Vigorous Marvin

It's Christmastown

Comedy EN ↓ 126 episodes

Journalists Jeb Lund and David J. Roth step away from real world anxieties and step into the gentle, cornball, consequence-free world of the Hallmark Channel. Each time, we discuss a different Hallmark original movie—from Christmas cheer, to wedding jitters, to junk-store detectives—and break it down into recognizable components of angels, moms, moppets, sugary foods and themed sweaters, and try to make sense of when the stories veer away from comfort films and land in the uncanny valley. Welcome to a sweet, stilted vision of the world—not an escape from modern life, but a relaxing trip to an...

Author

Vigorous Marvin

Episodes

069 - The Sex Number 17.10.2019 1:11:56

SARA KATE WILKINSON finds LOVE AT FIRST DANCE (2018) leads to: Cat intercourse ... THEME ... It's a beautiful day in Hallmarkia ... Rockin' pneumonia ... Pleasant and frictionless ... Pretty movie ... The Expositional Challenge ... Prescribe more air horn ... BREAK ... Plot in 15 Minutes: Inoffensive meet-cute conflict ... Swedish New York aristocracy ... Gorgeous business fiancée ... Niall Matte...

068 - The Matrix, but for Marriage 02.10.2019 1:08:56

The Oracle says we'll meet MY ONE AND ONLY (2019) and : Make a hashtag out of #UandMe ... THEME ... Ballooning away ... Locked-in disorder experience ... Refrigerator poetry/Taco Bell menu plot ... Bean unit ... 5-layer burrito ... Rude zingers ... When Pascale Hutton talks ... BREAK ... The Expositional Challenge ... The wrap-up ... Self-aware but self-Hallmarking dialogue ... "I worked at Big Do...

067 - We Named the Dog Boyfriend 25.09.2019 1:11:04

We experience LOVE AT FIRST GLANCE (2017) and forget about : The tango ... THEME ... Cuckolding nurse ... This movie's f'ing crazy ... 1.5 deaths ... Repeatedly traumatizing one boy ... Mount Igneous ... Canadian polygamy ... Dave makes it normal ... Pausing before the insanity ... Whiffs of The Mistletoe Promise ... Amy Smart Appreciation Station ... BREAK ... Plot in 20 Minutes: Still in the qui...

066 - The Cheeseburger Address 09.09.2019 1:11:00

It's an embarrassment of riches with the SISTER OF THE BRIDE (2019) and : Extra Hot Great , SVU and the cultural canon ... Vartan Dadian ... THEME ... Cast rundown ... The Expositional Challenge ... Oxford School of Economics ... Professor of Factoidal Weddingology ... Cherry T-Bird ... Golfing without golfing ... Jack Welch, Lee Iacocca ... Hallmark Inversion: A talented golfer feigning incompet...

065 - Day Drinking Through Dog Trauma 22.08.2019 1:27:35

STACEY GOTSULIAS has comps and will travel for PUPPY LOVE (2012) and : A Parental Advisory from TV's Andy Levy ... THEME ... No regrets ... Jeb picked a turkey ... Actor athleticism ... Terminally predictable ... 18 minutes of abandonment and anxiety ... Collar foley work ... The Expositional Challenge: Called for rain ... How we bork the Expositional Challenge ... Plot wrap-up ... Jamie Moyer and...

064 - Are You Afraid of the Badge? 16.08.2019 1:08:55

SARA KATE WILKINSON meets THE CONVENIENT GROOM (2016) only to fall in love with : Our best friend Phylis ... THEME ... Dave is off tanning ... Fake spouses, a favorite thing ... Shakespeare tropes ... The Expositional Challenge ... Stone b*tch fake mother-in-law ... First-act cheater ... Confessing during technical difficulties ... Twentysomething with teen hairstyle love ... Mr. Lorelai Gilmore...

063 - The Encyclopedia of Pining 09.08.2019 1:11:40

We go back to the CHRISTMAS LAND (2015) and : We will never forget our granddaughters ... You can't go out there and die ... THEME ... Monsoons and painter's scaffolding ... Picking Richard Karn, Maureen McCormick and Christmas tree farms ... Tree farms, Staten Island, egg nog ... Dave's yokel safari ... Jurassic Park ripple ... Luke MacFarland Appreciation Station ... The Mistletoe Promise callba...

062 - The Piglet Level Is Just Rising 24.07.2019 1:15:42

SARAH D. BUNTING's back, and we're gonna get in corrals for 2016's LOVE IN PARADISE and : Pomeranian ... THEME ... Unprepared to get worked up about Luke Perry ... The bone-marrow level of Luke Perry pop-culture weight ... Erred on the side of Priestley ... A very generous actor and good dude ... "We shoulda taken him more seriously" ... You can legally punch Brian Austin Greene ... The Luke Perry...

