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New York Post
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Jane Seymour says family values are key to her ‘special chemistry' with former ‘Dr. Quinn' co-star Joe Lando
For Jane Seymour, it's easy to remain incredibly close to her on-screen love nearly 30 years after their hit show came to an end. 'The same way I say I love [my 'Harry Wild' sidekick] Rohan Nedd, I love Joe Lando,' the actress told Fox News Digital. 'We get each other. We are very different people. We couldn't possibly be married… Not a hope. And his wife is fabulous, she's a really good friend of mine – his whole family is.' Advertisement 'I'm always looking to see what is there that we can do together, as does he,' the 74-year-old shared. 'We have a special chemistry when we work together. We know one another so well, and we know one another's rhythms so well. There's a comfort zone that comes from acting with him or doing anything with him… There's a real bada bing, bada boom that goes on with us that I think is unique.' Seymour and Lando played an on-screen couple on 'Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman' from 1993 to 1998. Most recently, they starred in the 2022 holiday movie, 'A Christmas Spark.' These days, Seymour has been keeping busy with her detective series, 'Harry Wild,' which was just renewed for season 5. She's also the host of 'Relative Secrets,' where she helps everyday Americans uncover shocking and even dark revelations about their family histories. Still, Seymour said she's always eager to share the screen with Lando, 63, again. The actor also makes occasional appearances on her Instagram. Advertisement The secret behind their lasting friendship? It's a no-brainer, Seymour insisted. 5 'The same way I say I love [my 'Harry Wild' sidekick] Rohan Nedd, I love Joe Lando,' the actress said. Getty Images 5 Seymour and Lando played an on-screen couple on 'Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman' from 1993 to 1998. ©CBS/Courtesy Everett Collection 'Joe and I have both prioritized our families and our kids [in this business],' she explained. 'Our kids grew up together. Our families are very much entwined. So much so that when the Palisades Fire [in California] happened, he and his family lost everything. Six of them, with two German shepherds and two budgerigars, landed at my house. They were devastated. They had nothing but the clothes on their backs. And we all lived together for five weeks. If we were ever bonded before, we are deeply bonded now.' Advertisement Lando didn't think twice to thank his friend in a special way. '[Joe] kind of took on the characteristics of Sully in 'Dr. Quinn' – he couldn't just accept that I would give him a roof, food, safety, that and the other,' Seymour chuckled. 'He just had to give back. He started wandering around my house saying, 'Hey, this needs fixing,' or 'That needs fixing, I know how to do this.' I went away for a week and when I came back, he completely weatherproofed my house.' 'He got obsessed with, '[You] have too many valuable things, it could've burnt down, you've got to do something about this,'' she continued. 'Sully just came into play. It was very humorous and sweet.' 'We should probably do a talk show!' she exclaimed. Advertisement 5 Most recently, they starred in the 2022 holiday movie, 'A Christmas Spark.' CBS via Getty Images Occasionally, fans might spot Seymour demonstrating one of her go-to workout routines on social media. When it was suggested that she and Lando should do a fitness routine together, she replied, 'We might!' 'Look, the biggest mistake is when people suddenly go, 'Oh my God, I need to lose a hundred pounds right now,'' she said. 'No, you don't. You can start a healthy regimen by walking around the block. Then you walk around the block twice. Instead of taking the car or bus, you walk to your destination and back. I like to put on an audible book or my favorite music and just walk for half an hour in one direction, and do it again, coming back. Even taking some stairs is a good thing to do.' 'Your body is your car,' she continued. 'It's going to take you around in life. You've got to make sure that the feet work, the heart works and the lungs work – that you're mobile… I just hope I encourage people to listen to their bodies and respect what they can and cannot do… I think it's so important to get your steps in, stretch and do some light weights.' 5 Seymour has been keeping busy with her detective series, 'Harry Wild,' which was just renewed for season 5. Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images When Seymour is not reconnecting with Lando, she's happily gardening, which she's encouraged Lando to do with her, or painting with her grandchildren. Even golfing is 'meditative,' she said. She's also keeping busy with 'Harry Wild' and 'Relative Secrets.' 'Like 'Dr. Quinn,' 'Harry Wild' is shown all over the world,' said Seymour. 