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A revolution is happening in the Hallmark Channelās Countdown to Christmas universe.
Yes, there are still plenty of magical Santa Claus sightings and people with perfect hair despite wearing winter hats in the snow (if theyāre wearing hats at all), but things are changing.
Lead actors kiss before the final five minutes of the movie! Scripts wink at the ridiculous plots that have become cliche! Longtime Hallmark Christmas movie actors make cameos in other films! The NFL has partnered with the network (OK, we can attribute that to Taylor Swift and Travis Kelceās romance)! Not every song is a rendition of āJingle Bellsā! There is more than one Hanukkah-themed movie!
With the holidays looming, we watched dozens of hours of Hallmarkās Countdown to Christmas slate to pick the most notable releases this season. Which Donna Kelce cameo reigns supreme and which movies are worth watching while lounging in your favorite holiday PJs? We have answers. (Though Iāll save my conspiracy theory about the connection between Hallmark Channelās rise in popularity and matching family jammies until next year).
Spoiler alert: Each movie has a happy ending and everyoneās in love ā but you probably already knew that.
āSanta Tell Meā might be the quintessential movie of this yearās crop. It has holiday magic, multiple meet-cutes, an enemies-to-lovers relationship, an ambitious main character making a name for herself returning to her roots. And thereās a sad backstory about her parents. Could it be any more fitting for Countdown to Christmas?
Olivia (Erin Krakow) has a chance to have her own interior design show, but her new producer, the bossy Chris (Daniel Lissing), who is in charge of a āLove Islandā-esque show called āModel Home,ā changes plans and has Olivia restore her childhood home on a tight budget instead. Once sheās there, she finds a magic letter from Santa. It answers a query from long ago, when as a precocious child ā one who presumably watched too many holiday romance movies ā she asked the name of her true love, which the magic letter reveals to be Nick.
And just like that, she meets three different guys named Nick and she has to pick the right one by Christmas or lose her true love forever.
Airing on the Hallmark Channel Dec. 19, 25, 30 and Jan. 5 and 17. Streaming on Hallmark+.
The contestants of āFinding Mr. Christmasā talk about how showing their emotions was a big part of the Hallmark reality competition series seeking a new leading man.
Donna Kelceās sons, Travis (of Taylor Swift and Kansas City Chiefs fame) and Jason (a retired Philadelphia Eagle), have starred in dozens of commercials, but Mama Kelce gets more lines in two Hallmark films.
āHoliday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Storyā is the superior watch. It stars Hunter King as a woman in a family of die-hard Chiefs fans whose magic hat is responsible for multiple Super Bowl wins (take that, Patrick Mahomes). Tyler Hynes co-stars as a team marketing exec. Kelce works at the barbecue joint owned by the heroineās grandparents. Though Iām a Ravens fan whose championship dreams were crushed by the Chiefs last year, this was a fun watch with lots of NFL cameos, but it will trigger Raiders and Broncos fans.
The Philly-centric āChristmas on Callā follows a doctor (Sara Canning) whoās new in town and falls in love with an Eagles-loving EMT (SerāDarius Blain), but even the cheesesteaks āwhiz witā that Kelce slings in the movie canāt spice up this offering.
āHoliday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Storyā debuts an extended cut Dec. 20 and re-airs Dec. 25, 31 and Jan. 18 on the Hallmark Channel. Streaming on Hallmark+.
āChristmas on Callā airs on the Hallmark Channel Dec. 18, 25 and Jan. 4.
Hallmark rolls out āHoliday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story,ā one of the holiday movies inspired by the Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce romance. The football playerās mother, Donna Kelce, has a small part.
When the plots of Hallmark Christmas movies have become so ubiquitous that theyāre punchlines and thereās a plot generator, itās nice to see the channel play along, as it does in āSugarplummed.ā
When overworked lawyer and mom Emily (Maggie Lawson) wishes for a perfect Christmas, Sugarplum (Janel Parrish), the beloved āHarmony Home Networkā holiday movie character, comes to her aid. Sugarplum even tries to have the rules from her town of Perfection apply to the real world. For example, rule No. 47 says, āWhen a big city girl meets a small town bachelor over the holidays, theyāre guaranteed to fall in love and get married.ā
Another nod goes to āThe Santa Class,ā which features Hallmark regular Paul Campbell as a minor character playing a fictional version of himself to hilarious results. He enrolls in classes at a struggling Santa school (the movieās main plot) as he considers taking the role of Santa in an upcoming Hallmark Christmas movie.
