The Gay Hallmark movie with Jonathan Bennett premieres

Gag. What gay man asked for this? The fluff is always something we've made fun of straight people for having because it's so sucky. Now we won't be able to stand on our pedestal and make fun of straight people for having cheeseball movies like this because we do too.

Please, kill me.

Mail the check first, then kill me.

Love those Hallmark movies. Especially the Mystery ones right now. Binge watched The Gourmet Detective, Mystery 101, and Ruby Herring ones the last few days (got a wisdom tooth pulled out).

The gay couple is supporting, the movie doesn't actually star them from what I could see.

Damn, Treat Williams has aged.

They're second fiddle.

The boyfriend is hotter with his shirt off.

With a shirt on he doesn't measure up r5. Especially since we know in real life how Jonathan's husband is total hunk

Bitch trying to overshadow me

Why would they do this?

Why would who do what?

I'm watching it now. It is boring as hell.

Yeah I turned it off when

1) I realized its really about the straight brother and they are just supporting

2) I was bored. The straight brother in the tight shirt was like the only entertaining thing that came on the screen.

r11 For real, they couldn't even give a whole movie to gays?

Robert Buckley is still hot. Dull movie, though.

As predictable as all Hallmark Christmas movies.

They'll have to do better next year.

[quote]Why would they do this?

I'll tell you why. About a year ago the head of Crown Media/Hallmark, a very nice guy named Bill Abbott was asked In January 2020, why they'd buckled to outside groups demanding that Hallmark remove a commercial featuring same-sex couples from the air. I think it was for a wedding planning company or service. A little more than a month after the network apologized for taking the ad off Abbott was forced to resign. Shortly thereafter, and a gay-themed (partially) Christmas movie was rushed into production as a [italic]mea culpa[/italic].

Sadly, the whole thing happened very quickly without Hallmark given much of a chance to get the conversation going in a better direction, which they are trying to do. I wonder if people will tune in for the gay fest?

[quote] The straight brother in the tight shirt was like the only entertaining thing that came on the screen.

Yes! The one hot scene. It hinted that he had a boner, too,

Frankly, the Kristen Stewart movie on HULU (a pretty LGBT-friendly network) looks no better than the Hallmark crap. Just dire.

Why are these films so by-the-numbers predictable?

Made for TV holiday movies are meant to be familiar and comforting r17. They aren't trying to reinvent any wheels.

R17

Is there a fisting scene shot with a star filter?

Watch this instead...

I'm going to mark this one down in the column of "There are downsides to social acceptance."

Partial credit for not censoring the gay kiss scene.

Will there be suprise anal?

We already had "Regarding Billy" about a gay vet losing his sight who turns to his childhood best friend for help.

veteran not dog doctor

Jonathan Bennett's husband is played by a Canadian actor named Brad Harder.

Harder, get it? Hee hee.

Lifetime will not be left in the dust by Hallmark, and is rushing out their own gays-as-romantic-leads Christmas movie this year, and no straight romance for whom to play second fiddle!

It's titled "Dashing in December" starring Peter Porte and Juan Pablo Di Pace as ranch owner and hunky ranch hand. Let's see if the audience responds!

Why isn't there a Trans Christmas Movie???

Lifetime is going to release a gay themed Christmas rom-com starring Fran Drescher and Ben Lewis (Arrow where he also played a gay character)

I give Hallmark credit for jumping in feet first. They could have made the gay character the single assistant as in Agatha Raisin, etc, Instead, the gay characters are a married couple, adopting a child. Hallmark is probably going to get more flack for the gay men raising a child aspect than they will for having a gay character. Women HATE the idea that a man can be the primary parental unit. Given the constraints of the Hallmark movie world, they really didn't play it safe.

Feet first would have been what Lifetime and Paramount Network are doing, an actual romance. This was nothing more than dipping a toe in. I do give them credit for letting the guys kiss, which I wasn't expecting.

