The other night, Jason and I were attempting to relax after a long few days organizing a Thanksgiving dinner for family and friends. But it was to no avail, since Zola, our almost one-year-old French bulldog, just wanted to play. I
n our house, she seems to always get her way. She is just too damn cute. How cute? We take pictures of her each night and send them to each other. She’s the love of our lives, but that is not what this column is about.
Our real guilty pleasure for the holiday season is to watch, oh please forgive me for admitting this, the Hallmark Channel holiday romance movies. Those cheaply produced, D-list actors with the same sets and poor writing — all of which makes them fun to watch. Guilty-pleasure TV is something we all do to get our minds off the stress of the day. It takes a lot of imagination to watch and accept as reality what these movies are about. And that, I’m sure, is what the producers want — to give you a chance to sit back and just enjoy the romance.
They really are a throwback to the 1960s in some way. But I always wonder with over 60 of these movies produced thus far, when they’ll finally get to a feel-good LGBT holiday romance movie. So Hallmark, you’re on notice: You already have a series of LGBT greeting cards https://www.hallmark.com/lgbtqia/ — so why not go for the movie?
So if you haven’t seen them, and if you’re anywhere near a 10 on the politically correct meter, like the Lifetime Channel movies you should not watch, but on the other hand, if you want sheer escapism and fantasy with a 1960s Doris Day-Rock Hudson movie beamed to 2018, you’ll love. OK, Hallmark, we leave it to you to put us in that same boat. Hey, if Lifetime Channel and Bravo can find a gay audience, not to mention RuPaul’s Drag Race — isn’t it your time?
Mark Segal, PGN publisher, is the nation’s most-award-winning commentator in LGBT media. You can follow him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MarkSegalPGN or Twitter at https://twitter.com/PhilaGayNews.