The Los Angeles Times recently came out with an article on the rise of holiday programming popularity on cable networks, particularly the made-for-TV holiday movies. Citing Nielsen sources from last year, the Timesreports that Hallmark’s ratings doubled during the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas, while the small UP TV network saw a 74 percent rise in ratings.
Though TV Everywhere and apps have opened the doors for us to watch anything we want while on the go or on any device, there’s something about the holiday season that makes the classic era of television gatherings come alive again. Maybe it’s the coziness of getting together with family and friends to watch a heartwarming holiday plot on the big screen while sipping hot cocoa, as cliché and predictable as the storyline may be.
And we all know the staples that have become traditions in many households during the mistletoe season–A Christmas Story, Home Alone, Miracle on 34th Street, to name a few. But the nostalgic movies aren’t the only ones that people are crowding around the television set for. Made-for-TV Christmas movies are now practically a new genre. While they don’t attract the same A-list celebrities as many TV dramas do nowadays, the talent in this area is growing and audiences are noticing. New TV movies this year starring actresses like Candace Cameron Bure, Beverley Mitchell and Lacey Chabert take me back to the good old wholesome days of Full House, Seventh Heaven and Party of Five, making me wonder if that might just be the trick to these holiday movies–bringing back that sense of family and hearty spirits that these actors and actresses tend to instill.
Moreover, made-for-TV movies thrive on cable for several reasons. As the Times article explains, two-hour movies are inexpensive to produce, going for around $1-3 million. Meanwhile, it takes the same amount of effort and cost to produce one episode of a long-form drama series. Long-form series draw large audiences, that’s for sure. But as broadcasters devote their energies solely to these kinds of series, holiday programming has found its niche on cable. These movies get played repeatedly throughout the season and year after year, giving the production a longer lifeline and letting audiences grow attached to this type of genre—to the point where it’s taken for granted that it will be there for them. How else can we expect to start the season off right?