For years now, Hallmark has been a heated war of Christmas movies, a battle for who can produce the best, the sweetest, the holiest, and jolliest movies of them all. These movies all feature warm and fuzzy settings, quirky characters, and swoon-worthy holiday romances. Fans often debate Hallmark vs. Lifetime Christmas movies and even wonder if Hallmark owns Lifetime because both networks feature such cozy stories.
They both have an absolutely dedicated audience built into them, as year after year devoted fans tune in to see the latest movies, no matter how they turn out. But after all these years, the debate still continues: are Hallmark's classically favorite Christmas movies actually the best, or has Lifetime started to sur them in of quality?
Updated on December 6 2022 by Aya Tsintziras: The difference between Hallmark vs Lifetime Christmas movies often seems slim as both networks offer up enjoyable and sweet holiday movies that are exactly what people would like to see. When comparing Lifetime vs Hallmark, the films all have happy endings, characters making big decisions during this cheery time of year, and snowy scenes and pretty Christmas trees. When comparing whether Hallmark or Lifetime Christmas movies are superior, fans can pick out a few things that they like about each.
Lifetime Christmas Movies Are The Best
Some Lifetime Movies Are Funnier Than Hallmark
When watching Christmas movies, fans know that tropes will be used, and they are often present in Hallmark Christmas movies. Some Lifetime Christmas movies, however, have funnier plotlines, which makes them stick out.
One of the most hilarious Lifetime Christmas movies is On Strike for Christmas which stars Daphne Zuniga as Joy Robertson, a stressed-out wife and mother. Joy is tired of doing everything by herself and encourages her family to help out so she can take a break. Of course, her husband and teenage kids have trouble keeping up the same traditions. It's a feel-good, silly story.
Lifetime Characters Have Better Jobs
When comparing Hallmark vs Lifetime Christmas movies, Lifetime characters have more compelling jobs. The main characters in Hallmark Christmas films tend to have the same kinds of careers, typically advertising or marketing. It can get stale watching the same types of jobs be portrayed.
The Lifetime movie A Sweet Christmas Romance stands out because the main character, Holly, is a food stylist. This is a cool and creative job that isn't usually part of these types of movies, which wins Lifetime a point.
Lifetime Characters Get Together Faster
A key trait of both Hallmark and Lifetime movies is the romance plots; however, both cable networks approach this differently. One of the reasons fans favor Lifetime is because they tend to get their characters together much quicker.
Instead of watching characters pine for each other, Lifetime Christmas movies make the couples official soon, which lets audiences soak in all a Christmas relationship has to offer, including the eventual drama of it all. This is why there were many anticipated Lifetime Christmas movies in 2021 and the same thing is true of 2022.
Lifetime Christmas Movies Tend To Focus On Younger Characters
Everyone deserves a Christmas romance no matter how old or young they are, but Lifetime Christmas movies tend to focus more on the love of younger characters still figuring things out.
With twenty and thirtysomething characters, Lifetime Christmas movies are able to tackle the pressures these young adults feel to have it all together while also juggling the Christmas spirit. It's one of the reasons why Lifetime features younger actors who often starred in iconic teen shows.
Lifetime Is More Modern and Self-Aware
Lifetime has always had a bit of an edge in its reputation as a network, due in large part to the crime thrillers and steamy romances it regularly airs throughout the year. As a result of being edgier than Hallmark, Lifetime's Christmas movies often have a bit more humor and snark to them.
Lifetime Christmas movies can appeal to a more modern audience, using the kinds of jokes and innuendos that any Hallmark movie would blush at, even to this day.
Lifetime Christmas Movies Have Rotating Casts and Characters
It'd be pretty difficult to watch two movies on Lifetime back to back and find any of the same faces or coupling up of characters. It's not a bad thing to lean on comfortable and popular faces and pairings, but Lifetime seldom does just that.
If anything, Lifetime has been committed to finding new talent in recent years, with many of its most successful films in 2020 alone featuring actorsthe network has never worked with before. New isn't always a bad thing, no matter how different it may be.
Lifetime Has The '90s & '00s Nostalgia
It's been interesting to watch the crops of talent change at both networks over the years, but in recent years, it's become clear that Lifetime seems to be the preferred destination for television stars of the 1990s and 2000s.
The cast of One Tree Hill — including Hilarie Burton, Robert Buckley, Tyler Hilton, Bethany Joy Lenz, and more — can regularly be found on Lifetime, while other '90s stars such as 90210 alumni and Sabrina the Teenage Witch's Melissa Joan Hart also pop up on the network.
Lifetime Is More Openly Inclusive
Hallmark may be diversifying their stories and characters more this year, with ing LGBTQ+ characters, but Lifetime has been beating the Hallmark network at this game for years now.
Lifetime regularly features actors of color, interracial romances, Jewish family holiday celebrations, and more, with 2021's crop of films introducing a leading lady with a disability, an Asian American family, and an LGBTQ+ romance front and center.
