Pour The Wine, It's Rom-Com Time
Welcome to Pour The Wine, It’s Rom-Com Time! Join your hosts Garry & Amy as they sip, laugh, and review the latest Hallmark movies and shows. From swoon worthy meet cutes to over the top plot twists, they dissect it all with humor, honesty, and a little bit of wine fueled sass. Whether you're a die hard Hallmark fan or just looking for a cozy, entertaining escape, this podcast is your go to for heartwarming moments, cheesy dialogue, and plenty of laughs. Top off your glass, and press play! Cheers!
*Pour The Wine, It's Rom-Com Time is not affiliated with Hallmark Media*
Pour The Wine, It's Rom-Com Time
Hallmark's Twelve Dates 'Til Christmas
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Join Garry and Amy for a festive episode of Pour The Wine, It’s Rom-Com Time as they dive into Hallmark’s Twelve Dates ’Til Christmas. They explore why this series feels like a fresh evolution for the Hallmark universe: witty, emotionally grounded, and wrapped in the holiday magic of Blexford and London, England. Mae Whitman shines as Kate Tucker, a textile designer whose well-meaning friends enroll her in a holiday dating service. Tune in to hear why this charming series earns a spot on your must-watch list.
Send us an email to pourthewineitsromcomtime@gmail.com! We'd love to hear your thoughts!
Music from #Uppbeat
Welcome to Pour the Wine. It's rom com time where we'll sip some wine and review all things rom com on the Hallmark channel. I'm Amy.
SPEAKER_01And I'm Gary.
SPEAKER_00And I drops a wine bottle. Did I say drops? Did you dropped it?
SPEAKER_01No wonder you dropped it.
SPEAKER_00I dropped a wine bottle when we were getting ready to record this podcast, and I wasted a whole bottle of wine.
SPEAKER_01Man, it had not even been opened.
unknownI know.
SPEAKER_00I cannot believe that I did. I think that's the first time I've ever dropped now. I might have dropped a wine glass or two.
SPEAKER_01Not as many as you haven't we all.
SPEAKER_00Well, you've dropped a lot more than me in Broken.
SPEAKER_01I know. Well, anyway, I know.
SPEAKER_00But an actual wine bottle, I don't think you've ever done that.
SPEAKER_01Nope.
SPEAKER_00That's a first for me. So that was exciting. Right before the podcast. So we are drinking white tonight.
SPEAKER_01Yes, we are.
SPEAKER_00And we were gonna drink white anyway. This is a what is this one? This one is a chin blanc, I think. Something like that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Supposed to be like a medium sweet. We don't really like sweet that much. But we're trying it because our adult of age drinking children, you know, one of them really likes a sweet, so we have some around for them. But anyhow. So today, um, before we get into what we're gonna be reviewing, I wanted to share parts of an email that we received from Steven.
SPEAKER_01And it's so cool, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it was very, very cool. He says, in part, I came to find your podcast in mid-October. I was looking for a podcast review of Mistletoe Murder Season One. I don't have Hallmark Plus, so I didn't watch last year, but I wanted to watch the season one rebroadcast to get caught up prior to the season two premiere, as their first season seemed to be well received. A Google search led me to your show. I would watch the season one episodes and used your season one podcast reviews to help supplement my understanding. Your podcasts are an easy, fun listen with a lot of detail. Kudos, which is so nice.
SPEAKER_01How cool is that, right?
SPEAKER_00That was very cool.
SPEAKER_01We're always asking people that listen to reach out, send us an email. Yeah, you know, let us know what you think. Um, or even let us know where we could improve.
SPEAKER_00Right, right. We're open to constructive critic criticism, not mean stuff, but we'll listen.
SPEAKER_01And I thought that was really cool that he wrote to us.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it was so nice to hear because there is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes. I mean, we love doing the podcast, we're excited to do it, but there's a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes in addition to watching the shows, right? So we do all that, and then um it's just fun to sort of bring all that to the podcast, right? You know, sort of right up my alley, which I love. So thank you for that compliment, Steven. That was very, very nice and we really appreciate it. He also had a question um about our podcast, and and he said, you know, he I have only been listening since mid-October and don't have the time to listen to older content. Do you typically review those movies you like and prefer to stay away from the ones you don't because you prefer not to be negative? Hallmark does air lousy content at times, so I can't imagine you like everything on Hallmark channel. But since I've been listening, all of your reviews have been positive.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Well, no. So Countdown to Christmas, we actually did a drawing. So we each picked, one after the other, what movie we'd like to watch and review.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_01So that was a chance thing. So whether the movie turned out good or whether it was, you know, not so good, right? We, you know, it was chance. So that's what we reviewed. And also, I'm not the type of person, if the movie's not that good, I'm not gonna bash the people that are in it. Right. I'm gonna I'm gonna say, yeah, I didn't like the movie, here's why. But I'm not gonna say, Man, these people suck, the writer sucked, you know, too much green screen, whatever. But yeah. So what about you? What would you say?
