candace Cameron Beret played DJ

23:44

Tanner, the daughter of the

23:47

lovable doof and sad-eyed widower

23:49

Danny Tanner, played by the

23:51

late Bob Saget, R.I.P., who

23:54

was raising his three girls

23:56

in San Francisco with help

23:58

from his... brother-in-law and

24:01

his best friend. When

24:03

it came to his huffy oldest daughter,

24:05

DJ, well, she always found

24:07

a moral lesson at the end of

24:10

the show, sitting on the edge of

24:12

her bed. DJ's little

24:14

sister, comedic genius, Stephanie

24:16

Tanner, was played by

24:18

Jodie Sweeten, yet another

24:20

Hallmark darling, clocking in

24:22

at five movies with

24:24

two coming out this

24:26

year. And

24:28

then there's Lori Laughlin, who

24:30

played Aunt Becky and has

24:32

been a reoccurring star on

24:35

Hallmark before she spent two

24:37

months in prison for her

24:39

part in the 2019 Nationwide

24:41

College Admission Scandal, but

24:43

nonetheless has been quietly returning to

24:45

the channel. Noticeably absent

24:47

from the full house Hallmark

24:49

grab bag are the unfathomably

24:52

iconic twins, Mary Kate

24:55

and Ashley Olsen, who

24:58

together portrayed youngest daughter

25:00

and precocious toddler turned

25:03

nine-year-old Michelle Tanner. Instead,

25:06

they live a low-key

25:08

life of high fashion,

25:11

far away from the Christmas

25:13

movie industrial complex that could

25:15

have been their logical fate.

25:17

Seeing as they spent so many

25:20

years basically forced to pump out

25:22

Hallmark-esque movies for kids and teenagers,

25:25

I just wanted to take my

25:27

chance to mention them. And

25:30

who could forget dear Winnie? Winnie

25:32

Cooper, the lovable girl next door

25:34

in The Wonder Years, another late

25:36

80s, early 90s show about

25:39

suburban life in the late 1960s. Winnie

25:44

was played by Danica McKellar,

25:46

who has now starred in

25:48

15 Hallmark Christmas movies.

25:51

Lacey Shabare, aka Gretchen

25:53

Wieners in Mean Girls,

25:56

has become a Hallmark

25:58

nice girl. with more than

26:00

10 titles under her belt.

26:03

Her former co-star, Jonathan Bennett,

26:06

who played Aaron Looks Sexy

26:08

with his hair pushed back

26:11

Samuels, is also a repeat

26:13

Hallmark print. Tiffany

26:15

Theson of Saved by the Bell, Tori

26:18

Belling of Beverly Hills, 90210, Tamara

26:21

Mowry-Housley of Tia and Tamara,

26:24

Patrick Duffy of Step by

26:26

Step, James Van Der Beek

26:28

of Dawson's Creek, and

26:31

Chad Michael Murray of One

26:33

Tree Hill. You

26:35

get the picture. Along

26:38

with casting former child stars,

26:41

the channel also adheres to

26:43

a strict nine-act structure that

26:46

very often features a beautiful

26:48

and neurotically driven career woman

26:50

from the big city who

26:53

leaves behind an unlikable business

26:55

boyfriend and then has to

26:57

live temporarily in a small

26:59

town for some themed reason.

