Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Chicken Sisters’ On Hallmark+, About Rival Fried Chicken Joints In A Southern Small Town

Hallmark is making some changes with its streaming products: Hallmark Movies Now is now Hallmark+ , which will provide original series as well as all of the romantic series and movies that have been the signature of Crown Media’s properties for at least two decades. The first series is a family dramedy wrapped in flour, salt, and spices — it’s about the rivalry between a town’s chicken joints.

Lea Thompson Reveals Artem Chigvintsev Was “Intense” On ‘DWTS’ Amid News Of His Domestic Violence Arrest: “He Would Get So Mad At Me”

Opening Shot: Scenes from the fictional town of Merinac. A narrator (Margo Martindale) says, “You know those small Southern towns… where everything is slower and simpler… and the gnats are plentiful? Well, this is one of ’em. Welcome to Marinac, y’all! That’s what the sign says, but it’s also what I say”

Andrew McCarthy Struggles to Land Interviews With His Fellow Brat Packers in ‘Brats’ — And His Vulnerability In These Moments Is Admirable

The Gist: For over a century, Merinac has had two rival fried chicken joints: Mimi’s, run by the Moore family, and Frannie’s, run by the Hillier family. The rivalry, both between the families and their chicken restaurants, stemmed from a dispute between two sisters, one of whom may have gotten pregnant with her brother-in-law’s child.

Amanda Moore Hillier (Schuyler Fisk) straddles both families. She married into the Hillier family after falling for Frank Jr. (James Kot), son of Frannie’s current owner, Nancy Hillier (Lea Thompson). That marriage enraged Amanda’s already-prickly mother Augusta “Gus” Moore (Wendie Malick), and she effectively banned Amanda from both Mimi’s and her life.

CLICK HERE TO GET EMAILS FROM DECIDER

Amanda has been feeling lost lately, since Frank Jr. doesn’t seem to want to have sex anymore, her teenage daughter Frankie (Cassandra Sawtell) is “old and mean,” in Amanda’s words, and the only person who she might be able to lean on, her older sister Mae (Genevieve Angelson), left Merinac when she was a teenager, and is now a designer and organizer who co-hosts a reality show.

So when Amanda sees an Instagram post for the show Ultimate Kitchen Clash looking for rival restaurants in small towns that will compete for a $100,000 prize, she knew the story of Frannie’s and Mimi’s would be perfect.

She knew Helen would be on board — and given the fact that Frank Jr. wants to expand the business, he has eyes on the prize money. But getting Gus on board would be a lot harder. When she goes to Mimi’s to see her mother, she finds that she hired the young and sexy Sergio (Ektor Rivera) as a cook, the first time a man has ever worked the kitchen at Mimi’s. At first, Gus refuses to even listen to Amanda, but finally agrees to do it — but only if Mae can come back to town and help her.

Convincing Mae to return to Merinac for the first time in 20 years might be even harder than getting Gus to sign on. Mae repeatedly says no to her sister, but then her show gets canceled, with the network citing that viewers think Mae is “elitist.”

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Based on the novel by K.J. Dell’Antonia (that earned the Reese Witherspoon seal of approval), The Chicken Sisters has the same feel as lots of other Hallmark series, like Chesapeake Shores .

Our Take: Annie Mebane, who adapted Dell’Antonia’s novel for TV, has a background in comedy, and The Chicken Sisters certainly leans on the second syllable of “dramedy” harder than the first. After all, it’s ostensibly a series about rival chicken joints competing on a reality cooking show. But it’s also a fun, albeit occasionally goofy, series about settling family beefs and bringing estranged members of families together.

Because Merinac isn’t specified as being anywhere but “the South,” many of the characterizations of the town make it feel more like “generic TV small town” than a specific town in a specific state. It seems to be a racially-diverse, LGBTQ-friendly town, but the accents the actors use are hard to pinpoint other than being generically “Southern.” In some cases, like the usually-reliable Thompson, the accents are more cornpone than realistic.

And while we’re usually not a fan of intrusive narration on a show, how can anyone dislike the soothing drawl of Margo Martindale leading viewers through all of these rivalries and layered histories? Her honey-dripping narration has a bit of sassiness and passive aggression behind it, which is a perfect encapsulation of the “sweet to your face, gossipy behind your back” way of life in “the South.”

We do look forward to seeing Fisk and Angelson square off as very opposite personalities who still have a modicum of love between them. And, despite their silly accents, we are always going to welcome Thompson and Malick on our screens. There is certainly going to be a flirtation between Amanda and Sergio, and there’s even some story that’s going to develop with Ultimate Kitchen Clash host Sabrina Skye (Rukiya Bernard) and her daughter Linzey (Kelcey Mawema), who she has brought to Merinac for the chicken showdown.

Sex and Skin: None. It’s Hallmark, after all.

Parting Shot: Sabrina counts down to start her first shot for the series’ visit to Merinac, and all the main players are looking at each other to see just what’s going to happen.

Sleeper Star: We like Caitlin Howden as Shawna, who is a waitress at Frannie’s. She stays “TV ready” and helps Nancy upgrade her look so she can boost her love life after being in front of the camera.

Most Pilot-y Line: Besides making Mae into a character who isn’t proud of where she comes from, she’s also an obsessive neat freak, an outgrowth of the panic attacks she used to have when she lived with her mother, who had hoarder tendencies. It may seem like that’s an additional layer, but she comes off more like Felix Unger in the scenes where she straightens up what doesn’t need straightening.

Our Call: STREAM IT. The Chicken Sisters is a pleasant, often amusing show that has a good cast and wraps family drama in a refreshing package.

Joel Keller ( @joelkeller ) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.

For more entertainment news and streaming recommendations, visit decider.com