Life UneXpected, touted as the hottest mid-season show in the Unites States is the latest series to premiere on Hallmark Channel, first and exclusively starting June 17, Thursday at  10pm. A light-hearted drama, Life UneXpected is often thought of as a television series that embodies complex family relationship issues, similar to that of the popular coming-of-age movieJuno and TV series Gilmore Girls. More than its rich plotline, Life UneXpected brings to the small screen a one-of-its-kind, witty and heart-warming drama about life and the twisty road it sometimes takes.

Life UneXpected revolves around three most unlikely individuals who are placed together to form a family. Britt Robertson (Dan in Real Life, Swingtown) stars as 16-year-old orphan, Lux, who sets out to find the parents she never knew in order to gain emancipation from them. Her father, Nathaniel “Baze” Bazile (Kristoffer Polaha, Mad Men), a bar owner, is still an overgrown teenager in an adult’s body. Her mother, Cate Cassidy (Shiri Appleby, Swimfan, Charlie Wilson’s War), is a successful but commitment-phobic radio discjockey, who has in tow a secret fiancé in her co-host, Ryan Thomas (Kerr Smith, Dawson’s Creek).

In a twist of fate, their lives intertwine as a judge grants temporary custody of Lux to parents Cate and Baze. It becomes an emotionally-engaging journey of love, life, hope and uncertainty, as Lux is steeped deep into family life together with her emotional scars of being an orphan. At the same time, her young, untrained parents are trying to provide their best for a 16-year-old teenager amidst their own problems. Cate not only has to juggle her work and personal relationship with fiancé, Ryan, but also her ambiguous relationship with Baze, and of course, learning to become the mother she never was, with Lux.

Life UneXpected pulls away from the norm to give viewers a refreshing and insightful look at the unwanted child in question, 16 years later. Gaining raving reviews in the US for its premiere season, the New York Daily News lauded Life UneXpected as “TV pleasure unexpected”. Be sure to watch this critically-acclaimed series and get a piece of family warmth in the exclusive Asia premiere of Life UneXpected this June, only on the Hallmark Channel.

“Countdown to Halloween,” gets things started as the network is taken over by spook-tacular movies featuring goblins and ghoulies of all shapes and sizes every night of Halloween week, October 26-30 at 9p.m. ET/PT, 8C, as well as a full day of Halloween treats on Saturday, October 31.  The Halloween day event will be capped off by a special double-double feature: back-to-back (to-back-to-back) presentations of Catherine Bell’s “The Good Witch” (3p.m. ET/PT, 2C and 7p.m. ET/PT, 6 C) and the “Good Witch’s Garden” (5p.m. ET/PT, 4C and 9p.m. ET/PT, 8C).  “Good Witch” fans can’t get enough of these highly rated original movies, and will be thrilled to hear that a third installment is on the horizon

But the treats don’t stop there: Hallmark Channel will present the cable television premiere of “Halloween on Ice,” Friday, October 30 (8p.m. ET/PT, 7C).  A thrilling spectacle, combining Halloween haunts with some of the world’s most accomplished and decorated skaters, the special features musical legend Chip Davis with his band, Mannheim Steamroller.  World-class skaters participating with exhilarating performances include Olympic medalists Nancy Kerrigan, Todd Elderedge and Elvis Stojko, eight-time British champion Steven Cousins, and three-time Israeli National Champion Tamar Katz.  The event is one of several Disson Skating specials that will be televised throughout the year on the network.

Hallmark Channel, owned and operated by Crown Media Holdings, Inc., is a 24-hour basic cable network that provides a diverse slate of high-quality entertainment programming to a national audience of 88 million subscribers.  The top tier program service is distributed through more than 5,450 cable systems and communities as well as direct-to-home satellite services across the country.  Hallmark Channel consistently ranks among the highest-rated cable networks and is the nation’s leading network in providing quality family programming.  Hallmark Channel’s sibling network is Hallmark Movie Channel which focuses on the greatest family movies of all time.

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THE GOOD WITCH and THE GOOD WITCH’S GARDEN
(Saturday, October 31 at 7/6c and 9/8c)
It’s no trick: Hallmark Channel’s ‘Countdown to Halloween’ concludes with the treat of a Halloween double feature of Catherine Bell in “The Good Witch” and “The Good Witch’s Garden,” Saturday, October 31 (7pm/6c and 9pm/8c). Bell stars in the films – two of the network’s highest-rated ever – as the mysterious Cassie Nightingale, an alluring woman whose eccentric and charming ways have an entire town under her spell. “Good Witch” fans can’t get enough of these highly rated Original Movies, and will be thrilled to hear that a third installment is on the horizon!

Patrick Swayze, the charismatic leading man indelibly linked to his iconic roles in “Dirty Dancing” and “Ghost,” who passed away this week from pancreatic cancer at the age of 57, will be honored on Hallmark Movie Channel HD with multiple encore performances of his 2004 Hallmark Channel miniseries, “King Solomon’s Mines,” Saturday, September 19 (6 p.m.-10 p.m. ET/PT) and Sunday, September 20 (2 p.m.-6 p.m. ET/PT).

