Like a Hallmark movie: Network saves Cary woman’s day by naming her its No. 1 fan
The Hallmark movie version of this story opens in an east Cary neighborhood on an unseasonably warm early spring day, pink azaleas bursting into bloom under a mottled sky that suggests it might rain. Ambiguous music plays softly. A few yards are decorated for Easter, just three days away.
Inside the apartment where she lives with her infirm orange Tabby cat, Simba, Taborah Adams is wrapping up a phone call with her boss in which she has just learned she’s being let go from her recruiting job.
Adams, 57, a native New Yorker who relocated to this smallish North Carolina town 13 years ago, is just beginning to consider her sudden unemployment — and Simba’s costly veterinary medications — when the doorbell rings and then someone knocks hard on the door.
Thinking her sisters, mom and niece have arrived for a planned family portrait, Adams opens it. Her family members are there, but they’re flanked by a camera crew and television network staff holding two ridiculously oversized bundles of helium balloons, a basket of swag and a crown that proclaims Adams the first-ever Hallmark Channel Chief Fan Officer.
The honor comes with a $10,000 prize.
More than 10,000 biggest fan entries
Adams’ confused expression gives way to surprise and excitement as it dawns on her that the Hallmark Channel selected the video she and the other women here made for its top fan contest last November. When she can form a complete sentence, she says, “I don’t know why I want to cry.”
Because that’s how the Hallmark Channel does people.
And that’s why they’re so devoted to it that more than 10,000 of them made videos or wrote essays explaining why they should be recognized as the top fan.
Danielle Mullin, senior vice president of marketing for Crown Media Family Networks, the parent company of the Hallmark Channel, who flew from California for Adams’ coronation, said the entries came from all over the country.
They included a couple who testified that Hallmark Channel movies and shows had sustained them through the pandemic; another couple who travels to places where Hallmark movies have been filmed; and several who said they leave the channel on for their cats or dogs while they’re away because they soothe the anxious pets.
One lady has been decorating her community to look like a Hallmark Channel movie set.
“It’s kind of a cult following,” Mullin said of the network’s audience, which is divided into two general groups: those who tune in the week before Halloween and watch predictably gooey Christmas movies that play 24/7 until New Year’s Eve, and those who watch year-round because nearly everything else on TV annoys or gives them nightmares.
“Our stories are about love,” Mullin said. “Romantic love, love of family, sisterhood, communities coming together. Our viewers are hopeful. They’re optimistic. They want to believe in a world where everyone loves and supports each other.”
When the crew arrived at Adams’ apartment Thursday afternoon, Simba was sitting in the window with the Hallmark Channel playing behind him.
Adams usually doesn’t tune in until later, catching the 8 p.m. movie and then “Golden Girls.”
A family entry — and bloopers
She didn’t have to work hard to persuade her female family members – all fans – to do the video entry. In the 30-second bit, they each mentioned their favorite thing about the network. Then they sang an original jingle, harmonizing in voices that have had professional training.
They also included some bloopers in which all five women collapsed in laughter because they couldn’t remember their lines.
It happened to Adams again on Thursday, when the crew asked her to look at a camera and say, “I’m Taborah Adams and I’m the Hallmark Channel’s Chief Fan Officer.”
It wasn’t so easy. She needed more than a dozen takes.
When asked what she liked about winning the contest, Adams said she loved that it was something she and her family did together.
As for her job loss, Adams said she wasn’t worried. She’s worked as a singer, a preacher, an antiques purveyor. She’ll be fine, she said.
Cue the upbeat music.
This story was originally published April 14, 2022 at 6:34 PM.