[quote] a very nice guy named Bill Abbott

That "very nice guy" also had a directive against showing interracial couples. That the brother in this one ended up with a Latina woman wouldn't have happened before either.

Lifetime also got ahead of them on another bandwagon. They're also releasing the first of these movies with an Asian couple.

R21's movie looks better

Yeah the one at at r21 is a movie centered around a gay romance which is not what this movie is. I don't know what the Paramount network is though.

[quote]Feet first would have been what Lifetime and Paramount Network are doing, an actual romance. This was nothing more than dipping a toe in.

R32, you are judging from *your* world. As I posted , from *their* world, it is quite a big thing. Hallmark's audience is white, working class-firmly middle class, Christian women who, if they went to college at all, went for their MRS degree. They are either stay at home moms or have traditional women's jobs: teacher, nurse, dental assistant, etc. Hallmark has made it clear in the past that they are not interested in losing that audience in order to please people who are not their target audience.

[quote]I don't know what the Paramount network is though.

It was TNN, then Spike, and then became Paramount Network. The most notable thing about it the Kevin Costner-starring Dallas-esque soap Yellowstone and the awful adaptation of Heathers that was canceled before it aired a single episode.

Lifetime has The Christmas Setup where noted shiksa actress Fran Drescher hooks her son (a high-powered lawyer newly returned from the Big City) up with the town's hunky handyman. That one's notable for having a real-life couple as the the leads.

Paramount Network has Dashing in December, where salt of the earth actress Andie McDowell hooks her son (a high-powered Finance Bro newly returned from the Big City) up with the hunky ranch hand.

[quote]Hallmark has made it clear in the past that they are not interested in losing that audience in order to please people who are not their target audience.

Queer people (sorry if I just triggered you) both produce and star in those movies. And that still doesn't explain why they've had such a hard time with minority actors, unless their target audience are racists.

I know Brad Harder, he's a very nice guy, married (to a man), adopted kid. Good people.

I mean, I had never watched a Hallmark movie before, and while I can't really claim to have "liked it," I'm glad I did, just to support them perhaps going a bit further. The family read as an actual family, but I think credit for that goes to the writers.

Sharon Lawrence looked fantastic. Whatever she paid her surgeon or dermatologist, she got her money's worth.

[quote]I know Brad Harder, he's a very nice guy, married (to a man), adopted kid. Good people.

And a lot of credit for casting actual gay actors.

[quote]The family read as an actual family, but I think credit for that goes to the writers.

Strike that. I wanted to say "actors, not writers."

Hallmark is really into the wholesome countryside look. They are like Kinkade paintings.

They hire a lot of gay talent and a few characters even seem flamboyantly gay (like Mig Macario's character in the Ruby Herring Mysteries which also features John Wesley Shipp as the female lead's dad, he replaced Shawn Christian who played the character in the first one). But you watch Hallmark for cozy, mug cradling entertainment. And, to some degree, I can see why they are not eager to mess with their formula which has worked for eons, but members (as in fictional characters) of the LGBT Community can be as wholesome as everybody else. And I think The Christmas House is a step in the right direction.

[quote]Lifetime has The Christmas Setup where noted shiksa actress Fran Drescher...

Oh, DEAR!

Just FYI doll, a [italic]shiksa[/italic] is a gentile, or goyim. Fran Drescher being a Jewess is not considered a [italic]shiksa[/italic]. Now perhaps she's playing one in a Christmas-themed movie, but that would be some serious Christian-washing, wouldn't it? Worse than BLACKFACE, no?

R41, I think R36 knows what it means and was being facetious.

The ranch hand movie is Brokeback Christmas.

[quote][R41], I think [R36] knows what it means and was being facetious.

If so, and ONLY if so I will "Oh DEAR" myself!

[quote]Just FYI doll, a shiksa is a gentile, or goyim. Fran Drescher being a Jewess is not considered a shiksa. Now perhaps she's playing one in a Christmas-themed movie, but that would be some serious Christian-washing, wouldn't it? Worse than BLACKFACE, no?