SPEAKER_00I mean, we're well, we're always we're always honest about what we think about the films. But like you said, we're not gonna be about, you know, bashing anything totally. I mean, there have been a few that we have reviewed, and generally outside of Count Down to Christmas, we're we started off only reviewing the new movies on Saturday nights. Right. And then they, you know, and then we sort of started with the series, the mistletoe murders, and you know, we've watched The Way Home before we had the podcast, but we haven't done any reviews of that yet. Right. Um, so you know, we may throw some other things in there in addition to the Saturday night, but once Countdown to Christmas is done, you know, we we watch the Saturday night movie and we will review it and then post that new review, you know, the following week sometime. Um, but we won't ever totally, totally bash it. I mean, I I mean, I know there's a movie or two that I've given a two.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00You know, and not out of five or you know, right. We say out of five, what would you give it? And but we do, you know, and we try to highlight what we liked, even if we didn't, if the movie didn't deliver what we thought, or if it really wasn't that great. Because you're right, Steven. I mean, not everything's gonna be great. No, for sure. I mean, and we totally agree with that. Um, I mean, at first when we started, we probably did what we were, you know, we were really positive about we, you know, we really liked everything. We did really like everything that we watched, and then we kind of were like, you know, we need to really save our fives for the special, you know, it has to really, you know, check all the boxes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So um, you know, we're learning as we go, but but we're always honest, we're just not gonna bash, we'll be constructively critical. Right. You know, like that could have been shot differently, or you know, it just didn't it didn't do it for me, something was off. I mean, I know we've talked about that, so yeah. Yeah, that's where we're gonna be. There you have it. But Steven, thank you very much for reaching out. Um, I did shoot you an email back. So if you're listening, hopefully you got it. Yeah. Or we did, yeah. So, but we just we uh really appreciate you listening and we appreciate you reaching out.
SPEAKER_01And see, we read it on the podcast.
SPEAKER_00And we read it on the podcast. There you go.
SPEAKER_01Meaning what we say.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. All right, let's get to it. Today we're going to be reviewing 12 dates till Christmas. It originally aired in sets of two episodes on Fridays beginning on December 5th, 2025. You can find it streaming right now on Hallmark Plus. Now, this review is going to be a little different than our normal normal reviews. We did watch there are six episodes. Um we did watch all six episodes as they aired, but we chose not to review them individually. And we thought we would just hop on and talk a little bit about the series as a whole. Right. And um, you know, instead of episode by episode. So this one will be probably a little bit shorter than our normal podcast and a different type of review, if you will.
SPEAKER_01It will be. So we would love it if you would click that follow button on your favorite podcast platform so you don't miss an episode. If you listen on Apple or Spotify, you can also leave us a review and hopefully it's a positive one.
SPEAKER_00Hopefully, like Steve Cross. There you go.
SPEAKER_01You can also find us on YouTube and all social media.
SPEAKER_00And as we mentioned, we would love it if you would send us an email to pour the wine isromcumtime at gmail.com. Let us know your thoughts about the movies, the countdown to Christmas movies. They are all complete now as we record this. Yes. Although we have one more to review, right?
SPEAKER_01Yes. That we drew.
SPEAKER_00So we have we have one more review coming, and then we'll probably sprinkle some of the others in because we did see others that we did not formally review that we really, really enjoyed. That we did not draw. So we'll get to those down the route. But shoot us an email, let us know your thoughts about that or anything Hallmark related. We would love to hear from you, and we might read it on the podcast.
SPEAKER_01That's right. We actually will read it on the podcast.
SPEAKER_00We will.
SPEAKER_01So we're probably gonna drop some spoilers. Not too many, I don't think, on this one. Yeah, but if you haven't seen the series yet, there's six episodes. Go watch it. Come back, listen to the podcast, and let us know what you think. Yeah. Right? Yeah, sounds good. So let's find out who is starring in this one.
