Hallmark Habit

It's Friday night, what are you doing?

My husband is on call, and that means that I have a date with a Hallmark movie. What typically happens on call nights is that I start watching Hallmark movies while pretending to clean the house or fold laundry. Except the only thing that gets done is the movie. The cleaning is always there in the morning unfinished and unbothered by the fact that I paid it no attention.

I reserve Hallmark movies for call night because my husband doesn't like them. He thinks they are formulaic, and they are. He can name the story line within seconds of seeing the beginning. And he is right. You always can tell how it is going to end, it's like they don't even try to build suspense or climax. And if you didn't already know this, Hallmark movies always have happy endings. I have seen so many Hallmark movies I could probably write a convincing teleplay.

But the reason I decided to come clean about my obsession with the Hallmark channel is that the movie I watched today had all the typical stereotypes of doctors and their lives, or rather their wives. In case you want to watch it to see what I am talking about, check your local programming for "The Sweeter Side of Life".

It opens in Manhattan with a woman and a truly magnificent closet lined with very beautiful items. Ah, this is going to be a movie about a rich, socialite, who has a marvelous life.

On her way out of her penthouse the doorman comments that her husband sure left early. Her reply, with a perfectly white smile, is "such is the life of a surgeon".

She then goes on to meet her girlfriends at the gym, and then later for lunch, and then goes shopping on 5th Avenue. Her shopping was so successful that she needs the door man's help getting all the bags in.

That evening she is sitting at home with a bottle of wine waiting for her husband to come home. It is their anniversary. She calls his office, and a member of his staff tells her that he had an emergency bunion surgery. He is a podiatrist!

Later in the movie it is revealed that he is a cosmetic foot surgeon to the stars. I don't know if that is even a real profession. I guess that explains the lavish lifestyle, it's make believe too.

Anyway, I know you are dying to know what happens next. He didn't remember their anniversary and then tells her that he is leaving her for another woman. She begs to know how old the mistress is. Twenty.

Then she goes on to get her own life because she signed a pre-nup and didn't get a cent from the divorce. She is on her own. She meets a new man. They live happily ever after.

I am jumping the gun a little, because the movie isn't even over yet. I can blog and watch a Hallmark movie at the same time too, because even if you don't catch every word or every scene you still know what is happening.

Have a great weekend!