Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. Netflix’s remake of the 1970s-80s NBC classic “Little House on the Prairie” hews closely to the original...

Watched:  11/20/2025Format:  UP Faith and FamilyViewing:  FirstDirector:  Davis S. Cass Sr. Job: BakerLocation of story:  Somewhere in California?  Outside of San Francisconew skill:  ElfingMan:  Adam MayfieldJob of Man:  Bitch Boy to a CEOGoes to/ Returns to:  Goes toEvent:  Christmas tree lighting ceremonyFood:  Cookies So, new to me and not a Hallmark movie, exactly.  This movie is about a Santa who will stop at literally nothing to make sure Lacey Chabert and her boyfriend break up and almost forces her into a relationship with someone else.  He will bend the very laws of nature, create life, destroy roads...   This Santa is mad with power. Anyway, for a long time, and maybe still, a lot of the movies on Hallmark were technically independent movies.  I am unclear how it works now, but basically Hallmark would help fund movies for North American distribution.  But after X amount of time, these movies were back in the hands of the producers.  Part of how they had so many movies in the years where it seemed like a factory cranking out way too many movies, this was the trick.  They were essentially licensing very cheap indie movies, and part of them funding those movies was that they were given script approval.   And, thus, the sameness of Hallmark.   But you want to know about Santa. As a child, one Christmas Chabert watches her parents start making out.  This sets in her heart her fondest wish, her own Prince Charming with whom to mack down for the Holidays.  20 years later, Chabert  seems to be running her own bakery and is dating a very distracted, young CEO (Thad Luckinbill).  CEO's best pal and major domo is Man (Adam Mayfield), who he seems to treat like a personal assistant, including having Man pick up Chabert for dates.  This has been going on for a while, and they seem indifferent to one another, but Santa (Donovan Scott) has decided these two need to bang. CEO does seem like an idiot.  Even as he invites Chabert to his family's lakehouse, he neglects to mention he's actually hosting a Christmas party to entertain the Board?  Like, this lakehouse isn't nearby, Chabert has to take a flight, and is cornered by Santa who insists on talking to Chabert the whole time while arguably seeming like he's hitting on her. The plot of the movie is then 10,000 manipulations of the fabric of reality as Santa just wrecks the CEO's life, while also offering CEO his throwing his ex at him so he doesn't go away without a prize of his own.   Chabert and Man take their incognito Santa to a small mountain town where he's to play Santa, and their car breaks down (because Santa magic!).  John Ratzenberger plays the lazy mechanic, and Florence Henderson the hotel manager.  And wouldn't you know it, there's not enough rooms and Chabert and Man need to share a room.  Which is in no way awkward.   It is not until Santa has coerced Man and Chabert into elf outfits that suddenly Man is like "whoa ho!  What a hottie!"  which is definitely a kink choice.   Anyway, yeah, at some point Santa either teleports a poor bear or creates a living bear from nothing.  He creates a rockslide off-screen burying a road.  He makes it snow.  He makes GPS devices fail and reservations for restaurants merely disappear.  He's basically *a* deity of some sort.   Any time it's looking like Chabert might escape or CEO might make it to her, Santa plays supernatural cock-blocker.   Curiously, this movie has the weirdest scene you're going to see at the end as Chabert and CEO stand facing each other with their newly selected sexual partners and just say "It's all good.  I'm gonna @#$% this one now." to each other.   Full stop, this is a movie that, Santa or not, is about people cheating on their partner and then both basically laughing about it, high fiving, and going separate ways.  Except Man still has to go report to CEO and his new girlfriend on Monday. Santa is a freak. he sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake... https://signal-watch.com