BET Plus leads the list of networks and streaming services delivering holiday TV movie cheer to viewers during the 12 days before Christmas as programmers tie a bow around a robust lineup of original holiday programming that launched in October. 

BET Plus over the next two weeks will distribute the final three movies of its slate of 12 original holiday films and specials that featured several high-profile celebrities and producers, including Jasmine Guy, Tamar Braxton, Vivica A. Fox, Debbie Allen, Tichina Arnold, Jackee Harry, and Michael Colyar, according to BET Plus officials. 

BET Plus VP of content programming, strategy and original movies Marvin Neil said holiday programming has become a yearly staple for the four-year-old African American-targeted streaming service as it looks to offer more family fare.

“The holiday season is about families and togetherness, and I feel like that’s an opportunity that’s been taken up by major networks for decades,” Neil said. “The problem is major networks weren’t really showcasing the black holiday experience the way we felt we deserved, so we were very intentional about really targeting the holiday season as a moment to tell relatable stories for our viewers and for a broader audience.” 

Neil said the appeal of original holiday content attracted actors, directors and writers of color to the streaming service. On the docket for BET Plus holiday films premiering through Christmas are films starring actress/producer Robin Givens (Christmas Rescue); musicians MC Lyte and Tank (Favorite Son Christmas); and actress/singer Kandi Burruss (Whatever It Takes).

Holiday Movie Sampler

A partial list of remaining holiday-themed movies debuting on linear networks and streaming services, along with their premiere dates:

December 14

• Heaven Down Here (Hallmark Movies & Mysteries)
• Christmas Rescue (BET Plus)
• Favorite Son Christmas (BET Plus)

December 15

• The Secret Gift of Christmas (Hallmark Channel)

December 16

• Designing Christmas With You (Great American Family)
• Sealed With a List (Hallmark Channel)
• The Holiday Proposal Plan (Lifetime)
• The Christmas Detective (OWN)
• A Christmas Intern (Lifetime)

December 17

• Dial S for Santa (UPtv)
• Merry Magic Christmas (Lifetime)
• 12 Games of Christmas (Great American Family)
• Friends and Family Christmas (Hallmark Channel)

December 21

• Miracle in Bethlehem, PA (Hallmark Movies & Mysteries)
• Whatever It Takes (BET Plus)
• The Christmas Break (Fox)

December 23

• A Royal Christmas Holiday (Great American Family)
• Mom’s Christmas Boyfriend (Lifetime)
• Christmas Revisited (OWN)

December 24

• A Christmas Letter (UPtv)

As the television industry continues to deck the halls with more than 130 original holiday-themed films, this year’s slate has more of a diverse and inclusive feel as people of color continue to influence holiday images and storylines on the screen and behind the camera. 

An unprecedented number of this season’s holiday films have persons of color in leading roles or as executive producers, eager to reach audiences who over the years have felt underserved or unseen in movies from this genre, according to industry observers.

Paramount’s BET Plus and VH1, for example, will offer 14 original Christmas-
themed films featuring predominantly African-American casts, up from 11 a year ago. Lifetime will deliver 15 holiday originals featuring actors of color in starring roles.

Hallmark Channel, Netflix, UPtv and Great American Family also are featuring movies with inclusive casts and high-profile talent to help ring in the holidays. Entertainers of color such as Rita Moreno (Lifetime's Santa Bootcamp), Freddie Prinze Jr. (Netflix’s Christmas With You), Gladys Knight (Great American Family’s Someday at Christmas), Mario Lopez (Lifetime's Stepping Into the Holidays) and Loretta Devine (VH1’s All I Didn’t Want for Christmas) are starring in holiday-themed films through the end of December.

Just as impressive, celebrities such as Jamie Foxx (VH1’s Hip Hop Family Christmas Wedding), Toni Braxton (Lifetime’s A Christmas Spark), Robin Givens (BET Plus’s The Christmas Clapback) and Idris Elba (VH1’s A New Diva’s Christmas Carol) have taken the directorial and executive producer reins in an effort to deliver more authentic holiday stories. 

The holiday programming genre needs to make more room for unique portrayals of how people of color (who are major consumers of entertainment) experience the festive season in order to remain viable and attractive to an increasingly diverse population, network executives said.

Authentic, Inclusive Fare

“I think it’s important for us to maintain authenticity and inclusiveness when focusing on the holidays,” Lifetime executive VP of movie, limited series and original movie acquisitions Tanya Lopez said. “Just looking at an image and saying, ‘that person is my skin color,’ is not enough.”

Of Lifetime’s 26 new original holiday movies, 60% feature a person of color either in front of or behind the camera. Lopez said the network’s holiday films over the years have consistently featured inclusive casts, and this year the network offered more films with directors of color.  

Lifetime’s lineup of holiday films directed and executive-produced by people of color includes A New Orleans Noel, executive-produced by actress Keshia Knight Pulliam, and Kirk Franklin’s The Night Before Christmas, executive-produced by the gospel songwriter. 

“It’s been part of our DNA for so long that we haven’t seen it as a big pivot at all,” Lopez said. “We want to show as many holiday family traditions, no matter what that looks like.”

Holiday stories told from a different perspective give viewers a glimpse of life that doesn’t revolve around the tropes typically associated with seasonal films, said Knight Pulliam, who played Rudy Huxtable in the 1980s sitcom The Cosby Show. A New Orleans Noel, starring Tim Reid and Patti LaBelle, showcases some of the holiday traditions of African-American families in the Crescent City.  

