Is Hallmark's Christmas Empire Coming To An End Because Of Its Recent Wokeness? Here's What You Need To Know About The Network That May Be Taking Its Place, Great American Family

Some people find Hallmark Channel Christmas movies to be overrated, while others quietly consider the movies to be their guilty pleasure. Then there are super-fans who like Hallmark’s Christmas brand so much that they attend ChristmasCon, a convention for panels with the movie’s actors or writers, exclusive merch, prizes, and more. 

The Hallmark direct-to-TV Christmas movies have become a holiday icon that snow bunnies can snuggle up with and get into the festive spirit for months on end. Much of their success has been thanks to their formulaic plots in picture-perfect settings. Each movie has a family-oriented, vague appeal to tradition that seems apolitical at face value, giving viewers a warm, fuzzy feeling when they sit down to watch one (or many) with their loved ones during the holiday season. 

But as years have passed and showrunners have grown increasingly woke, some people have taken notice of how their almost sacred Hallmark Christmas movies aren’t quite like they used to be. One company seeks to be its most formidable rival. Let’s take a look into the Hallmark Channel’s Christmas empire and how its new competitor, Great American Family, may be posed to dethrone them.

How Did Hallmark Become the Christmas Standard Anyway?

The Hallmark Channel, owned by a subsidiary of Hallmark Cards known as Crown Media Holdings, was originally launched in September 1992 after two faith-focused cable channels (American Christian Television System and the Vision Interfaith Satellite Network) merged to become the Faith and Values Channel in 1993. Though the original programming of each channel was very religious in nature, the network began adding more secular and broadly family-oriented programming. 

Before it became known as the Hallmark Channel, it was first rebranded as the Odyssey Network. Under the Odyssey Network, this channel aired its first original holiday movie in 2000, but after the 2001 rebrand to the Hallmark Channel, original movie production instead of syndicated programming ramped up. Eventually, Hallmark would go on to produce over 30 movies a year. Not all of these movies were part of what we know now to be its Christmas programming, but once Hallmark introduced its “Countdown to Christmas” in 2009, it swiftly became a destination for all-things Christmas.

Then 2011 hit, and from late October through January, Hallmark began broadcasting Christmas movies almost all day, every day. Crown Media’s CEO at the time, Bill Abbott (keep this name in mind for later), explained that their strategy was to become a “year-round destination for celebrations,” and this move was so successful for the channel that it became the number one watched cable network among women aged 25-54.  

This formula is so profitable, given the budget per film is roughly under $2 million and producers save extra money by filming in Canada, that the network has pumped out 40 Christmas movies every year since 2019. Rumor has it that the Hallmark Channel can generate one-third of its annual ad revenue, or over $350 million a year, from Christmas movies alone. The channel’s demographics are advertiser-friendly – again, women between the ages of 25-54 – so Hallmark can charge premium pricing on ad spots.

Hallmark introduced its ‘Countdown to Christmas’ in 2009, becoming a destination for all-things Christmas.

Hallmark’s programming is intended to be apolitical and wholesome. Former CEO Abbott even once divulged that it should be “your place to go to get away from politics, to get away from everything in your life that is problematic and negative, and to feel like there are people out there who are good human beings that could make you feel happy to be part of the human race.”

The romance is light-hearted. The community is tight-knit. It wouldn’t be a Hallmark Christmas movie without its trademark predictability. Someone is always trying to get a person or the whole town back into the holiday spirit, whether that’s Candace Cameron Bure as Paige ditching her fiancé for a Scrooge-like beau in A Christmas Detour or Candace Cameron Bure as Lauren reviving Grandon Falls’ holiday celebrations in Christmas Town. 

You might be asking yourself, Am I reading that right? Did she say the same actress twice? Yes, another quintessential aspect of the Hallmark Christmas movie is the roster of actors and actresses whose appearance in the films is the rule, not the exception. Lacey Chabert (also known for her role in Mean Girls) and Candace Cameron Bure (also known for her role in Full House) have both starred in a Hallmark Christmas movie almost every year for 10 years now. Jessica Lowndes has been in seven. Alicia Witt has been in nine. Luke Macfarlane, Autumn Reeser, Taylor Cole, Danica McKellar, Brennan Elliott, Dean Cain, Tyler Hynes, Andrew Walker, Alexa PenaVega, and many more comprise an iconic pool of talent for the network to continually pull from for consistency in quality and market appeal.

Wait, When Did the Hallmark Channel Become So Woke?

Understandably, many movies revolve around a woman (single or not) finding love during Christmastime or a family reuniting during the holiday, which upholds the channel’s more conservative beginnings and the dreamy theming that the target demographic tends to prefer. So, knowing that women in America comprise about half of the population, that the Hallmark Channel makes the biggest bucks off young to middle-aged adult women, and that despite multiracial growth and nationwide diversification, our country’s racial makeup is primarily white, Hallmark Channel has been under scrutiny for years over a lack of diversity.

Former CEO Bill Abbott was scrutinized by media like The Hollywood Reporter for not “creating content that reflects society,” or, in other terms, not full of Affirmative Action-style contrived casting choices, not inclusive enough of other religions, and not writing enough LGBT+ romances. The publication called him out specifically, noting that “typically, the push for inclusive programming starts with executives who put out a mandate that they’re looking for specific types of content – i.e. stories about non-white families, or shows with black leads.” Apparently, his slower approach to diversifying Hallmark’s programming wasn’t good enough.

At the same time that some felt that the channel, once a safe haven for wholesome, stress-free content that always features a festive, happy ending, was becoming too predictable with recycled plots, Abbott’s Hallmark Channel faced further scrutiny over its choice to pull an advertisement from wedding company Zola which featured a same-sex couple. 

