A warm blanket throw, a cup of hot
chocolate, are you ready for some schmaltzy Christmas movies?
For decades Hallmark Channel has been the go-to favorite for Christmas movies. It could be trusted for wholesome content and a feel-good experience. In the last three years, beloved by millions, the network has caved to culture wars. Executives of Hallmark Channel’s parent company began seeking the production of holiday movies with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender characters. “We are continuing to expand our diversity,” Michelle Vicary, Crown Media’s executive vice president of programming, told thewrap.com, a website covering the business of entertainment and media. “We are looking at pitches for LGBTQ movies” … leaving millions of conservative viewers crying in their hot chocolate.
Hallmark’s roots came from the religious cable channel American Christian System known as ACTS, one of the initiatives from the Radio-Television Commission started by the Southern Baptists. Programming included evangelical and conservative Christian groups with speakers such as Jerry Falwell and James Kennedy and children’s programs including Sunshine Factory, Joy Junction, and Davey and Goliath.
In 1993 ACTS was renamed the Faith and Values Channel and began adding secular programming. Liberty media eventually took control, and the name was changed again. Odyssey was born in 1998 and by 2001 the channel rebranded to the Hallmark Channel which started adding its own original programming.
Far from “faith and values” now, is their new featured 2022 movie “The Holiday Sister.” The storyline includes a workaholic bachelor who babysits his niece and nephew for the holidays and falls in love with the next-door neighbor, Jason. For many conservatives, the commercial teaser will chill their hot cocoa.
Riding into the media space to save Christmas movie enthusiasts is Great American Media. Former CEO of Hallmark Media, Bill Abbott acquired it in June 2021. This season the network will launch 18 new inspiring, original Christmas movies. Dozens of the beloved Hallmark stars have jumped over to the network, including Candice Cameron Bure and Danica McKellar (child star from Wonder Years). Viewership of their first holiday movie of 2022, Destined at Christmas, that premiered October 22 broke “all network ratings records.” It has broadcasted three times and earned a million viewers.
The Christian viewer has a voice— a voice that determines content. The window is narrowing quickly on what believers can watch in a “what would Jesus” do conscience. If Jesus can’t sit with you in comfort watching the screen, that programming has no place in a Christian home. We must maintain our view. The LBGTQ will never be satisfied, they will continue to devour our media until only the crumbs are left.
I Corinthians 7:2 reminds us “because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man (male) should have his own wife (female) and each woman her own husband.”(ESV) Choose between naughty and nice this Christmas.
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