8 Best Hallmark TV Shows, Ranked
Hallmark Channel isn’t just the home of holiday TV movies and cozy-mystery TV movie series. The cable channel has spent more than a decade cultivating a slate of original scripted series — and even reality TV shows — and some of its offerings have become bona fide hits.
Romance, of course, continues to be Hallmark’s hallmark, but not all of the channel’s programming has greeting-card-level treacle. Here are our picks for the best of the channel’s TV shows so far.
Signed, Sealed, Delivered
A rare Hallmark Channel callback to the brand’s correspondence roots, Signed, Sealed, Delivered has posts detectives reconnecting lost mail with its rightful recipient, often at a pivotal moment in that person’s life. This comedy-drama is sappy, silly… and perfect for Hallmark’s audience.
The Motherhood
Anything that brings Connie Britton to television is a win in our books, and this reality TV show has the Nashville vet helping other single moms with a squad of expert. And this makeover show has its subjects bond with one another, proving single motherhood can be a communal experience.
Cedar Cove
Hallmark finally got its first original primetime scripted series with this adaptation of Debbie Macomber’s book series of the same name. Andie MacDowell, no stranger to onscreen romance, stars as a municipal judge in a coastal town. It’s a breezy, beautifully shot TV show with a more rewarding pace than the channel’s TV movies.
Ride
Though it got bucked off the bucking bronco that is the TV schedule, Ride was an impressive effort for Hallmark, a drama starring Nancy Travis as a ranch owner trying to keep her property and family intact. It’s more serious and less sentimental than typical Hallmark fare — perhaps you could say this was the channel’s first rodeo.
Chesapeake Shores
A career woman leaves the big city to visit her small hometown and finds a romantic reason to stay — we’ve seen this story countless times before, especially on Hallmark. But with source material by novelist Sherryl Woods and performances by Treat Williams and Diane Ladd, Chesapeake shored up a successful TV narrative.
Good Witch
Hallmark’s Good Witch series of TV movies was such a hit that the channel gave Catherine Bell’s Cassie Nightingale her own series, with James Denton as her new love interest. Cassie and her daughter cast quite the spell over the townsfolk — and viewers. (Plus, bonus points for the show’s history-making same-sex kiss.)
The Way Home
After Cedar Cove’s cancellation, MacDowell returned to Hallmark in this family drama, playing a grandmother estranged from daughter Kat (Chyler Leigh). But their dynamic takes a turn when Kat’s daughter, Alice (Sadie Laflamme-Snow), time-travels back to 1999 and starts to put the pieces of the family back together. It’s an emotional story viewers are returning to time after time.
When Calls the Heart
Michael Landon Jr., son of Little House on the Prairie star Michael Landon, co-created a Western drama far more glamorous than his father’s. Anachronistic stylings aside, the characters of When Calls the Heart’s turn-of-the-century mining town — especially Erin Krakow’s Elizabeth and her onscreen suitors —have won over countless Hearties and given Hallmark a runaway hit.
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CyanFries
SSD is great Also Ride, Cedar Cove and Good witch. Cedar Cove is a Debbie Macomber series of books and could be a series (and replace the worthless WCTH).Chesp. Shores was good . Couldnt get into Motherhood or Way HOme . If I never see a ad or trailer etc for WCTH it will be too soon. Glad the writers and Erin and Kevn like it since loyal fans dont. They get new viewers all the time out of curiosity but those viewers dont stick round long. The loyal fans are just there to see Chris ( lucas) and Erin pushes him back more and more ever season.
GoldTeepee
YAY!!! My favorite made #1! After 12 seasons, When Calls The Heart just gets better & better!
PurpleDucky
Interestingly, four of the eight shows listed are no longer on. I would have listed SSD first, The Way Home second and WCTH third. Just my opinion.
GoldCocktail
Considering four of the eight shows are no longer on and WCTH became a retcon after S9, my choices would be SSD#1,
The Way Home #2 and WCTH #3. Seasons 1-9 of WCTH were definitely a #1 for me, after that it's become a night time soap opera.
GreenCloud
OF COURSE , When Calls the Heart is the BEST series Hallmark produced and specially now with Nathan and Elizabeth's love story progressing and professing their love for one another with the compliment of their family getting together.
All series were good but WCTH is the BEST !
CyanFries
spare me. This is nauseating.
OrangeController
I'm not sure how this always gets confused but SSD isn't a show. It's a mystery movie series like Curious Caterer or Hannah Swensen. Nothing involving renewal just more movie installments.
All the others are weekly and seasonal tv series. Also this is written from the personal perspective of unknown people at TV-line with no context. Nothing about viewership or imdb ratings or no mention of criteria or fan engagement. We know what an all around high quality production SSD is and that's really what matters. Not everything is for everybody and that's perfectly okay. Perhaps this would have been a more effective list if the shows were all current as well. Given the recent articles circulating lately listing half of the GAF actors as Hallmark ones, I wouldn't be shocked if the writers are not personally familiar with the series as with most of these types of filler articles. I'm not saying this is the case, I'm just saying that it lacks credibility without criteria and context. Okay as suspected someone used a google search for an AI answer because I just asked and it gave me this list! So there ya have it!
GreenCarrot
My absolute favorite, When Calls the Heart! It is a wonderful show!