“Oftentimes [traditional holiday] movies won’t culturally reflect who we are as African-American people, and we have a culture that’s all our own and specific to us,” Knight Pulliam said during a virtual press event for the movie before it premiered on December 3. “Seeing that … opens up windows to people to show what’s possible and opens up windows to empower people. When you start from a real and authentic place, you can’t go wrong.”  

Hallmark Channel’s Christmas at the Golden Dragon — in which a beloved Chinese restaurant closes on Christmas Eve, forcing patrons and workers to reevaluate the importance of family and friends around the holidays — showcases the holiday season from the perspective of its Taiwanese writer/producer Emily Ting. Ting said the story is based on her family’s desire to experience a traditional Christmas after coming to the U.S. from Taiwan. 

“I had such high expectations only to realize that, sometimes, eating Chinese takeout with your family on Christmas is all you need to celebrate the holidays,” Ting said.

Hallmark executive VP of programming Lisa Hamilton Daly said movies like Christmas at the Golden Dragon and the Asian-American themed A Big Fat Family Christmas help the network attract a more diverse audience by allowing storytellers to tell stories that are familiar to one segment of the audience while exposing different traditions to others. Also on Hallmark’s holiday movie list is The Holiday Stocking, produced by Hallmark’s African-American targeted Mahogany content production brand.

Holidays Are for Everyone

“On the most basic level, the holiday season is for everybody,” Daly said. “We really want to make sure that we are including the broadest range of holiday traditions and people that we can. As we get better at this, we’re seeing bigger and broader audiences.”  

UP Entertainment VP of content strategy and acquisition Hector
Campos said that the network has seen an early ratings bump for UPtv’s lineup of 17 original Christmas-themed films — seven of which feature diverse lead characters. 

“It’s important to us that our audience sees themselves reflected authentically on the screen, and we have actors from all backgrounds in starring roles,” Campos said. “Through our second week of Christmas premieres the response from viewers so far has been great.”

TV analyst Marc Berman said the popularity of holiday-themed movies is only enhanced by providing original movies targeting diverse groups, which has the benefit of delivering new viewers and advertisers.

“We live in a diversified world, and as a distributor you need to show the world as it is,” Berman said. “There’s been a lot of discussion about the lack of diversity in media, and these outlets are beginning to understand that if they don’t represent the world as it is, their brands are going to ultimately pay the price. Advertisers realize that they have to represent brands that represent the world, and I think these outlets realize that, whether it’s scripted dramas or holiday movies.” ■

Cable networks and streaming services are entering the last phase of its nearly three-month run of original holiday films, with more than 50 movies scheduled to debut over the next 25 days from such cable services as Lifetime, Hallmark Channel, VH1, Great American Family and UPtv as well as streaming services BET Plus, HBO Max and Shudder.

Below is a partial list of remaining holiday-themed movies debuting on cable and streaming services, along with their premiere dates.

December 1 

Rolling into Christmas (BET Plus)

Serving Up the Holidays (Lifetime)

A Hollywood Christmas (HBO Max)

December 2 

Christmas with the Campbells (AMC Plus)

A Big Fat Family Christmas (Hallmark Channel)

Cloudy With a Chance of Christmas (Lifetime)

Scrooge: A Christmas Carol (Netflix)

Christmas in the Wilds (Uptv)

December 3

Christmas on Candy Cane Lane (Great American Family)

A Fabled Holiday (Hallmark Channel)

A New Orleans Noel (Lifetime)

The Great Holiday Bake War (OWN)

The Holiday Stocking (Hallmark Movies & Mysteries)

Christmas on the Slopes (UpTV)

December 4

B&B Merry (Great American Family)

Undercover Holiday (Hallmark Channel)

Merry Textmas (Lifetime)

Christmas on the Rocks (UPtv)

December 8

A Miracle Before Christmas (BET Plus)

Scentsational Christmas (Lifetime)

December 9

Aisle Be Home For Christmas (Great American Family)

The Most Colorful Time of the Year (Hallmark Channel)

A Recipe for Joy (Lifetime)

Something From Tiffany’s (Prime Video)

Christmas Bloody Christmas (Shudder)

December 10

Kirk Franklin’s The Night Before Christmas (Lifetime)

A Prince For the Holidays (Great American Family)

Christmas Class Reunion (Hallmark Channel)

The Gift of Peace (Hallmark Movies & Mysteries)

A Christmas Fumble (OWN)

A Royal Christmas Match (UPtv)

December 11

The Holiday Sitter (Hallmark Channel) 

Single and Ready To Jingle (Lifetime)

Santa’s Got Style (UPtv)

A Christmas Prayer (TV One)

December 12

A Nashville Country Christmas (Paramount Network)

December 15

A Blackjack Christmas (BET Plus)

Record Breaking Christmas (Lifetime)

December 16

Holiday Heritage (Hallmark Channel)

A Christmas to Treasure (Lifetime)

The Apology (Shudder)

December 17

A Brush With Christmas Romance (Great American Family)

Five More Minutes: Moments Like These (Hallmark Movies & Mysteries)

The Holiday Dating Guide (Lifetime)

Sappy Holiday (UPtv)

December 18

The Art of Christmas (Great American Family)

Hanukkah on Rye (Hallmark Channel)

Wrapped Up in Love (Lifetime)

A Vintage Christmas (UPtv)

December 19

‘Twas the Night Before Christmas (Hallmark Channel)

December 21

Fuhgeddabout Christmas (VH1)

December 22

A Christmas Gift (BET Plus)

December 24

The Snowball Effect (UPtv)

December 25

Christmas in Wolf Creek (UPtv)

Hallmark Media is making a selection of its holiday movies available in Spanish via free streaming service Canela.TV. 

