Lifetime Announces Original Holiday Movies For 2018
Christmas is three months away, and many television viewers are already looking forward to the holiday cheer spread through all of the made-for-TV movies that will air on various networks.
On Monday, September 24, Lifetime announced its schedule of merry movies — 14 brand-new originals and nine acquired films — all of which feature some of Hollywood’s most-loved actors and actresses.
“It’s a Wonderful Lifetime is back in a major way with more hours of holiday programming than we have ever had before,” said Tanya Lopez, the executive vice president of Movies, Limited Series, and Original Movie Acquisitions for Lifetime and LMN, according to TV Insider.
“By stacking our originals with beloved stars from some of the most iconic television shows we grew up with, we are tapping into the nostalgic feelings of familiarity and comfort that everyone wants for the holidays.”
To help viewers catch the holiday spirit, Melissa Joan Hart will host It’s A Wonderful Lifetime Preview Special on Saturday, November 17, at 10 p.m. In addition to previewing the season’s new movies, Hart “will be taken on a journey that explores how terrible life would be without Lifetime Christmas movies.”
The first five Lifetime originals will air on consecutive nights, from November 21 through November 28. My Christmas Inn, starring three members from the cast of Sister, Sister — Tia Mowry-Hardrict, Jackée Harry, and Tim Reid — kicks off the season. The film tells the story of a San Francisco-based ad agency executive who is about to get a big promotion, but suddenly inherits an Alaskan inn from her aunt.
The following night, November 22, The Christmas Contract reunites One Tree Hill alums Hilarie Burton, Robert Buckley, Danneel Ackles, Antwon Tanner, and Tyler Hilton in a film about a woman who returns to her Louisiana hometown with a new guy in tow, who is really the brother of her best friend who signed a contract to pretend to be her boyfriend, in order to not seem lonely to her ex who has a real new girlfriend. After the movie, at 10 p.m., Lifetime will air Tis the Season: A One Tree Hill Cast Reunion, which the Inquisitr previously reported on.
On Friday, November 23, Bethany Joy Lenz returns home to help her dad, John Schneider, on the family’s poinsettia farm in Poinsettias for Christmas. Then, on Saturday, November 24, a shrewd money manager, Toni Braxton, winds up embracing the spirit of Christmas after her past, present, and future collide in Every Day is Christmas, which is inspired by the classic Charles Dickens novel A Christmas Carol.
The weekend ends with favorites from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, The Cosby Show, and Scandal teaming up in Jingle Belle, the story of a Juillard-trained musician who goes back to her hometown to compose new music for the annual Christmas Eve Pageant that her high school sweetheart is now directing. Tatyana Ali, Cornelius Smith Jr., Keshia Knight Pulliam, Tempestt Bledsoe, and Loretta Devine star in this flick.
The merriment continues on Friday, November 30, when Melissa Joan Hart and Barry Watson, who co-starred together in 2014’s Santa Con, join forces again for A Very Nutty Christmas in which a busy bakery store owner wakes up one morning to find a handsome soldier who may just be the Nutcracker Prince.
On December 1, Vanessa Lachey and Brendon Zub play single parents who mix up their kids’ toys at a crowded store in A Twist of Christmas, and, on December 2, childhood friends Kyla Pratt and Jarod Joseph find love while trying to adhere to The Christmas Pact (it also stars A Different World‘s Kadeem Hardison and Jasmine Guy).
On December 7, Tiya Sircar spends the holidays in Chicago with her grandmother, Diane Ladd, while learning the true meaning of Christmas and finding love in Christmas Lost and Found; on December 8, Megan Hilty tries to save her family’s department store from foreclosure and falls for the shop’s Santa, who suddenly disappears right before Christmas, leaving one black boot behind as her only clue in Santa’s Boots; and, on December 9, bakery owners Rachel Boston and Patricia Richardson must save their small town from being turned into a ski resort, and get a little help from “an unexpected visitor with a well-known sweet tooth for cookies and milk,” in A Christmas in Tennessee.
In Christmas Around the Corner, premiering on December 14, Alexandra Breckenridge attempts to restore the holiday spirit after a Vermont town is flooded and winds up falling for the bookstore owner, Jamie Spilchuk; Sarah Drew, a dating app creator, signs up for her hometown’s anonymous holiday pen pal service and ends up falling for the guy sending her letters, who may just be her high school boyfriend, Niall Matter, in December 15’s Christmas Pen Pals; and, on December 16, Beverley Mitchell must join forces with her high school love, Stephen Colletti, to resurrect the town’s live nativity in Hometown Christmas.
All of the original Lifetime movies start at 8 p.m. EST/PST on the premiere date’s listed above.
Meanwhile, the nine movies Lifetime acquired for the 2018 holiday season are: A Christmas Arrangement (November 21, 10 p.m.) with Nicky Whelan, Miles Fisher, and Daphne Zuniga; Every Other Holiday (November 23, 10 p.m.) with Schuyler Fisk and David Clayton Rogers; Christmas Harmony (November 24, 10 p.m.) with Kelley Jakle, Chandra Wilson, Adam Mayfield, and Sally Struthers; Christmas Perfection (November 25, 10 p.m.) with Caitlin Thompson, James Henri-Thomas, and Robbie Silverman; Love for Christmas (December 1, 10 p.m.) with Shantel Vansanten, Rob Mayes, Nikki Deloach, and Mark Famiglietti; A Star for Christmas (December 2, 10 p.m.) with Corey Sevier, Briana Evigan, Karissa Vacker, and Brooke Burns; A Christmas Kiss (December 21, 8 p.m.) with Elisabeth Röhm, Laura Breckenridge, and Brendan Fehr; A Golden Christmas (December 22, 8 p.m.) with Andrea Roth, Nicholas Brendon, Bruce Davison, Elisa Donovan, Jason London, and Alley Mills; and 3 Holiday Tails (December 23, 8 p.m.) with Julie Gonzalo, Kelly Stables, KC Clyde, Alley Mills, and Bruce Davison.