27:02

She is clearly lacking the Christmas

27:04

spirit when she arrives in a

27:07

town stricken with Christmas. Then

27:09

comes a little meat cute with

27:11

the handsome handyman or baker or

27:14

Christmas tree farmer, who's often a

27:16

widower with a child. Shockingly, Hallmark

27:18

doesn't shy away from mentions of

27:20

spousal death. Then the woman and

27:22

the man do an almost kiss,

27:25

but then they're interrupted by some

27:27

version of a big business force

27:29

coming in to destroy whatever family-run

27:31

joint is the heart of the

27:33

town. But then the

27:35

community bonds together to vanquish

27:38

the modernizing forces, and

27:40

the woman and the man

27:42

finally kiss. But just once,

27:44

as she begins the process

27:46

of tapering her ambitions to

27:48

focus on family values in

27:50

this small town, on the

27:52

little things, the things that

27:54

matter, the things that

27:56

might be magic. we

28:00

have our stars and our plot, we

28:02

need our set. Despite

28:04

the implicit American-ness of these

28:07

movies, they're almost always shot

28:09

in the cutest Canadian small

28:11

towns they can find, the

28:14

producers sometimes going on actual

28:16

road trips to find hidden

28:18

gems with that perfectly quaint

28:21

downtown look. It's simply cheaper

28:23

to make movies in Canada.

