Hallmark’s ‘Anti-TMZ’

South Carolina Republican representative Joe Wilson’s outburst during President Obama’s speech to Congress on health care. Tennis player Serena Williams’ on-court, expletive-laden tirade. Kanye West’s aggressive—however not altogether unusual—behavior during MTV’s Music Video Awards.

They all make good headlines. But the Hallmark Channel, a division of Hallmark Cards, wants to know: Has civilization lost its civility? In an affront to all the vitriol that continually makes up news headlines and TV news programs, the Hallmark Channel has created CelebrityGoodLife.com, a site devoted exclusively to positive news about celebrities—from Hollywood to sports, to politics and beyond.

CelebrityGoodLife.com features content from chief correspondent-bloggers Delaina Dixon, who is based in New York, and Daisy Whitney, who is in Los Angeles. The site is live now but is eyeing October 23 for its official launch.

With the tag line "Cleaning Up the Red Carpet," Hallmark is calling the site the "anit-TMZ." "CelebrityGoodLife.com will bring only positive news to the masses who are tired of the mudslinging,” Hallmark said in an announcement. “Whether the news is love and marriage, children, chivalry, dream home, dream vacation, enlightenment, or benevolent altruism, Dixon and Whitney will shine a light through every sector of show business, putting deserving entertainers in a favorable spot.”

How nice! (Earlier this year Hallmark Cards shuttered its flagship Hallmark magazine. According to spurned subscribers, the way Hallmark handled the shut down wasn’t so nice.)

A Hallmark Channel spokesperson told me the site hopes to get to at least 50,000 uniques within the first two months and eventually wants to host paid advertising. Right now, the home page looks like an overt plug for Hallmark’s upcoming film, Always Forever, with a large banner ad and a series of five promotional videos at the bottom.

It’s true, there is a lot of negative news in celebrity-dom these days. The same can be said for magazines. We've made a big effort to post as many positive stories during these difficult times as we can. But the reality is that negative stories get A LOT more reader/user/viewer attention than the positive ones, even on FOLIOmag.com.

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By Jason Fell --

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Celebrity Good Life

Submitted by Celebrity Good Life on Wed, 09/23/2009 - 22:51.

Thanks, Jason. We hope you enjoy the positive stories on our blog!

Celebrity Good Life

Submitted by Jeremy Fischer on Thu, 09/24/2009 - 10:27.

What will be interesting to watch is how one celebrity story could evolve from TMZ to Celebrity Good Life or vice-versa. For instance, you could have a celebrity couple that falls in love and has tremendous wedding. All of which are positive and would get good pub on Celebrity. Then several years later, they get divorced and end up in an all out free-for-all (think Alec Baldwin/Kim Basinger) and end up all over TMZ. Interesting communications study for sure. I wish the best of luck to Celebrity Good Life. Positivity may not get the most readers in our jaded, celeb addicted society, but I believe it does produce good karma. For what it's worth. Jeremy Fischer http://www.rebirthofpr.com

Great idea

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 09/24/2009 - 16:56.

I love the idea behind this blog. Sometimes peeking behind the celebrity curtain isn't very nice. It'll be lovely to see the bright spots in Hollywood.

Positive news

Submitted by joela on Thu, 09/24/2009 - 19:24.

I would love this. Gettin' sick and tired of launching my browser to see the worse of humanity. Again. I know we're not all pieces of sh%$. Let's see there's a reason folks admire celebrities.

Always Sunny, With a Chance of Meatballs

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 09/24/2009 - 19:35.

uhh, they wont be peeking behind the curtain, only filtering out the bad stuff... in other words, only the nice news will make the headline... it'll be like living in North Korea or Iran..

re: Always Sunny... by Anonymous

Submitted by Marconi Plays La Bamba on Mon, 09/28/2009 - 15:36.

"it'll be like living in North Korea or Iran" Don't forget that here, we at least have choices.