061 - Gail Is the Haint 18.07.2019 1:21:46

SARA KATE WILKINSON gets sent to CHRISTMAS CAMP (2018) to learn : All these people are dead ... THEME ... Ready for Christmas in July ... Can't find this movie ... Normie Hallmark Facebook ... Inert but fascinating ... A delightful vision of organized cabin fever ... Adults at camp ... Not taking work seriously ... The book isn't better ... BREAK ... Plot in 30 Minutes ... Bobby Campo IRL ... Greg...

060 - Horse Whisperer Has Come Unstuck in Time 12.07.2019 1:18:12

We're horsing around for eternity with VALENTINE EVER AFTER (2016) and doing unpaid labor on : A dude ranch ... THEME ... Knee calipers ... Going in optimistic ... Eric Johnson Appreciation Station ... Cast rundown ... The Expositional Challenge ... Plot mop-up: Rock-mount failure; dude ranch; hospital raffle ... Alana Smithee, or Alana Smithee? ... Heavy tropery and peak overdeterminism ... BREAK...

059 - Quantum Leading to Robert McNamara 03.07.2019 1:15:38

We will drop THE LAST BRIDESMAID (2019) until : A question mark leads to an exclamation point ... THEME ... The bipartisanship ceremony ... Better than the new churn ... The busier oeuvre of Nina Weinman ... Hallmark realism as foreign policy ... Kissinger, Scowcroft, Armitage, Oh my! ... George Mitchell's pipe ... Cast rundown ... Matt Harvey actor ... The Expositional Challenge ... The Magic Mou...

058 - Royal Rumspringa in the Denver of the Soul 27.06.2019 1:15:00

We watch A WINTER PRINCESS (2019) and confess : I went to a Mets game, and this movie made me come down with something ... THEME ... Happy Father's Dave! ... Preemptively apologizing ... Summer power outage ... The Expositional Challenge ... Dee's Nuts ... Zealous pro-family convert ... A double-guitar tuned to John Gielgud ... Happy Hour ... Ontario's #1 Michael York ... BREAK ... Echoes of "The...

057 - Wetwork for the America Pageant 12.06.2019 1:27:12

Sara Rue makes the leap and joins the pantheon in ALL FOR LOVE (2017) and we must get buff for : The further vindication of Sara Kate Wilkinson ... THEME ... Semper Christmas ... Lorenzo Lamas is Snake Eater 2 ... Journalism isn't a prank call ... Getting fired ... Real troop tropes ... Will Sara Rue make The Leap into the Pantheon? ... Funny people in Hallmark humanely kidding the text ... The ac...

056 - The Scarborough, Ontario Wild Drumettes 05.06.2019 1:09:07

It's three yards and a cloud of pixie dust with LOVE ON THE SIDELINES (2016) and : Dr. Moreau wasn't wrong about the climate ... THEME ... The lines are open ... Hunter St. James ... Football or graftass ... One of the good ones! ... Joe Theismann picks interesting Hallmark movies ... Snowcoming nostalgia ... The Cremation of the Care ... Any Given Regretful Sunday ... Al Pacino reverie ... Hall...

055 - The USS Walter Mondale Love Cruise 29.05.2019 1:09:22

We sail away from SAILING INTO LOVE (2019) and : "I think it's great" ... THEME ... Seattle Pilots ... Dickie Thon (redux) ... Dave Lopes, Grant Balfour ... Swaddled in torpor ... Four Weddings and a Funeral, on paper ... Plot with no wake ... Instant bread podcast ... The Expositional Challenge ... I got nothin' ... Plot mop-up and island love ... Boy falls in water ... Welcome back to Costner Ch...

054 - Raspberry Glazed Milk Pig 20.05.2019 1:15:51

Ah, Paris, and SUMMER VILLA (2016) , and time to ask : How's the writing going? ... THEME ... Who's a medical model, by the way ... Expecting swill, getting a delightful soufflé ... Moments of silence ... The Expositional Challenge ... He's a thicc lad ... Plot wrap-up ... Jean-Luc and The Butcher ... Bill DeBlasio, Child of the Corn ... The Democratic Candidate Night Club ... Beto's eternal rela...