28:25

It's also common

28:28

knowledge that if you are

28:30

a screenwriter, don't even try

28:33

to pass the execs a

28:35

script that isn't absolutely caked

28:37

in immaculate gnolls of bone

28:40

white snow. It's an

28:42

unspoken rule that there always

28:44

has to be snow, and

28:46

each movie is actually allocated

28:49

a budget of

28:51

$50,000 to make

28:53

that happen. Because

28:55

most of these winter movies

28:57

are actually shot during summer

29:00

days, so the snow is

29:02

mostly made of fabric snow

29:04

blankets, fire retardant foam, crushed

29:07

limestone, ice shavings, and

29:10

soap bubbles. This

29:12

also means that the actors are

29:14

forced to wear jackets and scarves

29:16

and hats and mittens in the

29:18

heat of the sun, which can

29:20

hit 100 degrees

29:22

in some locations, while

29:24

still keeping two mitten

29:26

hands wrapped around a

29:29

steaming mug of scalding

29:31

hot chocolate. The shoots

29:33

usually take 15 days and cost

29:35

$2 million of pop, with screenwriters

29:40

getting about $50,000 per

29:43

script, same as the snow budget. These

29:45

costs are not very high. When you

29:48

consider the $150 million the network makes

29:50

in ad revenue during November and

29:56

December alone. Specifically

29:58

trained set designers. also

30:01

come in to make sure

30:03

the films have that patented

30:05

hallmark feeling, just jamming as

30:07

much Christmas as possible into

30:09

every single frame. Characters

30:12

have to have special

30:14

Christmas bedsheets and special

30:16

Christmas hand towels, wreaths

30:19

and Christmas lights inside, including

30:21

in the bathroom, enormous

30:24

trees covered in fat

30:26

snakes of garland, and

30:28

ornaments the size of a

30:31

human head. Since

30:33

producers know that many people

30:35

keep the Hallmark Channel playing

30:37

in the background during the

30:39

Christmas season, they try to

30:41

make it so that at

30:43

any given moment that the

30:46

viewer passes the television set,

30:48

they will be stunned by

30:50

the joy pacified comfortably to

30:52

their very human core, with

30:54

sugarplums dancing in their heads,

30:57

along with that mid-priced

30:59

Cabernet. Am I right? It's

31:02

very clear that these movies are

31:04

family friendly. That point has been

31:06

driven home. But if

31:08

we remember their target demographic,

31:11

it ain't the kids they're trying to

31:13

draw in. And see,

31:15

these adult targeted movies have

31:17

more Christmas magic in them

31:20

than I personally feel comfortable

31:22

with. It seems

31:24

like someone's dad always turns out

31:27

to be Santa, or Santa is

31:29

the mysterious eccentric who had wandered

31:31

into the characters' lives to make

31:33

some kind of domestic magic happen,

31:36

like in the case

31:39

of matchmaker Santa starring

31:41

Lacey Chabert, actually meddling

31:43

in the affairs of humans

31:45

to make them fall in

31:47

love by just touching his

31:49

nose slyly with a little

31:51

stink. Often,

31:54

just like in Christmas under

31:56

wraps, these Santas shoot into

31:58

the starry bed, black skies

32:00

with a full fleet of

32:02

reindeer at the conclusion of

32:04

the film. The

32:07

main characters always received this

32:09

news with a gleeful little

32:12

gasp, whereas I would scream

32:14

as my very concept of

32:17

physical reality was torn violently

32:19

in half. Not

32:22

in Hallmark Town, just an

32:24

excited exclamation from the residents

32:27

and a hundred little side

32:29

smiles at the sky. Dad

32:32

really decided to get

32:34

into greeting cards instead of postcards

32:36

because although postcards had been a

32:38

means of communication, he

32:41

thought they were getting dirty in

32:43

content and would not

32:47

serve the purpose of social

32:49

communication, foul language

32:51

and what was then

32:53

nude looking women which today

32:56

would be considered completely clothed.

32:58

Of course, but

33:02

it was not aiming in the right direction as an

33:04

industry and I think it's proved to be right. Back

33:07

at the turn of the

33:10

20th century when Hallmark was

33:12

just a twinkle in the

33:14

eye of an uncommonly entrepreneurial

33:16

child, there wasn't a

33:18

lot of Christmas magic to be

33:20

had by unrich kids

33:23

who also did not enjoy

33:25

such frivolities as playing but

33:27

instead got to work straight

33:29

out of the womb, especially

33:32

if they were living with

33:34

single mothers like little Joyce

33:36

Clyde Hall was. Known

33:39

to his familiars as J.C.,

33:41

the boy showed his talent

33:43

for business early, starting his

33:45

career at the robust age

33:47

of eight years old, selling

33:50

makeup and fancy soap door

33:52

to door for a company

33:54

that would eventually become Avon.

33:58

At 14, he met a Chicago student. salesman

34:00

who convinced him to

34:02

enter the brand new

34:04

bustling postcard industry. And

34:07

he and his brothers scraped together their

34:09

teenage life savings, coming up with $540

34:11

to found the Norfolk postcard

34:17

company. Lucky for these

34:19

boys, postcards were becoming

34:21

a full-blown craze in

34:24

America. By

34:26

1902, mail was

34:29

suddenly being sent out and

34:31

also delivered straight to the

34:33

front doors of Americans, including

34:35

those in rural small towns.

34:38

Where, between 1905 and 1909, there was an 850% increase

34:45

in outgoing mail. As

34:47

World War I boomed and took

34:50

young men and fathers away from

34:52

their families, the demand for this

34:55

kind of loving communication was unprecedented,

34:57

and the Hall Brothers

34:59

would soon open a new company to keep

35:01

up with the demand. In 1928, they

35:04

began calling their ever-expanding

35:08

business Hallmark, and

35:11

the term Hallmark Holiday

35:13

soon entered popular vernacular.

35:16

Through the middle of the century,

35:19

Hallmark continued to grow at

35:21

an unprecedented rate, with the

35:23

boys opening stores all over

35:25

the country and popularizing the

35:27

revolutionary greeting card displays that

35:29

have become a staple of

35:31

grocery and drug stores all

35:33

over the world. By the

35:35

1940s, Hallmark

35:38

was printing one

35:40

million cards every single

35:42

day. But J.C. had

35:44

a bigger vision than

35:47

just greeting cards. In

35:50

1950, he wrote to his

35:52

sales team, quote, Dear fellows,

35:54

we're gonna try our hand

35:56

at television. And on Christmas

35:58

Eve, 1950, The

36:01

Hallmark Company partnered with

36:03

NBC to create the

36:05

very first live opera

36:08

written specifically for television.

36:11

They commissioned Italian-American composer Gian

36:13

Carlo Minotti, a longtime American

36:16

resident and pretty open homosexual,

36:18

to come up with an

36:20

original idea for the special.

