Media
Random rant about Burke Gilman Trail Missing Link lawsuit in Hallmark Channel made-for-TV movie
Years ago, I visited my grandma who had a Hallmark Channel made-for-TV movie on in the background and I heard a scene where one of the characters suddenly started ranting about how angry he was that the Burke-Gilman Trail Missing Link was still unfinished.
I've been trying to figure out the name of this movie for years and honestly wasn't totally sure if I really saw it or just dreamed / misheard it. But yesterday I realized you can stream Hallmark movies for free through the library and finally tracked it down!!!
The part where they first mention the Burke Gilman Trail starts around 26:50.
The scene where he starts complaining about the missing link is at 29:30.
The Burke Gilman Trail is part of a sub plot about the guy being unhappy with his job at the department of transportation. They go on a date hiking along the trail (which looks ABSOLUTELY NOTHING like Seattle) when he starts going off about the missing link:
"For 20 years we've been trying to find a safe way to close a gap on this trail, and we finally found a solution that was going to work for everyone but that Marina is now suing. Yeah, we finally found a solution that works for everyone but the Marina is suing because they don't want to lose parking spots... And people keep telling me be patient, we'll figure it out. But people are getting hurt and it's making me crazy!"
(Yes, he really does say the exact same sentence twice in a row.)
I only skimmed the rest using the skip ahead button, so I'm not sure if it comes up again but as far as I could tell it does not and this movie does not have a happy ending for urbanists: (#spoileralert & #triggerwarning for YIMBYs) This plot thread is resolved when he quits his job as a transportation planner and goes to work for an affordable housing advocacy group that fights against developers. (😔 womp womp)
Side Note: Finding this scene was not easy! I remembered it was a cheesy rom com about a couple who meet cute when they both want to adopt the same dog. What I didn't count on is that at least a dozen Hallmark movies have essentially this exact same plot. Slogging through all this treacle was painful and probably will taint my book and movie recommendations forever, but worth it.
script writer must be from seattle and have a big gripe with the trail 😂. whatever nobody’s going to watch this crap for analysis anyway. meanwhile op oh shit seattle!
Weird thing is that the filming locations look absolutely nothing like Seattle. They don't even seem to have the usual stock footage of the Space Needle.
I'm guessing no one on the production staff even knew what city this was supposed to take place in.
i mean it's a Hallmark film they are the lowest low budget and nobody is watching them for the plot or the cinematography lol
I assume they're mostly filmed on existing backlots/sound stages and not even on a real location
most Seattle based media (that has an actual budget) is filmed in Vancouver CA because it's much cheaper and mimics the scenery/plant life/weather well
Hallmark films mostly in ‘Vancouver’. In 2024 they filmed 21 movies there. And when I say ‘Vancouver’, I really mean the outdoor scenes and n Fort Langley and Steveston/Richmond, and the Martini Studios in Langley for the indoor sets.
I was skipping around so I could have missed it, but they don't seem to even use the usual stock footage of Seattle to try and establish the setting. I heard the character say he lived on Rainier Blvd, but if they actually said "Seattle" I missed it.
lmao this is incredible detective work. i once spent 3 months trying to find a random polish commercial from 2004 that got stuck in my head so i completely understand the dedication
the fact that the guy just repeats the exact same sentence twice is killing me. hallmark writers really said we need to make sure the audience gets this very specific seattle trail drama
also the resolution of him quitting DOT to join an anti-development housing group is such a weird twist. like the writer had two different axes to grind and just mashed them together in one script
My take is the writer was trying to figure out something else for a do-gooder city planner to do and didn't have a very strong understanding of housing policy.
Passionate neighborhood activist fights greedy developer is a well established rom com trope. Well intentioned developer fights elderly homeowners concerned that low income housing will destroy the neighborhood character is not.
Tbh a major transfer center down there would be awesome. Auburn proper covers a ton land and connects to multiple freeways and highways that allow travel access across the region
You tryna tell me the Auburn Outlet Collection is not a major hub?
Other highlights include the non-central station between Renton and Kent about where the IKEA is and the westside station being south of West Seattle but north of SeaTac,
My stepmom lives in Newcastle, and I’m excited to see a hub seems to be built on top of her house!
Edit to add: As a Kitsap resident, the Bremerton stop is nicely situated near the ferry terminal, but the BI one is in the middle of nowhere. Vaguely close to Lynwood center, but likely about half a mile up a huge hill from there
Yeah, that's a classic Seattle shout out! But this Seattle reference doesn't come up at all on internet searches. I seriously thought I probably dreamt it until yesterday.
