I don’t often plug books or movies or TV shows but I really had to on this one. My family has been captured by “When Calls the Heart”. Even my eight year-old cub scout sneaks in to watch it too, and don’t get me started on the “shipping” my girls do with the cast. I’m a fan of period dramas, but it’s not just the old coal-mining town in Canada that has sucked me into the characters and story (based on the novels by Janette Oke). It’s the Virtus theme that runs through the core.
After binge-watching the first two seasons, my wife told me about an blog done by the producer Brian Bird who talked about all the risks the cast and production goes to create family-friendly content in a world overrun with shows competing with each other to push the boundaries of what is acceptable.
Horror films and series, and edgy adult dramas are the low-hanging fruit in the entertainment business for both actors and crew members. Working on a faith-and-family show like ours is sometimes a risk because you can be stereotyped for doing it (source: http://www.hallmarkchannel.com/when-calls-the-heart/when-calls-the-heart-season-2-production-blog)
I read another interview where Brian put it this way:
We find with “When Calls the Heart” that it’s a throwback to shows like “Little House on the Prairie” and “The Waltons.” Compared to what’s on right now, it’s radical programming…To me the goal is to tell universal stories. I believe all human beings have these violin strings running through our souls. These strings, when you pluck them, they reverberate with certain themes like forgiveness and redemption and sacrifice and courage and banding together to help one another. (source: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/christophers/2015/04/when-calls-the-hearts-brian-bird-on-family-tv-shows-efangelism-modern-parables/)
Sound familiar? It’s the sentiment I tried to share in my blog posting “A Manifesto on Virtue” years ago (click here). I chatted recently with the publicist at 47North who had recently finished reading Banished of Muirwood. She said she kept waiting for some Game of Thrones-ish twist that would make her cringe and whimper in the corner like she sometimes does with that show. She loved that my books just don’t go there.
So now I have a new favorite show that I can watch with my family.
Guess that makes me one of the #Hearties too. Any of you seen it yet?
