On Thursday, Hallmark Channel announced that it was parting ways with Lori Loughlin, who was indicted for allegedly illegally bribing her daughters’ way into University of Southern California.
That meant the end to her starring role in the Garage Sale Mystery movies, any of their other telemovies and the series When the Heart Calls. The latter is the biggest problem of them all for them. The drama just began airing its 6th season and is still a powerhouse for the network.
What to do? Well, Hallmark pulled tonight’s episode, but what does that mean for the future of the series? Over the weekend, the producer Brian Bird gave an update on his show.
“Hearties, Thank you for your love, support, and patience these last several days as we have all been preoccupied with the news about Lori Loughlin and her family, and the decisions our colleagues at the Hallmark Channel USA needed to make. As you can imagine, everyone involved with When Calls the Heart was surprised by these developments, so we hope you can forgive us for initially staying silent while we sorted through how to respond.
“As for the show itself, we know millions of fans are on pins and needles wondering what will happen now. Let us reassure you, When Calls the Heart has always been bigger than the sum of its parts, and it HAS NOT BEEN CANCELED. With the full support of the network, we have gone on a creative hiatus to do some retooling on the remaining Season 6 episodes. That process has already begun. Hope Valley will return to your TV screens as soon as we can bring the episodes to you.
“On behalf of our entire producing team, including Michael Landon Jr., Brad Krevoy and Alfonso Moreno, I want to thank you for continuing to show your support. Your private messages of support and your #Hearties4S6 worldwide trending on Thursday brought a lot of tears to the eyes of our cast and crew and to the good folks at Hallmark Channel. Your love for When Calls the Heart is the courage we count on as we work through this challenging transition and your Hearties community will always be the most important legacy of this TV series. We love you!”
I am happy that the network will keep the show alive for its fans. I just feel the cast and crew had to suffer unnecessarily because of someone’s costly mistake.
