Wes Brown Talks Showcasing The Magic Of Hallmark Viewers In Ready, Set, Glow!
Hallmark star Wes Brown is bringing us into the festive homes of real life Hallmark viewers with Ready, Set, Glow! In his new Hallmark+ reality show, he introduces us to the passionate families who spend months building the most incredible Christmas displays across America. Pop Culture Planet’s Kristen Maldonado spoke with Brown about bringing the show to life and what kicks off the holiday season.
Brown was first inspired by a road trip to pitch the idea of Ready, Set, Glow! “I wanted to be able to show what everyone's doing to bring the spirit of Christmas to their own homes. I got the idea for the show [when] we were driving back through Vermont. It's one of those saying, ‘Oh, this looks like a Hallmark town’ and I just had the thought I was like, ‘Man, what if we started showcasing these towns, their displays, and the people?’” he told me. “Our viewers get to see us so how about let's do something that we can see them now.”
What he found was that it was about way more than just decorations for these families. “I came up with the concept of doing light displays around the country and what we learned is that there is such a huge heart and feeling behind the displays, the ‘why’ they do this. It's nice to put [up] Christmas lights, but why do you keep doing it? Why does it keep getting bigger? The stories about the people and the reasons behind them, that's where the heart of the show is,” Brown shared. “It's high energy. You’ll laugh, you might have some tears. Some of these are involved with charities, whether it be for children's hospitals or we did one with animal rescues. There's a huge heart behind all the displays so it's a lot more than Christmas lights.”
When it comes to bringing the displays to life, these families go BIG. “Everyone passes the wow factor,” Brown explained. “None of this is normal. You can't just plug in lights. These people work for months and months. Some start in June. Their lights are only down for a handful of months out of the year before they start over. We saw everything from giant farms with a couple million lights to neighborhoods where every single house looked like one because everyone participated.”
Brown credits the Hallmark executives for listening to their casts and fans when it comes to being able to pitch, produce, and host this show for their audience. “That would be a nod to our executives for listening to us. One of the reasons is that we have access to our fans, so we get to hear what the fans want. One thing that I do tell to any of the fans watching is that they listen, we listen,” he revealed. “The fact that this was something the fans wanted, to be a little more involved with us, just something maybe beyond scripted films, our executives listen to us. Every idea doesn't get taken, but it's all taken into consideration. Some happen and some don't and luckily this one happened.”
This year marks 15 years of Countdown to Christmas, with Brown shouting out the friendships he’s made along the way. “My favorite memories are the relationships that I've made through through all the films. Half of the people in my phone are from Hallmark films, whether it be productions or execs or actors,” he shared. “My life has been shaped in the last 15 years by Hallmark Channel so it's been great. It’s been beautiful and I've just been really appreciative of getting involved with Countdown to Christmas for this long.”
Working on the show influenced him to put a spin on his own holiday traditions. “I got gifted some things as we went through these displays. I took lots of pictures and said, ‘Well, how did you hook up this and how'd you do that?’” Brown revealed. “It definitely inspired me. This will be the first Christmas that I do some stuff a little bit differently now.”
A tradition that kicks off the holiday season for him? Cutting down a fresh tree! "We live in the Northeast now. We've always wanted to start cutting down our own trees so now we found a family farm that we go to each year. That's always pretty special because that kicks it off right after Thanksgiving,” Brown shared. “It’s honestly fun and it's cheaper than buying a tree.”
Ready, Set, Glow! debuts December 12 on Hallmark+.
