• Variety, Thursday, July 12, 2007 12:30 PM

Hallmark Channel will commission 30 original movies for 2008, the largest such slate it has ever done. Many will have relatively modest budgets of $2 million to $3 million, but David Kenin, executive vice president of programming, says a couple each year will be more expensive and possibly even premiere in theaters before getting to the tube.

He says the movies will be "family-friendly, predictable and consistent" to appeal to a target demo of adults 25-54, although the net skews toward the older end. The average age of those watching Hallmark's prime-time fare from October through May was 63, making it the second-oldest cable network after Fox News, which averaged 65-plus.

The first movie will be "When You Listen," starring Tom Bosley as an elderly man whose wants to reunite his widowed son and 12-year-old granddaughter before he dies. It is set for a Jan. 5 premier. Hallmark, is currently in something of a state of flux; it's weaning itself away from its previous dependence on the two Robert Halmis, father and son, who were responsible for the vast majority of the network's made-fors between 2004 and 2007.

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