HALLMARK CHANNEL IS READY FOR YOUR MOM TO HAVE A GREAT CHRISTMAS

Call it a Christmas miracle:  Even though strikes have brought Hollywood to a standstill, Hallmark has 40 all-new, original holiday movies in the pipeline for this year. No, they didn’t break the strike or use scabs.  They didn’t even get exemptions.  They just ramped up production when it became obvious that the strike was coming. Which wasn’t hard, because as one exec put it, quote, “Christmas is a year-round business at Hallmark. “The festivities kick off on Friday, October 20th with “Checkin’ It Twice”, in which, quote, “A journeyman hockey player falls for a real estate agent in a career crisis when he’s traded to her hometown and moves into the cottage in her hockey loving family’s backyard.” Interesting note:  “A Merry Scottish Christmas” premieres on November 18th, featuring Lacey Chabert and Scott Wolf as siblings just like they played on “Party of Five” back in the day.