The programmer inked a deal back in October to distribute its movies in Spanish via the streaming platform.

“As Hispanic families gather for the holidays, these Hallmark holiday movies on Canela.TV will surely add to the joy of the season,” Canela.TV CEO Isabel Rafferty Zavala said.

In addition to the U.S., the New York-based Canela.TV, which reaches upwards of 50 million unique users across more than 180 Spanish-language websites, is also available in Mexico and Colombia.

Among the titles available in the deal are Christmas Made to Order (Navidad a la Medida), Open by Christmas (La Tarjeta de Navidad) and  Jingle Bell Bride (La Novia de Navidad).

Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries blanket (cocoa optional) the holiday season from Halloween to New Year’s Day with nonstop holiday movies. ▪️

Paramount Global’s MTV Entertainment Studios is getting into the fourth-quarter spirit with six new holiday films that will air across VH1, Comedy Central and Paramount Network. 

The films come from executive producers including Gabourey Sidibe, Idris Elba, Jamie Foxx, Justina Valentine, and Tanya Tucker and star  Ashanti, Kerri Kenney-Silver, Loretta Devine, Niecy Nash-Betts, Ne-Yo, Shad “Bow Wow” Moss, Thomas Lennon, Vivica A. Fox and Wendi McLendon-Covey.

At a time when media companies are being Scrooge-like in their spending on original programming for traditional cable networks, the new films will help Paramount’s networks compete with holiday-happy channels including Hallmark Channel, Great American Family, Lifetime, Freeform and AMC. 

“Last year we broke the traditional mold of holiday films in a big way,” said Nina L. Diaz, president of content and chief creative Officer, Paramount Media Networks & MTVE Studios, and head of unscripted entertainment & adult animation, Paramount Plus. “As we look toward this new slate, with the depth of our powerful producers coupled with the diversity of our amazing talent, we will continue to take the classic holiday genre head on by providing something different for our viewers to enjoy.” 

VH1’s films include Hip Hop Family Christmas Wedding, premiering on Nov. 30 with Keri Hilson, Ne-Yo, Terrence J, Serayah, Cassie, MC Lyte, Redman, Valarie Pettiford, Shad “Bow Wow” Moss, produced by MTV Entertainment Studios with Foxx Hole Productions and Nexus films; All I Didn’t Want for Christmas, premiering Dec. 7 with Gabourey Sidibe, Loretta Devine, Kel Mitchell, Karen Knox, Andrew Bushell, produced by MTV Entertainment Studios and Blue Ice Productions; A New Diva’s Christmas Carol, premiering Dec. 14 with Ashanti, Vivica A. Fox, Eva Marcille, Robin Givens, Mckenzie Small, and Mel B, produced by MTV Entertainment Studios, Green Door Pictures and Blue Ice Pictures; and Fuhgeddabout Christmas, premiering Dec. 21 starring Justina Valentine, DC Young Fly, Conceited, Vinny Guadagnino, Vincent Pastore, Renee Graziano, Perez Hilton, Teresa Giudice, Fetty Wap and Sway, with Nick Cannon, preoduced by MTV Entertainment and Justina Valentine Presents.

Comedy Central will debuts Reno 911!: It’s a Wonderful Heist in December, starring Thomas Lennon, Kerri Kenney-Silver, Cedric Yarbrough, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Niecy Nash-Betts, Carlos Alazraqui, Mary Birdsong, Ian Roberts, Joe Lo Truglio, produced by MTV Entertainment Studios and High Sierra Carpeting.

A Nashville Country Christmas will premiere on Paramount Network in December. It stars Tanya Tucker, Keith Carradine, Ana Ortiz and Olivia Sanabia, and was produced by MTV Entertainment Studios, Principle Productions, Off Camera Entertainment and Synthetic Cinema International. ■

Made-for-TV Christmas movies Fit for Christmas, Must Love Christmas and When Christmas Was Young air on CBS December 4, 11 and 18, respectively. CBS premiered two original Christmas movies last year, the network’s first holiday movies in years.

Fit For Christmas is the story of Audrey (Amanda Kloots), a Christmas-obsessed fitness instructor teaching classes at her financially beleaguered community center in quaint Mistletoe, Mont. She begins a romance with a mysterious businessman (Paul Greene), complicating his plans to turn the center into a resort property. 

Must Love Christmas features a renowned romance novelist (Liza Lapira) famous for her Christmas-themed books who finds herself snowbound in the charming town of Cranberry Falls. There, she becomes involved in a love triangle with her childhood crush (Nathan Witte) and a reporter (Neal Bledsoe) determined to interview her to save his dying magazine. 

When Christmas Was Young is about a headstrong music manager (Tyler Hilton) in desperate need of a hit song for his last remaining client. He finds himself falling for a singer-songwriter (Karen David) with abandoned dreams of making it big, as he attempts to secure the rights to a Christmas song she wrote years ago. Sheryl Crow provides the music and executive produces. 

