TVSquad

She's been a vamp, a vixen, a medicine woman, royalty and she's even tried Dancing with the Stars. Now she will solve crimes. The Hallmark Channel has greenlit Dear Prudence, a Jane Seymour crime-solving Martha Stewart-type celebrity. They're calling this a backdoor pilot because Hallmark doesn't do series TV; however, if the movie were to be successful, it could become one of a rotation of star-driven mystery movies that Hallmark currently presents.

(S03E15) The folks over at Medium are on something of a guest star roll. After a nice turn last week by Eric Stoltz, this week they treat us to Peri Gilpin (Frasier) as Allison's mother Diane Benoit. That wasn't the only piece of nice casting here. Given the ratings of their former shows, I'm sure that Kyle Gallner (Veronica Mars) isn't as recognizable as Gilpin, but it was nice to see him again.

For her part, Gilpin was terrific. Diane certainly had her issues, but considering what we know about Allison, I don't think anyone was expecting June Cleaver. The booze and the parenting with pills were a little disturbing, but in her own crazy way I got the feeling that she really was trying to do what she thought was best for Allison. While she seems to have avoided some of the mistakes Diane made, Allison does share that trait with her mother.