SPEAKER_00Twelve dates till Christmas. Mae Whitman plays Kate Tucker. In scrolling through her nearly 200 acting credits, I did find a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie that she was in in 1999. It's called A Season of Miracles. Now, if she was in other Hallmark works, I didn't see it. But there are a lot of acting credits she has, so it's possible that I missed it. But if she, of course, started out in the mid to late 90s, which we know her from in films like When a Man Loves a Woman, Bye Bye Love, um Independence Day, One Fine Day with George Clooney. He's still my heart. You're a man. She also played Lauren Graham's daughter in the TV series Parenthood. And we last saw her in the TV series Good Girls, which we really enjoyed. And Parenthood is an excellent series, also. But Julian Morris plays Callum, one of Kate's best friends, right? One of her childhood friends. His hallmark work includes The Presence of Love and A Royal Queen's Christmas. Some of the other cast members include Toby Sandeman, he plays Richard, he's one of Kate's dates. Nathaniel Parker plays Mac, that's Kate's dad. Lucy Eaton plays Laura. She is the third in the trio of Kate, Callum, and Laura. She's the other best friend. Jane Seymour plays Evelyn, the great Jane Seymour, right? Imer Morrissey plays Drew. She is the host of the 12 dates. And the great Mary McDonnell plays Delilah, Kate's mom.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Kate's mom.
SPEAKER_00Kate's mom.
SPEAKER_01We've seen her in a couple of things too.
SPEAKER_00Mary McDonald?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah. She was in the closer. Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I love that series.
SPEAKER_01So the 12 Dates Before Till Christmas, um, there were two different directors on this series. And each one's directorial debut for Hallmark.
SPEAKER_00For Hallmark.
SPEAKER_01Yes. And Jenny Bayliss is a co-writer, and she co-wrote on each of the episodes. So Emir Conroy directed episodes one, two, and six, and Megan K. Fox directed episodes three, four, and five. Cool. Very cool, right? Right. Aaron Rodman wrote episodes one and six. She is also the creator of the series and co-showrunner, showrunner, excuse me. She is the one who approached Jenny Bayliss about bringing her book to the small screen.
SPEAKER_00Her book is called The Twelve Dates of Christmas. Of Christmas.
SPEAKER_01Right. And I call how they changed the name.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Her other hallmark work includes Christmas Class Reunion, the two Christmas House movies, named Tuckett, Noel, and Advice to Love by. There you go.
SPEAKER_00There you go.
SPEAKER_01Dava or Deva, I'm not sure how you pronounce it. I apologize. Avina wrote episodes two and five. She has several writing credits, but this is her writing debut for homework. A lot of first, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Zach Hugg wrote episode three. He has written several homework movies, including The More the Merrier, The Five Year Christmas Party, Ghost of Christmas Always, which we loved, and the Sister Swap movies.
SPEAKER_00Oh, very cool. Yeah. So they co-wrote it with the author, Jenny Bayliss, right? Because she's she's credited.
unknownRight.
SPEAKER_01Yep. And Lynn Sternberger wrote episode four. She also wrote Love Classified for Hallmark. There you go.
SPEAKER_00Oh, Love Classified. Okay. Love Classified. Right.
SPEAKER_01Love Classified.
SPEAKER_00Classified.
SPEAKER_01So there you go. Pretty good, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01A lot of first. I'm enjoying it. I'm enjoying it. So, shall we dive into this thing?
SPEAKER_00You want me to drop the synopsis of the series first?
SPEAKER_01You know what? I forgot.
SPEAKER_00Would you like me?
SPEAKER_01You drop the bottle of wine.
SPEAKER_00I dropped the bottle of wine. Now I'm gonna drop the synopsis. Oh, that was funny. I see how you put that in there.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00The series follows Kate, a textile pattern designer living in Blexford, England, who lives next door to her father, Mac. Kate spends much of her time caring for Mac, who is recovering from a motorcycle accident and rarely leaves his recliner.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_00There you go.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So what did you think?
SPEAKER_00Well, I I think, you know, we decided to do this podcast because we really thoroughly enjoyed this series. Yes, we do. I think it is a breath of fresh air for Hallmark to do. Yeah. It's it's different in the, I mean, yeah, there's, you know, ROM in the common there for sure. I mean, they're they're sticking to that. But Hallmark's really branching out with series like this. And I just thought, you know, I didn't read the book. I I believe the series um veers. If you have read the book, um, I believe it veers from the book a little bit, but I I read where Jenny Bayliss said she was fine with it. It was almost like if she wrote the book now, that's how she would write it. You know, that's what she's kind of quoted as saying, which I think is cool. And of course, she, you know, she was thrilled with the casting. And I think Mae Whitman is absolutely divine in this. Yeah, she is so good in this. You know, she's sort of this, she's taking care of her father, right? Because he's had this accident. Well, she's sort of probably taken the role of taking care of him anyway, because her mother left when she was young. And so her father moves her to England, right, when she's like a teenager.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Who's played with Nathaniel Parker?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. So Mac, you know, they they move to England, and that's where she meets her two best friends. And, you know, he's had this accident and she takes care of him, and she doesn't really date that much, she doesn't get out that much, and her friends really, really want her to get out. And she's sort of this, you know, cynical but funny. Uh, you know, her lines are very witty, and the way she delivers them. Yes, you know, she delivers the comedy, but she reels it in when she's supposed to be softer with some of these dates. It's just it I thought she she is so, I mean, the the whole cast is is really great, but she is so, so good in the role as uh as Kate.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, her friend Laura too. She's kind of funny. Yeah, she's really because she's kind of living vicariously through Vicariously, yeah. So so it she's like, you gotta do this, because I've been with the same man, you know, for all my life, and you know, I need you to do this for me. So it's got a lot, a lot of good things in this movie, in this series. Yeah, and go ahead. I'm sorry. No, I was gonna say Hallmark is really hitting the mark on on their series.