CBS debuted A Christmas Proposal and Christmas Takes Flight in 2021, the network’s first original Christmas movies in nearly a decade. 

Other holiday programming on CBS includes The Thanksgiving Day Parade on CBS Thursday, November 24, animated special Reindeer in Here November 29, a one-hour holiday special for comedy Ghosts December 15, and The 24th Annual A Home for the Holidays at the Grove on December 23. ■

CBS has ordered three original Christmas movies, including one with Sheryl Crow executive producing and writing the title song. A music-themed movie set in Nashville, Crow project When Christmas Was Young comes from a script from Robert Tate Miller. 

The story follows a headstrong music manager in desperate need of a hit song for his last remaining client. He finds himself falling for a gifted singer-songwriter with abandoned dreams of making it big, as he attempts to secure the rights to a Christmas song she wrote years ago. 

Tom Mazza, David Calvert-Jones and Karen Glass (Everywhere Studios) will executive produce along with Shawn Williamson and Jamie Goehring for Lighthouse Pictures.

CBS is also picking up movies Fit For Christmas and Must Love Christmas. 

In December, CBS aired original movies Christmas Takes Flight and A Christmas Proposal, the first original CBS holiday movies since 2012. 

Amanda Kloots of The Talk will star in and executive produce Fit For Christmas, from writer and executive producer Anna White. Audrey is a Christmas-obsessed fitness instructor at a beloved, financially beleaguered community center in Montana. She begins a holiday romance with a mysterious businessman, complicating his plans to turn the center into a more financially profitable resort property. 

Fit For Christmas will be produced by Brad Krevoy’s Motion Picture Corporation of America.

Mark Amato, who created A Christmas Proposal, is writing Must Love Christmas. A romance novelist famous for her Christmas-themed books finds herself snowbound in the charming town of Cranberry Falls, where she becomes involved in a love triangle between her childhood crush and a reporter determined to interview her to save his dying magazine. 

Must Love Christmas will be produced by Motion Picture Corporation of America.

The movies will air in December 2022. ■

Series Business is a new podcast from Broadcasting+Cable and Multichannel News, featuring candid conversations with executive producers about launching a new show or new season.

A Christmas Proposal star Adam Rodriguez and writer Mark Amato unwrap quirky CBS Christmas movie for B+C's Michael Malone.

Also: Holiday 2021 TV Premiere Dates

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Former Hallmark Channel head Bill Abbott is trying not to let his holiday hopes get too high as the first of a dozen Christmas movies appears this weekend on his new network, GAC Family.

Since acquiring Great American Country and Ride TV in June and converting them into the family friendly channels GAC Family and GAC Living, Abbott has been moving quickly and adding staff, some from Hallmark, to produce a dozen holiday movies, some starring familiar faces from Hallmark, add distribution and sell advertising.

The launch of GAC Family has already prompted some social media excitement among fans of family friendly programming. But starting a new cable channel isn’t easy. 

“We have to manage our expectations because we just rolled out,” Abbott told Broadcasting+Cable in his first interview as CEO of GAC Media. 

He’s hoping two distribution deals that make GAC Family available to all Comcast and DirecTV subscribers, putting it in about 50 million homes, will add the channel to Nielsen’s universe for November. “That will be a big change and a difference-maker,” he said. 

More recently, GAC Family was added by Frndly TV, a low-priced streaming TV service focused on wholesome fare.

Starting a cable channel might be hard, but Abbott thought it was a better bet than trying to build a streaming service despite the cord-cutting that is diluting the pay TV audience.

“I totally understand where the puck is headed and we’ll be focused on that, ultimately,” Abbott said. “But building a brand is first and foremost in our minds and it would be more difficult to start a streaming business without a strong brand behind you. Linear TV, while it certainly has huge headwinds against it, still has 80 million subscribers and a scale and scope that’s like none other.”

Cable Adds Advertiser Appeal

Cable is also more attractive to advertisers. GAC’s networks get very little in subscriber fees from distributors, so they’re very dependent on ad revenue. Unfortunately for Abbott, an ad sales guy before becoming CEO at Hallmark Channel parent company Crown Media Family Networks, GAC Media started up too late to take advantage of one of the hottest upfronts on record. “We missed a big market,” he said. “The timing wasn’t great.” 

When it still owned Great American Country, Discovery handled upfront sales for the network. “They did a good job laying in a base of upfront advertisers, but we didn’t have the ability to position the original content and all the things we were doing to get sponsorships,” Abbott said.

Now, Abbott said, he’s trying to generate sales in a scatter market that is “not exactly robust” for maximizing revenue during the fourth quarter — an important one for a network that’s focused on the holidays. “These eight weeks are the hard eight,” he said, using the term marketers use to describe the weeks leading up to Christmas. He said he’s managed to get some advertising business from the financial services and insurance categories, but he’s still looking for retailers to sign up.

“It makes sense for GAC to try to mimic some of the success of Hallmark,” said one media buyer. Hallmark delivers broadcast-level ratings from some of its holiday movies, the buyer noted. “GAC would be a more efficient alternative, but also has much smaller reach still at this point.”

Abbott concedes that Hallmark already takes up a lot of the family friendly space. And dozens of other networks and streamers offer holiday-themed programming. 

Still, Abbott thinks there’s demand for more wholesome programming and that his team is uniquely able to fill it.

