Hallmark Channel
Last night, we reported that Hallmark Channel had abruptly “parted ways” with longtime Home & Family co-host Mark Steines. The cable channel’s official statement was a bit cryptic: “Today Hallmark Channel has parted ways with Mark Steines as the co-host of the network’s lifestyle series Home & Family. We are extremely grateful to Mark for his incredible work and wish him all the best success in his future endeavors.”
Given that Steines was immediately removed from the Home & Family site, more than a few people wondered if there was more to the story. Today, Hallmark made it clear that the channel had no issues with Steines. Management wants to take the series in a different direction and Steines was not part of that change.
Here’s today’s statement: “Shows evolve and change all the time. Mark has been an instrumental part of Home & Family for the past 6 years, and we are extremely grateful for his incredible work and leadership. We truly wish Mark all the best in his future endeavors.”
According to Deadline, Steines was blindsided by Hallmark’s plans and was told he was off the show only after he finished taping Thursday’s show (on Wednesday).
According to a representative of Steines, he was let go for “creative reasons”. The rep noted, “We had had nothing but positive reviews and feedback from Hallmark for the entirety of the time he has been on the show, including this year.” It is believed that Steines still had time left on his contract so it wasn’t about contract negotiations.
Steines’ co-host, Debbie Matenopoulos, fought back tears as she delivered the news to viewers at the end of today’s show. She was surrounded by seven contributors on the show’s couch.
Welcome back, everybody. So, I’m here to share some news. And the family has joined me because we truly are a family here. Now, although we had a great show, we have a hard announcement to make. We have a very hard announcement to deliver. Our dear friend, our very good friend, and my wonderful co-host for years, Mister Mark Steines, is no longer with Home & Family.
He has been an amazing friend to all of us here at Hallmark Channel, the cast, the crew and a wonderful friend to all of you at home as well. And we are grateful to Mark, and we want to thank him from the bottom of our hearts for six of the most incredible years that he has had here hosting this incredible show that, he helped build. He really did.
He’s been here from the beginning and a lot of this show has Mark’s handprint on it, so we support him in everything he does in the future, his future endeavors. We will miss him dearly and we will think about him fondly and often and we thank you all at home for your kindness and understanding and your support and for being part of our family every day.
Thank you so much, everyone. Thank you for joining us and we’ll see you back here on Monday.
This isn’t the first time that a Home & Family co-host has been suddenly dropped from the program’s “family”. Matenopoulos’ predecessor, Cristina Ferrare, was quietly removed from the program nearly two years ago. She had theoretically been on vacation for two weeks before it was announced that she was simply no longer with the program. This led many viewers to assume that Ferrare was sick (which was not the case) and led to a lot of hard feelings from viewers toward her replacement.
It’s unclear if Steines will be replaced. On Monday’s show, Matenopoulos will be joined by guest host James Denton, one of the stars of Hallmark’s Good Witch series.
What do you think? Are you sorry that Steines has been fired by Hallmark? Will you continue to watch the Home & Family TV show? If they wanted to make a change, could Hallmark have handled this in a better way?
I will no longer watch the Hallmark Channel period!! They have no loyalty to their hosts. Will definitely miss all the movies and h&f. I was upset when they let Christina go but now Mark? The people running the show have ruined it for me and my family. No more Hallmark for us.
Will never watch your show again!! He was the only good one on it!!!
The co-host they have now does not do the job nearly as good as Mark. I usually liked them as guest,but now I resent them for trying to do his job & act happy about it.
I don’t watch anymore. Enjoyed it with Mark and Christina. Debbie is stiff and projects a superficial persona.
I know stations have to make changes for the better, but I thought Mark did a fabulous job and he certainly deserved a far better and more professional separation than he got. I will now only watch occasionally. I also thought Christine should never have been let go. Pam
I think Steines May have been responsible for Christina’s firing. I think she became far more popular then him and he was very jealous of her. His very short and heartless send off of Christina said it all to me! Of course I could be wrong but I think I am right about the fact that he got very jealous of Christina. Sad thing is she gave Mark credit for everything and was always singing his praises. Then he spits in her face when she gets fired. Not even a caring goodbye from him. It also bothered me the people… Read more »
I was very shocked & disappointed that Mark is off the show. I feel the same about Debbie, as the others who made comments, she should have been the one to go. I don’t watch the show anymore. Big mistake Hallmark!
