Hallmark Channel’s 17th annual Countdown to Christmas kicks off this Friday, October 16, with three new movies over opening weekend: ‘Tis the Season for Setups, Holiday Touchdown: A Bears Love Story and Mr. & Mrs. Christmas. Each premieres at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Hallmark Channel and streams the next day on Hallmark+, and Hallmark Mystery joins in Sunday with a Christmas Kisses movie marathon.
Countdown to Christmas has 34 original movies on the schedule this year, and our full Countdown to Christmas 2026 schedule has every title and date. Here is what is on tap for week one.
Friday opens at a ski resort. In ‘Tis the Season for Setups, Suits star Amanda Schull plays Lexi, a hyper-organized single mom and party planner hired to run a ski lodge’s annual holiday party. She brings along her free-spirited mother June, played by Barbara Niven, and her teenage daughter Piper, played by Verity Marks. Lexi butts heads with Ridge, the ski instructor and son of the lodge’s owner, played by Victor Webster. Then the two spot a spark between June and Ridge’s father, Dan, and team up to play matchmaker. The catch is that June and Dan keep turning every setup into a foursome.
Saturday heads to Chicago. In Holiday Touchdown: A Bears Love Story, Lyndsy Fonseca plays Avery, a freelance reporter home for Christmas who lands a story on Darlene, a Bears superfan about to attend her 500th game, played by four-time Academy Award nominee Marsha Mason. Avery knows next to nothing about football, so Darlene nudges her grandson Matt, a Chicago firefighter and die-hard fan played by Robert Buckley, into showing her what Bears Nation is all about. Barbara Alyn Woods and Khary Payton play Avery’s mom and new stepdad. The cameo list is the real draw for football fans: head coach Ben Johnson, quarterback Caleb Williams, tight ends Colston Loveland and Cole Kmet, Bears legends Mike Singletary, Charles “Peanut” Tillman and Dan Hampton, Connie Payton, wife of the late Walter Payton, and Staley Da Bear. It follows Hallmark’s first NFL team-up, Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story, in 2024.
Sunday starts early on Hallmark Mystery, with a Christmas Kisses marathon from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET/PT featuring One December Night, The Christmas Contest, Return to Christmas Creek and A Christmas Together with You. That night on Hallmark Channel, Mr. & Mrs. Christmas pairs Chesapeake Shores’ Brendan Penny with When Calls the Heart’s Pascale Hutton. Penny plays Taylor, a single dad and holiday display expert who moves his two kids to the town of Pineway weeks before Christmas. Reviving the town’s Christmas Market partners him with Sophie, a practical accountant out to prove she is ready to lead, while Taylor learns his teenage daughter may be outgrowing the family’s traditions.
Week two keeps going right away, with Winter Wonderlanes starring Ashley Newbrough and Franco Lo Presti on October 23, Forgotten Holiday starring Janel Parrish and Daniel Lissing on October 24 and What If Christmas starring Lori Loughlin and Tom Cavanagh on October 25.
Our take is that Hallmark picked a smart opening weekend. A ski lodge, a Chicago Bears love story and a small-town Christmas market cover three very different kinds of holiday movie nights, and a cameo list with Caleb Williams and Mike Singletary should pull in viewers who would not normally tune in to Hallmark on a Saturday in October.