SPEAKER_00I think so too.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, we talked mistletoe murders, like mistletoe murders, a way home. A little bit different, the way home. Right.
SPEAKER_01They're really When Calls the Heart.
SPEAKER_00Right, which we have not watched. No, but we're gonna be watching it and we're gonna watch the very first episode before the new season starts.
SPEAKER_01Season one, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Sunday, right, January 5th, I believe.
SPEAKER_01Yes, we are.
SPEAKER_00Season 13, maybe. We're gonna watch season one, episode one, because we've never watched it. Right. And we might do a review. So look for that coming soon. But back to 12 dates till Christmas. Um, you know, every every episode, I think the first episode shows three dates, right? So the so the dates are sprinkled throughout each episode. So you have you have Kate going on these dates, but at the same time, you know, her friendships are not evolving, but changing a little bit. Um her her relationship with her dad is not for the worst, but just things are sort of changing and shifting in her life, in her private life, along with her dating life. So, and she kind of I I love her character because she, you know, they don't force her to go on these dates, but they do sign her up for it, you know, and then she she does go with it. She's like, okay, whatever, I'll go. And I just it's it's just a fun ride through all of the dates and to see, you know, and what a great idea, too, by the way. I think that's kind of a cool idea.
SPEAKER_01I know it I like the fact that some of the dates are, you know, just with the person that you're dating. And then other dates are are with groups of other people that are doing the same thing, which is it's actually an app that this uh lady created. Um what's her name? Drew, and she puts together all these dates for all of these people. And I just find it really, really interesting because Kate does kind of take it in stride, right? Yeah. Because I I just feel like I don't think this is something that I would do only because I would feel funny. And if I ever got stood up on a date, that would, you know, kind of breaking up.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01But she takes it all in stride.
SPEAKER_00She really does. She really does. And they kind of, I mean, they kind of have an intervention with her, right? Her friends and her dad have an intervention where they're like, you have to get out, you know, give me your phone. I want to see your calendar. There's nothing on it, you know. It's just, it's so good. And she's kind of like, okay.
SPEAKER_01And and and that's the other part of the story is her dad is kind of going through the same thing because after he retired, he got into that motorcycle accident. Right. So he's kind of been bumming around, not you know, not motivated to do anything. Right. So it the intervention was kind of really, if you look at it or think about it, for both of them. Because he he ends up telling her, okay, I'll get up and start moving if you do this dating thing. That's true. That's true.
SPEAKER_00That does kind of motivate him as well. And then, you know, Jay C Jane, you have Jane Seymour who plays the widower, and then you have um Mary McDonald who comes in, and you know, she's sort of this free spirit who travels everywhere, but then she comes in and it's also a story about a mother and daughter and their relationship and how the daughters, you know, which is Mae Whitman as Kate, how Kate views relationships because, you know, not of her mother, but because what she saw her mother, how her mother was and how her father was. And it it's just there are so many, there are, I mean, if we did review each episode, there are so many intricate details really that we could go into about family, about mother-daughter relationships, about a child being a caretaker of a parent and letting their life kind of not slip away, but put the put their own life on the back burner because they're taking care of or they think they need to take care of the parent. They just do it, right? Even if the parent doesn't necessarily ask for it or want it, right? So, um, you know, and there's a scene where May's kind of like, I can't find dad, like, where is he? And you know, he's like this grown man, you know. Right.
SPEAKER_01It's like our child. Wow, she's looking for her child, but it's her dad. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And like you said, both of their relationships with other people change. Change and evolve throughout the series, like real life. And it's just it's so so well done. So well done. The music is great in all the episodes, and we talk about that a lot on the podcast.