Big big mistake and I was a daily viewer but no longer!
Home & Family was great with Ferrare and Steines. Shame they were both let go I think Debbie M. is a big phony and she is the instigator for the others to be gone. Also miss Sophie Uliano. I now fast forward through most of the show and will probably stop watching.
For some unknown reason they are locked into Debbie who is about the most fake person I have ever seen on tv. She usually is fired from any show she is on. I think she must come cheaper than most host and this show is just a 2 hour commercial now so it makes no difference who hosts the show.
Absolutely agree with everything you said in your post! I think their biggest mistake of all was getting rid of Christina Ferrare!!! Replacing her with Debbie M was an insult to the show and the viewers. I am loyal. I said I would never watch that show again and in two years I have not. I resent Debbie!! I use to love the Home and Family year end Holiday shows with Christina and Mark. There were nobody like them!! Debbie could NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS take Christina’s place yet Hallmark shoved her down our throats. I just couldn’t/can’t stomach… Read more »
Same here..I was with the show from the start. Over 20 years ago with Christina and Michael Burger. As long as Christina was on it was THE Home and Family show..but sadly no longer. And I haven’t watched the show since she was let go.
The show is not nearly as good without Mark. I watched it every day and now just really don’t care if I watch it or not. The rest of the cast is pretty good but Debbie just appears to be fake and way to touchy feely. Very disappointed in Hallmarks choice.
Hallmark may regret letting Mark go. I don’t understand the reason for letting him go…”Creative Reasons”???? If you needed to let one go, Debbie needed to be the one. Mark will truly be missed. The person replacing him will never match up to Mark!
I wish Mark the best! Hallmark has let a lot of viewers down.
I am so sad that Mark is gone! He was such a nice touch to the show! Debbie is very self absorbed and loves all the attention she can get! I do not think the show will ever be the same without Mark! I hope maybe enough discussion will go on to see that slot of people are not happy with Debbie and maybe she needs to be replaced. I will say good luck to Mark and I am sure he will find a better door to go thru to find where he is appreciated.
Mark was a huge reason why I watched. I feel as if I have lost a good friend.
I am finished with Home & Family, this was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I had only returned to watching because of the way Christina was fired. Obviously, the powers that be did not learn a thing from their past firing, now they fired Mark in the same unprofessional hurtful way. I think Hallmark needs to cancel the entire show and perhaps a couple of years try something else. As I did for Christina, I pray for Mark, his new wife and his boys, as well as precious Norbert. I hope Mark will continue to share his photography… Read more »
Truthfully, the show hasn’t been the same since Christina was fired. Even with Mark. She was the one that actually made that show! Her and Mark together were the best!! Debbie brought the show down. Never did fit in!! Now she gets to stay, if all people they stick with the one that is the worst ever???!!!
Mark was the only reason I continued to watch after Christina was fired. Debbie talks too much. It’s all about her, she tries to take over. I’m sure she would love it if they didn’t replace Mark. I’ll be finding something new to watch. I have great respect for the Hallmark Company and I love the Hallmark movies, but there is something wrong at this show. Maybe it’s Woody!
I totally agree with you. I too will be finding something else to watch. I said this when they replaced Christina but didn’t follow through. I will definitely make this promise good. I would hate to stop watching Hallmark channel completely, but I will be looking for other things to watch on other channels. Very sad.
I feel Hallmark let’s hosts go very suddenly. One dat they are here the next gone. I would be a little cautious working for this channel.
I think his ex wife’s interview is why he was fired. She paints him as a terrible husband but also goes on to say she pulled away from her marriage & her kids & then does not understand why he wanted a divorce. She was mad at him from the beginning of their marriage because she says he took her job at ET. He had been in the broadcasting business a lot longer than she had been. He was more qualified than her. I think she held a grudge from the start of their marriage. I believe she is the… Read more »
The show will be boring now I’m not watching it anymore the show really dose not care for it’s fans