The Best Made-for-TV Christmas Movies

The Christmas season is a great time to relax and watch some sentimental (and sometimes corny) Christmas movies. Some of my favorite Christmas movies are made-for TV movies that air on networks like Lifetime, The Hallmark Channel and Oxygen. Here are some of the best made-for TV movies of all time.

It Happened One Christmas (1977).That Girl star Marlo Thomas stars in this remake of the 1947 movie It's a Wonderful Life. Just like her male counterpart, George Bailey in IAWL, Thomas' character, Mary Bailey Hatch (name lifted directly from the original movie) wishes she had never been born, so an angel shows her what life would have been like for her loved ones if she'd never existed.

Holiday Affair (1996). This remake of the 1949 movie of the same title stars Cynthia Gibb and David James Elliot as two strangers who meet during the holidays and strike up a romance. But Gibb's character, Jodie Ennis, has one small problem-- a loyal fiancé.

The Homecoming: A Christmas Story (1971). This movie introduced viewers to the TV family The Walton's, which was actually a spin off of this movie. Set on Christmas Eve 1933, the Walton family awaits the return of their father, John, who was out of town trying to find work. Oldest son John Boy is sent out to find his missing daddy. While this movie featured all of the child actors from the Walton's TV series, the roles of the Walton parents were (played by Patricia Neal and Andrew Duggan.

The Gathering (1977). Edward Asner stars in this Emmy award winning movie about a dying man who attempts to reconcile with his estranged family during the holiday season. Maureen Stapleton stars as his estranged wife.

Three Days (2001). This tearjerker stars Kristin Davis (Sex and the City) and Reed Diamond as an unhappily married couple who get a second chance. Three days before Christmas, his wife is tragically killed, and Andrew Farmer (Diamond) has plenty of regret. An angel intervenes and gives him a chance to relive his wife's last 3 days with her.

Borrowed Hearts (1997). Roma Downey stars as Kathleen Russell, a struggling single mom who agrees to pose as the wife of her boss so he can impress a business associate. But as the business deal closes, do doors open for the faux couple?

Holiday Switch (2007).Baywatch star Nicole Eggert stars as a stressed out wife who is given the chance to see what her life would have been like if she had married her now-successful high school boyfriend.

Ebbie (1995).All My Children star Susan Lucci plays a female Scrooge in this updated version of Charles Dickens' classic story, "A Christmas Carol". While remakes of "A Christmas Carol" have been done many times before, I love Lucci's portrayal of Ebbie Scrooge, a hard-nosed businesswoman who seems to have lost the true meaning of Christmas.

The Christmas List (1997). Mimi Rogers plays a frustrated perfume counter clerk who finds that you should be careful what you wish for when her list of Christmas wishes starts to come true.

Santa Baby (2006). Jenny McCarthy stars in this made for TV movie as the business exec daughter of the real Santa Claus, who travels back to her hometown in the North Pole to help her ailing father out.

The Christmas Card (2006). This movie stars Edward Asner, John Newton and Alice Evans. Newton plays a soldier in Afghanistan who falls in love after receiving an anonymous Christmas card. This Hallmark Channel movie was appropriately titled indeed!

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Christmas_films
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076213/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067209/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gathering_(1977_TV_film)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0301935/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1083992/