Holiday TV Movies & (Non-Rankin Bass) Holiday Specials - General Discussion

[Clawdette]

Unless I overlooked it, I didn't see Bethany Joy Lenz listed in any of the upcoming movies.  I hadn't read anything about her jumping to GAC.  I really enjoyed her movie with Tyler Hynes last Christmas and I generally watch everything that she's in.

[Cetacean]

8 minutes ago, Clawdette said:

Unless I overlooked it, I didn't see Bethany Joy Lenz listed in any of the upcoming movies. 

Her Filmology on IMDB shows that she has only made two movies in 2022, neither for Hallmark or GAC.  

I agree, she was great in An Unexpected Christmas which is the one and only movie I ever rewatch.  She and Tyler Hynes were just great in that but it was a script by Paul Campbell so that helped.

[Vermicious Knid]

Lindsey Lohan doing a Christmas movie for Netflix. Seems to be Overboard at a ski lodge.

[Cetacean]

Oh, geez. Hasn't the whole tired amnesia trope been beaten to death by now?

[Vermicious Knid]

Lists of the new Holiday movies are out. I'm linking TVLine because they include summaries. Also waiting for Linda Holmes at NPR to put out her overview with snarky commentary. The lone Hanukkah movie appears to actually be about Hanukkah and not Hanukkah vs Christmas, which is greatly appreciated. Including one gay romance, one interracial romance, two centered on Chinese families, one taking place in Mexico-with a Mexican family not people at a resort, at least two people who inherit Christmas tree farms, a Doctor Quinn reunion, and a Dolly Parton special.

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A WESLEY CHRISTMAS

NGL, my first thought was "Is Wesley Crusher popping out of the timestream to celebrate Christmas?"

This almost makes me want to sign up for Hulu:

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IT’S A WONDERFUL BINGE
Streaming Friday, Dec. 9
Like 2020’s The Binge, the sequel is set in a near future where all drinking and drugs are banned except for on one glorious day known as The Binge. This year, that day happens to miraculously land on Christmas. The new holiday adventure will feature magical storybooks, catchy songs, stop-motion animation… and drugs! Lots of them!

Also, what...

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Shelby is about to quit her job as a rocket engineer

[Bruinsfan]

Is it just recreational drugs that are forbidden, or all drugs? Because I'd kinda like to see the post-apocalyptic consequences of the latter.

Edited October 25, 2022 by Bruinsfan

[Clawdette]

I noticed that Paul Greene (Hallmark) and Tyler Hilton (Lifetime) have scored CBS movies.

[Irlandesa]

I watched Falling For Christmas.  And it was awful.  It gave me UP/ION camp vibes but with just a touch of camp. So not enough to really make it interesting and not unique enough or acted well enough to separate it from the run-of-the-mill holiday movie.

[twoods]

I didn’t find it to be as awful as you did. The leads were good actors (it was nice seeing Lindsay Lohan), but her influencer boyfriend was way too extra. 

[Irlandesa]

1 hour ago, twoods said:

I didn’t find it to be as awful as you did. The leads were good actors (it was nice seeing Lindsay Lohan), but her influencer boyfriend was way too extra. 

Yeah.  I'm looking at reviews and I'm apparently somewhat in the minority on this.  Granted, I was working at the time.  It was on in the background so maybe I missed nuances but what I saw didn't work for me.

[memememe76]

I think people are just happy to see Lindsay. The plot was so much like a typical Holiday movie. I thought Netflix would modernize it more. Love Hard was so great from last year, and this was a step down. 

[Irlandesa]

19 minutes ago, memememe76 said:

Love Hard was so great from last year, and this was a step down. 

Both Love Hard and Single All The Way were fun and more polished.

[twoods]

You do have a point. Maybe the next two movies (Christmas with You and The Noel Diary) will be less generic. Plus I’m a little biased because I love Justin Hartley and Freddie Prinze Jr. and looking forward to those movies.

[Justaguest]

Just finished Reindeer Games Homecoming (Lifetime) and loved it. I'm a fan of Sarah Drew and she wrote this as well as starred.

[KaveDweller]

3 hours ago, Justaguest said:

Just finished Reindeer Games Homecoming (Lifetime) and loved it. I'm a fan of Sarah Drew and she wrote this as well as starred.

