Brian Bird on the Hearties

One thing that may interest you about When Calls The Heart is the “Hearties.” They
are a spontaneous group of Super-Fans who emerged out of the audience landscape. They now number over 19,000 members on their Hearties Facebook Group page and they are the most loyal group of fans any TV show could ever ask for. Kind of like the Star Trek “Trekkies,” well now we have the “Hearties.” I have never encountered anything like this show of support for a series, even when I was on Touched By An Angel. They love the themes and virtues we have woven into the show, along with the characters, lessons and romance. They are even talking about holding a convention. During the last few episodes, the show actually trended in the top-ten topics in the US because of the “Hearties.” The amazing thing about this is that we did not invent this, this is not some cynical marketing effort by us or Hallmark to build a fan base. This is a spontaneous outpouring of praise and love because somehow the audience out there discovered When Calls The Heart and for them it has become the cure for what ails TV. I have this growing sense that this will become a series classic that will go on for years.

A whole new avenue of creativity has evolved among the “Hearties.”

–Brian Bird