Swayze starred in the successful miniseries, based on the novel by H. Rider Haggard, as fabled safari hunter and adventurer Allan Quatermain, who leads a team into the unknown recesses of the African jungles to find a man who disappeared while searching for the fabled King Solomon’s Mines — a destination of legendary riches from which no soul has ever returned alive.

To handle the daunting stunts of the film, which was shot in the wilds of Africa, Swayze often had to rely on the physical skills he acquired during his days as a trained dancer.  His instruction began with his mother, who ran a dance school in his hometown of Houston, and continued at the Harkness Ballet School and the Joffrey Ballet School in New York City.  These skills were also pivotal in lending an air of authenticity to his physically taxing role in “Dirty Dancing.”

It’s only after speaking with Rena Sofer for 15 minutes or so that it all begins to make sense.  You begin to realize that her fairly stunning body of work to date is only partly due to the fact she’s so beautiful and talented.  The rest is about sheer guts and determination, borne of a strong work ethic instilled by her Orthodox rabbi father and one fateful dressing-down from a director while working her first job.

As the outspoken and opinionated Sofer recalls it, she was 19 and working on the now-defunct ABC daytime soap “Loving.”  The director on the show was a strong-willed lady named Francesca James.

“I was walking through New York City, I was young, I was rich, I was pretty, I was famous,” Sofer remembers thinking.  “I just thought I was totally fabulous.  So one day I walked onto the set with this attitude and started complaining about the script, how it was ‘so bad and so wrong’ for me.

“So Francesca looks at me and says something I’ll never forget.  She gets in my face and says, ‘Who do you think you are?’  She told me she didn’t respect me.  It just stopped me in my tracks.  It knocked the prima-donna right out of me and let me know I’m not better than anyone else.  It was the kind of wake-up call we all need, and I’m so appreciative to Francesca for giving it to me when I was so young.  It’s gone a long way toward shaping who I am.”

Who Rena Sofer is, is not only an actress who never seems to be wanting for a job; she’s also a wife and mother of two daughters (one four, the other turning 13 in September) and a no-nonsense professional who shows up on time, hits her mark, likes to get things done…and has little patience for the holier-than-thou types of the world.

Sofer can also walk, act and chew gum at the same time, as she proved while making her latest project.  She stars as one of a pair of high school sweethearts who wind up living happily-never-after until rekindling the sparks at their 20-year high school reunion in the Hallmark Channel Original Movie “Always & Forever,” premiering Saturday, October 24 (9/8c).

The film – which also stars TV legends Barbara Eden (“I Dream of Jeannie”) and Max Gail (“Barney Miller”), finds Sofer portraying Grace, a woman who grapples with the mixed feelings of a romance once gone wrong now suddenly going right with old flame Michael (Dean McDermott of “Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood”).

“It was really a fun shoot,” Sofer reflects.  “Loved the script.  Very easy to follow.  There were no massive breakdowns or anyone murdering someone and then running away.  It’s just a sweet little love story.  And you’ve got to love working for a great company like Hallmark.”  And working with Tori Spelling’s husband McDermott?

“I love Dean, total sweetheart, we got along great,” Sofer says.  “He’s somebody I can chew gum around.  I’m not the quietest gum chewer, and I used that to my advantage during the shoot to really bug him.  When we wrapped production, I gave him a big ol’ gift bag of every kind of gum imaginable.”

But McDermott got his revenge on Sofer with tales of his motorcycle racing exploits.

“Dean knew that I do NOT approve of that kind of stuff, especially for a guy who’s a young father,” Sofer stresses.  “My own husband is not allowed.  Dean tried to explain to me that only people who weave in and out of traffic get into accidents, but I wasn’t buying any of it.  When you’re on a bike and you fall, there’s nothing between you and the ground but air and a half a second.”

Interestingly, however, there is one dangerous activity for which Sofer gave approval to her husband of six years, TV producer-director Sanford Bookstaver: Going to Spain to run with the bulls in Pamplona.  Seriously.

“Last year, he asked me if it was OK,” Sofer relates.  “He pointed out that no one had died from running with the bulls in 15 years.  I said OK.  This year, of course, a lot more people got hurt and gored, and one died.  But my husband did fine.  My deal with him had been, ‘You run with the bulls.  You don’t try to touch or taunt them.’  And fortunately he listened.”

The experience has proven the only bull Sofer has allowed into her life in a good long while.  In general, she’s simply too busy for that, as an actress constantly in demand since landing her first steady job in her teens on “Loving,” and soon after on the ever-popular daytimer “General Hospital,” a performance that earned her a Daytime Emmy Award.