Oy. Look, I'm just some meshuga goyish feygeleh, but I'm picked up enough Yiddish through osmosis that I can tell an MOT. Truthfully, I'm a little schlipkas that you didn't like my joke.

And for the sake of saying it, making Fran Drescher play a goy is LITERAL VIOLENCE.

I am looking forward to the Lifetime movie. Based on the trailer Fran is basically playing Fran Fine in this.

Nevertheless, this is progress, and I'm glad of it. I hope there will be a lesbian holiday flick or two, as well.

Are you kidding OP? Datalounge hated this the moment it was announced.

[quote]I'm a little schlipkas that you didn't like my joke.

You're actually a little [italic]schpilkas[/italic], but point taken bubbeleh!

That's the first year where three Christmas movies, that feature gay themed content, get released on TV. A couple of years back ago there was the Make The Yuletide Gay indie movie which had nothing to do with either Hallmark or Lifetime. And then in another year there was a gay indie version of a Christmas Carol.

[quote]You're actually a little schpilkas, but point taken bubbeleh!

You're a true mensch. I was afraid you were going to think I was just some pisher. I would have plotzed.

It's not really Christmas unless Santa 🎅 presents hole.

“For the plot, Buckley and Bennett play brothers, who have returned home for the holidays at the request of their mother in hopes of making a memorable occasion as they prepare to sell the family home. Buckley, playing Mike, finds himself reconnecting with Andi, his high school sweetheart, while Brandon (Bennett) returns with his husband Jake (Harder). The pair are awaiting a call about the adoption of their first child, who is played by Harder's real-life son Kael.”

Kael??!!

At least it's not spelled "Kale."

[quote]The boyfriend is hotter with his shirt off.

As any boyfriend should be.

[quote] Shortly thereafter, and a gay-themed (partially) Christmas movie was rushed into production as a mea culpa.

I tried to submit my original script, "Punch Me In The Fartbox With Your Love," but they declined to pick up the option on it.

Not surprised r57. There was no character named Kael.

It is NOT an LGBTQ+ Hallmark Movie. It is a GAY Hallmark Movie.

I wouldn't call a Hallmark Movie with two female romantic leads anything other than a Lesbian Hallmark Movie. Because that is what it is.

Lifetime has released a trailer for "The Christmas Setup". Both it and Paramount's "Dashing in December" look much better than Hallmark's offering.

Those are automatically better since the gay plot is the main plot

Will One Million Moms be boycotting?

All fifteen of them.

Too late

I liked when the mother said ":You're my favorite son-in-law."

They picked a pretty good male lead for this one. He had a great rivalry chemistry with Bennett who plays his brother.

For Hallmark this was a pretty big step, featuring a gay couple which also gets an on-screen kiss.

Honestly, I bought Bennett and Harder as a couple. That was the biggest surprise save the getting to kiss.

It averaged 2,333,000 viewers Sunday night. Lowest rate premiere among the Hallmark Christmas movie this season. Worse than the movie where the white girl ends up with the black guy (which got 2,654,000 viewers on a Saturday night).

Well 2 million viewers for basic cable is hardly bad. Most people do streaming these days

I kept expecting a three-way (brother or dad) and was sadly disappointed.

Hallmark Channel Christmas season so far

Jingle Bell Bride 2,654,000

Chateaux Christmas 2,686,000

One Royal Holiday 3,119,000

On the 12th Date of Christmas 2,823,000

Never Kiss a Man in a Christmas Sweater 2,900,000

Christmas with the Darlings 2,814,000

Christmas in Vienna 2,928,000

A Timeless Christmas 3,379,000

A Nashville Christmas Carol 3,164,000

The Christmas House 2,333,000

So they all get around 2/3 million viewers? Thanks for clearing that up

Those titles seem like the legendary thread, "Let's be a Jennifer Aniston movie" -- holiday edition.