SPEAKER_01And the costumes, the outfits.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Especially with Drew, the matchmaker. She has some crazy outfits.
SPEAKER_00She's so good too. She is. The actor who plays her is so good, also. I mean, they the casting was so well done.
SPEAKER_01So good.
SPEAKER_00So well done.
SPEAKER_01The other thing that I liked about it too, um, is the fact that after each date, she kind of goes back to her friends and kind of does this little date dump.
SPEAKER_00Does she call it that or did you just call it?
SPEAKER_01No, I just call it that. And I just thought it was funny because some of them uh call him he's so funny with her because you know he they had something when they were little, right?
SPEAKER_00So or teens, nothing.
SPEAKER_01Teens, yeah, I say little teens when she first moved, her dad moved her there. And he just he just jokes with her about it. And yeah, and and her banter with him is kind of like, oh yeah, well, whatever. You know, it's it's kind of funny. Again, taking it in stride with with her friends.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, I mean, I think it's you know, when they go on the dates, the way they set up each one, like you see, date one might be on the building. It's not literally on the building, but it's for the viewer to see, right? Like date one and two different spots, and it's just it's really I I think, and I love seeing, you know, England at Christmas time. Yes, you know, I mean, and some of the dates are really cool, and some of them are funny, and some, you know, and so it's just it's just a it's a really, really great watch. Right. You know, it it's it's got your your wit, your your humor, it's got a lot of heart, right? It's got the dates.
SPEAKER_01Yes, it does. So you know the other funny thing is like you go on one date and the next day you go on another date as a group, but the person you dated the first time is with someone else. Who's with someone else? And it's kind of funny, like you know, they're all talking to each other, and it's like, ooh, you know, did you not like me on my date? And that that's what would be running through my head. Like, I wonder what she thinks about my date.
SPEAKER_00Well, I guess you can still communicate after, you know, if you really make a connection.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00Which you kind of see, you know, she does make a couple of connections, and it's just it's it's it's a fun, it's a fun watch. You know, you we're I know we're after Christmas right now, but it will be a great filler for that time in between Christmas and New Year's where nobody knows what time it is, what day it is, what's going on with your life. If you haven't seen it, watch it. We just watched a couple of episodes again, we're rewatching it, and it is just so good. It's so, so good.
SPEAKER_01And you you will catch things that you didn't see.
SPEAKER_00That you didn't catch the first time. Yeah. And I really hope, I wonder if there's gonna be a season two because you know, on IMDB it says, you know, 2025-you know it doesn't say like limited series, but I mean maybe it is, I don't know. But a season two would be great. I don't know where they would go with it. Right. But I just uh Mae Whitman is so so good in it. I mean, I oh gosh, she's she's great. Watch it just for her if you watch it for nothing else.
SPEAKER_01I know, right? So, yes out of five ornaments, what would you put on the tree?
SPEAKER_00This will not be shocking. Five. Not shocking. Yeah, dude, you're gonna say five I would give this series a solid five. Me too.
SPEAKER_01I would too because it it really did check all the boxes. You had love, you had comedy, you had friendship. I mean, you just had it all. And um yeah, and I love the fact that it was shot, you know, that it wasn't an like in America, yeah, in one of the big cities.
SPEAKER_00You know, when I didn't look that up, I'm sure it was probably shot.
SPEAKER_01But but even still, I like the fact that it was, you know, set in London.
SPEAKER_00I don't know that for sure.
SPEAKER_01No, I don't know if it was shot in London, but the but the premise of it was all right, we're gonna take this to London.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And she's got all these bridges.
SPEAKER_00Oh, I see what you're saying. Like they the the right.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Well, and I'm sure that's that's probably the book.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So um yeah, it says it says, I just looked it up, it does say it was shot in London.
SPEAKER_01There you go.
SPEAKER_00In London, England. There you go.
SPEAKER_01There you go. And she even rode the uh the Waterloo, right? Or or uh the um subway.
SPEAKER_00I know yeah.
SPEAKER_01Which was another funny scene, which was in the first one.
SPEAKER_00The opening, the opening scene, yeah, when she's on the where she's talking and yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So I would hang five, too.
SPEAKER_00You would hang five, too? Yeah. Oh, I didn't even ask you. That was rude. Okay. I know, but how many would you hang? Five? Okay. Five.
SPEAKER_01We're done. So is that a wrap?
SPEAKER_00That is a wrap.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Thanks for listening, guys. And also watching, watching, watching.
SPEAKER_00Watching, watching. Follow us wherever you get your podcasts and on social media so you don't miss a thing. Till next time. Cheers.
SPEAKER_01Cheers.