After more holiday movies on TV than ever before, five have been selected to enter the Emmys race for TV movie — so far.
Although Hallmark Channel had 40 holiday movies this year and Lifetime had 26, neither network have submitted any of their festive films for the Emmys. (Lifetime did, however, submit “Reba McEntire’s The Hammer,” in which the country singer portrays a new judge in Nevada.)
Great American Family debuted 18 holiday movies in 2022, while UpTV released 17 and BET+ dropped 10. Many other networks and streaming services — both big and small — entered the holiday TV movie race, including NBC, Netflix, HBO Max, Discovery+, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Freevee and Roku, among others. A few of those did submit for the Emmys, as the television movie category currently has 46 entries.
A few holiday movies have been in the TV movie race in the past. Last year, Roku’s “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist” was submitted and landed a nomination. The year before, Netflix’s “Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square” entered the race and took home the Emmy. So it’s no surprise that Parton’s NBC special, “Dolly Parton’s Mountain Magic Christmas” has been submitted this year. The last NBC movie to be nominated in the category was in 2017 — “Dolly Parton’s Christmas of Many Colors: Circle of Love.”
Both The CW and Freevee are entering the category this year for the first time, submitting “A Waltons Thanksgiving” and “Hotel for the Holidays,” respectively.
Scroll through the list below for more information on the five holiday films submitted. (Whether or not they’re officially on the ballot won’t be released until voting opens on Thursday.)
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‘Dolly Parton’s Mountain Magic Christmas’
Image Credit: Katherine Bomboy/NBC Parton has become a holiday staple and this year’s NBC special featured Tom Everett Scott, Ana Gasteyer, Angel Parker and both Billy Ray and Miley Cyrus. The movie’s plot is genius: a modern-day movie musical all about the making of a TV special.
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‘A Christmas Story Christmas’
Image Credit: Screenshot courtesy HBO Max/YouTube Max’s sequel to “A Christmas Story” stars Peter Billingsley, as the adult Ralphie, along with Erinn Hayes, Julianna Layne and River Drosche. This time, the story is all about how Ralphie views the holiday now as a father.
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‘The Noel Diary’
Image Credit: KC Bailey/Netflix Fresh off the end of “This Is Us,” Justin Hartley leads Netflix’s heartwarming (yet still pretty sad!) story as a best-selling author who returns home at Christmas following his mother’s death and stumbles on a diary that leads to his father. Barrett Doss costars.
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‘Hotel for the Holidays’
Image Credit: Freevee A hotel manager and a former prince made magic for Amazon’s Freevee holiday movie, starring Madelaine Petsch and Mena Massoud.
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‘A Waltons Thanksgiving’
Image Credit: The CW The CW’s movie is a followup to the 2021’s “The Waltons’ Homecoming,” taking place in 1934 as the Walton family has been affected by the Depression. Teddy Sears, Bellamy Young and Logan Shroyer star.
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‘Reno 911!: It’s a Wonderful Heist’
Image Credit: Prashant Gupta Thomas Lennon’s Lieutenant Dangle returns in Comedy Central’s movie, a continuation of the “Reno 911!” world. The series spent six seasons on CC before its 2009 cancelation; it was later picked up by Quibi then Roku. Plus, last year’s “Reno 911!: The Hunt for QAnon” was nominated in the category.