Reviews

This has got to be one of the worst holiday movies I have ever seen! First of all, who is so dumb that they would drive to Vermont in the Winter, with a snow storm coming, wearing heels? And she repeats the same dumb move driving in heavy snow driving back to the farm. Then how could a bed and breakfast be set up in such a short amount of time, and take off so quickly with reservations pouring in immediately? It takes a new business some effective promoting and effort to get off the ground; not just a phone video. As far as the main characters are concerned, the on screen chemistry between the two is sorely missing. Also, this couple only met a short time ago, and yet James already purchased an engagement ring, without even knowing for sure if Joy would return to the farm or become engaged to her current boyfriend, as planned.

Wally and Beaver are hired to care for a prize winning cat as a team for a weekend. However Eddie, Wally's friend, talked him into going to the carnival and leaving Beaver in charge of the cat! Needless to say disaster followed with Eddie's dog chasing the cat up a tree, and finally the parents learned what happened when Beaver climbed a tree to get the cat and was afraid to come down. As usual the parents come to the rescue. However, they never seem to really discipline these kids, which isn't doing them any favors. The mom constantly coddles them, and lessons are never learned. The father often caves to his wife's wishes as she whines about her "babies".

Jim is determined to teach his 3 kids a lesson not to wait til the last minute with their responsibilities. So he comes up with an idea of taking the family to the state fair, full well knowing that all 3 kids had plans for the weekend that couldn't be changed. However, each of them managed to rearrange their schedule so they could go to the fair. So Jim's plan to teach them a valuable lesson goes awry, and he ends up caving in and taking the kids to the fair. Jim should have stuck to his determination to carry out his original plan. He could have sat the 3 kids down and explained that he had no intention of taking the family to the fair, and instead he wanted to teach them a painful lesson not put to off responsibilities and plans until the last minute! As a result of Jim giving in and going to the fair because he couldn't take the look of disappointment on their faces when he told them they weren't going, a valuable lesson that should have been taught, wasn't!

Mr. French takes a much deserved vacation out West after Mr. Davis convinced him that he would be fine with kids during Mr. French's absence. First Mr. Davis gets called away on urgent business, once again, and the kids stay with friends. However Jody is unable to stay with his friend after the kid comes down with the mumps. The only solution that anyone could come up with was to send Jody out to Mr. French. Mr. French's itinerary was interrupted when Jody acted pouty when he heard the tours that Mr. French had scheduled. So Mr. French gave into Jody's wishes on where he wanted to go. Next Cissy and Buffy also have to leave their friends because the dad hadn't had the mumps and the girls had been exposed to Jody. So they too are sent to be with Mr. French. Upon the girls' arrival Cissy informed Mr. French there was a discotheque in town and conned him into once again giving up his itinerary to satisfy the kids' selfish desires. I think it's too bad that the writers of this show portray the 3 kids so often as selfish, and the 2 younger ones as whiney and pouty. All three kids manipulate their uncle more often than not, which I believe is far from reality.

First of all, did the writers forget that earlier in Season 2 in the episode "Best of Breed" that their Uncle Bill found a way for the kids to have a dog, even though it was against the tenant's rules? And now in this episode of Season 3 the twins tricked him into giving permission to have their friend, Oliver, stay with them, because he was a dog, not a little boy. After the dog arrived Uncle Bill discovered what the twins had done; but they guilted him into letting the dog stay by reminding him that a man always keeps his word. However, no one who is tricked into such an oath is bound by that oath! Uncle Bill then had to convince the building manager to allow the twins' "friend" to stay with them for the 3 days. The twins should have been punished for keeping vital information from their uncle when they asked him permission to have a "friend" stay with them for the 3 days. By not telling him that their friend was really a dog, the twins actually lied to their uncle. As usual, the twins know just how to manipulate him to get their way. In short, it is not an example of "good parenting", where bad behavior is never rewarded. The good news is that finally the twins confessed what they had done, and insisted on being punished with no tv or dessert for a week. Mr. French, however thought that was cruel punishment! What? The dog had caused a costly amount of damage to a dress shop after earlier getting away from Mr. French!