āSugarplummedā airs on the Hallmark Channel Dec. 21, 25, 30 and Jan. 3. Streaming on Hallmark+.
āThe Santa Classā airs on the Hallmark Channel Dec. 18, 21, 27 and Jan. 4.
Los Angeles Times TV critic Robert Lloyd imagines the plots of the seasonās holiday TV movies based on their titles alone.
In āHoliday Mismatch,ā Kath (Caroline Rhea) and Barbara (Beth Broderick) clash on the Chamber of Commerce Christmas committee. Itās an āOdd Coupleā-type scenario, where Barb, a recently retired accountant and control freak, joins the committee as a volunteer and is aghast at Kathās touchy-feely vibes and disorganization. However, both are overbearing mothers and set up dating profiles for their respective kids, Lauren (Maxine Denis) and Shane (Jon McLaren), who agree to go on a date to get their moms to stop meddling in their personal lives.
Lauren and Shane decide to fake date to keep their moms off their backs, but when Kath and Barbara realize who their kids are seeing, they join forces to break them up.
āāTwas the Date Before Christmasā is borderline on the fake dating trope. In order to keep her family from canceling their Christmas Olympics, Jessie (Amy Groening) brings a date (Robert Buckley) she met on an app. While itās their first date, she lies to her freakishly competitive family about it, saying theyāve been together for a minute.
āHoliday Mismatchā airs on the Hallmark Channel Dec. 19, 26 and Jan. 4.
āāTwas the Date Before Christmasā airs on the Hallmark Channel Dec. 24 and Jan. 3.
We ran the plots of more than two dozen Hallmark and Lifetime Christmas movies through AI art generator DALL-E. The results are funny and disturbing.
There will be no exclamations of āYippee-ki-yayā and you know what because this is still Hallmark, but the network has stepped up its action/adventure offerings.
āThe Christmas Quest,ā starring perennial faves Kristoffer Polaha and Lacey Chabert as divorced academics who trudge through Iceland deciphering clues in search of treasure centered around the folklore of the 13 prank-pulling Yule Lads, is a fit for fans of āIndiana Jones.ā It even references the boulder scene and has the animated traveling-across-the-map graphics.
If you prefer a holiday heist, āThe Christmas Charadeā pairs up a grumpy FBI agent (Cory Sevier) with a quiet librarian (Rachel Skarsten) after a blind date mix-up leads to a fake dating partnership chasing down art and jewel thieves. There is an entertaining letās-turn-the-librarian-into-an-undercover-agent montage.
Both have big gala scenes, because can you really have an action-adventure movie without a formal Christmas Eve event? For both, be prepared to overlook major plot holes and just enjoy the ride.
āThe Christmas Questā is streaming on Hallmark+.
āThe Christmas Charadeā airs on the Hallmark Channel Dec. 18, 24 and Jan. 4.
Many movies have mined comedy gold about the hilarious/traumatic experience of blending families, with scenes so cringe theyāre funny.
In āChristmas With the Singhs,ā ER doctor Asha (Anuja Joshi) is working on Christmas when high school crush Jake (Benjamin Hollingsworth) walks in. They fall in love, he proposes (but makes the misstep of not asking for her fatherās permission) and they head to their hometown for a parental showdown between her extended Indian family and his divorced white parents. Sheās also been taming the spice of Indian recipes by adding ketchup.
This film may hold the record for the earliest kiss in a Hallmark Christmas movie, with our leads locking lips 12 minutes in.
