Predictable romances, picture-perfect towns and happy endings offer a welcome escape from life’s daily chaos, and this year Hallmark is serving up a record 34 of them.
By EEW Magazine Online Editors
Tamera Mowry-Housley plays Claire Bennett, a Manhattan business consultant who inherits her late uncle’s Christmas-themed bar, in “Mistletoe and Mimosas,” premiering Nov. 15 on Hallmark Channel. (Courtesy of Hallmark Channel)
You know the story. A busy career woman leaves the big city for a quaint little town where everyone knows everyone, the Christmas decorations are spectacular, and the local bakery somehow stays in business selling nothing but gingerbread cookies and hot chocolate.
She meets a handsome stranger who is probably a widowed father, a Christmas tree farmer, or the owner of a struggling family business. They don’t get along at first. There’s a misunderstanding somewhere around the town’s annual tree-lighting ceremony. And just when everything seems to be falling apart, somebody makes a heartfelt speech, the snow begins to fall, and love saves Christmas.
We’ve seen some version of this movie a hundred times.
And we’ll happily watch it a hundred more.
Tamera Mowry-Housley and Kristoffer Polaha star in “Mistletoe and Mimosas,” premiering Sunday, Nov. 15, at 8 p.m. ET on Hallmark Channel. (Courtesy of Hallmark Channel)
Welcome to Hallmark Christmas movie season, when predictability is part of the pleasure and the biggest crisis of the evening might be whether the Christmas festival gets canceled.
For millions of viewers, these movies have become as much a part of the holiday season as decorating the tree, baking cookies and pulling out the Christmas pajamas.
With the world delivering a seemingly endless stream of troubling headlines, there’s something especially comforting about spending an evening in a place where goodness is celebrated and everything works out before the credits roll.
And apparently, Hallmark knows just how much we need it.
The network’s 17th annual Countdown to Christmas features a record 34 original holiday movies. Premieres began Oct. 16 and run every weekend through Dec. 20.
The appeal goes deeper than festive decorations and charming love stories. Brigham Young University researchers studied devoted fans they met at Christmas Con, an annual convention for holiday movie lovers, and found they fall into three camps.
The researchers even gave them names. Season’s Greeters watch because the movies mark the start of the holidays and their favorite traditions. Rudolphs watch to fly away from the stress of work, family and the world around them. Carolers don’t mind the formula at all. They just want to see the two leads fall in love.
Lindura and Brendan Morgan star in “Merry Memories,” a story about family and service at Christmas, premiering Friday, Nov. 6, at 8 p.m. ET on Hallmark Channel. (Courtesy of Hallmark Channel)
In a culture where even casual conversations can turn into political arguments, it’s pleasant to watch people set aside their differences long enough to save the town Christmas parade.
Nobody needs to win a social media argument. The biggest disagreement might involve which family recipe deserves first place at the holiday bake-off.
And after a long day, a little innocence, kindness and happily-ever-after romance can do a weary heart some good.
Four premieres deserve a spot on your watchlist.
“Merry Memories” (Friday, Nov. 6) stars Lindura as Michaela, a rigid accountant who steps in to help her brother care for his young son while the boy’s mother is deployed with the military over Christmas. To finish a Christmas scrapbook for his mom overseas, Michaela teams up with the boy’s teacher, played by Brendan Morgan. Hallmark scheduled one of its encores for Veterans Day.
Lindura and Brendan Morgan star in “Merry Memories,” premiering Friday, Nov. 6, at 8 p.m. ET on Hallmark Channel. (Courtesy of Hallmark Channel)
In “Mistletoe and Mimosas” (Sunday, Nov. 15), Tamera Mowry-Housley plays a Manhattan business consultant who inherits her late uncle’s struggling Christmas-themed bar in upstate New York. Saving it means entering a holiday contest against the manager of a trendy rival club, played by Kristoffer Polaha. Naturally, romance complicates everything.
In “Our Holiday Playbook” (Friday, Nov. 20), Taylor Cole plays a woman who talks a former football star turned teacher, played by Charles Michael Davis, into posing as her boyfriend so he can play in her family’s Christmas flag football showdown. In return, she helps him through his own family’s bake-off. What could possibly go wrong?
Taylor Cole and Charles Michael Davis lead the cast of “Our Holiday Playbook,” premiering Friday, Nov. 20, at 8 p.m. ET on Hallmark Channel. (Courtesy of Hallmark Channel)
“Hearts All Aglow” (Friday, Dec. 18) stars Mishael Morgan, B.J. Britt and Holly Robinson Peete. A music historian chasing an interview and a New York attorney trying to recover a piece of sheet music autographed by Nat King Cole team up at a Christmas gala.
The film arrives during the 80th anniversary of Cole’s 1946 recording of “The Christmas Song,” and it features that classic along with other Cole songs. This year also marks 70 years since “The Nat King Cole Show” debuted. Cole was the first Black man to host a nationally broadcast network television series.
New movies premiere at 8 p.m. ET on Hallmark Channel and stream the following day on Hallmark+.
And perhaps that’s the enduring magic of these stories. People really do fall in love. Families reconcile. Communities rally around neighbors in need. Kindness changes lives. And even after difficult seasons, good things still happen.
So bring on the impossible Christmas decorations, the handsome small-town bachelors, the last-minute miracles and the kisses beneath the mistletoe.
We’ll get back to the real world soon enough.
For tonight, there’s a Christmas movie on, the cocoa is warm, and we already know it’s going to end beautifully.