'What I've heard is that [audiences] look at me and go, 'OK, she hasn't gone and done all the plastic things or Botox. She's real, and this character has just reinvented herself.' '[My character] was a professor of literature, quit after 30 years, and then she randomly found herself solving crimes with her knowledge of history. She's older, and her sidekick is from the other side of Dublin, who comes from a very dysfunctional life. She's teaching him to be a man and to be literate while they're fighting crimes. But she needs him as much as he needs her.' Advertisement 5 Seymour said she's always eager to share the screen with Lando, who occasionally appears on her Instagram. Courtesy Everett Collection 'I think it shows people you can do whatever you want just for fun or just out of curiosity,' she shared. 'You can always reinvent yourself… And I think that's what I do every day.' For Seymour, life is 'a blessing,' and she's grateful for the close-knit friendships she's developed along the way. 'I am respectful of this extraordinary gift that is called life,' she said. 'Every moment is precious. You only take two things with you when you pass – the love you've shared in your life and the difference you've made in others. And if you feel good about yourself, then the chances of being able to have good, lasting relationships are so much higher. You become part of a community. And community is so important, no matter who you are.'
Fox News
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
Jane Seymour says family values are key to her 'special chemistry' with former 'Dr. Quinn' co-star Joe Lando
For Jane Seymour, it's easy to remain incredibly close to her on-screen love nearly 30 years after their hit show came to an end. "The same way I say I love [my 'Harry Wild' sidekick] Rohan Nedd, I love Joe Lando," the actress told Fox News Digital. "We get each other. We are very different people. We couldn't possibly be married… Not a hope. And his wife is fabulous, she's a really good friend of mine – his whole family is." "I'm always looking to see what is there that we can do together, as does he," the 74-year-old shared. "We have a special chemistry when we work together. We know one another so well, and we know one another's rhythms so well. There's a comfort zone that comes from acting with him or doing anything with him… There's a real bada bing, bada boom that goes on with us that I think is unique." Seymour and Lando played an on-screen couple on "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman" from 1993 to 1998. Most recently, they starred in the 2022 holiday movie, "A Christmas Spark." These days, Seymour has been keeping busy with her detective series, "Harry Wild," which was just renewed for season 5. She's also the host of "Relative Secrets," where she helps everyday Americans uncover shocking and even dark revelations about their family histories. Still, Seymour said she's always eager to share the screen with Lando, 63, again. The actor also makes occasional appearances on her Instagram. The secret behind their lasting friendship? It's a no-brainer, Seymour insisted. "Joe and I have both prioritized our families and our kids [in this business]," she explained. "Our kids grew up together. Our families are very much entwined. So much so that when the Palisades Fire [in California] happened, he and his family lost everything. Six of them, with two German shepherds and two budgerigars, landed at my house. They were devastated. They had nothing but the clothes on their backs. And we all lived together for five weeks. If we were ever bonded before, we are deeply bonded now." Lando didn't think twice to thank his friend in a special way. "[Joe] kind of took on the characteristics of Sully in 'Dr. Quinn' – he couldn't just accept that I would give him a roof, food, safety, that and the other," Seymour chuckled. "He just had to give back. He started wandering around my house saying, 'Hey, this needs fixing,' or 'That needs fixing, I know how to do this.' I went away for a week and when I came back, he completely weatherproofed my house." "He got obsessed with, '[You] have too many valuable things, it could've burnt down, you've got to do something about this,'" she continued. "Sully just came into play. It was very humorous and sweet." "We should probably do a talk show!" she exclaimed. Occasionally, fans might spot Seymour demonstrating one of her go-to workout routines on social media. When it was suggested that she and Lando should do a fitness routine together, she replied, "We might!" "Look, the biggest mistake is when people suddenly go, 'Oh my God, I need to lose a hundred pounds right now,'" she said. "No, you don't. You can start a healthy regimen by walking around the block. Then you walk around the block twice. Instead of taking the car or bus, you walk to your destination and back. I like to put on an audible book or my favorite music and just walk for half an hour in one direction, and do it again, coming back. Even taking some stairs is a good thing to do." "Your body is your car," she continued. "It's going to take you around in life. You've got to make sure that the feet work, the heart works and the lungs work – that you're mobile… I just hope I