“Not all Christmas movies are created equal,” he said. “We believe that we understand better than anybody, quite frankly, how to produce a quality Christmas movie and that ultimately, quality content wins and viewers find it.”

Abbott is still largely following the same playbook he used when he was at Hallmark, he said, “but clearly there’s been a lot of changes over there, so I can’t really speak to what is happening with their format and their focus.”

Abbott started conversations about producing holiday movies with producer Brad Krevoy, chairman and CEO of Motion Picture Corp. of America,  at the same time he was closing the deal to buy the channels they would run on.

“Once we closed the deal, we were ready to go into production on the movies,” he said. “Having Brad Krevoy as a partner at MPCA is a huge win for us because he produced the highest-rated content the last eight years in the genre, and is a master at it. And he has the ability to get up and running with production, very quickly, in three or four different locations.”

Having original movies could jump-start GAC Family. “I think that that's a big point of difference for us,” Abbott said. “We just didn't go out and buy 12 movies off the shelf that have never been seen in the U.S. We created these based on our knowledge of the market and what the audience is looking for in a Christmas movie, and that includes everything from locations to music in the movie to casting to wardrobe.”

Starting this weekend with Much Ado About Christmas, GAC Family will air a dozen original holiday movies, mostly on Saturday nights.

The stars of many of the telefilms are faces familiar from Hallmark’s holiday movies, including Cameron Mathison, Jennie Garth, Chad Michael Murray, Jessica Lowndes, Daniel Lissing, Sarah Lind, Dillon Casey, Jen Lilley, Brendan Fehr and Becca Tobin.
GAC Media this week signed a multi-picture deal with Danica McKellar. Her first project for GAC will be executive producing and starring in The Winter Palace, which will premiere in January.

GAC will also be airing season two of When Hope Calls. Season one of the series appeared on Hallmark Channel. GAC also announced that Hallmark Channel favorite Lori Loughlin — now notorious because of the Varsity Blues college admissions scandal — will be a guest star on the series, playing her character from Hallmark’s When Calls the Heart.

Similarly, Abbott’s executive team includes a growing number of executives he worked with at Hallmark, starting with Kristen Roberts, who as both chief revenue officer and executive VP of programming of GAC Media will ensure programming is attractive to advertisers.

 Another former Hallmark exec who joined Abbott early was Erin McIlvain who heads up distribution as Chief Officer, Distribution and Content Strategy for GAC Media. 

More recently, GAC Media named Crown Media alums Mary Dzabic as chief financial officer and Sara Murphy as VP, ad sales and marketing partnerships.

“I had a number of people who I've worked with for a long time who expressed an interest to come over and build something new and be involved on the ground floor,” Abbott said. “I obviously felt really good about that and it's always good to be with people you have experience with.” 

Abbott and his staff have been burning the midnight oil to get the movies on the air.

“It’s been an enormous amount of work,” he said. “We got four movies in this week that we’re working through and giving notes on and revising. We're right on deadline. It's a tribute to the team that we've been able to get to the point that we're at.”

The holidays won’t provide a respite. Abbott said GAC is in production on two movies for January and is looking at February as well.

As if that’s not enough, fans of family friendly programming are campaigning online for GAC to bring back the Hallmark series The Good Witch. Abbott isn’t saying no.

“That was certainly a great series and James Denton and Katherine Bell were terrific in it. We would certainly love to entertain that, but we're not at that point yet,” he said, noting that he wasn’t sure who currently has rights to the series. “If there’s any good content that's family friendly, we are open for business for sure.”

Taking the Pulse of Fans

Abbott wants GAC to be receptive to fans. GAC monitors social media and is looking to launch a digital site that will be partly subscription video-on-demand and partly interactive in order to build a community of viewers.

Having already bought cable networks, GAC Media’s next acquisitions in the family friendly space are likely to be in production. “The ability to produce our own content in-house would be something we’d want to do down the road,” Abbott said. “We’ve had a lot of success with that in the past and we know how to do that.”

And while GAC is now focused on its linear business now, owning its own content would prepare the company to enter the streaming sector. 

“Making sure you have the depth and breadth in a library that allows you to develop a representative streaming service takes time,” he said. “That won’t be overnight. But down the road, we're preparing ourselves to compete in streaming. 

“We believe producing great content ultimately wins and we’ll follow the consumer wherever they go, but we had to have the brand first, and that’s what the focus is,” he added.

Abbot’s time at Hallmark appeared to end suddenly, but he said it was a long time coming. His departure was announced by Hallmark Cards in January 2020, following a controversial decision to pull and and then restore commercials on the nework showing a same-sex wedding.

While the incident appeared to have triggered his exit, Abbott said there was no single issue that led to his departure. He said he couldn’t get into details, but looking at his 20 years at Hallmark Channel, “the first five years were more fun that the last five years. When you’re building your momentum and every win is special, it’s much more invigorating than trying to stay on top of the mountain.”

Staying on the sideline never entered his mind.

“You know, I'm very competitive and I love the business,” he said. “I immediately started thinking about what I wanted to do next and this, from the beginning, felt like a great opportunity. Getting here wasn’t very easy, but I spent a lot of time trying to get here and I’m really happy with the outcome.”

Christmas is more than a month away, yet this year’s record crop of nearly 100 new, original holiday-themed films is already drawing big ratings from weary viewers looking for some holiday cheer amid the constant strain of weighty pandemic news, protests against social injustice and a contested presidential election. 

