One of the biggest challenges of the Christmas season is completing my watch list. First, there are the classics that I’m obligated to view twice each: The Home Alone saga, Christmas with the Kranks, A Christmas Story, White Christmas, etc. Then there are the cheesy, embarrassingly addictive ABC Family original movies: Holiday in Handcuffs, Santa Baby, 12 Dates of Christmas, Santa Baby 2, etc. And finally there are the movies from Lifetime and Hallmark and the other depressing networks that should provide counseling after their Christmas specials. Watching one of these movies means surrendering your happiness for an hour and a half and briefly experiencing the emotional turmoil of some of the world’s most ill-fated movie characters. These holiday films are saturated with tragedy, death and bad fortune. Sure, in the end, the bells ring, the Christmas tree is lit and the grieving children warm up to their new stepfather, but you, the viewer, are left puffy-eyed on your couch, surrounded by your crumpled tissues and ruminating on perhaps the most depressing, poorly-acted out holiday film on television. And yet… you love it.
For your viewing pleasure during these happy holidays, here is a sample of some of television’s saddest yuletide films (best viewed with a warm blanket, something carb-y to eat and a box of Puffs).
1. Three Days (Featuring Charlotte from “Sex and the City”, infidelity, death and an angel)
2. The Christmas Cottage (An artist comes home to help safe his house, seeking help from an elderly mentor)
3. The Christmas Shoes (If the song is any inclination…)
4. November Christmas (An 8-year old girl suffering from a life-threatening illness)
5. Christmas with Holly (A young girl who must live with her three uncles after a tragic accident changes her life)
Photo Sources:
https://life360-wordpress.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2010/12/mh_made_for_tv.jpg
http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/dvd/lionsgate/Christmas_Cottage_5_lg.jpg
http://murverse.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/christmas-shoes.jpg
http://kayedacus.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/november-christmas.jpg