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TV Movie Goodness Preview: Hallmark Channel/Movie Channel’s Christmas in July [VIDEO and PHOTOS] 

Photo Credit: Chris Large/Crown Media United States, LLC
Photo Credit: Chris Large/Crown Media United States, LLC

While the country decks out in red, white, and blue this weekend, Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movie Channel are slipping into red and green for their annual Christmas in July programming.

While Hallmark Channel has a Christmas Keepsake Holiday Preview, Hallmark Movie Channel is calling theirs the Gold Crown Christmas Event. Both will run July 4th through the 13th, offering a mashup of recent original holiday movies that have run on the networks, select members of the Hallmark Hall of Fame holiday series, and a few older, classic films. Hallmark Channel will also be sneak peeking a new film, Angels Sing, with Connie Britton and Harry Connick Jr. at 9/8c on Saturday, the 12th.

Photo Credit: Crown Media United States, LLC
Photo Credit: Crown Media United States, LLC

Here’s a sampling of the trusty favorites that the networks will be rolling out. For complete schedules, click here and here.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Hands down, the most watchable repeat-viewing Christmas film that Hallmark has produced, this fun, silly, sweet movie stars Brooke Burns as a Type A single mom who has an unexpected house guest in the handsome form of Motive‘s Warren Christie foisted upon her at the holidays when her uncle, Henry Winkler, brings him along from the airport. I adore this movie. It’s a permanent fixture on my DVR.

Photo Credit: Bernard Walsh/Crown Media United States, LLC
Photo Credit: Bernard Walsh/Crown Media United States, LLC

An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving/An Old-Fashioned Christmas

This pair of period-set family films starring Jacqueline Bisset will appeal to the Hallmark viewers who fell in love with When Calls the Heart.

Photo Credit: ABC
Photo Credit: ABC

November Christmas

This 17-hanky winner from the HHOF collection follows a family’s mission to bring the holidays forward when their ill daughter has a downturn. Look for Revenge‘s Emily Alyn Lind in the lead role, plus John Corbett, Sam Elliott, Karen Allen, and Sarah Paulson.

Photo Credit: Lifetime
Photo Credit: Lifetime

Thomas Kinkade’s Christmas Cottage

This film based on the story of Kinkade before he hit it big is notable because it got the late Peter O’Toole to participate, and it’s one of the few side projects Jared Padalecki has taken on since Supernatural began in 2005.

Photo Credit: Crown Media
Photo Credit: Crown Media United States, LLC

Debbie Macomber’s Trading Christmas

I love this movie, I think because it skews a little bit older. It’s about a holiday house swap that turns into a second chance for love. Faith Ford, Gil Bellows, Tom Cavanagh, and Gabrielle Miller headline, and Haven‘s Emma Lahana has a small role. Two other unrelated Debbie Macomber films starting Doris Roberts in the title role Debbie Macomber’s Mrs. Miracle and Debbie Macomber’s Call Me Mrs. Miracle, will also be in rotation

Photo Credit: Crown Media United States, LLC
Photo Credit: Crown Media United States, LLC

The Christmas Card

Patriotic, and holiday-themed, this film follows a soldier who searches out the sender of a Christmas card once he’s discharged back home. It stars John Newton, Ed Asner, and Alice Evans. It’s on the order of The Lucky One, but it predates that book by two years.

Christmas With Holly

We previewed this Hallmark Hall of Fame edition here when it originally ran. It’s a sweet story about a group of brothers who band together to raise their newly-orphaned niece.

Photo Credit: Crown Media Holding
Photo Credit: Crown Media United States, LLC

A Very Merry Mix-Up

This was a fun, sweet film about mistaken identities that aired last Christmas with Justified‘s Alicia Witt. We previewed it here.

Photo Credit: Crown Media Holdings
Photo Credit: Crown Media United States, LLC

Let It Snow

This one also aired last winter, and stars Candace Cameron Bure as a corporate fixer who realizes she doesn’t need to fix a lovely seasonal family lodge. Our preview is here.

Here’s Hallmark Channel’s preview of the week:

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