Yes

All those premeries were on Saturday and Sunday nights

This week also had a new movie yesterday night

Heart of the Holidays 1,782,000

So it is not the worst anymore

Forty Frigid Fraus

[quote] Worse than the movie where the white girl ends up with the black guy

Funny. And kind of sad.

[quote] Christian conservative group One Million Moms said this week that it is boycotting “all things Hallmark” over the Hallmark Channel's upcoming gay holiday film The Christmas House

That could end up costing Hallmark at least $1.49.

When is the Nanny gay movie coming on?

I can’t find it on satellite.

December 12th at 8 PM on Lifetime R78

I actually watched "A Timeless Christmas" (most watched so far at 3,379,000 viewers), and I enjoyed it. I was in a Hallmark Christmas film a couple years ago and I know one of the leads. I auditioned for another popular one this year, but was not cast...I am still a little butt hurt.

We have a celebrity in the house!

Give us your autograph, r80!!!

[quote]We have a celebrity in the house!

I am a major nobody, lol. I just hustle and ended up as the Dad. It was fun.

[quote]I am a major nobody, lol. I just hustle and ended up as the Dad. It was fun.

I was about to ask whether you were the big-city boyfriend who really didn't understand the heroine (probably Alicia Witt) who was about to meet the man of her dreams.

R82, you must have majorly fucked up, because Hallmark movies are like a stock company: same actors, different roles over and over...and over...and over...

Wasn't Jonathan Bennett a beauty queen?

Also, wasn't he murdered?

[quote] I just hustle and ended up as the Dad.

This you?

If it's you - you're hot!

Was our actor here ever been Lacey Chabert’s father????

I think I know who you are!

Lacey Chabert has done a gazillion Hallmark movies. Christmas, spring, fall . . .

I would like to be spanked by the daddy at r86

Jonathan is now going to be a bride in real life

When do the other 2 gay movies air (the hot ranch hand one and the Fran Drescher one)?

R92

The Christmas Setup - December 12 8pm Lifetime Channel

Dashing in December - December 13 7pm Paramont/Pop/TVLand

Ready?

Window Wonderland is actually pretty funny for a Hallmark movie.

The Steward Lesbian Gloomcom seems to have been scripted in the 90s. Mary Sturgeon face is a 1000 years old. Some stuff happens, vaguely.

I hate that only the straight brother have a flashback and background plot. I like to see the gay brother teenage storyline too. Was he the nerd or theatre queen? Did he dated girls? Or stole the quarterback jockstrap for late night sniffin'. I guess the frau writers only likes the gays as long they're acting cute and sexless.

Robert Buckley conceived the story and was Executive Producer, so blame him and his sexy Handsome Justice self.

He was SO perfect in this movie! The only distraction was his eyebrows dyed to match the dye on his head hair. Otherwise, RB was the Dream Man. He doesn't need to worry about a little grey.

JB's grey wasn't covered up as well, poking out at the sides. His character's husband sure had a toned butt in one scene towards the end, and it looked like Treat Williams was about to cop a feel!

The gay kiss was LONGER than the (ugh) straight kiss, so why the complaints?

I have ZERO interest in whether or not JB's gayling character dated girls - did you see the little queen helping Sharon Lawrence making cookies in his flashback?

The parents' storyline made no sense. I was assuming that when Treat retired, he was secretly getting into popperbate videos on Pornhub and hiring rentboys.

Overall, worth it for the inclusion of The Gays, The Gay Kiss, and the Handsome Justice that is Robert Fucking Buckley.

Jonathan Bennet’s bf in OP’s pic looks like his face is 90% forehead

Thanks for the dates, R93. I'm glad they didn't put them up at the same time to compete against each other.

Boycott this ex-gay-enabling quisling in everything.

Jonathan Bennett supports trans scum. The guy is a homophobic bisexual that identifies as gay.

Matt, is that you?

I'd rather watch the gay Hallmark movie with Joan Bennett.