FudgeMiller

I could list dozens of Christmas movies I cringed through or turned off or walked out on. And of the several people I knew that had watched this, none seemed too thrilled with it. But we had a freeze in early December, so we CRANKED up the heat and decided to give this movie a try while drinking hot cocoa and snacking on Christmas cookies.

We were just hoping for a nice holiday "feel good" movie. And that's what we got. Some good laughs. A unique story. Tim Allen, Dan Aykroyd, Jamie Lee Curtis, Cheech Marin, etc.

It was a good time. Some people can't be pleased and others just watch movies in a raw mood and then trash them. But I disagree with my nay-saying friends. I would recommend this to anyone with a sense of humor in good humor when they watch it.

I am not a fan of chick flicks. My wife is not a fan of the more gruesome, bloody crime and mystery flicks. So, we have enjoyed finding different movies and shows that are something in-between, especially those that are a series like Aurora Teagarden Mystery. We've seen every Columbo, Matlock and a few others, and were looking for something along those lines.

We found it.

I do not write this as a "fan" of Candace Cameron Bure's other works. As a matter of fact, I had very low expectations. Not because she is not a good actress. But because I just haven't enjoyed the sitcoms she's been in and haven't enjoyed the other movies I've seen her in. Now, I'm a FAN. I just hope she keeps doing these type of films.

And what a nice surprise to see Marilu Henner, again. I was a big fan of her work on Taxi. And the supporting actors are a pretty solid crew.

What I don't understand is why some reviewers claim that this show is "predictable". I believe we could gather them all up in a room and at 15 minute intervals, take their predictions! What a good time that would be, because... I believe they would get a lot of their predictions WRONG and disprove their own claims.

And I can only speak for my wife and I at this point, but we enjoyed this first installment (that I understand is based on the second book) and do NOT find it predictable.

But you ARE watching a Hallmark movie. If you come expecting Aurora to be Laura Croft or Wonder Woman (or have that kind of budget), you are in for a disappointment.

On the other hand, if you turn on, "A Bone To Pick," without a bone to pick and expect something along the lines of Murder She Wrote or Diagnosis Murder? You're gonna enjoy this.

If you watch this and think that people do not act this way, then you haven't been around many people. But in the depression era, there weren't as many "psych meds" and most people faced reality the way we see it portrayed in this episode. They simply worked things out over time.

I knew a lady who spent 20 years dying. She knew her time was short and spent 5 presidential terms spread out over two decades convinced of that fact. She finally did pass away at the young age of 85. Thankfully, in this episode, Grandpa Zeb doesn't take quite that long to snap to and, without injecting a "spoiler", I will just say that this episode was a good treatment of matter.

Richard Thomas and Will Greer worked well together, even as Greer and Ellen Corby provided a lot of great banter throughout these first few seasons. Brings back a lot of old memories of my Georgia-born and bread grandfather and his more proper and prim Yankee bride of around 7 decades of marriage.