36:24

Inspired by his own Santa

36:26

Claus-less childhood in Italy, as

36:28

well as what he saw

36:31

as an oversaturation of a

36:33

commercialized, Santa-fied holiday, he wrote

36:36

A Mall and the Night Visitors,

36:38

about three kings on their way

36:40

to see the child. I

36:43

saw three chills on Christmas

36:46

Day, on Christmas Day in

36:48

the morning. Millions

36:56

of Americans tuned in to

36:58

watch this opera live, and

37:00

by the next morning, millions

37:02

more would kick themselves for

37:05

missing the live show as

37:07

stories of its success dominated

37:09

newspaper headlines, including the front

37:11

page of the New York

37:13

Times. Though other productions

37:15

had appeared live during Christmas time,

37:17

there had not yet been a

37:19

tradition, and A Mall and the

37:22

Night Visitors became just that. They

37:24

aired the same opera year

37:26

after year, sometimes with

37:29

returning cast members, sometimes with

37:31

new performers as well. We

37:34

can look at this as

37:36

the first televised Christmas movie

37:39

tradition. The success

37:41

of the opera led to

37:43

J.C.'s idea to create the

37:46

Hallmark Hall of Fame, which

37:48

broadcasted classic theater adaptations of

37:51

Shakespeare and John Steinbeck and

37:53

Willa Cather in August Wilson.

37:57

Of the 200 productions they put out over the next

37:59

year, they were able to create a series several decades,

38:01

Hallmark received 81 Emmys,

38:04

nine Golden Globes, and a

38:06

whole bunch of Peabody and

38:09

Christopher awards. J.C.

38:11

retired in 1966 and

38:14

handed the company over to

38:16

his son Donald Hall, who

38:18

continued to pump out these

38:21

classy TV specials until, well,

38:23

America stopped being interested.

38:27

The first CEO outside of

38:29

the Hall family was Irv

38:31

Hockaday, who made some major

38:33

changes to the company's direction

38:35

when he took over in

38:37

the 80s when

38:39

Reagan-era Christian conservatism influenced

38:41

family-friendly sitcoms like Full

38:43

House, like The Wonder

38:45

Years, like the cheesy

38:47

after-school specials that would,

38:50

in turn, deliver Hallmark

38:52

its future stars. Then

38:56

in 1992, Hallmark merged

38:58

with infamous fundamentalist Reverend

39:01

Jerry Falwell Sr.'s American

39:04

Christian television service, and

39:06

with another called Vision

39:08

Interface Satellite Network, which

39:10

was all renamed the

39:12

Family and Values Channel.

39:15

By 1999, the channel was

39:18

taken over by Hallmark and

39:20

the Jim Henson Company and

39:22

became geared toward kids with

39:25

Muppet content as well as

39:27

original miniseries like Gulliver's Travels

39:29

and Merlin, right alongside a

39:32

whole bunch of Christian broadcasts.

39:35

But by 2001, the company

39:37

bought the entire network, and

39:39

the Hallmark channel was born.

39:42

Over time, they started to trim

39:44

back the explicitly religious content

39:47

to make the network palatable

39:49

for a broader audience while

39:52

still trying to honor similar

39:54

values, towing the

39:56

line. From

40:00

our admirers back in the States that sent

40:03

him on a journey I already have family

40:05

in town. Just passing through. to find his

40:07

destiny. You think it's a little odd that

40:09

a grown man would travel this far, B.

40:12

Cart. One simple axe will change

40:14

two lives. This card brought him

40:16

through the city? No, you do.

40:19

Edward Asner in a Hallmark

40:21

Channel original movie, The Christmas

40:24

Guard. Hallmark put

40:26

out their first major movie

40:28

production in 2006 called

40:31

The Christmas Card. Which centers

40:33

around a young soldier stationed

40:35

in Afghanistan. Who receives a

40:38

mysterious card in the mail

40:40

from a mystery woman. And

40:42

becomes determined to find her

40:45

when he returns home. The

40:48

Christmas Card was an absolute

40:50

smash. With 5 million viewers

40:52

tuning in. A record-breaking

40:55

moment for the Hallmark Company.

40:58

After seeing the success

41:00

of this feel-good, mildly

41:02

patriotic romance. The landmark

41:04

Countdown to Christmas officially

41:06

began on the channel.