And as the 2020-21 television season’s new and returning scripted shows just now begin to hit network lineups, industry observers say this year’s crop of holiday movies help fill a void of original scripted fare. 

“In a year where we’re looking for any of the positives and traditions that are still possible, I think the holiday movies work in the favor of the networks scheduling them,” media analyst Bill Carroll said. “Everyone is looking for fantasy, and what better fantasy than the tradition of romance in the midst of the holiday season.”

Stay-at-Home Fare

Network executives said holiday films from networks such as Hallmark, Lifetime, OWN and UPtv — as well as streamers like Netflix and Hulu — are already comforting viewers with the promise of hope and optimism as reflected in holiday traditions emphasizing family and peace. Those sentiments echo loudly in a year where the country has suffered through the worst pandemic in 100 years, forcing a new dynamic of stay-at-home rules that have taken a toll on the country’s physical, mental and economic health. 

Add to that the contentious presidential election — results of the Nov. 3 vote are still being contested, further widening the gap in an already deeply divided nation — as well as the continued call for social justice in the wake of the May death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, and executives say holiday-themed content couldn’t come at a more opportune time for viewers. 

“Holiday films have always reminded viewers that family, in whatever form, is the priority regardless of the circumstances,” Lifetime executive VP of movies, limited series and original movie acquisitions Tanya Lopez said. “Those goals feel like they were the same in the beginning, when we started producing this year’s movies, but now I do feel like they’ve been amplified by what we’ve experienced.”

As in prior years, holiday-themed programming began dotting cable-network lineups weeks before Halloween-themed content finished haunting viewers. Networks, led by Lifetime, UPtv and Hallmark — along with its sister service, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries — have already aired more than 35 original Christmas-themed film premieres since mid-October, and have seen strong rating numbers against a blizzard of breaking news and live sports-themed content. 

Hallmark Channel’s Nov. 14 original holiday-themed film Christmas in
Vienna drew an impressive 3 million viewers, topping all non-news and sports content for the night and securing the top spot as the most-watched ad-supported cable entertainment show thus far in the fourth quarter. Its time at the top of the charts was short-lived, however, as the next night A Timeless Christmas, another holiday film from Hallmark, drew 3.3 million watchers.

And Hallmark has been the top-rated entertainment network in the weekly primetime cable ratings since its first 2020 holiday film, Jingle Bell Bride, debuted on
Oct. 24, according to Nielsen.

“Countdown to Christmas” typically does well during the holidays, Crown Media Family Networks executive VP of programming and network publicity Michelle Vicary said, but this season’s offerings are pacing above last year’s in the ratings, as television viewers flock to comfort fare. 

“We are already seeing [ratings] increases over last year,” Vicary said, adding that production on most of its movies was completed despite a
three-month stoppage due to the pandemic. “With all the things that have happened this year, we knew that what we provide to people was going to be more important than ever with positivity, optimism and making people feel better about their communities and their world.”

UP tv has already posted a 17% year-to-year ratings increase for the first three of its five original holiday movies, according to network officials. Network founder and CEO Charley Humbard said the network’s overarching holiday theme of “Christmas Together” further reflects the sentiments that he says viewers are feeling going into the holiday season.

“A lot of people aren’t going to be together this year, so there will be a lot of Zoom greetings,” he said. “We wanted our campaign to reflect the country, the community and individuals to show how Americans can come together this Christmas, and how important that is for all of us.”

UP tv also reported a 30% increase in sponsors for its lineup of holiday-themed programming compared to last year, highlighting the growing appeal of seasonal fare to advertisers looking for content with strong viewer appeal. 

“Advertisers are always looking for all the positive opportunities, and certainly if the early ratings are a reflection of where viewers are, advertisers go where the audience is,” Carroll said.

Season’s Streaming

The increases come as more networks and streaming services are flooding the TV environment with feel-good holiday fare across platforms. Netflix is serving up several new films, including the Forest Whitaker-starrer Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Story, while Hulu rings in the holidays with The Happiest Season. Disney Plus is jingling the holiday bells with original programming including comedy
film Godmothered, starring Jillian Bell, while HBO Max is taking an unorthodox approach to holiday programing with a holiday-inspired dating series, 12 Dates of Christmas.

Other cable networks such as OWN, TV One and BET will slide into the holiday movie genre in 2020, bringing more diverse images and stories to cable’s holiday movie lineup. OWN president Tina Perry said that holiday programming resonates with its target audience of African-American women.  

“We’ve all been home during COVID and coping with the world that we’re in, and we want to bring happiness to our audiences’ lives,” Perry said. Along with its three original holiday movies, the network will also offer Our OWN Christmas, a Dec. 1 gospel music special that will feature such artists as Boyz II Men, Tasha Cobbs and The Clarke Sisters.

“We really expect our family movies to be a great way to bring our families together to celebrate this special time of year,” Perry added. 

Despite the growing ranks of holiday programming scheduled through the
rest of the year, Lifetime’s Lopez said she’s not concerned that an oversaturation of such fare will impact the ratings performance of the network’s more than 30 original holiday films. 

“It’s tough to predict what the audience will do but we are staying the course,” Lopez said. “I believe that this is what everyone is ordering now — good holiday comfort food.” 