encourage people to listen to their bodies and respect what they can and cannot do… I think it's so important to get your steps in, stretch and do some light weights." When Seymour is not reconnecting with Lando, she's happily gardening, which she's encouraged Lando to do with her, or painting with her grandchildren. Even golfing is "meditative," she said. She's also keeping busy with "Harry Wild" and "Relative Secrets." "Like 'Dr. Quinn,' 'Harry Wild' is shown all over the world," said Seymour. "What I've heard is that [audiences] look at me and go, 'OK, she hasn't gone and done all the plastic things or Botox. She's real, and this character has just reinvented herself.' "[My character] was a professor of literature, quit after 30 years, and then she randomly found herself solving crimes with her knowledge of history. She's older, and her sidekick is from the other side of Dublin, who comes from a very dysfunctional life. She's teaching him to be a man and to be literate while they're fighting crimes. But she needs him as much as he needs her." "I think it shows people you can do whatever you want just for fun or just out of curiosity," she shared. "You can always reinvent yourself… And I think that's what I do every day." For Seymour, life is "a blessing," and she's grateful for the close-knit friendships she's developed along the way. "I am respectful of this extraordinary gift that is called life," she said. "Every moment is precious. You only take two things with you when you pass – the love you've shared in your life and the difference you've made in others. And if you feel good about yourself, then the chances of being able to have good, lasting relationships are so much higher. You become part of a community. And community is so important, no matter who you are."
Politico
08-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Politico
The New Faith-Based Hollywood
BUFFALO, New York — In the middle of April, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Mario Lopez of Saved By the Bell fame is shivering outside on set, periodically bundled in a down jacket. Crew members and Los Angeles-based actors mill about in winter gear. Behind them sit a close-to-frozen pond, barren trees and a row of identical light blue homes. Lopez is the star of A Christmas Spark, an upcoming film about a middle-aged lawyer who returns home around the holidays to become a firefighter — and, spoiler alert, finds love along the way. It sounds, looks and feels just like a Hallmark movie. But peek behind the cameras, and A Christmas Spark is part of a new media boom, funded largely by conservative donors, that's reshaping entertainment in the Trump era. It's produced by Great American Media, a company focused on family friendly, faith-based content and led by Bill Abbott, the former CEO of the parent company of the Hallmark Channel who left amid a nasty political split during Donald Trump's first administration. Despite the stars and the sets, we're far from a major studio production. And for GAM, that's on purpose. Most Hollywood studios and streaming services are dealing with turbulent financial waters and concerns about looming tariffs. But in an era in which Americans are interested in living their politics in the companies they support and the media they consume, outfits like Great American Media — which consists of a streaming service, multiple cable networks and produces much of its own content — are growing. GAM is part of an expanding network of faith-based production companies and streaming services that are finding success in an increasingly polarized country. They're both slowly building dedicated audiences and have cashed in with big hits, like the Angel Studios movie Sound of Freedom, which made $250 million on a less than $15-million budget. These companies insist they aren't partisan, seeking only to create a brand associated with family and amorphous American values that parents can feel comfortable watching at home. But GAM and like-minded companies are able to succeed where secular alternatives struggle by using a sense of conservative aggrievement with Hollywood to their benefit. Bad review in a mainstream publication? It's the liberal media, even more reason to support their offerings. Themes like same-sex marriage or pre-marital sex offend you? Try faith-based media. For decades, many of the same concepts could be applied to Hallmark or Lifetime films. While not overtly political, they espoused generally culturally conservative values and a moral tradition that appealed to conservative viewers, with an emphasis on small-town living and heterosexual love stories. But as Hallmark has begun making some content about gay couples and hasn't committed to promoting unambiguously religious themes, a swath of its fans have gone looking for something else that more directly conforms with their politics and their values. That's where many of them find GAM and a growing slate of faith-based or avowedly conservative production companies. Longtime president of the Federalist Society Leonard Leo, for example, helped to bankroll Wonder Project, the Texas-based studio that produced House of David, the wildly popular retelling of the biblical shepherd's story that found a home on Amazon's Prime Video. Leo received a $1.6-billion gift that he's using with the express purpose of making culture more conservative. 