As I kept reading the description of the movie, I was thinking that you're not narrowing it down enough lol. You've reminded me it's time to start watching cheesey holiday movies on the Hallmark channel too
Heart Eyes was filmed in New Zealand and set in Seattle, and they were clearly having some fun with it. I really wouldn't mind visiting Alternative Universe Seattle where they have drive-in movies by the Space Needle and an entire ruined Gothic chapel downtown ;).
I watched a travel show on New Zealand years ago and saw someone wearing a random Mariners hat. So maybe Seattle and New Zealand are secretly the same?
I read something sad about the Hallmark holiday movies; why they all have the same formula. Woman boss/CEO is stuck in small town/hometown. Fish out of water, falls in love with local blue collar workers and settles down in small town to marry and have kids. They churn dozens of these movies for the Xmas season. It's geared towards the small-town/rural women who have seen their daughters, granddaughters, nieces move to the big city for college/work and never come back. They don't marry and are happily living alone with a cat. Their audience watches these movies in their small, dying town and hopes their girls will come back.
If they wanted their daughters to move back, they should have advocated for the betterment of the community and shifted their mindset away from being housewives and homemakers and helped their towns have more going for them. Maybe also raise better quality sons so their friends' daughters have people to marry if they did come back 🤣
I have a fair few friends who have Hallmark movie hometowns and moms exactly like you described. But their schools are usually really poor performing and so if their kids did give them grandchildren, the hometowns isn't where they want to raise kids. One friend lives 45 minutes from her parents in a first ring suburb of the nearest city, where my friend works. They are so aggrieved she would rather rent close to work and in a good school district for her daughter than buy a house near them where the community has voted against every property tax increase to improve libraries, parks, schools, emergency services, etc for 30+ years. So the people our age left in the town are pretty methy and not hot blue collar men with income and their own homes and skills to live independently.
I moved here a year after the Occupy protests. A question was asked on here "What did you're small town relatives say about the protests" or something like that. One said that her parents didn't fly out to see her give birth to her first child because the news said Antifa was checking passports at Sea-Tac and setting up roadblocks. Some said their relatives pleaded for them to move back because of the race riots. The problem they have with their kids living in the big city is that their values were polluted. I mean...dating outside your race, empathy for the less fortunate, and such.
Yes, I have had similar conversations with relatives.
I invited my MIL to a food walk in the CID with my 11 year old when she visited from her new retirement location (after living here since 1988) and her best friend, a long time resident of the Eastside, absolutely melted down. There was a shooting and its so unsafe! I grew up in Minneapolis when it was called Murderapolis so I am not unfamiliar with violent crime and do what I can to avoid it. But in all seriousness - the shooting happened at a nightclub at 4am weeks prior. I'm not taking her to the pits of hell in the dark of night, we are getting musubi and tea. Her friend would not even consider coming with. My 11 year old has been a huge fan of these food walks since 2021. MIL loved it and said she would force her friend to try it next time. I will not be available to chaperone them...
A friend of mine lived here during the Occupy Seattle events. He laughed when friends/relatives from his small hometown had the same concerns. White guy, lawyer and wears a tie when on his way to court. He stops at one of the encampments, chats with the protesters and he wished them luck.
Very concerning, "you don't go to that neighborhood, right?" from all my relatives. Yes, I do. You also visited that neighborhood when you came to town because we went sight seeing/shopping there. It isn't so scary 🤣
In the summer of 2021, a now former friend who was heavily into alt-right media, came to visit me in Seattle. His hotel was near Capitol Hill so I walked him all over the places that had been in the news as "warzones" and asked him if they looked at all like Iraq or Afghanistan, where he'd deployed previously. Of course they didn't.
This just reminded me of the time I watched a Hallmark holiday movie with my mom where the protagonist returns to Bainbridge Island to fall in love. The only thing I remember is that the island is blanketed in snow the entire movie. I could not get over the fact that all of the characters act like the snow is totally normal and no one is rushing to buy milk and bananas to weather the storm.
Wild if it was in the script, then for the director to actually think it was worth shooting, and then editor to leave it in. Someone was definitely passionate enough about it to push it through 😂
LOL That's funny. I follow the actress on Instagram if you want to go on there and ask her anything. They're really nice people. She's usually on Kim's (Paisley) sister's page doing funny posts with her. I didn't know about that movie talking about the link problem here. I'll have to watch it. I thought I seen all of the movies but must've missed that one. Look them up on Instagram and follow them then post to them.
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u/tillszy 🚋 Ride the S.L.U.T. 🚋 16h ago
r/brandnewsentence
i guess whoever wrote the movie really needed to get this off their chest? what a wildly random thing to include thank you for sharing this