Christmas movies 2023

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Ready for Christmas? It sort of starts Saturday

The Christmas-movie season will start even earlier than expected.
The first new film is now set for 8 p.m. Saturday (Oct. 14), on Great American Family. It’s a sequel, “Destined 2: Christmas Once More,” with Shay Robbins and Casey Elliott (the original is shown here) and it arrives 72 days before the holiday.
GAF had originally said it would have its first new movie on Oct. 21. Hallmark one-upped that, putting its start on Oct. 20 … and then GAF moved earlier. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / October 12, 2023
Stories

Hallmark’s deluge has 40 new Christmas films

Until now, we feared there will be few new, scripted shows on TV this year.
Not so. There will be plenty … but most of them will be Christmas movies.
Shortly after one cable channel (Great American Family) announced 20 new Christmas films for this year, the Hallmark people doubled that. They’ll have 40 new ones (one is shown here) – 31 on the Hallmark Channel, plus nine on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries.
That’s 60 so far – with other networks – especially Lifetime and UpTV – expected to add more.
All of this comes despite writers’ and actors’ strikes, which started May 2 and July 14. Christmas movies tend to be done far in advance. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 20, 2023
News and Quick Comments

When does Christmas start? Maybe on Oct. 21

Let’s quit worrying about when the TV season will really begin.
Instead, we’ll jump to a bigger question: When does Christmas begin?
Now we have an answer: It starts Oct. 21, when the Great American Family channel has the first of its new Christmas movies. It has 20 of them, including one (shown here) with Candace Cameron Bure and Gabriel Hogan.
Yes, October –the month before the month before Christmas. It’s 10 days before Halloween and 33 days before Thanksgiving; it’s 65 days before Christmas Day, giving us time for last-minute shopping. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 18, 2023