'You're only going to accomplish so much in shifting American cultural and social life through politics and public policy if you're not dealing with the cultural institutions that are at the choke point of American opinion, American sentiment, American thinking,' Leo tells POLITICO Magazine. 'So entertainment, of course, is a really important part of trying to rebalance the culture.' GAM leaders don't state their ambitions as quite as directly political. But they also believe there's money and cultural influence in serving people who are tired of what they're getting from Hollywood. 'We're focused on meeting the needs of an unmet audience,' Abbott wrote in an email to POLITICO Magazine. 'Our viewers are multigenerational and value content that reflects faith, family, and country.' Abbott, a spry, 63-year-old Long Islander by birth, has been working in family entertainment since 1988. He worked at big networks like CBS and Fox before he joined the Crown Media Family Networks in 2000 and was named CEO of Crown Media — the parent company that operates Hallmark programming — in 2009. He oversaw the launch of the Hallmark Movie Channel, got Hallmark into the scripted series game, and presided over decades of sustained success for the brand. Everything looked rosy before a tumultuous breakup during President Donald Trump's first term spurred by a White House Christmas event, an ad for a wedding registry website and a public outcry. 'In 2017, you could see the change in the chairman and the management at the parent company and the family to become much more woke,' Abbott said in February at the Conservative Political Action Conference, when asked why he left Hallmark. 'And DEI driven, very DEI driven. They were in DEI before it was cool to be in DEI.' According to Abbott, in 2017 the Trump White House chose Hallmark to host a Christmas tree lighting ceremony. After the network hosted the show, he says he was told by his bosses at the Hallmark Channel's parent company, that 'you're either for humanity or you're against it,' chastising him for agreeing to host the event. Hallmark did not respond to requests for comment. Then, in 2020, Abbott departed the company after a December 2019 ad for wedding website that depicted a same-sex couple exchanging vows and kissing. After the conservative group One Million Moms objected to the ad, Abbott and his team pulled the ad from its programming — a move that prompted swift backlash. #BoycottHallmark trended on X, then Twitter, and public figures including Ellen DeGeneres called out Abbott directly. The company ultimately reversed course and reinstated the ad, and Abbott stepped down a little over a month after the fallout and the intense backlash to pulling the ad inside and outside the company. 'We made a decision to not take one commercial and that blew up everything on the planet,' Abbott said in April on the podcast of Moms for America, an organization that recently presented Trump with the 'Man of the Century' award at a gala held at Mar-a-Lago. He noted Hallmark was careful about the ads they took in general, not running ads for political campaigns, alcohol or drugs or feminine hygiene products. In his email, Abbott wrote, 'I am very proud of what we built at Hallmark, but their priority became creating content to align with political and social counterculture rather than staying focused on celebrating tradition and delivering what viewers wanted. My goal has always been to serve the audience with uplifting entertainment that creates trust.' So Abbott pivoted into the world of faith-based media. As Abbott tells it, actor Jon Voight — now Trump's Special Ambassador to Hollywood, who starred in the Hallmark film J.L. Family Ranch in 2016 — introduced Abbott to Tom Hicks, a Texas-based private equity investor who runs Hicks Equity Partners. In 2020, Hicks Equity Partners looked to raise $200 million for conservative alternatives to Fox News and explored buying Newsmax, as they sought to put their political imprimatur on American media. (Hicks' son, Thomas Hicks Jr., is a former co-chair of the Republican National Committee and a national finance co-chair for Trump's 2016 campaign.) The Newsmax acquisition never came to fruition, but Hicks Equity Partners helped Abbott get Great American Media off the ground, aiding in his acquisition of the cable network Great American Country in 2021 from Discovery which was subsequently rebranded to Great American Family. Their original programming airs on both linear cable and streaming. According to Great American Media, Hicks Equity Partners has been joined in their initial investment by several other sources, including Deason Capital (a Dallas-based family office run by conservative activist and donor Doug Deason) and Sony. Hicks Equity Partners did not respond to a request for comment. 