Jonathan Bennett, Alison Sweeney and More Explain Why They Love Working With Hallmark Channel

usmagazine.com:

As streaming services and rival networks launch their own holiday programming, many actors and actresses have signed deals with Great American Family or Netflix, but several Hallmark Channel staples told Us that have no plans to find Christmas spirit elsewhere.“I don’t think anybody does Christmas the way Hallmark does.

There’s a magic to it, No 1. Also, you know, they were the very first ones that got put me in a Christmas movie. And they’ve been so good to me,” Nikki DeLoach exclusively told Us Weekly at the network’s Countdown to Christmas event in New York City in October 2022. “So for me, it’s like, ‘Why would I go anywhere else?’ These people are my family — all the actors, our executives, our creative executives are my friends.

And, you know, there’s something about the Hallmark audience I will say that is unlike any other audience.”Jonathan Bennett, who stars in The Holiday Sitter as one-half of the network’s first leading gay couple in a Christmas movie, gushed about the support he’s received.“Getting to executive produce The Holiday Sitter and tell the story was a dream come true,” the actor said. “What’s so special about Hallmark Channel is the fact that their stories lead with love and family and that’s what The Holiday Sitter is and they were so supportive of this journey from the moment I had the idea to bring it to fruition.

They supported the journey wholeheartedly and wanted to make sure that we told the story in the best way we could.”Bennett noted that his 2022 film gives “everyone everything they want. … Yes, [it’s] an LGBTQ+-led movie, but it’s not for just LGBTQ+ people.