āTo Have and to Holidayā follows the whirlwind engagement of Celeste (Madeleine Arthur) and Jason (Robert Bazzocchi). Her father (Eric Close) is the pastor in town and he will only agree to marry them if they pass his marriage boot camp. Among the challenges: he makes them navigate an obstacle course while a blindfolded Celeste drives a golf cart, leaving the viewer wondering how his boot camp can possibly be insured.
āChristmas With the Singhsā airs on the Hallmark Channel Dec. 19 and 25.
āTo Have and to Holidayā airs on the Hallmark Channel Dec. 20.
The actor talks about becoming a mainstay on Hallmark and āThis Time Each Year,ā premiering Thursday, her 30th film for the channel.
So many movies have a ridiculous number of holiday competitions. Who has time to plan these multi-day adventures? Idea for next year: A film about competing competition organizers who fall in love.
āJingle Bell Runā pairs an egocentric retired hockey player (Andrew Walker) with an introverted teacher (Ashley Williams) for a holiday-themed reality TV competition where teams figure out clues, complete challenges and travel across the country āAmazing Raceā style. The interesting concept and Walker playing against type compensate for some clunky dialogue setting up the premise and the resolution.
Winning āTrivia at St. Nickāsā doesnāt get you fame and fortune, but it does come with bragging rights. Tammin Sursok stars as an astronomy professor who butts heads with Brant Daugherty, a football coach who cuts in the faculty buffet line but also has to join her trivia team. Itās worth putting on in the background if youāre tasked with being a Christmas trivia quizmaster.
āJingle Bell Runā airs on the Hallmark Channel Dec. 20, 25 and Jan. 4. Streaming on Hallmark+.
āTrivia at St. Nickāsā airs on the Hallmark Channel Dec. 26 and 31.
In āHanukkah on the Rocks,ā a Chicago lawyer (Stacy Farber) loses her job and fills in at a local bar, which is described as a dive but has gourmet food, fancy drinks and nary a Pabst Blue Ribbon tallboy in sight. She plans a bunch of Hanukkah events, such as speed dating, that somehow come together via Instagram in hours. (Beating the algorithm is the unsung holiday miracle in this one.)
The filmās meet-cute happens while fighting over the cityās last box of special Hanukkah candles, but itās her love interestās grandfather and resident barfly Sam, played by Marc Summers, known to many as the former host of Nickelodeonās game show āDouble Dare,ā who steals the movie. I want an entire spinoff series with Sam set in the bar.
Hallmarkās other Hanukkah offering, āLeahās Perfect Gift,ā focuses too much on a Jewish woman trying to fit in while celebrating her first Christmas with her boyfriendās uber-uptight parents. Leah, and viewers, deserve better.
āHanukkah on the Rocksā airs on the Hallmark Channel Dec. 22, 26 and 31.
āLeahās Perfect Giftā airs on the Hallmark Channel Dec. 19, 24, 28 and Jan. 3.
Hallmarkās rare Jewish-themed film is a pleasant, frictionless story from screenwriter Julie Sherman Wolfe, who also wrote āHoliday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story.ā
Yes, the network is named after a greeting card empire, but scenes that are blatant commercials are inexcusably and awkwardly shoehorned into the script of āDeck the Walls.ā
It features a big-city interior designer returning to her hometown for the first time since her parentsā death to help her brother and his best friend flip their grandparentsā home into a charity project for a local family that has given so much to the community. So far that hits on multiple Hallmark holiday movie themes, right?
What doesnāt is the hokey scene set in a Homegoods store where apparently small children with big designer dreams practice elaborate tablescaping. (I was only shocked that a āLive, laugh, loveā throw pillow didnāt magically come to life to start delivering Christmas wishes ā at least that would have been mildly entertaining.) And did I mention thatās only one of the egregious product placements with accompanying dialogue in this film?
Honestly, youāre going to be inundated with enough Balsam Hill commercials for luxury fake trees and Weather Tech ads for car floor mats just by watching the channel that further product placement isnāt necessary.
āDeck the Wallsā airs on the Hallmark Channel Dec. 21, 27, 30 and Jan. 5.
The complete guide to home viewing
Get Screen Gab for everything about the TV shows and streaming movies everyoneās talking about.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.