41:08

With original movies airing

41:10

every day from October

41:12

25th. All the

41:15

way until early January. Under

41:17

the instruction of CEO, Bill

41:19

Abbott. The holiday

41:21

made-for-TV movie Industrial Complex

41:23

had officially kicked into

41:26

gear. Year after

41:28

year, Hallmark raked in more

41:30

and more of that cookie

41:32

dough. Slinging out

41:35

more and more half-baked

41:37

treats. Like 2016's Christmas

41:39

Cookies. Set in the

41:42

town of Cookie Jar. Where

41:44

a cookie businesswoman is sent

41:46

to buy and shut down

41:48

the local cookie factory to

41:50

replace it with a corporate cookie chain.

41:53

But instead, she falls in

41:55

love with the factory's owner

41:57

and decides, yes. Her home.

42:00

heart belongs in

42:02

cookie jar. It takes little

42:04

bit of love to make something really

42:06

special. Christmas cookie. On

42:09

Hallmark Channel. More

42:13

after this. And

42:18

now, back to the show. Where

42:21

is everybody? Oh, is there something great showing on TV?

42:24

Premieres Sunday, November 26th at 8

42:26

on Lifetime. Of

42:28

course, other networks were

42:30

monitoring Hallmark's merry,

42:33

meteoric rise to

42:35

Christmas success. And

42:37

they were looking for new ways

42:39

to compete. Second

42:41

to Hallmark in the made-for-TV movie

42:44

industry is the company's

42:46

evil twin, their cooler, cigarette-smoking

42:48

cousin who seems to know

42:50

everything there is to know

42:53

about serial killers. And

42:55

you know, the far more

42:58

gritty Lifetime Network, which is

43:00

always specialized in tantalizing tales

43:02

of suburban murders and wayward

43:05

teenagers. But when it

43:07

comes to Christmas movies, Lifetime has actually

43:09

been in the game even longer

43:11

than Hallmark, starting all the way back in

43:14

the late 1990s. They

43:17

too have used many familiar stars

43:19

from Gen X and Millennial childhoods,

43:21

crowning their own Candace Cameron beret

43:24

in the moderately conservative Christmas

43:26

queen Melissa Joan

43:28

Hart of Clarissa Explains It All

43:31

and Sabrina the Teenage Witch, who

43:33

now stars in as many as

43:36

three films a year. To be

43:39

honest, I like her movies a lot more,

43:41

especially Holiday in

43:43

Handcuffs, which is an

43:45

absolute delight. Though

43:48

Lifetime saw more and more success

43:50

with their growing slate of Christmas

43:52

movies, Hallmark remained confident. Until

43:56

a far bigger company with

43:58

far deeper possibilities. pockets darkened

44:01

the doorway of their corner

44:04

office. In the

44:06

year of our Christmas movie

44:09

wars 2017, Netflix released A

44:11

Christmas Prince, which was a

44:13

total knockoff of another subgenre

44:16

of Hallmark movie not yet

44:18

mentioned, regular woman and royal

44:20

man fall in love. It

44:23

was a smash hit, leading to A

44:25

Christmas Prince 2 and 3. Time

44:29

and Netflix not only took

44:32

note of Hallmark's winning formula,

44:34

but also of its

44:36

blind spots, as

44:38

a growing chorus of tweets

44:40

called out Hallmark's character limitations,

44:42

like the fact that they

44:44

had never had a black

44:46

lead in any of their

44:48

movies and nary a

44:51

gay to be seen. The

44:54

Christmas movie wars were raging

44:56

as Lifetime and Netflix went

44:59

for the company's jugular, when

45:02

they spied with their little

45:04

eyes, something beginning with D.

