Christmas movies to dominate TV schedules over the next tree months

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 — 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.

GAF — run by the former Hallmark chief — hasn’t given its movies specific dates yet but said the first new one will be Oct. 21. Hallmark will beat that by one day.

That will start a routine — new, 8 p.m. movies Thursdays on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries and on Fridays through Sundays on Hallmark. The exception is Thanksgiving weekend when things go full-blitz: Movies & Mysteries has a new movie that Wednesday and Hallmark has a deluge — one new film on Thanksgiving, then double features (6 and 8 p.m.) for the next three days.

Some of this will seem a tad familiar; Christmas movies rarely surprise viewers with their plot twists or their happy endings.

The familiarity is sort of a selling point. Lacey Chabert has her 13th and 14th Christmas films for the network, both times working with one of her “Party of Five” colleagues. She’s with Scott Wolf (again as siblings) on Nov. 18 and with Jennifer Aspin (in a sequel to “Haul Out the Holly”) on Nov. 25.

Other familiar names for the network include Nikki DeLoaxh, Barbara Nixon, Meghan Ohry, Brooke D’Osay, Jessy Schram, Betthany Joy Lenz, Brendan Penny and Kristoffer Polaha.

There’s another reunion: Catherine Bell and James Tupper play a couple (Dec. 9) — just as they did for seven “Good Witch” seasons on Hallmark.

But some stars — led by Candace Cameron Bure — have jumped to GAF. Hallmark said it’s expanding in different ways. It has:

● First-timers. They include Chris Carmack of “Glee,” Jessica Parker Kennedy of “The Flash” and Phylicia Rashad of Broadway, “Cosby” and more. One film (Nov. 26) will include Lenz and Polaha, plus time-travel and first-timers who are big in fantasy circles — Jonathan Frakes and Robert Picardo.

● Foreign settings. Films will be set in France (Oct. 29), Germany (Nov. 12), Scotland (Nov. 18, with Chabert and Wolf), England (Nov. 25) and Norway (Dec. 1).

● Odd plots. In “Santa Summit” (Nov. 5), a woman falls for a guy in a Santa suit but doesn’t get his name, on a weekend when a party has the town overrun with Santas. In “A Biltmore Holiday” (Nov. 26), Lenz is writing a remake and transports back to when the movie was being made, in 1947.

● And an increased use of music — something both Hallmark and Lifetime have been leaning toward. The Heidelberg film includes a new song written and performed by Ingrid Michaelson. “Heaven Down Here” (Dec. 14) is based on a Mickey Guyton song. “Time to Come Home for Christmas” (Nov. 30) is the sixth film based on the Blake Shelton song; it will include a new song from Grace Leer of “American Idol.”

In addition, other films will be backed by old recordings: Elton John’s “Step Into Christmas,” Judy Garland’s “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” Angela Lansbury’s “We Need a Little Christmas.”

That last one (on Nov. 25), still begs the question: We’ll need a little Christmas, but will we need this much?

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Christmas movies coming on Hallmark Channel this fall