'Right now, we're going through a period where religious conservatives are increasingly assertive and very energetic in funding and expanding their own cultural space,' said Anne Nelson, author of Shadow Network: Media, Money and the Secret Hub of the Radical Right. While it rejects an explicitly political label, Great American Media receives much of its funding from sources that also fund politically conservative organizations and candidates. They and other similar production companies believe they can power their growth through servicing a large swath of viewers who sound a lot like how Republican candidates describe their voters. 'We have people in our culture who very much want all aspects of their life to be consistent with family-centered values,' Leo says. 'When they're in the marketplace, or when they're in the political world, or when they're simply doing what people do in life to engage in leisure and entertainment, they look for that kind of family-values centered thinking and approach to life.' In the world of faith-based television and movie content, business is booming. Sound of Freedom, a 2023 thriller distributed by the faith-based network Angel Studios about child trafficking that critics called a vehicle for promoting conspiracy theories, minted over $184 million in North America. That made it one of the most successful independent movies ever. His Only Son, another 2023 Angel Studios film, made over $13 million on a $250,000 budget. The Chosen, an ongoing television series about Jesus by filmmaker Dallas Jenkins, claims to have crowdfunded almost $100 million and reached a quarter of a billion people via streaming. Crowdfunding is a popular tool for faith-based production companies that use their audience's enthusiasm — often around a particular political point — to raise cash. Since 2022, The Daily Wire, a conservative media company co-founded by commentator Ben Shapiro, has also produced multiple successful television shows and films and has become a big player in this space. House of David was a huge crossover hit for Wonder Studios, and a starting point for Leo's mission to get more traditional studios and streaming platforms to promote these types of stories. 'I don't see this as being in competition with big Hollywood. I see this as being an opportunity for big Hollywood to make targeted investments that make them money at a time when it's hard to make money in producing movies,' says Leo. Great American Family, meanwhile, grew its viewership by 20 percent between the fourth quarters of 2023 and 2024, making it one of the few networks achieving that sort of rapid growth, according to internal documents from GAM shared with POLITICO Magazine and Nielsen ratings. (Others include conservative media networks Fox News and Newsmax.) Over the same timespan, Hallmark's audience shrunk by 9 percent and Lifetime's by 13 percent, according to Nielsen ratings. Hallmark and Lifetime still maintain larger audiences in total than Great American Family, though. On the business side, many faith-based production companies follow a similar proposition to a channel like Hallmark: build out a slate of movies and TV shows that follow a tried and true formula of simple love stories and moral lessons. 'The reason the model works is because you keep budgets down. These are not genre films. These are not films that require an awful lot in terms of location. Often they're reusing actors,' says Adam Nayman, a Toronto-based film critic and professor at the University of Toronto. 'You kind of build up your own star system where these people are not stars, but they become recognizable to your audience.' GAM's streaming service is currently advertising 'Summer Romcoms' like Sweet Maple Romance, 'Military Heroes' like Peace River: God, Country & The Cowboy Way, and 'Stories of Faith' like Disciples in the Moonlight. The company also launched a specific childrens' hub on their streaming service this week. They are trying to build a catalog of films that fit together in one neat, Christian package. 'Sometimes you'll say, 'I love that show, but I don't know where it is — is this on Max? Is this on Netflix?'' said Kristen Roberts, Great American Media's chief revenue officer and executive vice president of programming, in a recent interview at GAM's New York offices. 'We want to be the complete opposite of that. We want people to say, 'I watch Pure Flix, I watch Great American Family,'' referencing two arms of GAM. The goal, she said, is for viewers to say, ''I watch that service' more than 'I watch that particular show.'' Faith-based networks also have the benefit of being able to position themselves in direct opposition with what they argue is a liberal agenda in Hollywood. The community of faith-based filmmakers can set themselves up as the antidote to cultural products that they see as inappropriate for children and adults alike. 'When you look at White Lotus and you look at situations where they're creating storylines that have incest in them and they're being applauded by the entertainment community, that's an intentional way of taking aberrant behavior and trying to normalize it,' Abbott said on the Moms for America podcast. 