053 - America's Most Floridian Hallmark Podcast 08.05.2019 1:15:44

It's podcast time, when TRUE LOVE BLOOMS (2019) , and : We're resolving tension ... Baby arms ... So overdetermined it might be ironic ... Old Tampa actors ... THEME ... A Tampa Bay Hallmark movie! ... Authentic St. Petersburg ... You! The Tampa Kid! ... St. Pete skyline ... America's Most Floridian Hallmark Podcast ... BJ's Holocaust museum ... We liked it! ... Sara Rue Appreciation Station ......

052 - Dr. Chocolate's Great Metamorphosis 01.05.2019 1:13:00

It's undercover boss time with EASTER UNDER WRAPS (2019) and : A special message from the dead ... "You have 8 vitamins" ... Ramps! ... Crass lead-in ... CREDITS ... Food based and not good ... Like eating a brick of cream cheese ... Good Capitalists > Bad Capitalists ... A fairy tale of business-shaming ... A framed photo of the undercover boss in HR's office ... BREAK ... The Expositional Chall...

051 - A TV Edit of Glengarry Glen Ross 16.04.2019 1:13:45

It's time to FLIP THAT ROMANCE (2019) and reveal : This movie was bad ... Whose fault is it? ... Like a fountain-drink suicide of Hallmark going wrong ... Expanding the Hallmark topic zone ... Jeb, pain management and HGTV ... Tyler James Tyler LOVED the flips in this movie ... Welcome to Casa Leone ... Apartment dwellers and home builders agree: This is a valueless story conceit ... Heroically m...

050 - Is This Going to Lead to McBanjo? 01.04.2019 1:15:00

It's time for 2018's LOVE, OF COURSE , the harvest festival and : All right, Tumbleweed, let's row ... Your call to the Winklevosses is important ... THEME ... Good evening ... Dave's not pulling his weight ... Laughing out loud at "Love, Of Course" ... Golf movie? ... Love, Tautologically ... The Jim Furyk-Hale Irwin Axis ... Good! Mostly nothing, badly paced ... Kelly Rutherford and Cameron Mat...

049 - The Do-Over Festival 17.03.2019 1:13:12

We regret with 2019's SNOWCOMING and : SnowComing explanation ... The second-chance high school dance ... Wistful, near The Running Man ... Hey, I'm trying to finger somebody! ... THEME ... Jane Wiedlin Thrashing on a BMX ... Letter from Santa: "Joe Theismann is in it" ... Larry Csonka ... Back-to-back Heisman Trophy runners-up ... Alicia Witt's Heisman ceremony ... Ed Marinaro and Jim Plunkett sh...

048 - Pride Goeth Before a Foal 05.03.2019 1:10:24

SARA KATE WILKINSON returns for 2018's ROYAL HEARTS and: THEME ... Belinda's Garage ... Neti pot in The Expanse ... Sara Kate explains why she's angry she picked this movie ... Say "regency" one more damn time ... James Brolin's lethargic Sam Elliottness ... Where are the royal clothes? ... BREAK ... The Expositional Challenge: Sara Kate's Downfall ... A foreigner telling you you're rich ... Zero...

047 - Ho, Ho, Ho...I've Got Pumps Now 23.02.2019 1:20:32

ANDY LEVY returns for 2018's A SHOE ADDICT'S CHRISTMAS and: Letting go of Frasier ... Bad movie choice ... Donnie, Andy Richter, Otho ... The Candace Cameron effect ... Not a real shoe addict ... Jean Smart co-stars as Jeb's mother-in-law ... BREAK ... The Expositional Challenge ... WWII-era American ethnic slurs ... Plot cleanup: Jake and Noelle's stymied fun party ... Photographer, HR Director ....

046 - Jack Wagner's Ring Cycle: Siegfried 14.02.2019 1:23:54

TARA ARIANO and SARAH D. BUNTING of the EXTRA HOT GREAT podcast return for 2018's THE WEDDING MARCH 3: HERE COMES THE BRIDE and: This beautiful gazebo ... THEME ... Christmas memories ... Gotti ... A soothing movie ... Weather and kiss failure ... Grownup conversations ... WHEN ARE THEY GETTING MARRIED??? ... Second-sequel energy ... BREAK ... The Expositional Challenge ... Empty on Valentine's...

045 - Bookstore Boss Goes Bonkers! 25.01.2019 1:23:48

CHRIS COLLISION returns for FROZEN IN LOVE (2018) and : THEME ... Meet the Other Guys ... Title reminiscence ... The Gymkata trailer and All-In With Chris Hayes ... Rachael Leigh Cook/She's All That Appreciation Station ... Metropolitan shout-out ... BREAK ... The Expositional Challenge: The Back to the Future reversal ... Plot cleanup ... A pretty good comedy! ... You must trust RLC ... Classic...