On April 15, 2014, PBS will air a new movie. Ken Burns’ The Address is about a school in Vermont in which all students are assigned the task of learning the famous Gettysburg Address. The movie focuses not only on the words but the meaning of this famous, yet very short, speech.

Take the challenge yourself and also with your family. Celebrate the 150^th anniversary of this speech. Learn The Gettysburg Address, understand Lincoln’s words, and gain more understanding of the man and how he put together a short speech (269 words) that has meant so much to the history of this country.

Go to www.learntheaddress.org to listen to others who have taken the challenge.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate–we cannot consecrate–we cannot hallow–this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us–that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion–that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain–that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom–and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

About the Author

Francine Brokaw has been covering all aspects of the entertainment business for 20 years. She also writes about technology and has been a travel writer for the past 12 years. She has been published in national and international newspapers and magazines as well as internet websites. She has written her own book, Beyond the Red Carpet The World of Entertainment Journalists, from Sourced Media Books.

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In My Dreams is an enchanting story of true love. Katharine McPhee and Mike Vogel star in this tale of two single people who are frustrated with their love lives and yearn to find someone with whom they can enjoy life and love.

Natalie Russo (McPhee) has taken over her family’s Italian restaurant after the death of her beloved mother. She is intent on keeping everything exactly as it was when her mom was alive. The problem is that they don’t have any customers and she is struggling to survive and keep the restaurant afloat.

Nick Smith (Vogel) is an accomplished drafter who has desires of starting his own agency. His mother (JoBeth Williams) is more interested in getting him married off and never misses an opportunity to push him into a date with an available woman whom she feels would be a good match for her son.

One day both Natalie and Nick throw a coin into a fabled fountain and that night they dream about each other. The thing is, they have never met but they continue to meet in their dreams. They cannot wait for the days to be over so they can spend time with each other. However they are only dreaming about each other. Or are they? In their dreams, which, by the way, are linked so they both experience the same “dreams”, they get to know each other and as strange as it seems, they really do learn about one another.

McPhee described the story. “Well, there’s an old wives’ tale involving the Hayward Fountain in our mythical town. If you make a wish, then toss a coin in the fountain, you’ll meet the man or woman of your dreams, and you’ll have the most fantastic dreams for seven nights. But if the dream couple haven’t actually met in the real world before that time limit expires ‐‐ well, it’s all over. Finito, as Natalie would say. So it’s really a race against time.”

According to Vogel, “One of the really interesting things about this movie is that Katharine and I actually hardly work together at all – only in the dream sequences, which are fairly brief. Most of the time we see Natalie in her restaurant and Nick in his office, where he’s having to deal with the boss from hell. He also has to deal with his mother, who’s absolutely determined to get him married, the sooner the better!”

This is a story that is definitely unique and in many ways, New Age.  It is mystical. Think about having the best relationship with someone only in your dreams. Then one day you realize that that dream person is real. The next step is to actually find him/her in their waking state.

“I’d describe it as a romance with hints of comedy,” says Vogel. “But at its heart it’s a romance.

McPhee agrees. “This is a romance, first and foremost. I firmly believe that Mr. Right or Ms. Right is out there for all of us. And who’s to say that throwing a coin in a fountain won’t lead you to the pot of gold at the end of the romance rainbow. I mean, if that can work for Nick and Natalie, why can’t it work for all of us? The trick is to find the right fountain!”

In My Dreams is an enchanting and charming story. After all, who hasn’t dreamt of someone and hoped that person was real? In this case, dreams do come true. In My Dreams premiers Sunday, April 20, 2014 on the Hallmark Hall of Fame on ABC.

About the Author

Francine Brokaw has been covering all aspects of the entertainment business for 20 years. She also writes about technology and has been a travel writer for the past 12 years. She has been published in national and international newspapers and magazines as well as internet websites. She has written her own book, Beyond the Red Carpet The World of Entertainment Journalists, from Sourced Media Books.

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A star-studded cast brings best-selling author Terry McMillan’s book to the small screen. Whoopi Goldberg, Ving Rhames, Anika Noni Rose, Kimberly Elise, Mekhi Phifer, Ashanti Broomfield, Tichina Arnold, Lyriq Bent and more team up in A Day Late and a Dollar Short, a sensitive story of a family torn apart but finding their way back to each other after a lifetime of infighting, jealousies, and craziness.

To say the family is dysfunctional is an understatement. The sisters have been at odds with each other, their brother has had trouble with the law, in-laws are now causing rifts due to their transgressions, and the parents (Goldberg and Rhames) are not the most loving couple in history, to put it mildly.

This film is like a mini-soap opera. Every scene brings up a new and dramatic situation. At the heart of the story, however, is the fact that they are family. And as a family they must learn to look out for each other, protect each other, and yes, love each other.

Whoopi Goldberg plays Viola Price, the matriarch of the fractured family. She suffers from acute asthma as well as a heart problem. When she learns she doesn’t have much time left, she sets out to help her family turn their lives around and learn to be a family unit once again.

Viola starts to get her four children, grandchildren, and her now-estranged husband to see the problems in their lives and to set them right. Without giving any spoiler alerts, I can say that their problems are huge. Each one is facing a difficult personal situation, whether it is sexual, drugs, or simply learning how to step up to responsibilities. Viola desperately wants to see harmony in her family before she dies. But is that even possible with this incredibly troubled and broken family?

On a personal note, when I started watching this film I was leery about this made-for-TV movie. But the more it ran, the more intrigued I was. I couldn’t turn away. It is definitely a poignant family story.

A Day Late and a Dollar Short premiers Saturday, April 19, 2014 on Lifetime at 8 pm ET/PT.

About the Author

Francine Brokaw has been covering all aspects of the entertainment business for 20 years. She also writes about technology and has been a travel writer for the past 12 years. She has been published in national and international newspapers and magazines as well as internet websites. She has written her own book, Beyond the Red Carpet The World of Entertainment Journalists, from Sourced Media Books.

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The newest original series to air on Hallmark Channel is one that will not only touch your heart, it will also touch your sense of wonder. If you think you have already seen this, you are partly correct. Signed, Sealed, Delivered was a made-for-TV movie that aired last October. It is now a weekly series with Eric Mabius, Kristin Booth, Crystal Lowe, and Geoff Gustafson starring as a group of postal officers assigned to distributing wayward mail. They are part detective, part postal workers, part comedians, and all heart as each week they select a lost letter and trace down the person to whom it is meant.

Guest stars will join the main cast throughout the series. The first two episodes include actress Valerie Harper as a legendary postal supervisor who realizes how important this group of postal detectives really is when they track down a grandmother whose grandson is in danger. With very few clues, the group manages to locate the grandmother to whom the letter was mailed, having been addressed simply to “Gramma.”

Guest stars through the weeks will include Valerie Bertinelli, Della Reese, Marilu Henner, and more. Each week, as the postal detectives unravel clues to get the lost letters to their intended recipients, they also uncover personal stories, which is what gives this series the emotion it has. It is more than just a show about locating postal recipients, it is a show about people and life situations.

Hallmark Channel is going postal! Signed, Sealed, Delivered premiers Sunday April 20, 2014.

About the Author

Francine Brokaw has been covering all aspects of the entertainment business for 20 years. She also writes about technology and has been a travel writer for the past 12 years. She has been published in national and international newspapers and magazines as well as internet websites. She has written her own book, Beyond the Red Carpet The World of Entertainment Journalists, from Sourced Media Books.

Follow her on Twitter

Like her on Facebook