Christmas on TV: Christmas Writers and Editors

Another recurring element on many made-for-TV Christmas movies comes in the form of a certain job held by their protagonists: writer. I would guess this occurs because so many writers of these made-for-TV movies like to "write what they know." A writing career also serves as a good vehicle to take a cynical urban professional and transfer him or her to a small town where he or she can rediscover the meaning of Christmas--and find love with a cute police officer/small business owner/single father/widowed lawyer/bachelor doctor. And because I am a writer, these movies tend to be some of my favorites because I love to escape into that fantasy one way or another.

Farewell, Mr. Kringle
Christine Taylor--wife of Ben Stiller and Marcia Brady from the Brady Bunch movies--works as a magazine writer sent to Mistletoe, California, to interview a man who's been the town Santa Claus for 50 years. Both she and he have a bit of tragedy in their past, but nothing that can't be overcome in two hours. I enjoyed Christine Taylor in this movie--her character has a believable personality, her reactions to setbacks are generally not overly dramatic, and the writings her character produces remind me of pieces I'd like to read on the internet. The love story isn't the greatest, and her wedding veil at the end is not beautiful enough for her, but the Santa Claus is top tier.

Christmas Child

I was incredibly skeptical going into this one because it is based on a Max Lucado story, and I've been exposed to You Are Special enough times to know that Max Lucado can be synonymous with sentimental allegory. But, it also has Megan Follows, Anne of Green Gables herself, so I gave it a whirl. Her husband writes for a newspaper in Chicago and gets sent to Texas on assignment during the holidays, which only increases the resentment and disconnection both feel in their marriage. I didn't watch enough of this one in real time to figure out what the husband needed to write about in Texas, but whatever it was, it made him appreciate his wife more when they reunited at the airport.

His and Her Christmas

David Sutcliffe (Christopher from Gilmore Girls) and Dina Meyer work as newspaper columnists at competing newspapers in the San Francisco Bay area. While he's at the peak of his career, about to begin a nationally syndicated news show, her newspaper is about to go under. As a last ditch effort to save her paper, she launches a column discussing the holiday season, and he fights back with a column of his own. This movie reminds me of You've Got Mail in the sense that it features two people working in the same career who think they are complete opposites but are actually perfect for each other. The trouble with this movie is that the main couple doesn't start interacting face to face until about halfway through the movie, which is a shame because they do their best work when they're playing off each other. It's worth a watch, particularly for David Sutcliffe's performance and Dina Meyer's curly hair.