It has led to a steady stream of recurring roles in network prime time series including “Melrose Place” (she was there for the show’s final season on Fox), “Just Shoot Me!”, “Ed,” “Coupling,” “24” (Sofer played Jack Bauer’s sister-in-law for a full season, in 2007) and “Heroes.”

While some actresses might curse the fates for not bringing them a single breakthrough role to deliver them enduring fame and fortune, Sofer is proud of having enjoyed a “very interesting career” defined by a little bit of everything.

“I’ve never been famous for one part,” Sofer explains, “but I think I’ve built up a level of respect in the business as being someone who takes their job seriously, gets there on time and doesn’t put on airs.”

In fact, it frustrates Sofer a lot that the squeaky wheels who make the work all about them tend to get “hired and hired and hired” for some reason.  “Bad girls and bad boys start fights and show up late and need extra insurance to make sure they get there.  I’ve learned that nobody on the set is more important than anybody else.

“Does it upset me that you get rewarded more for griping than having a strong work ethic?  Sure it does.  Maybe I’m even a little bit bitter over it.  Because I mean, while they’re holding everybody up complaining on the phone to their agent about not getting $15,000 more for the episode, I’ve just spent an hour and a half feeding my kids and getting them ready for school.”

Family remains first in Sofer’s life, she says, because “It’s your truth serum.  All of the people who claim to be your best friend while you’re working on a project, you finish and you never hear from them again.  But your family is always there for you.  They’re honest with you.  They keep you warm and secure and on the ground.”

“Always & Forever” premieres Saturday, October 24 (9/8c)

Film encores: Saturday, October 24 (11pm/10c), Sunday, October 25 (1am/12c) and (9pm/8c), Friday, November 6 (9pm/8c) and Saturday, November 7 (3pm/2c).

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A terrible crime is made all the more unfathomable when the least likely suspect is accused, and a woman must put aside her grief to aid the police before the chance at justice is lost forever. These are the circumstances in which one extraordinary woman finds herself entwined in “Citizen Jane,” a Hallmark Channel Original Movie premiering Saturday, September 12 (9/8c) which tells the true story of the lone woman who refused to let a killer escape, even at the risk of her own life. Ally Sheedy – she of the iconic ‘Brat Pack’ films – Sean Patrick Flanery (“The Dead Zone”), Nia Peeples (“The Young and the Restless”) and world-renowned musician Meat Loaf Aday bring the harrowing true-crime tale to life. The film encores on Saturday, September 12 (11pm/10c), Sunday, September 13 (1am/12c) and (9pm/8c), Friday, September 18 (9pm/8c) and Saturday, September 19 (3pm/2c).

Jane Alexander (Sheedy) had it all: A wonderful family, personal and financial success and a deep romance with Tom O’Donnell (Flanery). A family friend for 25 years prior to their romance, Tom helped Jane cope with the death of her husband, and captivated her with his charming, unflappable personality.

But Jane’s picturesque life came crashing down around her the morning she received the news that her beloved aunt had been murdered. Slowly, astonishingly, the evidence began to point to the last person Jane would ever believe capable of such an act: Tom. As she began to comprehend the unfathomable, the depth of his deceit grew, as she realized he had fled with tens of thousands of dollars of her money, forcing her to sell her possessions and move into a dilapidated old house. With few clues to Tom’s location and with moral support from her dear friend, Evelyn (Peeples), Jane set out to bring her Aunt’s killer to justice. Along the way, she was aided by the equally determined Detective Jack Morris (Aday), one of the few law enforcement officers who believed in her.

Their investigation did not go unnoticed, however, and Tom O’Donnell would not allow himself to be caught easily. Seeing as his original plan was to murder Jane as well, he saw no reason not to carry out this act, thus removing the last obstacle to the life he had plotted and murdered to obtain. With everything – and almost everyone – telling her that her quest was futile, and with a remorseless killer determined to take any action necessary to remain free, time was not on Jane Alexander’s side. In fact, she would come to learn that very little was on her side at all.

“Citizen Jane” is a Grosso Jacobson film in association with Cibola Entertainment LLC. Sonny Grosso, Larry Jacobson, Eric Mitchell and Jason Piette are the executive producers. Mark Myden, Nicholas A. Corso, Kyle Clark, Lina Wong and Marta M. Mobley are the producers. Armand Mastroianni directed from a script by James Dalessandro, which was based on his book, Citizen Jane.

Hallmark Channel, owned and operated by Crown Media Holdings, Inc., is a 24-hour basic cable network that provides a diverse slate of high-quality entertainment programming to a national audience of nearly 87 million subscribers. The top tier program service is distributed through more than 5,450 cable systems and communities as well as direct-to-home satellite services across the country. Hallmark Channel consistently ranks among the highest-rated cable networks and is the nation’s leading network in providing quality family programming. Hallmark Channel’s sibling network is Hallmark Movie Channel which focuses on the greatest family movies of all time.

For more information, please visit www.hallmarkchannelpress.com.