'We see it all the time in entertainment — every day. You can turn on almost any movie, any network, go to any movie, and I know it's a very intentional strategy.' The success of faith-based media companies is in large part a reaction to the kind of frustrations that Abbott elucidates. The industry is buoyed by the very thing that it rails against — and it's the response that drives some of the success. 'They've really not ever tried to pretend that they're for everyone,' says Nayman. 'Instead, they say, 'isn't this what you've been missing.' And if you're the one getting that message, and you're the one being reached by that advertisement, then your grievance is being stoked, even if it's underneath the guise of a warm hug.' 'You're assuming that people are fed up with anything that resembles something mainstream or something secular,' Nayman adds. 'And I think they really, really take advantage of a polarized moment.' There's tension between faith-based content and the rest of the media landscape. The faith-based films and television shows — when they're reviewed at all — are regularly panned by critics. Sound of Freedom, the film from this universe that was recently reviewed by the most mainstream critics, has a Metacritic score of 36 out of 100. 'It's bizarre, unsettling and yet — in the filmmaking equivalent of turning wine to water — bracingly dull to boot,' read a review in The Telegraph. 'The quality is a really big issue,' Leo acknowledges. He argues conservatives need to invest in incubating talent that can make family-values movies and shows that are more slick, better produced and appeal to a wider audience. The art in this space often has no real aspirations towards acclaim as it's connoted by an Oscar or Emmy. In fact, in some ways they've created a parallel industry, with their own critics and markers of success. The Movieguide Awards, which are held every year and which largely honor films and television that Movieguide — a service that brands itself as 'movie reviews for Christians' — believes connects with their values. In 2025, winners included the movie Reagan, actor Candace Cameron Bure for A Christmas Less Traveled and Americans With No Address, a documentary about the country's homelessness crisis narrated by actor William Baldwin. Movieguide rates Hollywood films and gives them a 'family content' rating. In the company's annual 'Report to Hollywood,' they argue that films with strong Christian values perform better at the box office. Their formula relies on the often strong performance of children's films and doesn't include every mainstream hit; both Barbie and Oppenheimer had low 'family content' ratings, for example. 'We have a new generation that's having kids, and they want faith and values, their generation does not want sex and violence.' says Ted Baehr, the publisher and editor-in-chief of Movieguide. He cites this year's Academy Awards Best Picture winner Anora, about a New York sex worker, which made a little over $20 million at the domestic box office. 'In Hollywood [that] is pathetic,' he says. 'It's worthless. And all the Academy Award winners were pathetic.' (The film was generally considered an indie success; it was made on a $6 million budget.) While Hollywood has long been a bastion of liberalism, there wasn't always such a stark divide between mainstream Hollywood and religious fare. But in today's political climate, the gap is widening. According to April 2024 research from Pew, 59 percent of Protestants align with the Republican Party compared to 38 percent who align with Democrats, and among white Evangelical Protestants, 85 percent lean Republican while only 14 percent lean Democrat. Christians of all faiths are more likely to be Republicans, where Jews, Muslims and anyone unaffiliated with a particular religion are more likely to be a Democrat. The large partisan split among white Evangelical Protestants in particular has grown steadily and significantly since the start of the Reagan era. And that gap has been reflected in available entertainment options. In the Facebook group 'Great American Family (GAC) Fan Community', users post every day about how the network is one of the only ones that represents their interests, values and politics. In a recent post, a fan wrote, 'GAC SEEMS TO HAVE SOME GREAT PROGRAMMING COMING UP FOR GOOD FRIDAY INTO EASTER. THANK YOU! I SAW SOME DISTURBING STUFF ON A MOVIE WITH HALLMARK OVER THE WEEKEND. ONLY TUNED IT IN WHEN IT WAS ALMOST OVER AND IT WAS 10 MINUTES OF AGENDA!' Her post was flooded with supportive comments. 'Stopped watching Hallmark movies when they cowered to the masses allowing same sex couples. Don't miss it and LOVE Great American Family!!,' another member of the group replied. Abbott uses and cultivates that sense of cultural alienation to market his content. Along with A Christmas Spark — where after two days on set Lopez's character has moved from a big-city office setup to charming small-town USA — GAM's offerings include the upcoming Home Sweet Christmas Wedding starring Cameron Bure and a slate of released Easter-themed productions including Forty-Seven Days with Jesus. Watching GAM is not only an escape from Hollywood, but also a signifier of your own values or politics. While spending your money or time with a Great American Media product, you're voting for something. It's not about artistic innovation or form, it's about sending a message. 