Yes, I really enjoyed Reindeer Games Homecoming. It was a lot of fun and good chemistry with the leads.

I also loved the Easter egg where the sister was watching another Sarah Drew Christmas movie. 

[AnimeMania]

Reindeer in Here is an animated hour long holiday (Christmas) special airing on CBS on Tuesday, November 29, 2022 at 9pm. The animated special is based on a book (of the same name)/plush toy set created by Adam Reed.
Reindeer in Here is a story that encourages not only accepting our differences, but celebrating them. Blizzard (Blizz), a young reindeer who has one antler that is significantly smaller than the other, and his unique group of friends band together to save the future of Christmas - and unknowingly create a magical holiday tradition like none other. Blizz just wants to show Santa that his original inventions can make Christmas even better. When a mysterious villain steals the magical snow globe that holds the wishes of every child in the world, Blizzard and Theo become Santa's only hope to save Christmas. Blizzard and Theo can't save Christmas all on their own, so they enlist the help of their trustworthy friends Candy, Pinky, Hawk, Bucky, Smiley and Isla.

Adam Devine voices Blizzard (Blizz), a young reindeer living at the North Pole who has an unusual trait – one antler that is significantly smaller than the other.

Jim Gaffigan voices Santa.

Melissa Villaseñor voices Candy, the oversharing snowgirl.

Henry Winkler voices Smiley, an adorable and hilarious elf who has served as Santa’s harried H.O.H.O (head of holiday operations) for the past 500 years.

Candace Cameron Bure voices Pinky, the beautifully blingy and only all-pink reindeer at the North Pole.

Donald Faison voices Bucky, the big-toothed nervous-Nelly reindeer.

Jo Koy voices Hawk, the endearingly dim-witted mohawked polar bear.

Gabriel Bateman voices Theo, a lonely 10-year-old boy and the new kid in town who longs to make friends.

Brooke Monroe Conaway voices Isla, Theo’s brilliant classmate.

[Irlandesa]

On 11/13/2022 at 11:58 AM, Justaguest said:

Just finished Reindeer Games Homecoming (Lifetime) and loved it. I'm a fan of Sarah Drew and she wrote this as well as starred.

I gave up after 20 minutes but maybe I need to power through it.  I did that with Six Degrees of Santa and even though the lead actress wasn't the greatest, I ended up really getting into it.  Steve Lund being in it helped.

[Vermicious Knid]

In case you forgot, Candace Cameron Bure is just as intolerant and narrow-minded as as her brother.

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My heart wants to tell stories that have more meaning and purpose and depth behind them,” Bure tells the Wall Street Journal. “I knew that the people behind Great American Family were Christians that love the Lord and wanted to promote faith programming and good family entertainment.”...

As for what GAC Family is not doing, Bure tells the WSJ not to expect any same-sex couples to be featured in its programming. “I think that Great American Family will keep traditional marriage at the core,” she says.

[Annber03]

I'm sure the Christians who don't follow her super narrow worldview really appreciate the implication that they don't love the Lord. 

And I'm still trying to figure out how certain stories don't qualify as and can't possibly be considered "family entertainment" for her and others like her, but okay, Candace. 

[Bruinsfan]

I hope GAC pairs her and Trevor Donovan in every project so they can both squirm in discomfort!

[Spartan Girl]

Oh fuck you, Candace. Having holiday movies with same sex couples doesn’t take anything away from anybody. I’d say more but Hilarie Burton did it better.

I did watch Falling for Christmas and it wasn’t any worse than your average cheesy Netflix/Hallmark/Lifetime Christmas movie. The outtakes did make me smile, because Lindsay looked so happy to be stable (hopefully) and working again.

Edited November 15, 2022 by Spartan Girl

[Bethany]

Bure had the lead in a few of my favourite Hallmarks but it wasn't because she was so wonderful, they happened to be engaging stories with strong casts.  She herself would have been easily replaced.  And I'm sure that's exactly what Hallmark is doing.  She won't be missed.

[absnow54]

29 minutes ago, Elizabeth Anne said:

Bure had the lead in a few of my favourite Hallmarks but it wasn't because she was so wonderful, they happened to be engaging stories with strong casts.

