Lifetime Beating Hallmark to the Punch With LGBTQ Holiday Movie

Happy Holidays! I hope you’re all prepared for a good old fashioned quarantined Christmas, because that’s what’s coming our way. But don’t worry: you’ll always have holiday movies to distract you from the end times. Lots and lots of holiday movies. Every year, both Lifetime and Hallmark pump out holiday originals, and this year, Lifetime is beating Hallmark to the punch with its first-ever LGBTQ holiday movie, called The Christmas Set Up.

As summer winds down, it’ll soon be time for fall, and then – gasp – the holiday season. That means it’ll soon be time for Lifetime and Hallmark to go to war again, pitting their original holiday-themed movies against each other. Who will survive and what will be left of them? We’ll have to wait until the dust settles to find out. But we now know that Lifetime has beaten Hallmark to have their first LGBTQ holiday film.

Per THR, that film is called The Christmas Set Up, and follows “Hugo, a corporate lawyer in New York who heads home to Milwaukee for the holidays, where his mother arranges for him to run into his secret high school crush, Patrick. As their mutual attraction grows, Hugo is faced with a decision to accept a promotion in London or remain in Milwaukee.”

Here are some other titles Lifetime will be airing this holiday season:

• Christmas Ever After, starring Tony winner Stroker as a successful romance novelist who spends every Christmas at her favorite bed and breakfast — but this year is facing a deadline and writer’s block. Inspiration strikes in the unlikely form of the B&B’s new owner (Daniel DiTomasso).
•  A Sugar & Spice Holiday, in which rising architect Suzie returns to her Maine hometown, where her Chinese American family runs the local lobster bar. Following the loss of her beloved grandmother, who was legendary for her baking, Suzie is guilted into entering the local gingerbread house competition.
• Dear Christmas, starring Melissa Joan Hart as an author and host of a podcast that shares stories about holiday love with her listeners — but who has never really had a romance herself. That changes when she heads home to spend Christmas with her family and meets a local firefighter (Jason Priestley).
• Christmas Unwrapped, starring Amber Stevens West as a reporter who learns the true meaning of Christmas when she investigates a beloved man (Marco Grazzini) who insists the gifts he gives to people in his town come straight from Santa Claus.

That last title, Christmas Unwrapped, will be executive produced by Tiffany Haddish. And it’s worth noting that A Sugar & Spice Holiday is Lifetime’s first holiday film centered on a Chinese-American family. And that’s not all – per EW, Lifetime has a total of 30 holiday movies this year, and you’ll be able to watch them starting in the fall.

“We are thrilled to continue our legacy of creating a holiday destination that is welcoming to all at Lifetime,” said Amy Winter, head of programming at Lifetime.  “With more new movies than any one cable network for streamer, I couldn’t be prouder of the incredible talent joining us in front of, and behind the camera, on these new holiday movies.”

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