Is it just us, or has The Hallmark Channel gotten even gayer since The Grinch Candace Cameron Bure fled the network for the more “traditional” values at Great American Family?
Known for churning out sweet and saccharine holiday movies every season, Hallmark has a whopping 40 original festive stories on its slate this year—and more than a few of them sound pretty gay!
While Miss Cameron Bure may not want to touch them with a 39-and-a-half-foot pole, we figure you’d like to know what films are coming down the chimney in the weeks ahead, including some of our favorite LGBTQ+ talent like Luke Macfarlane, Jonathan Bennett, Vincent Rodriguez III, and Humberly González.
So, grab a blanket, get that cocoa piping hot, and get ready to cozy up to three of the most exciting LGBTQ+ inclusive movies headed to The Hallmark Channel in 2023.
Catch Me If You Claus
Okay, so… bad news first. No, there doesn’t appear to be anything gay about the story of Catch Me If You Claus. However, it does happen to feature out Bros star Luke Macfarlane as a man who just might be the son of Santa Claus, and there’s something very hot about that, no? At least, the sight of Macfarlane in a tight-fitting henley and red suspenders sure gets our chestnuts roasting! Plus, the movie’s premise—a woman (Supergirl‘s Italia Ricci) catches a home intruder who claims to be Santa, Jr.—is slightly more high-concept than your average Hallmark rom-com, and that’s enough to get us invested.
The sexy Santa Claus is a Christmas tradition as old as the holiday itself!
Christmas On Cherry Lane
Giving Macfarlane a run for his money in the made-for-TV Christmas department is former Mean Girls nice guy Jonathan Bennett, who starred in the network’s first gay-focused movie last season. Here, he stars alongside Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and With Love hunk Vincent Rodriguez III as a couple who finds out they’re going to be dads—right before they’re meant to have friends and family over for an ambitious holiday dinner party. However, they’re just one of three romantic pairings whose stories all intertwine on a quaint little snow-covered street called Cherry Lane.
Now, we don’t imagine Rodriguez will be shedding those finely pressed shirts and wrinkle-free sweaters in Christmas On Cherry lane, but we just thought you might like to know what he’s working with underneath:
Christmas On Cherry Lane premieres Saturday, December 9 on Hallmark.
Friends & Family Christmas
Image Credit: ‘Friends & Family Christmas,’ Hallmark
And lastly, for a much more sapphic seasonal offering, there’s Friends & Family Christmas. When an overworked photographer (queer Ginny & Georgia star Humberly González) gets a surprise visit from her parents right before the holiday, she turns to her lawyer pal (Ali Liebert, who previously directed Jonathan Bennett in last year’s super-gay The Holiday Sitter) for help. For some convoluted reason, they have to pretend to date to keep up appearances for their friends and family… though we’ve all seen enough of these rom-coms to know that, sooner or later, these two won’t have to pretend they’re in love.
Friends & Family Christmas premieres Sunday, December 17 on Hallmark.
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