Added Carroll: “Movies that are targeted to a specific segment of the audience have a certain appeal, and I think time and numbers will determine when you reach a saturation point. It wouldn’t appear that we’re there yet.” 

You know Rudolph and Frosty and Elf, and the Grinch and Scrooge and Snoopy, but do you recall … ever seeing so many shows before Christmas? Ever?

With Santa’s arrival nearly a month away, the cable box is stuffed like a stocking with more holiday shows than ever before, and many of them are completely new originals.

Take Hallmark Channel’s Nov. 29 debut of Christmas Under Wraps — one of 12 original holiday films airing on the network in November and December — about a big-city surgeon who falls in love with a handsome small-town local and has to make a life-changing decision that will forever alter her future Christmases.

While some may yawn at the saccharine story line, the show delivered a rare ratings gift for Hallmark: A network-record 5.8 million viewers, besting such highly-touted original cable films as Syfy’s Sharknado 2: The Second One.

IT STARTED ON HALLOWEEN

For Hallmark and several other networks, cable’s holiday-movie season — which began in earnest Halloween night with Hallmark Movies and Mysteries debuting the 2008 original film Our First Christmas, up against slasher movies like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Saw — is already spreading a lot of ratings cheer.

Nearly 30 original holiday films are slated to air from November through Christmas on cable networks ranging from Hallmark Channel to new entrants like BET — as well as hundreds of classic holiday chestnuts such as Miracle on 34th Street and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation airing on dozens of other networks.

Hallmark’s ratings success with Christmas Under Wraps — second only to the 6 million viewers garnered by Lifetime’s Flowers in the Attic for top audience honors among original cable movies this year — is just the tip of the ratings iceberg.

UP’s Nov. 30 The Tree That Saved Christmas — one of six original movies premiering this season — reached more viewers in the network’s adult and female 25-54 target demos than any show in the network’s 10-year history.

Lifetime has already generated more than 1 million viewers for two of its holiday-related movies, with two more films slated to premiere over the next week. Network executives said viewers yearning for family-friendly programming, as well as a growing desire to escape the negative drumbeat of current events this year, have tuned to holiday films in a big way.

“Probably 90% of these Christmas movies are about family and relationships and lack a lot of the cynicism that’s in other entertainment programming,” Tanya Lopez, senior vice president of original movies for Lifetime, said. “With everything negative that’s going on, people want to go to their happy place, where it feels like comfort food.”

Indeed, the protests over police shootings in Ferguson, Mo., and New York, as well as ongoing turmoil in the Middle East, have had a positive ratings effect on heart-warming, and family-friendly Holiday programming.

“Typically, holiday programming is positive, and I think that when people have their gatherings and they’re looking for something to watch, everyone in the family can watch a holiday program,” D’Angela Proctor, senior vice president of programming and production for TV One, said. The network this past Saturday aired Second Chance Christmas, a touching family-themed movie which the network was hoping to pull in viewers beyond its target 25-54 African-American audience.

No brand is more synonymous with holiday fare as Hallmark, and viewers are flocking to the network and its sister service Hallmark Movies and Mysteries in record-breaking fashion. With more than half of its 12 original movies premiering since Nov. 1, Hallmark is on a record breaking ratings pace, according to Crown Media Family Networks president and CEO Bill Abbott.

Riding the sleigh of Christmas-themed content last month, Hallmark averaged 1.8 million primetime viewers in November, fourth best among all cable networks.

Four of its original Christmas films — Northpole (4 million viewers), The Christmas Shepherd (4.1 million viewers), A Royal Christmas (4.4 million) and Christmas Under Wraps (5.8 million) — rank among the top 10 most watched movies on cable in 2014.

Abbott said both networks have stepped up the production quality of its holiday movies as well as the movies’ star power — Rob Morrow, Alan Thicke, Robert Wagner, Jill St. John and Jane Seymour are a few of the notables appearing in this year’s Hallmark holiday films — which has translated into big ratings gains.

SETTING A FESTIVE MOOD

“We are an oasis, especially given the tough images that people have seen over the past couple of weeks,” Abbott said. “But I believe that we’ve upped the ante on our content, and that is fueling the success that we’re experiencing.”

Other networks are hoping to appeal to diverse viewers and millennials with its holiday fare. BET on Tuesday will debut its first original holiday comedy fi lm, A Very Larry Christmas, starring Tatyana Ali, Loretta Devine and Charles S. Dutton.

Lifetime looked to tap young women along with its core 25-54 female audience with its Nov. 22 En Vogue Christmas. The movie, which stars the members of ’90 s R&B group En Vogue as they reunite to raise money for a struggling family nightclub during the holiday season, drew 1 million viewers in its Nov. 22 premiere, according to the network.

A second Lifetime film, Grumpy Cat’s Worst Christmas Ever starring the popular Scrooge-like Internet feline, averaged 1.7 million viewers in its Nov. 29 premiere.

Lifetime’s Lopez said with the glut of holiday programming in the marketplace, it’s important to break through the cookie-cutter, romantic holiday drama model in order to reach younger viewers.

“What we were putting out there is a variety of Christmas-themed movies to see if there was a younger audience available,” Lopez said.

ABC Family decided to forgo orignal Christmas movies altogether and instead will look to reach its target millennial audience through holiday-themed episodes of its most popular scripted series as part of its annual “25 Days of Christmas” programming stunt. The Fosters, Switched at Birth, Pretty Little Liars, Chasing Life, Melissa & Joey and Baby Daddy are set to air Christmas episodes this week (Dec. 8-10).

