Steven Helmer Publications

Synopsis: A year after regaining her Christmas spirit at Evergreen Lane, Emily is helping her boyfriend, Jared plan the annual Christmas activities while Jared secretly makes plans to propose to her. However, their plans are disrupted when the Jolly Johnsons, a famous reality television family, moves to the neighborhood and immediately try to take over the holiday planning, eventually pitting neighbor against neighbor. Who's in it? The movie stars Lacey Chabert , Wes Brown , Melissa Peterman , Seth Morris and Jennifer Aspen. Review: Hallmark Christmas movies, by their very nature, have a one-and-done feel to them. So, when I saw there was a sequel to a movie that I wasn't overly impressed with, I had a lot of doubts. However, it still starred Lacey Chabert and, as I've said, my wife and I are big fans, so we gave it a try anyway. As it turns out, my first instincts about this movie were correct. I think the biggest problem I had with this movie is, much like the first ...

Truthfully, there are a lot of things I'm not a fan of when it comes to this series lately. For example, Sheldon ( Iain Armitage ) and Missy ( Raegan Revord ) are starting to look way older than their characters are supposed to be, and I've already mentioned the George/Brenda ( Lance Barber and Melissa Peterman ) affair thing that just doesn't seem to want to go away. However, this season's storyline involving Sheldon's idea for a database is topping that list. To summarize: Sheldon came up with an idea to build a computer database involving grant money but doesn't want to work with the university because they are doing it for profit, and he wouldn't be the one in charge. The problem is that disagreement, which escalated to a confrontation in this week's episode, just never made sense. First, I've never seen any indication the college didn't want him to be in charge of the project. The university's only concern (and it was a valid one) was t...

Synopsis: Emily finally ends things with her jerk of a boyfriend only to discover he changed the lease on their apartment, so it was under just his name. Needing a place to stay, she visits her parents, who live in a Christmas-obsessed community, only to discover they are going to Florida to look for a new home. She stays at their house anyway, hoping to at least get a chance to rest and reset following her breakup. However, her former childhood friend and current homeowner's association president, Jared, insists she live up to her parents' HOA obligations regarding the holiday. Who's in it? The movie stars Lacey Chabert , Wes Brown , Melissa Peterman , Peter Jacobson and Eliza Hayes Maher. Review: It's not the Christmas season unless my wife and I take the time to watch the latest Lacey Chabert Hallmark Christmas movie and, since we had some free time yesterday evening, we finally did. Unfortunately, while we do enjoy most Hallmark Christmas films, even ones that do...

Synopsis: Missy ( Raegan Revord ) turns to Mandy ( Emily Osment ) when she needs advice about boys and winds up making a bad decision. Sheldon ( Iain Armitage ) agrees to help Billy ( Wyatt McClure ) pass 6th grade math and ends up questioning the existence of zero. My Thoughts: Am I the only one who feels sorry for Brenda Sparks ( Melissa Peterman )? I know I probably am not supposed to like her, especially since she is likely the woman who breaks up George ( Lance Barber ) and Mary's ( Zoe Perry ) marriage. However, it is hard not to feel for her. Her husband left her and she's barely surviving financially. Plus, her son has a serious learning issue, which could only add more stress/embarrassment for her. Of course, to be fair, I'm also not completely convinced she is the woman George ends up cheating with. For all the faults she does have, she doesn't seem like a woman who would purposely break up a family. I wonder what happened to the adult Billy. The Big Bang T...

Synopsis: George ( Lance Barber ) is concerned when Mary ( Zoe Perry ) goes to work at the bowling alley with Brenda ( Melissa Peterman ). Determined to help their parents financially, Missy ( Raegan Revord ) lies about her age to get a job selling comic books and Sheldon ( Iain Armitage ) tries to make money by writing an episode for Star Trek: The Next Generation. My Thoughts: At first, I thought George was overreacting about Mary's new job. It's not as though he had an affair with Brenda, just the thought of an affair during a very vulnerable time for both of them. Still not great, but not something that would necessarily end their marriage either. However, after Mary's not-so-subtle reaction to Pastor Rob ( Dan Byrd ) being at the bowling alley with a woman she once babysat ( Francesca Xuereb ), I'm not so certain Brenda won't use that to her advantage. Speaking of Pastor Rob, am I the only one who likes him less every time he is in an episode? I never truste...

Synopsis: When Sheldon ( Iain Armitage ) gets a pimple, signaling the start of puberty, he begins to worry about the future. George ( Lance Barber ) loses his job as football coach and, along with Mary ( Zoe Perry ), discovers finding a new job isn't as easy as it sounds. Georgie ( Montana Jordan ) comes up with a new business venture to help pay for the baby, but he and Connie ( Annie Potts ) end up imprisoned on the Mexican border. My Thoughts: I think Sheldon's fears about the future had little to do with his pimple. Sure, it factored in a bit and that part of the story was helped tremendously by Penn & Teller . I just think his fear had a lot more to do with the adults around him. Let's face it, the only nurturing presence he has at this point is Missy ( Raegan Revord ), who is also being forced to be more adult-like at a very young age. On that subject, I loved the heart-to-heart conversation between the twins. Once again, this show makes me baffled by the way S...

Synopsis : After finding out Georgie ( Montana Jordan ) is going to be a father, George ( Lance Barber ) and Mary ( Zoe Perry ) insist on meeting Mandy ( Emily Osment ). However, Mary's insistence on the couple getting married creates a tense situation that brings her own marriage troubles out in the open. My Thoughts: I am going to start out by once again praising how this show portrays George. A lot of sitcoms give the dad characters a bad break by making them seem a bit stupid. George, in comparison, does have quite a bit of common sense and, for all the credit Mary gets, he might be the one holding that family together. His reaction to Georgie's news versus her reaction is a good example of this. She, mostly out of embarrassment, wants a wedding while George could easily tell that was a bad idea. I'm wondering if maybe they should have just told Missy ( Raegan Revord ) and Sheldon ( Iain Armitage ) the truth. On one hand, I kind of understand why they didn't tell ...