'I think that 'Christian' is used by the media to downplay or to stereotype,' Abbott told Moms for America. 'It's reverse racism or however you want to define it. You get stereotyped and put in this box. And that's what they want to do, they want to put faith in a box and make it go away. And we will never let that happen.' — Tessa Berenson Rogers contributed to this report.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
A Star Studded Charity Gala Will Be Held at the Malibu Home of Actor Jane Seymour Saturday
The Open Hearts Foundation's annual gala to raise money for the charity created by actor Jane Seymour fifteen years ago to honor her late mother's unfettered philanthropy will be held at the actor's Malibu home this year and will include honors that recognize the wildfires that tore through Los Angeles annual star-studded event is slated to be an "evening of connection, collaboration, and inspiration" that supports Seymour's mission to help Angelenos in need. This year the event will recognize two outstanding Los Angeles County residents: philanthropist and businessman Henry Gluck; and Avery Colvert, who founded Altadena Girls by organizing a drive and collecting clothing, personal care items and essentials for fellow teens who lost everything in the unyielding wildfire.'As tragic and horrifying as these fires were, it was very uplifting to see people stop in their tracks and help in any way possible. That's the foundation of what Open Hearts strives to accomplish,' Seymour told Los Angeles from Dublin last month, where she's filming The Twelve Dates of Christmas, a six-episode limited series for the Hallmark acknowledged that the wildfires hit dangerously close to her home in Malibu, which survived, but so many others were not so lucky. Among the multiple people Seymour, who famously played 'Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman' in the long-running hit TV series of the same name, knew personally who lost everything was her former co-star, Joe Lando, a soap opera veteran who played her character Michaela Quinn's love interest on the show (the enigmatic mountain man Byron Sully). The Palisades home he shared with his family burned to the ground. With nothing left, Seymour took Lando and six other members of his family, two German shepherds and two pet birds into her home as they struggled with the unimaginable loss. Seymour and Lando have been friends since the CBS show premiered in 1993 and ran for six seasons. The duo also appeared together as love interests in the 2022 Lifetime movie, A Christmas Spark. While they both married other people, their friendship remains an enduring one. Lando posted on social media after the Palisades Fire devoured everything his family owned:'Thankfully, there are angels in this world. We're left with nothing, except each other. My friend Jane Seymour allowed us to come up to her house and opened it up for us without any hesitation and, thank God, gave us someplace to come and sleep.' After she heard from Lando —and so many other friends who lost everything in the fires — she decided to open up her home. Her late mother surely would have chastised her if she hadn't. That woman, Mieke Frankenberg, was a spirited one-time Red Cross nurse who survived a Japanese internment camp during World War II by putting her skills and charm to generous spirit was passed on to her daughter with a constant reminder, Seymour remembers. 'Darling, there are always people worse off than you,' Frankenberg would say. 'If you can open your heart and help somebody, you have purpose. And when you have purpose in giving, you are receiving.' That is exactly how Seymour felt during those days, having Lando's family close to her, fortunate to be the recipient of her friend's love and gratitude and surrounded by family, which epitomizes the energy of the Open Hearts Foundation. 'My dream is we have an Open Hearts philosophy spread all over the world that unites and empowers people," she said. "When people are throwing their hands up and living in fear, we are asking what we can all do uniquely right now to help others.' A ticket to the Open Hearts Foundation's annual gala has become coveted, and this year, Seymour is hosting it at her Malibu home to bolster her city —which was devastated by the deadly Palisades Fire that left nearly 7,000 homes and businesses destroyed and claimed 12 lives. The gala will also recognize the devastation of the Eaton Fire that killed 18 people, injured 9 fire-fighters and devoured miles upon miles of homes and businesses in Altadena. This year, the monies raised at the gala will invigorate her charity's focus on funding arts programs for youth affected by the fires.
