Day: November 21, 2021

Summer heat brings cool Christmases?

It seems so easy, making all these Christmas movies.
They almost have the same cheery backdrops, the same perky heroine. She’s often expected to return to her home town and/or to squabble with a handsome guy who turns out to be OK after all.
Still, these aren’t that easy to make … starting with the weather. “You always do a Christmas movie in July,” John Schneider said. “As you always do a beach movie in November or December.”
His movie – “Reba McEntire’s Christmas in Tune” (8 p.m. Friday on Lifetime), shown here – has more music than most, along with some of the brightest colors this side of animation. It was also a rare case of a holiday film shot in the South. Read more…

Best-bets for Nov. 23: crises, above- and below-ground

1) “New Amsterdam,” 10 p.m., NBC. It’s time for Max to leave the hospital; he promised to move to England with his loved one, Dr. Helen Sharpe.(They’re shown here in a previous episode.) What could possibly slow their departure? How about a lethal, hospital-wide epidemic? There are a couple flaws here — a minimizing of what would be an intense CDC presence, also, some over-the-top scenes with parents in deep denial. Still, it’s an excellent episode. Read more…