45:07

That's right, diversity. Lifetime

45:11

offered up gay leads in

45:14

2020's The Christmas Setup, in which

45:16

an uptight lawyer from New York

45:19

goes home to visit his mother,

45:21

Fran Drescher, for Christmas, where he

45:23

reconnects with his high school crush

45:26

and then has to decide whether

45:28

to choose this new small town

45:31

life or take the promotion he

45:33

was offered in London. Then

45:36

Netflix countered with The

45:38

Happiest Season, starring Kristen

45:40

Stewart playing a woman visiting her girlfriend's

45:43

super rich family house for Christmas, who's

45:45

told only moments before that she has

45:47

not yet come out to her parents

45:50

and they have to pretend to be

45:52

friends for the duration of the trip.

45:55

And of course, stressful

45:57

but hilarious hijinks ensue.

46:00

Hallmark also offered up

46:02

gay characters in 2020's

46:04

The Christmas House, but

46:07

it's never explicitly stated that

46:09

that is what they are.

46:12

But this year, Hallmark has

46:14

finally caught up with the

46:17

premiere of their first gay

46:19

leads in The Holiday Sitter,

46:22

starring the openly gay Jonathan

46:24

Bennett, aka Mean Girls' Erin

46:26

Samuels, as a

46:29

workaholic with a handsome

46:31

neighbor. And hear this,

46:33

Hallmark has even been putting out

46:35

Hanukkah movies, like 2020's Love Lights

46:39

Hanukkah, starring Mia Kirshner,

46:41

aka Jenny Schechter from

46:44

The L Word, and

46:47

Ben Savage, also known as

46:49

Corey Matthews of Boy Meets

46:51

World. That's a couple I

46:53

never thought I'd see. After

46:56

Lifetime had been making Christmas films with

46:58

Black leads since 2013, it took Hallmark

47:02

until 2018, when Jerika Hinton

47:05

starred in Memories of Christmas,

47:07

in which she plays a

47:09

workaholic who falls in love

47:12

with a professional Christmas decorator.

47:15

Under new leadership, they're now putting

47:17

out four or five a year

47:19

with Black or biracial couples. When

47:22

it comes to diversity in real

47:25

life, Wanya Lucas is quick to

47:27

give credit to the many people

47:29

at Hallmark who have long been

47:31

pushing for more diversity before she

47:33

got there, and the

47:35

very diverse group who have

47:37

always worked behind the scenes.

47:40

If you think these movies

47:42

are written exclusively by a

47:44

group of Christian goody-two-shoes doped

47:46

up on whimsy, you'd be

47:49

wrong. Nippie and Neil

47:51

Dabrowski are a Jewish couple who've written

47:53

over 30 made-for-TV movies,

47:55

mostly for Hallmark. Prolific

47:58

Christmas King. Ron Oliver

48:01

is openly gay and has

48:03

had multiple number one hits

48:05

on the channel, also directing

48:08

Netflix's Falling for Christmas this

48:10

year, which included Lindsay Lohan's

48:13

triumphant Return. It's

48:15

fantastic. Ron also

48:17

directed the horror movie Prom

48:19

Night 2 and he

48:21

used to work on Are You Afraid of

48:24

the Dark, including on two of my favorite

48:26

episodes, The Tale of Laughing in the Dark

48:28

and The Tale of the Gasly Grinner. A

48:31

surprising number of Hallmark writers,

48:33

directors, and producers also work

48:36

in horror, including Peter Sullivan,

48:38

who directed Christmas Under Wraps,

48:40

but we'll learn more about

48:42

that next week. All

48:45

of this is to say that

48:47

the heart of each Hallmark movie

48:49

may not be as conservative as

48:51

we would assume. Even

48:53

the writer and director of

48:56

the first traditional Hallmark Christmas

48:58

movie opera was gay. But

49:02

prior to the Christmas movie wars,

49:04

all of this was happening behind

49:06

the scenes, hidden away

49:08

from an audience that might flee

49:10

at the first sight of such

49:13

liberalized corruption. There

49:18

is a major

49:20

conflict at the heart of

49:24

the Hallmark postcard

50:00

craze of the early 1900s

50:03

that buoyed J.C. Hall into

50:06

the annals of business history,

50:08

we can see that the

50:10

scenes that appeared most often

50:13

on the cherished cardstock were

50:15

of mistletoe, Santa Claus, sleighs,

50:17

but also of snowy churches,

50:21

bucolic countryside, and

50:23

small-town main streets.