It's weird. As someone who grew up loving Full House, for some reason, Candace Cameron and Jodie Sweetin movies have always been an automatic pass for me. I'll watch Journey Back to Christmas sometimes, but that's the only one I've been able to sit through.

[Bethany]

1 minute ago, absnow54 said:

I'll watch Journey Back to Christmas sometimes, but that's the only one I've been able to sit through.

She happened to be in one of the first Hallmark Christmas movies I can remember watching A Christmas Detour.  I still really like this one (although repeated watching definitely highlights some of the plot holes!!) but the reason I like it has way more to do with Paul Greene and the other couple than it does to do with her.

[Bethany]

Sorry to double post but I am wondering if anyone can help me out here: I am thinking of a Christmas movie that I'd like to see again but I am vague on details.  It's fairly recent, definitely made for TV and it is based on the Groundhog Day premise of repeating the same day over and over until you get it right.  It's set in the city - probably New York.  Anyway I remember really enjoying it, does this ring any bells for anyone? 

[absnow54]

It's not recent (from 2011) but my first thought is 12 Dates of Christmas with Amy Smart and Mark Paul Gosselaar. Most of the other ones I can think of is the lead being stuck in the past, or an alternate life, not the same day over and over.

[Bethany]

45 minutes ago, absnow54 said:

It's not recent (from 2011) but my first thought is 12 Dates of Christmas with Amy Smart and Mark Paul Gosselaar. Most of the other ones I can think of is the lead being stuck in the past, or an alternate life, not the same day over and over.

Thank you so much!  Yes that's definitely the one.  I guess it's vague to me because I probably saw it about 10 years ago!  For some reason I thought I'd seen it more recently than that.  

[bankerchick]

On 11/14/2022 at 2:40 PM, Irlandesa said:

Steve Lund being in it helped.

Steve Lund being in anything always helps.

[LexieLily]

I think this attempted backtrack to the backlash made it all worse.

[norcalgal]

On 11/14/2022 at 11:40 AM, Irlandesa said:

I gave up after 20 minutes but maybe I need to power through it.  I did that with Six Degrees of Santa and even though the lead actress wasn't the greatest, I ended up really getting into it.  Steve Lund being in it helped.

6 hours ago, bankerchick said:

Steve Lund being in anything always helps.

I too was underwhelmed by the lead actress in Six Degrees of Santa, but totally agree about Steve Lund.  He was his usual charming, charismatic self and made that movie better than it was.   It's weird that I have the ability of watch Steve Lund (at least in this movie) and not think of his character from the tv show Bitten. Usually, even when I'm "into" the story of whatever holiday movie I watch, I can't help but think of the lead actor/actress in some other role - especially if it was a tv series role.

[Annber03]

7 hours ago, LexieLily said:

I think this attempted backtrack to the backlash made it all worse.

From that link...

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"It saddens me that the media is often seeking to divide us, even around a subject as comforting and merry as Christmas movies. But, given the toxic climate in our culture right now, I shouldn't be surprised. We need Christmas more than ever."

1. "The media" didn't divide anything. They simply reported your comments as stated and people commented on those comments and the implications within. You had no problem saying that stuff, surely you can have no problem taking responsibility for it instead of deflecting blame. 

2. We still have Christmas, Candace. Plenty of people will still be celebrating it this year and onward. It's not going anywhere. 

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"My heart yearns to build bridges and bring people one step closer to God, to love others well, and to simply be a reflection of God's huge love for all of us."

Which is precisely why you wanted to go to a network that was very specific and narrow in the types of stories it would tell, and the types of characters and relationships it would feature, right? 

[Cetacean]

7 hours ago, Annber03 said:

"My heart yearns to build bridges and bring people one step closer to God, to love others well, and to simply be a reflection of God's huge love for all of us."

As long as it's her God.  Non-Christians need not apply.

[shapeshifter]

13 hours ago, Annber03 said:

Quote

"It saddens me that the media is often seeking to divide us, even around a subject as comforting and merry as Christmas movies. But, given the toxic climate in our culture right now, I shouldn't be surprised. We need Christmas more than ever."

