Hallmark Channel Is Giving Us What We Need Right Now

Some feel-good pandemic news from the company that pretty much invented feel-good: The Hallmark Channel is running a Christmas movie marathon this weekend, as the country hunkers down to self-isolate amid the coronavirus outbreak. It starts Friday at noon Eastern, and ends 27 movies later, at 6pm Sunday. The marathon will feature films starring such familiar Hallmark faces as Candace Cameron Bure, Lacey Chabert, Danica McKellar, and Holly Robinson Peete, ETOnline reports. It won't be just holiday fare airing over the weekend; Hallmark will also air preview specials for its upcoming spring lineup and will debut a new movie Saturday night as planned.

"LOL I got a Hallmark Channel email announcing a 'Need A Little Christmas Movie Marathon' and burst into tears, so. That's today!" tweeted NPR's Linda Holmes in response to the news. Not everyone was so emotional about it, or at least not in a good way: "The tipping point of cutting the cord is based on Hallmark Channel's decision to play Christmas movies now," tweeted one dismayed commenter. "I cannot be in my house 24x7 and have those movies on more than once in a 12 month period." (More coronavirus stories.)