Malaysian Reserve
22-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Malaysian Reserve
Great American Media celebrates 5 years of Great American Christmas!
The franchise's popularity is rooted in timeless values, faith, joy, and hope. NEW YORK, April 22, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Great American Media announced its first original film of the 5th Anniversary of Great American Christmas 2025, A Christmas Spark, starring Mario Lopez and Ali Cobrin. Great American Media will celebrate a significant milestone in the history of the media company with the launch of the 5th anniversary of Great American Christmas, premiering on Great American Family in October and streaming on Pure Flix in early November. The annual event underscores the significant differentiation of Great American Media's Christmas's quality content offering. Great American Media's original stories inspire, uplift, and bring families together for the holidays. Through five years, while working with a beloved family of stars, Great American Media has created one of the most coveted original holiday movie libraries in entertainment. To mark the milestone, Great American Media also announced the first original holiday movie of the Christmas line-up – A Christmas Spark, starring Mario Lopez (Once Upon A Christmas Wish, 'Access Hollywood') and Ali Cobrin ('The Baxters'). 'The 5th Anniversary of Great American Christmas is a major milestone for our company and our audience,' said Bill Abbott, President & CEO of Great American Media. 'What began as an alternative new holiday tradition has become a beloved cornerstone for viewers who want uplifting stories rooted in faith and family and marks a truly special milestone.' In A Christmas Spark, Mario Lopez plays a middle-aged litigator who leaves his lucrative career to become a firefighter with other cadets half his age. 'It has been a joy to produce and star in A Christmas Spark. The movie is extra special to me because of my admiration for firefighters who worked night and day to save lives and property during the recent fires in Los Angeles. Each time I wore the firefighter uniform it was a personal tribute to the brave men and woman who worked tirelessly to save our city. Their courage, selflessness, and resilience embody true heroism, and this project is dedicated to them – true heroes,' Mario Lopez said. ABOUT GREAT AMERICAN MEDIAGreat American Media is home to a family-friendly portfolio of brands including Great American Family, Great American Pure Flix and Great American Faith & Living. As the flagship linear TV network, Great American Family features original Christmas movies, rom-coms and classic series that celebrate faith, family and country. Great American Pure Flix is a leading faith and family streaming service that inspires, uplifts and entertains with content that you can confidently stream with the entire family. Other platforms include, Great American Faith & Living, the unscripted companion to Great American Family that celebrates faith, family, and country every day and every season; Great American Adventures and Pure Flix TV, FAST channels (free ad-supporting streaming TV). Great American Media was established in June 2021 by Bill Abbott and a group of US-based family offices. MEDIA CONTACTS:Pam SlayNetwork Program Publicity & Talent Relations818.415.3784pamslay@ Debbie DavisCrosswind Media & PRDirector of Client ServicesC: 214-802-8979media@
