Hallmark serves as ‘a nice home’ for veteran actor At a glance
INTERVIEW
“When Calls the Heart” is shown at 9 p.m. Sundays on the Hallmark Channel.
Jack Wagner doesn’t condemn TV programs with backstabbing, profanity and sex.
He has had a successful career dealing with such elements on “General Hospital,” “Santa Barbara,” “The Bold and the Beautiful” and “Melrose Place.”
But now that the Missouri native is 58, he respects TV shows and movies that offer positive messages about family and love.
“The Hallmark Channel really has become a nice home for me,” Wagner said. “It’s become a relationship of actors that they feel are an asset to their network and vice-versa. Hallmark’s audience fits the demographic we have built over the past 30 years.”
His fifth season of “When Calls the Heart” — in which he plays the sheriff in a small town in western Canada at the beginning of the 20th century — premiered on Sunday. The series is based on the books by Janice Oakes.
“People want a safe place where they can sit down as a family — or as a couple — and watch something where there is not going to be a lot of blood, gore or backstabbing. There aren’t going to be a lot of wild sex scenes or profanity. Hallmark is that safe place.”
(Wagner also starred opposite Josie Bissett this month in the Hallmark movie “Wedding March 3: Here Comes the Bride.”)
When the actor talks about Hallmark stars who have generated large fan bases in recent decades, he means himself, Bissett and “When Calls the Heart” co-star Lori Loughlin.
Wagner, who wasn’t part of the series until late in the first season, points out that the show began to see its loyal fan base — known as the Hearties — grow as he and Loughlin added maturity to the series.
“The show was primarily about the schoolteacher (Erin Krakow), the Mountie (Daniel Lissing) and Abigail Stanton, the character Lori was playing,” Wagner said. “When I signed on, I was joining a show in progress. But what I brought to the project was something I think was missing: an older male lead.”
His two recent Hallmark projects differ in design, but Wagner sees a basic element at the heart of both.
“It’s always about the obstacles that the two romantic leads face,” he said. “All the storylines filter through that. It’s about how people help each other to deal with the obstacles. Also, my character in ‘When Calls the Heart’ is about standing up for injustices, and I think that really resonates with the people who follow this show.”
Wagner and Hallmark have become close, but he had a highly diverse career before landing on the cable network.
He guest-starred on prime-time TV shows “Monk,” “Castle” and “Hot in Cleveland.” He also was a contestant on the 14th season of ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars,” where he and partner Anna Trebunskaya finished in 11th place.
In addition, Wagner has recorded six albums, producing “All I Need” in 1985, which reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart.
The actor has plenty of ideas for more wholesome projects, he said, but the success of “When Calls the Heart” would preclude him from taking on another series anytime soon.