Christmastime is here. Which is no surprise to anyone who's seen the holiday tree/decor in the studios of TV shopping channels for the past, oh, month now. But it's really, truly arriving on entertainment TV this weekend, with Hallmark Channel's three-day yule marathon and its two TV movie premieres.
Starting Friday at 8 p.m. ET, Hallmark's Holiday Open House continues straight through Sunday night, Nov. 4-6. (Which happens to be the same three days as a holiday promotion in Hallmark card stores. What a coincidence!) It's running even before Hallmark Channel begins its Countdown to Christmas event Nov. 12.
At this rate, Christmas 2012 should start sometime in September.
But the real surprise is Hallmark's two TV-movie premieres so early in the season -- Love's Christmas Journey (Saturday at 8 p.m. ET), with Sean Astin, Jobeth Williams, Ernest Borgnine [photo at right] and soap stars Greg Vaughan, Dylan Bruce and Natalie Hall, and Mistletoe Over Manhattan (Sunday at 8 p.m. ET), with Battlestar Galactica star Tricia Helfer [photo at top].
Why so soon? Well, Hallmark just has too many yule flicks stacked up this season. Like planes over O'Hare, they're being sent to outlying airports. The channel boasts 15 originals arriving every weekend through Dec. 18.
That's in addition to the perennials Hallmark is readying for repeats Nov. 4-6, starting with Friday's 8 p.m. ET fave Debbie Macomber's Mrs. Miracle and its 10 p.m. ET sequel Debbie Macomber's Call Me Mrs. Miracle, both with Everybody Loves Raymond mom Doris Roberts.
They haven't forgotten November's yet-to-come Thanksgiving holiday, either. (Hey, Hallmark stores sell turkey cards, too.) This weekend's Holiday Open House includes Daphne Zuniga and Faye Dunaway in A Family Thanksgiving (Saturday at 6 a.m. and midnight ET), as well as Jacqueline Bisset's An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving alongside her An Old-Fashioned Christmas (Saturday at 8 and 10 a.m. ET, then 1 and 3 a.m. ET). And TV's festive mountain family returns in A Day for Thanks on Walton Mount and A Walton Thanksgiving Reunion (Sunday at 10 a.m. and noon ET).
Here's the entire schedule for Hallmark Channel's Holiday Open House Nov. 4-6 -- click on each movie to learn more.
Then look ahead -- a whole week ahead -- to the start of the real Christmas TV onslaught with Hallmark Channel's Countdown to Christmas.
If you think it's too much too soon, say thanks for the patience of ABC Family. They're holding off on their annual 25 Days of Christmas till the month of December.
Of course, ABC Family's Countdown to 25 Days of Christmas begins Nov. 20.