Is it any surprise that Abbott then left the company and his replacement was entertainment brand aficionado Wonya Lucas, a black woman whom AdWeek reported would bring “everyday diversity” to Hallmark Media? Hallmark Media even praised Lucas for injecting their “slate of programming with racial, religious and sexual orientation-related diversity.”

The Hallmark Channel has been under scrutiny for years over a lack of diversity.

The channel’s Vice President of Programming, George Saralidis, told NBC that his company was “very excited” to promote their new line of programming, including “projects featuring LBGTQ storylines, characters, and actors.” But was all of this forced diversity really needed, or was it pushed by the C-Suite who were under immense social pressure to renege on what gave the channel its unique niche? After all, wouldn’t it be problematic for people to insist that BET (the Black Entertainment Television Network) put more white, Latino, or Asian leads in their programming? And why should a channel with an expressed, religious background shift to generic holiday messaging for their programming about one of the Judeo-Christian traditions’ most important holidays?

Thanks to identity politics and the inevitable appeasement of the social justice crowd, the Hallmark Channel’s formerly iconic Christmas movie kingdom appears to be fizzling out, and its former CEO and stars are leading this charge.

Wouldn’t it be a Christmas miracle if there were some sort of revival for the type of programming that Hallmark once championed? Say hello to Great American Family, the channel launched by Bill Abbott following his departure from Hallmark. The roster of leading lads and ladies looks familiar with names like Candace Cameron Bure, Daniel Lissing, Danica McKellar, Jen Lilley, and Trevor Donovan, and this is no coincidence; this is a deliberate chess move to contribute to the parallel economy of ideas.

Abbott bought Great American Country and Ride RV, two smaller cable channels that were then rebranded as GAC Family and GAC Living under the umbrella network of GAC Media. GAC Family quickly began ramping up its Yuletide vibes by creating content that emphasizes the holidays and is as family-friendly as can be. GAC Media made it abundantly clear that the company would deliver on its mission to “celebrate great American traditions and invest in timeless, family-friendly entertainment that honors Americana.” 

The Great American Family Network Has Surprising Viability

Actors and actresses from Hallmark’s profitable lineup now had a place to go if they were looking to continue the line of work they had seen success in. In 2021, Danica McKellar was brought on for an exclusive four-movie deal with GAC Media, Trevor Donovan starred in Jingle Bell Princess on GAC Family while simultaneously appearing in Nantucket Noel on Hallmark, and Chad Michael Murray starred alongside Jessica Lowndes in My Angel’s Christmas List. This year, Candace Cameron Bure made her official exit from the Hallmark Channel to join the Great American Family network to star in A Christmas…Present.

In an interview with Variety, Cameron Bure shared that her contract with Hallmark was already set to expire and the move to GAC Family would provide her with new roles both on and off camera. Known ubiquitously as the former face of the Hallmark Christmas Movie, it would make sense that Cameron Bure would be recruited to build up the GAC Family network with wholesome content. When asked what her executive role would be, she expressed that she’d not only push on all holiday seasons, but rom-coms as well.

“I’m just helping oversee all of that and the directions that they go, as well as providing that content… I know the brand as well as they do. I know what the audience likes and wants. I just want to help,” she said.

GAC Family quickly began creating content that emphasizes the holidays and is as family-friendly as can be. 

When she was asked what a great American family looks like to her, a question certainly prompted by the name of the new network she joined, she explained her gratitude for the America she grew up with and how she had gathered a new understanding from marrying a Russian immigrant and concluded that, to her, the great American family is represented by love, kindness, and patriotism.

While we have yet to see Hallmark’s competitor at its full force and can’t determine whether or not it will outperform its predecessor, Great American Family appears to have a strong plan to try to achieve this. Last year, Great American Family started its “12 Movies of Christmas,” which showed one original Christmas movie every weekend starting in late October. This year, Great American Family has 18 new movies they’re premiering on the new network, which started on October 22, including Danica McKellar in Christmas at the Drive-In and Jen Lilley in B&B Merry. 

If the network intends to take over in aspects where Hallmark has grown deficient for long-time fans, it has big shoes to fill. Hallmark Channel saw success despite mass production and cookie-cutter yet charming plots and made itself a household name. Ultimately, a parallel channel wouldn’t need to exist if the original brand hadn’t felt the need to inject its programming with politics, overt sexualization, or even just abrasive content in general. Look no further than what happened to the Star Wars franchise and Marvel Comics when those two brands were integrated into Disney. 

In her interview with Variety, Cameron Bure admitted that the Christmas movie genre is easily made fun of but just as widely loved. She explained that this is because of its predictable but pleasant nature.

“You know that someone’s going to fall in love, you know that there’s going to be a kiss at the end. You know it’s just going to be happy and warm and heartfelt. And people run to that, especially at the holidays,” she said.

Closing Thoughts

If Hallmark’s trajectory continues, there may genuinely be a market for content that takes viewers out of the hyper-political world that is constantly inundating us with woke messaging. If it has to take the formation of an entire network to carve out a niche that was once almost sacred, then perhaps that’s the answer for a large demographic of America who felt the original programming was a safe haven for their family values. 

Christmas is about the birth of Jesus, but the winter holiday season in general is antithetical to identity politics. Faith, hope, joy, and love are all themes woven through Christmas movie storylines that can easily be obscured by not-so-secret agendas, but only time and the market can tell whether or not the sun is finally setting on what was once a Christmas empire and rising for a replacement.

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