50:26

Just like little old-fashioned

50:28

Hallmark movies frozen in

50:31

a single frame, but

50:33

the postcards almost never

50:35

showed images of the city.

50:39

During the time of the

50:42

postcard craze, people in rural

50:44

areas had been hit hard

50:46

by the Industrial Revolution that

50:48

left farmers and family-run businesses

50:51

in shambles. Out

50:54

of necessity and a hope

50:56

for a better life, the

50:58

children of these small towns

51:00

started moving away at unprecedented

51:02

rates to look for factory

51:04

jobs and faraway metropolises. And

51:07

by 1910, the total

51:09

population in American cities

51:12

actually surpassed the total rural

51:14

population. It was

51:16

hard for families to cope

51:18

with these losses while also

51:20

facing the powerlessness that many

51:23

felt against modernization.

51:25

According to historian Daniel

51:28

Gifford, author of American

51:30

holiday postcards, imagery, and

51:32

context, rural Americans were

51:35

quote, circulating an idealized

51:37

version of themselves. Political

51:40

science professor Paul Musgrave wrote

51:42

in 2020 quote, what Christmas

51:46

movies show is that the world

51:48

Americans want to live in isn't

51:50

the world they've

51:53

made. Most Americans live

51:55

in suburbs, but holiday movies

51:57

exist in a world of

51:59

smoke. Most

52:01

Americans work in low-status service jobs,

52:03

but holiday movies promise that fulfilling

52:06

work is just one true meaning

52:08

of Christmas away. Giant

52:11

corporations, loyal only to profits, dominate

52:15

the real economy, but Christmas

52:17

movie economies run on small

52:19

businesses deeply

52:22

embedded in their societies. I

52:28

think it's fair to say that a

52:30

good chunk of us, no

52:32

matter who we are, are

52:34

dealing with a serious sense

52:37

of disillusionment. As

52:39

pointed out in the essay, Nostalgia

52:42

Relieves the Disillusioned Mind,

52:44

published in 2021, quote,

52:47

disillusionment arises when

52:49

life experiences strongly

52:52

discredit positive assumptions

52:54

or deeply held

52:56

beliefs. Under these conditions,

52:58

people feel lost, confused,

53:01

disconnected from their social

53:04

environments. However, the

53:06

past can provide solace as

53:08

a refuge of meaning and

53:10

social connection. Indeed,

53:13

nostalgic reflection is a

53:15

commonly cited source of

53:17

meaning in most. Lifetime,

53:21

Netflix, and all the other

53:23

streaming services have certainly

53:25

seen success with their own holiday

53:27

movies, but they

53:29

know that it's probably impossible that they'll

53:31

ever beat out Hallmark because

53:34

of their century-old brand that

53:37

evokes nostalgic feelings and a great deal

53:39

of Americans. They

53:41

know that Hallmark basically owns

53:43

Christmas. They

53:45

literally invented wrapping paper.