1. "The media" didn't divide anything. They simply reported your comments as stated and people commented on those comments and the implications within. You had no problem saying that stuff, surely you can have no problem taking responsibility for it instead of deflecting blame. 

Also, it seems to me when Cameron Bure says "the media," she has to be referring to "their media," as in making Us vs. Them distinctions.

Whatever. I haven't watched any holiday movies yet this year.
I did start watching "The Calling" on Peacock, which some media has criticized for its religious tropes, but I don't see any complaints about those criticisms being made by the actors, writers, or producers; some other media sources just like it. 
Probably Bure is just stirring the pot to get media attention for shows that would otherwise be ignored.

Maybe all y'all will discover something new worth watching, and I'll notice another flurry of posts here.

Edited November 17, 2022 by shapeshifter

[Lisa418722]

5 hours ago, Cetacean said:

As long as it's her God.  Non-Christians need not apply.

It's her brand of Christianity, the judgmental God who judges everyone else for how they live their life, but never her or her family. She is not a Jesus follower who loves rather than judge.  
When she made her comment about GAF were Christians that love the Lord, it seemed to me she was insinuating that Hallmark and Christians who don't judge how other people live their life don't really love the Lord.  

[Bruinsfan]

Wasn't the whole network created as a result of its CEO leaving Hallmark in protest over diversity & inclusion becoming a priority? Then he presumably raided the former network for all its talent that couldn't bear to be associated with content that features people of color or non-heterosexuals.

[Irlandesa]

12 hours ago, Bruinsfan said:

Wasn't the whole network created as a result of its CEO leaving Hallmark in protest over diversity & inclusion becoming a priority?

He didn't leave in protest, he was booted after the Zola affair. I think the parent company/greeting card Hallmark knew they couldn't keep him after that. 

Before then, he may not have been promoting much diversity with the movies he made at Hallmark but he wasn't explicit about his stance either.  He played coy, gave some stock responses in print and their marketing department did it on social media. In response to questions, it was always "we value diversity.....blah blah blah."  

But then there was the same sex commercial which aired but angered a vocal minority of Hallmark viewers who truly believed they'd be protected from seeing gay people on that channel even in commercials.  So he pulled the ad.  That was his mistake. People might turn a blind eye when something isn't there but they do notice when something is actively removed.  Removing the commercial was an anti-gay stance.  Parent company, Hallmark, is a secular company.  They sell greeting cards for same sex couples. So they parted ways.

GAC/GAF was purchased by investors who wanted the kind of movies he made for Hallmark and hired him.  He brought over some talent.  It's hard to know how much of the talent came specifically because they wanted to make those kind of movies or because they liked working with Abbott. 

Danica is apparently very religious now but she was also supporting Jonathan Bennett's upcoming movie on Instagram. And there are even LGBTQ people who liked working with him.  He does give them jobs.  He just doesn't let them be seen in his movies.

Abbott is still pretty skilled at presenting a certain kind of America in the movies he makes while being euphemistic in the press so he can pretend that his channel isn't doing what it's doing.  I think he knows there's a limit to how far his channel could go if it were seen as an evangelical channel (like BYU has its limits when it comes to outreach--most won't watch a Mormon channel.)

I think Candace thinks this is the place where she can be freer so she said the quiet part out loud.  She isn't as skilled.

Edited November 18, 2022 by Irlandesa

[twoods]

Cute movie on Lifetime called Six Degrees of Santa. Pretty clever storyline and had the usual misunderstanding tropes but it kept me entertained and the leads were great. I’ve liked most of the movies I’ve see Steve Lund in (Best Christmas Party Ever and Secret Millionaire to name a few) and hope to see more of him. 

Edited November 17, 2022 by twoods

[argrow]

I stopped Six Degrees of Santa after eye rolling through the whole rant about fake Christmas tree. It sounds like i should give it a second chance?

[Irlandesa]

6 minutes ago, argrow said:

I stopped Six Degrees of Santa after eye rolling through the whole rant about fake Christmas tree. It sounds like i should give it a second chance?

I liked it more as it went on and she stopped thinking he was the worst thing in the world.

Netflix is 0 for 2 for me.  I thought Christmas with You was so boring.

