Hallmark Channel fields its own K.C. football romance (not Taylor and Travis)
Hallmark Channel is leaning into its Kansas City roots — and the world-famous romance between music star Taylor Swift and football player Travis Kelce — to score during its lucrative Christmas TV movie season.
For more than a decade, viewers have embraced the cable channel’s “Countdown to Christmas” themed programming — dozens of low-cost movies that begin rolling out in mid-October and play virtually around the clock. On Saturday, Hallmark boosts its lineup with “Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story” — one of two cable TV movies debuting this season that were inspired by Swift and Kelce’s relationship.
In the Hallmark Channel movie, Hunter King plays a young woman who is trying to help her family win a Kansas City Chiefs’ “Fan of the Year” contest. She encounters a team official, played by Tyler Hynes, who is responsible for evaluating the contestants. Hewing to the Hallmark script, the two soon experience warm-and-fuzzy feelings.
“Holiday Touchdown” is a partnership between Hallmark and the Kansas City Chiefs, so the movie also mines the real-life phenomenon of multi-generational relationships bound by a shared love of the Chiefs.
The movie was filmed last summer in the Kansas City area, including at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.
The actor talks about becoming a mainstay on Hallmark and ‘This Time Each Year,’ premiering Thursday, her 30th film for the channel.
Hallmark, the card company, has long called Kansas City home.
“We are extremely grateful for the entire Hallmark team and the unique hometown partnership that’s been created around our two brands and this movie,” Mark Donovan, president of the Kansas City Chiefs, said in a September statement that announced the partnership.
Hallmark Media, which operates its television portfolio, is based in Studio City.
The movie is draped in red and gold and includes cameos by Chiefs players and head coach Andy Reid. There’s also a small role for Donna Kelce, the football player’s mother, who has has become a celebrity herself. On Friday, she was photographed alongside Swift as the pair headed inside Arrowhead Stadium to watch the NFL’s dominant team beat the Las Vegas Raiders.
The movie also features Jenna Bush Hager, Diedrich Bader, Megyn Price, Richard Riehle, Christine Ebersole and Richard Christy.
Park the cynicism and let your heart be light: Switch from Fox News and CNN to the Hallmark Channel.
Made-for-TV holiday movies have become one of the industry’s most reliable — and profitable — staples.
Several networks, including Hallmark and Lifetime, crank out dozens of holiday-themed films each year to join such beloved evergreens as “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation,” “Home Alone” and “A Christmas Story” that play in syndication.
Hallmark’s other holiday-themed movies include “A ’90s Christmas,” “Sugarplummed,” “Following Yonder Star” and “Happy Howlidays.”
Last week, competitor Lifetime debuted its holiday offering loosely based on the Swift-Kelce romance. “Christmas in the Spotlight” stars Jessica Lord as a pop star who falls in love with a football player played by Laith Wallschleger after they meet backstage at one of her concerts.
The once-overlooked genre has become a lucrative cottage industry — and sparked competition for seasonal viewers. Call it the Christmas movie wars.
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