The Hallmark Media President & CEO is stepping down. Her time at the top lasted a little more than two years.
Wonya Lucas will stay until the end of the year. She will remain on the Hallmark Media board of directors.
So, she isn’t completely gone. If she sits on the board of directors, she will have a say in corporate decisions, right? Lucas, the niece of late baseball legend Hank Aaron, was brought on to help the company “evolve”, which is code for introducing LGBTQ storylines into the Hallmark Channel’s movie line-up. She promised to turn the Hallmark Channel into a woke network after a kerfuffle in 2020 when Hallmark removed a commercial during the holiday season that featured a same-sex couple. The ad was for a wedding planning company and the commercial featured two women getting married. The network did an about-face almost immediately to appease the backlash for that decision.
Hallmark Companies CEO Mike Perry will work with Lucas and the Hallmark Media team to guide the platform through her transition.
After three years at the helm, Hallmark Media President & CEO Wonya Lucas will exit her current role at the end of year, the company announced Tuesday. Lucas will continue to serve on the Hallmark Media Board of Directors https://t.co/gWPBmYlXCv
— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) August 8, 2023
Lucas replaced Bill Abbott as the president and CEO of Crown Media Family Networks in 2020, a subsidiary of Hallmark Cards Inc. She was brought in to help Hallmark go woke with more diverse and inclusive storylines, characters, and programming. She made partnerships with Peacock, YouTube, and Hulu and ad-supported platforms. That may have been part of the problem. The thing about the Hallmark Channel is its unique spot in television programming. Partnerships with networks that don’t exclusively carry the kind of offerings Hallmark Channel provides may have diluted the brand too much. Just a thought.
“Wonya is a multi-faceted industry veteran, passionate brand builder, and consummate strategic leader,” said Perry. “I’m grateful for the important work she has done to bring the expansive foundation of the iconic Hallmark brand to life and am fortunate that her insights will continue to positively impact the future of the business.”
Here’s the thing. As a viewer, I tune in to the Hallmark Channel to escape. I know what I’m getting. It is a very G-rated channel. No sex, swearing, or violence. The movies use a specific formula and it will conclude with a happy ending. It is an escape during a weekend when it’s time to unwind and let the outside world go. I like to tune out social media and pretend I’m going off the grid for a little while. I watch the movies that are shown all weekend long when I need a couple of hours to relax. The movies are all the same – men and women meet, the relationship hits patchy spots, then they realize they are in love, and they live happily ever after. It’s a cotton candy fix. Not to be sexist but I assume the majority of viewers are women. My husband isn’t in the room watching with me.
I admit I haven’t watched as much of the Hallmark Channel as I have in the past but that’s mostly because my down time now is spent watching baseball. When baseball season ends for my favorite team, I’ll go back to the movies. I have noticed that the storylines have gone past the usual formula and now include gay couples, not just a random gay friend here and there. Frankly, that doesn’t particularly bother me but I know it does for some viewers. My thoughts about that is, if you don’t like it, change the channel. Come back later. There is not a shortage of Hallmark movies.
“I am honored to have led this company and am tremendously proud of the progress we’ve made by creating an evolved entertainment experience that inspires meaningful, emotionally connected moments for our audiences,” Lucas said in a statement. “My passion for the Hallmark brand has grown in deeply rewarding ways and will remain paramount as I continue to help guide Hallmark Media’s future in a more strategically focused capacity.”
This story brings a bit of a Bud Light vibe. Did Lucas know her viewers? Maybe she did and thought she knew best. Woke ideology arrogantly assumes that the woke know best. The woke think they are morally and intellectually superior to others. Then, when half the country pushes back and says, wait a minute here, they are truly surprised. The woke are the ultimate bubble dwellers.
Lucas’ arrival followed a promise from Perry for Hallmark Channel to work with GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation ) to create a more inclusive environment and promote more diverse storylines. During her tenure, the channel not only introduced several LGBTQ+ supporting characters but also premiered its first feature film centered on a same-sex relationship.
The network lost some of its big stars, that much is clear. They went over to the Great American Family channel.
Candace Cameron Bure, who headlined a number of holiday films for the network in addition to starring in the Aurora Teagarden mystery series, announced in 2022 that she was joining ex-CEO Bill Abbott’s new venture — Great American Family — which would keep the focus on traditional marriage and faith-based storylines.
Among the other actors who made the jump from Hallmark to Great American Family are Trevor Donovan, Jennie Garth, Daniel Lissing, Lori Loughlin, and Jen Lilley.
Granted, Lori Loughlin was a different situation than the others. She was “edited out” of her series after the Operation Varsity Blues scandal broke. She and her husband were involved in that and both ended up serving prison time.
The channel’s movies are still bringing in good ratings, especially the holiday movies. The scripted Hallmark shows have seen a ratings dip in some of their popular shows, probably due to the exit of some stars.
Perhaps the point has been reached where Hallmark thinks it is now sufficiently woke and there is no need for specific focus on “evolving”, as focused on by Lucas. We’ll have to wait and see how the channel moves forward under new leadership. If there is suddenly a storyline about transgender athletes, I’m out. But, I don’t think that will happen.
