Over the past couple of years, Hallmark has gotten into more complex programming on television. Though shows like Chesapeake Shores and Ride have been canceled at the network, new fare like The Way Home has entered the picture. The show has been praised for being more outside-the-box on the cabler, and it looks like another series will be joining it on that pedestal soonish. It’s been great. There’s only one issue.
Per a new announcement from the cabler, a new drama series called Ripple will be available to fans in the coming months. The new series will follow multiple strangers whose lives intersect and interconnect in unexpected ways — but who don’t know one another. The show will follow the “ripple effect” of these interactions, per a release.
In a lot of ways this should tie in with The Way Home’s own narrative, as that series allows for time travel and the story dives into how one can’t change the course of history but simply by going into the past the characters are making history. I’m not used to following such philosophical storylines on Hallmark, but it’s been working for The Way Home and hopefully, Ripple too. The drama will be set in the Big Apple.
The only thing is that Hallmark is pushing out Ripple on Hallmark+, where it will join the reality concept from Lacey Chabert, Celebrations, and other new series The Chicken Sisters. I’ve written in the past about how upcoming Hallmark movies of the Christmas variety will remain on the cabler while a lot of the other new fare is heading to the app, and it’s creating a future where fans will likely need to subscribe to both in order to watch content that used to be readily available on the main network. I am not a fan of this Hallmark+ rollout for those reasons.
The network confirmed the show will be a streaming option only, with head honcho Lisa Hamilton Daly saying in a release (via Deadline):
The way this show weaves moments of sadness, joy, and everything in between is a journey that’s synonymous with our goals for Hallmark+ content – to bring a deep, enriching viewing journey that keeps our viewers invested episode to episode.
I think that means weekly releases for this one-hour drama series. The streamer as a whole will roll out on Tuesday, September 1, though Ripple isn’t even going into production until next month and will likely hit Hallmark+ at a later date.
Look, cable is struggling and networks are looking for new and interesting ways to get eyeballs onto content. FX has a partnership to watch its shows with a Hulu subscription now. AMC recently rolled out a bunch of content onto Netflix. The one thing to be grateful for with Hallmark+ rolling out in the streaming realm is that it does seem like the company is really pushing new and interesting content on the service for fans to watch. I just don’t know if the eyeballs will be there.