Lifetime Christmas Movies Are Unafraid to Try New Things
Lifetime is pretty far ahead of Hallmark when it comes to appealing to new, younger, more diverse audiences. But they're also not afraid of trying out new things in of the stories they tell.
While Hallmark continues to deliver romantic stories and retellings of literary favorites like A Christmas Carol, Lifetime focuses on stories that encom entire families, feature modern couples, challenge biases and beliefs, and bring a new meaning to the season. This includes creating one of the first mainstream gay Christmas movies.
Hallmark Christmas Movies Are The Best Because
Hallmark Finds New Ways To Tell Stories Using Favorite, Familiar Tropes
Hallmark Christmas movies are known for their tropes and sometimes that's a good thing, as these films constantly find new ways to tell beloved stories. It's nice to get a new Hallmark release and know what to expect. One good example is the 2022 film A Christmas Cookie Catastrophe.
There have been many Hallmark Christmas movies about a character traveling from the big city to a small town to put a cookie company or factory out of business. The magic of the season means that someone will be able to convince the city-living character that the town needs this company and there's no reason to change anything.
Hallmark Settings Evoke The Holidays The Best
It's hard not to pick Hallmark over Lifetime when it comes to the perfect holiday settings. A Magical Christmas Village is about a girl named Chloe having fun with a small holiday village and realizing that these objects seem to have the power to make the holiday season even more special. Another film, A Cozy Christmas Inn, is set in snow-covered Alaska.
When fans want to see a Christmas movie, they want snow and Christmas trees and other decorations. Hallmark movies are always going to deliver the exact locations that viewers are looking for. This makes Hallmark the quintessential Christmas movie experience.
Hallmark Has The Miracles Of Christmas Themed Lineup
During the months of November and December, Hallmark's Movies & Mysteries channel turns into the Miracles of Christmas channel which has become a fan favorite. With two networks dedicated to Christmas movie programming, it's no wonder Hallmark continues to be so popular.
Miracles of Christmas is a fan favorite for those who like more religious and spiritual Christmas movies. This is a subgenre Lifetime tends to stay away from which is why Hallmark dominates.
Hallmark Christmas Movies Almost Always End With A Romantic Gesture
While Lifetime Christmas Movies tend to get their characters together sooner, Hallmark Christmas movies make the initial pining last longer. This is to the movies' benefit because they all end with some kind of grand romantic gesture that makes audiences swoon.
From someone leaving their job in the big city to over-the-top love proposals, the grand romantic gesture is key in Hallmark's happily ever after formula.
Hallmark Is Cheesy and Proud
Part of what makes Hallmark Christmas movies so easy to make fun of is the incredibly cheesy nature of their stories. Almost too earnest and quaint for their own good, these movies follow unrealistically pretty people in impossible fairytale-type scenarios. The number of royal-themed Christmas movies alone says it all.
But the network never shies away from its wholesome, corny nature. If anything, putting out record numbers of new movies year after year shows that they're more than happily leaning into it.
Hallmark Christmas Movies Have Familiar Leading Faces
Though Hallmark does mix things up once in a while, there's no denying that the network definitely has its favorite leading actors, particularly in the case of its impressively prolific leading ladies.
Actresses like Lacey Chabert, Candace Cameron Bure, Danica McKellar, Alicia Witt, and more can be expected to star in least one new Christmas movie each year for the network, if not more.
Hallmark Has The '70s & '80s Nostalgia
On the other hand, Hallmark has become an almost "second career" haven for older actors, stars of the 1970s and 1980s who can now perfectly inhabit the roles of the main characters' parents and grandparents.
Michael Gross and Meredith Baxter Birney reunited in Naughty or Nice; Treat Williams and Sharon Lawrence play parents in The Christmas House; Donna Mills appears in 12 Gifts of Christmas; while Florence Henderson, Mrs. Brady herself, shows up alongside the ubiquitous John Ratzenberger in Matchmaker Santa.
Hallmark Christmas Movies Rely on Romance
Though some of Hallmark's older (and, often, better) movies focused on family bonds and Christmas-y magical realism, the network has come to realize that its main audience tunes in for one thing and one thing only: romantic wish fulfillment.
Hallmark has, in its own cheesy way, revitalized the conventional romance novel "marriage plot" for a new, holiday-themed entertainment-craving generation, even going so far as to produce Christmas-centric adaptations of classic Jane Austen novels in recent years.
Hallmark Has Tried and True Favorites
There's nothing wrong with loving Hallmark's tried and true recipe for some cozy Christmas comfort. Sure, many of their movies hit the exact same beats act after act, and maybe they all build to the final scene kiss climax between the central lovers.
But there's a reason why Hallmark has long been considered the Christmas network. They know what they're doing, and it works, year after year. The viewership of their movies routinely trounces Lifetime's viewership, too, so maybe Hallmark really does have this market all figured out.
