Ed Asner brings reefer and other madness to Hallmark

July 08, 03:34 PM

Is the Hallmark Channel, as one network exec claimed, "the best-kept secret on cable television"?

We're not quite certain, but it does seems to draw a curious mix of starpower, for which we are thankful. Where else can you get a panel that cycles through Ed Asner (Generation Gap), Jane Seymour (Dear Prudence), Lesley Ann Warren (Bound by a Secret), Cheech Marin (Expecting a Miracle) and surprisingly, a very svelte Candace Cameron Bure (Moonlight & Mistletoe)? Check out the hook while my DJ revolves it. DJ in the house!

Even though the network is offering more than 10 telefilms this upcoming season, none of the critics have been able to screen them, so the TCA session instead focuses on:

1) Katherine Heigl's Emmy self snub - Fellow Grey's Anatomy co-star Chandra Wilson (Accidental Friendship) defends her girl: "All actors have to do the exact same thing every single year. We have to decide, 'How do I submit? Which clip?' ... It got blown out of proportion. Some years I submit, some years I don't."

2) The possiblity of an actors' strike - Tom Arnold (M&M)and Asner say it's not gonna happen. Barbara Niven (M&M), who's on the national board of SAG presents their side: "We want a little piece of the pie so we can keep doing it. It's not about big business, it's about making magic."

3) The actors' past/current projects - Please, please, please will there be a Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman film? Alas, no. Oh, and since ER will be concluding soon, let's grill Eriq La Salle and his Relative Stranger co-stars about their stints on the NBC medical drama.

4) Asner feeling the love for a) co-star Alex Black - "He's so much better looking than my real grandkids" and b) Cloris Leachman - "Ff course she has a thing for me. She's a woman ... Cloris and I have played footsie for a long time. We've dug each other for a long time ... but we've never culminated it."

5) Weed - Asner on what wisdom he passed on to his young co-star - "How to roll reefer." Later, Marin was asked if he had taught Asner. "Not that I would admit in public. He was not one of my better students. A little uptight, you know."

We can't wait for Love Comes Softly: Rolled in a Blunt, premiering April 20, 2009.