[twoods]

1 hour ago, argrow said:

I stopped Six Degrees of Santa after eye rolling through the whole rant about fake Christmas tree. It sounds like i should give it a second chance?

Yes! She does apologize to him later for being awful so give it a second chance.

Thanks for the heads up @Irlandesa but bummer it was boring. I wanted to see Freddie in a decent romcom.

Edited November 18, 2022 by twoods

[shapeshifter]

Watching Six Degrees of Santa now.  
The story concept had potential, but everything about it seems second rate.

[Vermicious Knid]

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"My heart yearns to build bridges and bring people one step closer to God, to love others well, and to simply be a reflection of God's huge love for all of us."

Why don't we all celebrate Holi then, "It celebrates the eternal and divine love of Radha Krishna and signifies the triumph of good over evil...Holi celebrates the arrival of spring, the end of winter, the blossoming of love and for many, it is a festive day to meet others, play and laugh, forget and forgive, and repair broken relationships."

[Makai]

Candace really should have quit while she was behind. Every word of the statement is so bad and most have been covered. This is one that stood out to me because she really doesn’t realize including this wouldn’t have made her look better. 

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"I had also expressed in my interview, which was not included, that people of all ethnicities and identities have and will continue to contribute to the network in great ways both in front of and behind the camera, which I encourage and fully support.“

She’ll continued to profit off minorities without ever giving them meaningful onscreen roles. 

3 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

Netflix is 0 for 2 for me.  I thought Christmas with You was so boring.

This is so disappointing to me. They usually do really good job with this type of movie. 
Hopefully the Justin Hartley one will be good. 

Edited November 18, 2022 by Makai

[Irlandesa]

1 hour ago, Makai said:

This is so disappointing to me. They usually do really good job with this type of movie. 

Yeah.  But then I ended up basically not liking anything I watched today so maybe I was in a mood.

It did have a high bar to clear because a regular dude collaborating with famous pop star on a Christmas song is just not a story I can watch over and over and over again.

Maybe it's recency bias but last year and Love Hard and Single All The Way....both of which I found enjoyable so yeah, not loving Netflix this year.

[twoods]

I had Christmas with You in the background so it wasn’t so bad, but it didn’t hook me either so I get the boredom. I do like that she was upfront with him on needing the Christmas song, instead of being shady and helping him then stealing the song as the typical misunderstanding. 

[argrow]

I enjoyed Spirited quite a bit on AppleTV+. It could lose about 30 minutes and the message was very muddled, but it was such a fun time. I am always wary of Will Ferrell but he was not as annoying as his other stuff. And Ryan Reynolds has a nice set of pipes. Music was great and it's just a fun time and an interesting twist to Christmas Carol.

Edited November 19, 2022 by argrow

[memememe76]

I think the cast in Christmas with You was likeable, but the movie didn’t have much oomph. Even before Single All the Way and Love Hard, Holidate was not as good but at least they tried to be different. These last two movies were quite basic in plot. 

[Makai]

I wanted to like Spirited so much more than I did. An amazing cast but tonally it was all over the place. I do like Will Ferrell but he just didn’t work for me to pull off the twist. To much of an overeager puppy to be believable as 

Spoiler

Scrooge worried about still being irredeemable.

I didn’t live that they sidelined the Ghost of Christmas Past on a Ryan Reynolds is hot joke. 

It felt like a mishmash of two completely different styles of movie that didn’t gel into an enjoyable whole. I hated the ending. 

Edited November 19, 2022 by Makai

[Vermicious Knid]

Linda Holmes hasn't done her big roundup yet but kind of tepidly endorsed Spirited and the Lindsay Lohan movie on this week's PCHH.

Quote

We also have a show about holiday movies coming up, and if you want to prepare for that, I do recommend Spirited, the Will Ferrell/Ryan Reynolds musical on Apple TV+, and Falling for Christmas, the Lindsay Lohan Christmas romcom on Netflix. Neither is a masterpiece, but both are probably exactly what someone who sits down to watch them will be looking for.

[twoods]

I enjoyed Spirited, but then again I love musicals. Definitely my favorite from the streaming bunch so far, even though it was about 20 minutes longer than it should have been. Will and Ryan were so good together and it was so much fun being shocked by all the twists. 

Edited November 19, 2022 by twoods