53:48

But no matter how our heart feels about

53:51

them, they are still

53:53

a megacorporation with a bottom line,

53:55

and those of us who fall

53:57

under the super-fun banner of... diversity,

54:00

see ourselves either being

54:03

a liability to profits or

54:06

a chance to leverage an

54:08

untapped market. It's not much

54:10

more complicated than that. Back

54:13

when former Hallmark CEO Bill Abbott

54:15

was under fire for that gay

54:17

wedding ad controversy, he told a

54:19

journalist that their movies were, quote,

54:21

your place to go to get

54:24

away from politics, to get away

54:26

from everything in your life that

54:28

is problematic and negative, and to

54:30

feel like there are people out

54:32

there who are good human beings

54:34

that could make you feel happy

54:37

to be a part of the

54:39

human race. It

54:42

seems that getting away from

54:44

politics now requires getting away

54:47

from each other. This

54:49

sentiment, the dedication to

54:51

making family-friendly content that

54:53

is safe for the

54:56

family, implies that by

54:58

virtue of being seen

55:00

strolling down a snowy

55:02

main street, we are

55:04

some kind of threat

55:06

to families. These

55:09

channels' dedication to staying

55:11

apolitical also means that

55:13

we can't exist apart

55:15

from what our life

55:17

means to the narratives

55:19

of the culture and

55:21

business wars. When

55:24

asked why he is so

55:27

good at what he does,

55:29

Hallmark director Ron Oliver told

55:31

the LA Times, quote, I

55:33

think it's because I understand

55:36

that under all of the

55:38

ridiculously commercialized nonsense, the bright

55:40

colors and the sparkling lights

55:42

we wrap the holidays in,

55:45

it's always about heart. Every

55:48

Christmas story boils down to

55:50

somebody telling somebody else they

55:52

love them. Here's

55:55

current CEO, Lanya Lucas,

55:57

again. You

56:00

know, it is about love, right? And

56:02

a sense of hope and optimism,

56:04

which are universal themes, regardless

56:07

of who you are in this world,

56:09

which is why I love this brand so much. I haven't worked

56:11

on a lot of brands like that. And

56:14

so given who we are, she

56:17

also promises that no matter what

56:19

changes take place at Hallmark, at

56:21

the end of their movies, everything

56:24

will always work. This

56:28

love that today's variety

56:30

of Hallmarkian masterminds have

56:32

expressed, no matter how

56:35

cheesy, how corny, how

56:37

cliche and how problematic,

56:40

is a biological instinct

56:42

that rivals hunger and

56:44

thirst, the drive to

56:46

form something equivalent to

56:48

a Hallmark small town.

56:52

The communities we dream of

56:54

being a part of are

56:56

certainly very different depending on

56:58

who we are. But I

57:00

do think that many of

57:02

us, surrounded as we are

57:04

by so much vicious fragmentation,

57:07

dream of a life at least

57:09

a little like this. Nothing

57:11

fancy, a place like

57:13

Garland, where we have everything we

57:16

need, something

57:18

out of reach for so

57:20

many different kinds of Americans

57:22

in both rural and urban

57:24

areas. Just a

57:26

place where the town will band

57:29

together to stop the megacorporations that

57:31

threaten the community through

57:34

acts of merry solidarity,

57:37

wielding the Christmas spirit like

57:39

a fist. A

57:41

place where friends and families

57:44

are no longer torn apart,

57:46

irrevocably, by culture wars, where

57:49

all our griefs and

57:51

all our disillusionments are

57:53

settled firmly in the

57:55

past. A place where we

57:57

will find new love. that

58:00

will remind us of how

58:02

it felt when we believed,

58:05

making us nostalgic for the

58:07

times when it felt like

58:09

we still could. God,

58:13

listen to me, I have

58:15

been watching way too many Hallmark

58:17

movies. This

58:22

was American Hysteria.

58:25

If you'd like to support our

58:28

show and get early ad-free episodes

58:30

as well as bonus content, head

58:32

to patreon.com/American Hysteria. Another great thing

58:35

you can do to help our

58:37

show is to leave us a

58:39

review on the app that you

58:42

use. It really helps us out

58:44

and you could do it right

58:47

now. American Hysteria is

58:49

written, produced, and hosted by me,

58:51

Chelsea Weber-Smith. Sound

58:53

design by Clear Camo

58:56

Studios. Researched and co-edited

58:58

by Riley Smith and

59:00

co-edited and produced by

59:02

Miranda Zickler. Thanks as

59:04

always for listening and may

59:07

none of our family members be

59:10

Santa because that sounds

59:13

really stressful. I

59:16

hope you have a great week.