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'A Kiss At Midnight' Has New Year's Theme

By WALT BELCHER

The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 26, 2008

It's been 10 years since Faith Ford left her "Murphy Brown" character behind. But she is still best known as the perky, slightly dense Corky Sherwood.

The blonde from Pineville, La., is 44 and no longer can play the young upstart.

Since "Murphy Brown" she has co-starred with her friend Kelly Ripa in the short-lived sitcom "Hope & Faith", with Norm Macdonald in the even shorter-lived "The Norm Show" and on last season's clunker "Carpoolers."

She's also done a few guest roles including CBS' creepy "Criminal Minds."

On Saturday night, Ford stars in "A Kiss at Midnight," a new romantic comedy made for the Hallmark Channel. It is the last of six new holiday films that Hallmark scheduled this season. This one has a New Year's Eve theme.

Ford plays a professional matchmaker who runs Hearts and Flowers, a personalized service for the lonely hearts. But she hasn't found love herself. On a New Year's Eve she is challenged to find Mr. Right before the next New Year's Eve.

She is threatened by rival company Romance.com, a new online dating site.

Determined to prove her personalized service does a better job than a computer program ever could, she submits her profile to Romance.com intent on exposing the "scientifically-based Compatibility Formula."

Her "match" is a handsome widower (Cameron Daddo). But she doesn't know that he is the owner and founder of Romance.com. They begin a budding romance that turns sour when they find out that they run rival businesses.

The film co-stars Hal Linden and Dyan Cannon. It's cute and predictable but the Hallmark audiences seem to like these kinds of films. Ford has said that it's good to have films starring people over age 40 who still find romance.

ABC MOVIES: With Christmas programming over and the broadcast networks' mid-season not starting until Jan. 5, ABC will fill the void with movies and bowl games.

"Miracle," starring Kurt Russell, a 2004 movie about the 1980 U.S Olympic hockey team, airs at 8 p.m. Saturday. The 1965 Julie Andrews musical "The Sound of Music" air at 8 p.m. Sunday. "Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl" airs at 8 p.m. Monday.

Happy New Year, Charlie Brown" and "Rudolph's Shiny New Year" air Tuesday and "Shrek 2" is on Wednesday.

NO WONDER: The 101 Network from DirecTV, which helped finance "Friday Night Lights" and has been showing it before it gets on NBC, has found another treasure.

The network will resurrect "Wonderland," a gritty and suspenseful medical drama set in a hospital psycho ward that was canceled after only two episodes aired on ABC in 2000.

All eight episodes of the series, including six never-before-seen on television, will air Wednesday nights at 10 p.m. beginning Jan. 14.

Because of its dark tone and intense nature, it was quickly taken off the air. It wasn't supernatural. It was about the complicated lives of the doctors and their patients.

LATE NIGHT ADDITION: Fox is going to give comic Spike Feresten a shot at a bigger late-night gig.

For three years, Spike has been hosting a half-hour Saturday night talk show on Fox that hasn't drawn a lot of attention so far. He followed the recently canceled "Mad TV" at midnight on Saturdays.

Beginning Jan. 7, the "Talkshow With Spike Feresten" will expand to an hour and move up to 11 p.m. for a six-week trial. If successful, he'll get a longer run.

TUNE IN TONIGHT: "Top Chef: New York," 8 p.m. NBC

One of the top shows on NBC-owned Bravo crosses over for some prime-time exposure. Martha Stewart drops by.