This episode is unreal! First of all what dentist office would allow a person to burst into an exam room in the midst of prepping a patient for a procedure? Not only did it happen once, when Andy burst through the door to announce that he ran into Bo Diddley in the clinic pharmacy, and the second time when he and Jim burst into the office where another patient was having a procedure. No way would this be allowed! Also Jim had promised to stay with his wife throughout the entire procedure, to relieve her anxiety of having a root canal, but as usual Jim let her down by not keeping his word. Then later he discovered tickets for a Bo Diddley concert as thanks for taking him home and doing his laundry, that was at the same time that Cheryl and her sister went out for the evening. But Jim comes up with a scheme for a neighbor to watch the kids so he and Andy could attend the concert. Of course this once again involved his deceit and more lies, as usual. When Jim and Andy get to the concert however the guilt is eating away at Jim because he says he knows Cheryl trusts him, and so he returns home only to blame Cheryl for not being able to go to the concert. Of course, once again they have a short argument ending up with Jim being let off the hook! In real life, that would never been the case.

In this episode Jim feels crowded in their bathroom and bedroom that Cheryl has completely taken over for several years. But Cheryl doesn't believe he needs anymore space than he already has, which is minimal. The competition is on between them; Jim to get more space for his things, and Cheryl refusing to compromise. Jim then takes action and dominates the bedroom with his stuff, and Cheryl retaliates and takes over the garage with her exercise class. Finally Jim puts the bedroom back in original order, and asks Cheryl if he could use the attic, and she eagerly agrees. However, she doesn't like Jim and the band making so much noise, and traps them in attic and puts them in the dark, resulting in Jim falling through the ceiling! Finally after Jim explains to Cheryl the importance of him having his own space she agrees, but wants to be assured Jim won't be spending all the time in his attic space. She then asks him if he checked for spiders, of which he is deathly afraid! This just shows how selfish she has become!

In this episode Mary Ellen found a valuable ring in a used purse she bought from her local junk man friend. However, despite knowing who the ring belonged to, Mary Ellen wanted to keep the it long enough to wear to a college dance to impress her date along with others at the dance before returning the ring to it's rightful owner, who had told Mary Ellen's parents how much the ring meant to her! This decision led Mary Ellen down a path of deceit and out and out lies! Her stunt ended up causing trouble for others she involved helping her find the ring after losing it at the dance. The worst was John Boy's date, Audrey Butler, was caught by the campus guard crawling out of the auditorium girls' bathroom with the ring after John Boy had asked the campus guard if he could unlock the door so they could look for the it, but was told the auditorium was locked and no student was allowed in the building until Monday morning. The violation cost the Audrey to lose her opportunity to be in a sorority. Mary Ellen didn't even express any concern for the girl, who was only trying to help her find the ring; which I found pathetic! Before Mary Ellen returned with the ring her mom was conveniently told by Martha Rose, Mary Ellen's chief rival, that she had seen Mary Ellen at the dance wearing a beautiful ring. Mary Ellen had been found out, yet her father told Mary Ellen she had already been through enough and he wasn't going to punish her! All she had been through? It was more like everything Mary Ellen had put everyone else through who tried to help her, and cover for her deceit and lies! Mary Ellen's mom asked her if she had learned something from this, and when Mary Ellen told her yes, the only punishment she was given was to learn 5 Bible verses. What? I believe Mary Ellen's parents demonstrated poor parenting skills in this episode, and that was so disappointing. In real life I doubt that a child who pulled such a stunt would not have been punished quite severely, and rightfully so!

I believe the character of Brock is one of the biggest jerks played on tv, and his wife has got the be the stupidest. Van and Cheyenne have been by far the most selfish, putting their own "wants" before what is best for Reba. Like the time they forged her name after she refused to co-sign for their apartment. Then the time when Van told her s gay football agent that Reba was super gay! He and Cheyenne should have been asked to move out a long time ago! This show doesn't demonstrate good family dynamics at all!

It is sad that the people who gave this movie a poor rating missed the message! So what if the acting wasn't the best, it was the message that was important. The only actor I found annoying was Joey Fatone and his screeching voice! BTW, Erin Cahill is a popular Hallmark actress. I particularly liked the ending when all those people "crucified" their idols.