VERY SPECIAL EPISODES

While it’s very common for networks to produce holiday specials for its top shows to generate high ratings, ABC Family executive vice president of strategy and programming Salaam Coleman Smith said the network will also use the specials as a way to promote the upcoming fall season for many of the shows.

“The holiday season is really important to our millennial audience because holidays combine nostalgia with family and festivity,” she said. “We felt there was a real opportunity to create holiday specials for our originals and to create a platform for their January launches.”

With nearly 1,500 hours of holiday fare scheduled this season between the Hallmark Channels, ABC Family, Lifetime and UP alone, Abbott said he does have some concerns about genre overkill.

“There is a limit and I think we’re getting there,” Abbott said. “If you look at the radio model you see not everyone converts to Holiday music 24/7, so certainly there’s a finite amount of programming people want to tune into. But our brand gives us so much of an advantage and allows us to continue to grow.”

The Hallmark Channel is set to air a plethora of holiday specials from November to December, including a special presentation, 12 New Movies of Christmas from Dec. 25-26.

NorthPole strives to turn families' spirits around after much holiday skepticism and stress. The telefilm, premiering Nov. 15 at 8 p.m., starsTiffani Thiessen, Josh Hopkins, Bailee Madison, Max Charles, Candice Glover, Robert Wagner and Jill St. John.

One Christmas Eve, is the first presentation to air since the network announced it would become the new home for all Hallmark Hall of Fame debuts. Anne Heche, Kevin Daniels, Carlos Gomez and Brian Tee star in the single mother's quest to make her children's Christmas special. The movie is set to premiere on Nov. 30 at 8 p.m.

A world premiere for the network, Christmas Under Wraps, airs Nov. 29 at 8 p.m. Starring Candace Cameron-Bure, Brian Doyle-Murray and Robert Pine, the special follows Lisa in her once-planned life turned upside down. Lisa (Candace Cameron-Bure) must choose between everything she's ever wanted or the new life she has made for herself.

The treasure trove of telefilms under the network's annual "Countdown to Christmas" play drives Hallmark Channel ratings throughout November and December. 

Additional movies premieres include:

The Nine Lives of Christmas
A Hallmark Channel Original Movie World Premiere
Nov. 8 at p.m.
Starring: Brandon Routh, Gregory Harrison, Kimberley Sustad
Based On Sheila Roberts’ Bestselling Novel The Nine Lives of Christmas

Angels Sing
A Hallmark Channel Holiday Premiere
Nov. 2 at 8 p.m.
Starring: Harry Connick Jr. , Connie Britton, Chandler Canterbury, Fionnula Flanagan, Lyle Lovett , Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson , Dana Wheeler-Nicholson

Home & Family Holiday Special
A Hallmark Channel Original Series Primetime Special
Nov. 24 at 8p.m.
Hosts: Mark Steines and Cristina Ferrare
Special Guests: Candace Cameron-Bure, Lacey Chabert, Marilu Henner

A Royal Christmas
A Hallmark Channel Original Movie World Premiere
Nov. 22 at 8 p.m.
Starring: Lacey Chabert, Jane Seymour, Stephen Hagan, Katherine Flynn

The Christmas Shepherd
A Hallmark Channel Original Movie World Premiere
Nov. 23 at 8 p.m.
Starring: Teri Polo, Martin Cummins, Jordyn Olson, Ace

A Cookie Cutter Christmas
A Hallmark Channel Original Movie World Premiere
Nov. 9 at 8 p.m.
Starring: Erin Krakow, Alan Thicke, David Haydn-Jones, Miranda Frigon

Angels and Ornaments
A Hallmark Channel Original Movie World Premiere
Nov. 16 8 p.m.
Starring: Jessalyn Gilsig, Sergio Di Zio, Graham Abbey

One Starry Christmas
A Hallmark Channel Original Movie World Premiere
Nov. 1 8p.m.
Starring: Sarah Carter, Damon Runyan, George Canyon, Paul Popowhich

Jingle All the Way
A Hallmark Channel Original Animated Special
Nov. 27 at 10 a.m. and 11 a.m.

Jingle and Bell's Christmas Star
A Hallmark Channel Original Animated Special
Nov. 27 10:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.
Keith Urban sings “Jingle Bells” 

The special presentation of 12 New Movies of Christmas Include:

6 a.m. – 7:30 a.m.:          The Christmas Parade
7:30 a.m. – 9 a.m.:          One Starry Christmas
9 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.:        Best Christmas Party Ever
10:30 a.m. – 12 p.m.:      Christmas at Cartwright’s
12 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.:        Debbie Macomber’s Mr. Miracle
1:30 p.m. – 3 p.m.:         The Nine Lives of Christmas
3 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.:         The Christmas Shepherd
4:30 p.m. – 6 p.m.:         A Cookie Cutter Christmas
6 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.:         Northpole
7:30 p.m. – 9 p.m.:         Angels and Ornaments
9 p.m. – 10:30 p.m.:       A Royal Christmas
10:30 p.m. – 12 a.m.:    Christmas Under Wraps
12 a.m. – 2 a.m.:            A Cookie Cutter Christmas
2 a.m. – 4 a.m.:              One Starry Christmas
4 a.m. – 6 a.m.:              Christmas at Cartwright’s