See first photos of HGTV and Food Network's 4 Christmas movies
This holiday season, you won't be able to shake a spatula or a power drill without hitting a new Christmas movie. And part of the reason is because HGTV and Food Network are decking the halls and cooking up a few Yuletide flicks. Four, to be exact.
Each network is behind a pair of branded movies that will debut exclusively on discovery+ on Nov. 11. (There are no current plans to air these films on the respective linear networks.) HGTV's Designing Christmas will feature Hilary Farr (Love It or List It) as the mentor of an interior designer (Jessica Szohr), and A Christmas Open House offers up Ben and Erin Napier (Home Town) as artists helping a property stager (Katie Stevens) sell her mom's home. Meanwhile, Food Network's One Delicious Christmas presents Bobby Flay (Beat Bobby Flay) as a tough food critic, and Gingerbread Christmas spotlights Duff Goldman (Holiday Baking Championship) as a "food celebrity" who runs a gingerbread house competition. Among the other familiar faces in these films are Tiya Sircar, Victor Rasuk, and Vanessa Marano.
HGTV is new to the increasingly crowded holiday-movie space this year, while Food Network dipped into the genre last year with Candy Coated Christmas. While Hallmark and Lifetime remain the dominant homes of Yuletide TV movies — the two will bring you a combined 66 new ones this fall — many networks and streamers have joined the field, including Netflix, HBO Max, Great American Family, OWN, and UPtv. Scroll down for a taste of Food Network's and HGTV's offerings, including the just-released first images of each movie.
HGTV/discovery+ Jessica Szhor and Marco Grazzini
HGTV/discovery+ Jessica Szohr and Hilary Farr
Designing Christmas
Stars: Jessica Szohr, Marco Grazzini, Mykee Selkin, Hilary Farr
Contains: Home renovation show in jeopardy, romantic triangle
Official description: "For the past six years, interior designer Stella (Szohr) and contractor Pablo (Grazzini) have charmed homeowners and viewers alike as co-hosts of the renovation show, House Sweet Home, by relying on their expertise and palpable on-screen chemistry despite not being an actual couple. After the owners of the home slated for their upcoming holiday episode pull out, Pablo and the HSH team convince Stella to be their next client in hopes of saving the episode and the show itself. This has a trepidatious Stella not only agreeing to renovate her family's Victorian home with Pablo (aka The Sledgehammer), but also moving her impending nuptials to fiancé Jack (Selkin) up several months in a bid to make this their biggest and best episode yet. As Stella and Pablo labor together more closely than ever before to bring her family's beloved home back from a state of disrepair in time for the Christmas Eve ceremony, Stella confides in her mentor Freddy (Farr) about the complicated and unexplored feelings that could jeopardize everything."
HGTV/discovery+ Erin Napier, Victor Rasuk, Katie Stevens, and Ben Napier
HGTV/discovery+ Victor Rasuk, Erin Napier, and Ben Napier
A Christmas Open House
Cast: Katie Stevens, Victor Rasuk, Ben Napier, Erin Napier
Contains: Sexual tension between property stager and her high school crush, actual tension over home renovation
Official description: "Melissa Norwood (Stevens) is an ambitious Atlanta property stager who teams with her old high school crush, David Phelps (Rasuk), to sell her newly married mom's home in their small Georgia home town. The place is cozy but hasn't been updated in decades, so the two join up to renovate the place before a couple of wealthy potential buyers are due to see the house on Christmas Eve. Melissa would love to spend a portion of her budget on a few custom projects created by a unique couple, Henry and Sarah Wright (Ben and Erin Napier), who are gifted at small-town home restoration and appreciate the legacy of a family home. Henry is a master woodworker and custom furniture builder, and Sarah is an artist with an expertise in color and transformative design choices. As Christmas approaches and the tensions grow, so does a romantic relationship between Melissa and David, but the fact that Melissa intends to return to Atlanta and start her own business with the cash she will get from the property sale, while David has no intention of leaving his hometown, could be a deal breaker for their new relationship."
Food Network/discovery+ Marc Bendavid and Tiya Sircar
Food Network/discovery+ Duff Goldman
A Gingerbread Christmas
Stars: Tiya Sircar, Sugith Varughese, Kyana Teresa, Duff Goldman, Marc Bendavid
Contains: Bakery in jeopardy, gingerbread house competition
Official description: "After a devastating workplace development throws Hazel Stanley's (Sircar) job prospects as a full-time architect into question, she leaves NYC to spend the holidays with her father Ted (Varughese) in her suburban Chicago hometown. While there, she discovers that the family bakery is even worse off than she imagined, having been on the decline since the passing of her mother. And to add insult to injury, her former best friend Shelby (Teresa) has opened a trendy new bake shop across the street. When all seems to be lost, she gets the idea to enter a Gingerbread house competition led by homegrown food celebrity Mark Clemmons (Goldman) offering a $100k prize — enough to get the ailing bakery back on track. While working on her magnificent cookie edifice, a romance begins to bloom with a local contractor James Meadows (Bendavid) who — along with his daughter — has been helping her father out by lending his baking prowess to the place while trying to fix it up in his spare time. A series of frustrations and misunderstandings threaten to tear them apart, but will the magic of the holiday lead everyone to have a Merry Christmas?"
Food Network/discovery+ Alex Mallari Jr., Kathy Maloney, Bobby Flay, and Vanessa Marano
Food Network/discovery+ Alex Mallari Jr. and Vanessa Marano
One Delicious Christmas
Stars: Vanessa Marano, Kathy Maloney, Bobby Flay, Alex Mallari, Jr
Contains: Inherited inn, Bobby Flay as food critic, tension over holiday menu
Official description: "The future of Vermont culinary destination Haven Restaurant and Inn rests squarely on the shoulders of Abby Richmond (Marano), who inherited the property from her parents. Unfortunately, managing both the restaurant and the inn is a 24/7 commitment, leaving no time for Abby to have a personal life. Her best hope is to secure an investment from restaurant mogul Alexandra Grantham (Maloney), who would provide much needed resources and guidance. But to do so, she'll have to navigate rough waters after top food critic, Tom Kingsley (Flay), visits Haven and gives Alexandra his menu feedback. Hot shot chef Preston Weaver (Mallari, Jr) is brought in by Alexandra to 'shake up' the holiday menu after Abby unexpectedly loses her longtime chef. Unbeknownst to Preston, the menu was curated by Abby's late father, and she's having a tough time letting go of it. Despite their undeniable chemistry, will they be able to put aside their differences in time for Alexandra and Tom's Christmas Eve dinner visit, which will determine whether she invests in Haven or not?"
Check out our daily must-see picks — plus news, celeb interviews, trivia, and more — on EW's What to Watch podcast.
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