Four new movies join Christmas juggernaut
You have to hand it to Hallmark Channel. The outfit and its sister channel, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, must be playing 24/7 up at the North Pole. Maybe they motivate the elves.
Hallmark, with the slogan “The Heart of TV,” long ago staked out the feel-good Christmas movie genre and jumped in with both feet. In recent years, Christmas on Hallmark has become an earlier and earlier destination for viewers who enjoy that sort of nostalgic, family friendly, slightly saccharine, holiday fare.
Hallmark hit the ground running Nov. 1 with One Starry Christmas (with Falling Skies’ Sarah Carter) and quickly followed with such offerings as A Princess for Christmas (with Roger Moore) and Hitched for the Holidays (with Joey Lawrence and Marilu Henner).
Nov. 15 saw Northpole debut. It starred 15-year-old Bailee Madison ( Parental Guidance) as an elf promoting holiday cheer. She joined Tiffani Thiessen, 84-year-old Robert Wagner and his 74-year-old wife, Jill St. John, for a multi-generation celebration.
Cable sibling Hallmark Movies & Mysteries (HMM) was formerly known as Hallmark Movie Channel. It contributed two early originals of its own, including Signed, Sealed, Delivered for Christmas on Nov. 23 featuring series stars Eric Mabius and Kristin Booth.
Hallmark and HMM dip into the deep pool of fading stars and journeyman actors to fill the roles such an early launch requires. That’s fine with fans. They get to feel all warm and fuzzy and the aging or littleknown actors get a nice little payday. It’s a win-win situation.
ABC Family jumped on the holiday bandwagon Nov. 23 with its “Countdown to 25 Days of Christmas” package leading up to its annual 25-day December event. Lifetime also joined the scrum that weekend with its own original holiday offerings.
Black Friday? We don’t need no stinkin’ Black Friday to get us in the mood.
Bottom line: Among all these channels, there will be enough holiday cheer between now and
Christmas to choke a reindeer. Here are just four that debut this week.
The Christmas Secret premieres at 8 p.m. today on HMM and stars Bethany Joy Lenz (see cover photo) and John Reardon. In the film, “one act of kindness turns strangers into family.” The movie is based on the 2009 New York Times best-seller of the same name by Christian fiction author Donna VanLiere.
Single mom Christine Eisley’s (Lenz) life is unravelling. She has been fired from her job, evicted from her home and her ex-husband is suing for custody of their kids.
But then she lands a new job at a bakery, a holiday romance begins to blossom with Jason (Reardon) and she uncovers a long-standing family secret “that forever changes her life and the lives of those around her.”
Christmas at Cartwright’s arrives at 7 p.m. today on Hallmark and stars Alicia Witt ( Cybill, Justified) as broke, unemployed, single mom Nicky Talbot.
Single mom? Unemployed? I see a pattern emerging.
Desperate to find a job in order to make her 8-year-old daughter’s holiday a happy one, Nicky disguises herself as a man and gets the job (with the help of an angel) as Cartwright’s Department Store Santa.
Pattern? Nicky also happens to meet the love of her life in charming and handsome store manager Bill (Gabriel Hogan, Heartland), who keeps running into her when she’s out of her Santa disguise. Drama? Nicky’s nemesis uncovers her secret, Bill feels deceived and Nicky’s life falls apart.
Wallace Shawn (Vizzini in The Princess Bride) is along for good measure as Harry the angel. Do you find that “inconceivable”? Not me.
Will a Christmas miracle save the day? It’s Hallmark, I’m betting it will.
Best Christmas Party Ever debuts at 7 p.m. Saturday on Hallmark and stars Torrey DeVitto ( Pretty Little Liars) as Jennie Stanton, an up-and-coming event planner working for Portia’s Parties.
Portia is about to retire and Jennie believes she has the top job sewn up until Portia’s hunky nephew Nick (Steve Lund, Bitten) arrives to help.
Sparks fly (competitive and
romantic) when Jennie and Nick are forced to work together to throw the greatest Christmas party ever.
The Santa Con debuts at 7 p.m. Saturday on Lifetime and features Barry “Matt Camden” Watson, Melissa Joan “Clarissa” Hart, Jaleel “Urkel” White, John “Cliff Clavin” Ratzenberger and talk show host Wendy Williams.
Small-time con man Nick DeMarco (Watson) is ordered by his parole officer to take a job as a department store Santa and he hates it. On his first shift, Nick hastily promises a young boy that Santa will bring his estranged parents back together by Christmas. The promise angers Nick’s sister, Rose (Hart, who also directs), who can’t believe Nick would break a little kid’s heart that way.
Can Nick make good on his promise? It’s Lifetime, my bet is he will.
Hallmark encores. November’s early movies get another showing. Catch Northpole at 7 p.m. Dec. 15; A Princess for Christmas at 5 p.m. Dec. 18; Hitched for the Holidays at 3 p.m. Dec. 19; and One Starry Christmas at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 25.