As the leaves get brighter and the air gets crisper, life shifts.
We turn to pumpkins and cider, to costumes and … Christmas movies?
Really. The first new Christmas film reaches TV on Friday, nine days before Halloween. There are two more this weekend … then three more each weekend after that.
Those are on the Hallmark Channel, but others – Lifetime, Freeform, Ion, UPtv – will follow, next month. Even CBS, which hasn’t had a new TV movie in nine years, plans two Christmas ones this year.
One explanation is basic: Overwhelmed by choices, viewers have become reluctant to try anything unfamiliar; Christmas movies are very familiar.
Each new Hallmark movie debuts at 8 p.m., then reruns at 6 p.m. the next day, with the Sunday ones rerunning at 6 p.m. the next Friday.
This weekend, it’s Danica McKellar in “You, Me & The Christmas Trees” (Friday and Saturday), Catherine Haena Kim in “Boyfriends of Christmas Past” (Saturday and Sunday) and Tamera Mowry-Housely in “The Santa Stakeout” (Sunday and Oct. 29).
More:Charlie Brown specials return to PBS this holiday season
The old formula persists. Lots of cheery-looking TV-series stars are recycled; these first 16 movies include Candace Cameron Bure, Lacey Chabert, Katee Sackhoff, Alison Sweeney, Lyndsy Fonseca, Alison Sweeney, McKellar and Mowry-Housely, plus interlocking films about sisters, starring sisters Ashley Williams and Kimberly Williams-Paisley.
Men occasionally star (James Denton, Brandon Routh) and older guys are occasionally around to be a crime suspect (Joe Pantoliano) or an estranged dad (Terry O’Quinn).
More ways to watch Christmas movies
Other channels used to wait until Thanksgiving. That’s when Lifetime will again have a big splash, with new Christmas movies on four straight nights.
But Lifetime won’t be waiting for that. It also plans to show new ones on Nov. 12-13 and 19-20. And UPtv has announced that it has nine new Christmas movies – five of them arriving before Thanksgiving, on Nov. 7, 13, 14, 20 and 21.
The big guys will also join in. Nov. 12 has been declared “Disney+ Day,” when the streamer has a flood of new shows, including a “Home Alone” Christmas movie, “Home Sweet Home Alone.”
No, our calendar doesn’t include Disney+ Day. But it also thinks that Christmas comes after Halloween and Thanksgiving. It must be confused.
Hallmark Christmas movie schedule:
All movies start at 8 p.m. ET:
- Oct. 22: "You, Me & The Christmas Trees," starring Danica McKellar, Benjamin Ayres and Jason Hervey.
- Oct. 23: "Boyfriends of Christmas Past," starring Catherine Haena Kim, Raymond Ablack and Paul Sun-Hyung Lee.
- Oct. 24: "The Santa Stakeout," starring Tamera Mowry-Housley, Paul Campbell and Joe Pantoliano.
- Oct. 29: "Christmas in Harmony," starring Ashleigh Murray, Luke James, Michelle Williams, Basil Wallace and Loretta Devine.
- Oct. 30: "Coyote Creek Christmas," starring Janel Parrish and Ryan Paevey.
- Oct. 31: "Christmas Sail," starring Katee Sackhoff, Patrick Sabongui and Terry O'Quinn.
- Nov. 5: "Open by Christmas," starring Alison Sweeney, Erica Durance and Brennan Elliott.
- Nov. 6: "Next Stop, Christmas," starring Lyndsy Fonseca, Chandler Massey, Lea Thompson and Christopher Lloyd.
- Nov. 7: "A Christmas Treasure," starring Jordin Sparks and Michael Xavier.
Dates TBD:
- "Christmas at Castle Hart," starring Lacey Chabert and Stuart Townsend.
- "The Christmas Content," starring Candace Cameron Bure, John Brotherton and Barbara Niven.
- "The Christmas House 2: Deck Those Halls," starring Robert Buckley, Ana Ayora and Jonathan Bennett.
- "The Nine Kittens of Christmas," starring Brandon Routh, Kimberley Sustad and Gregory Harrison.
- "Sister Swap: A Hometown Holiday" & "Sister Swap: Christmas in the City," starring Kimberly Williams-Paisley and Ashley Williams.
- "A Kiss Before Christmas," starring James Denton, Teri Hatcher and Marilu Henner.
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