If you've seen any of the dozens of new Christmas movies this season on Hallmark Channel, Lifetime or ION Television, perhaps you've noticed that they have a cookie-cutter sameness.
The first clue is when you find yourself saying, "Hey, didn't Candace Cameron Bure (or maybe it's Lacey Chabert or Alicia Witt or Melissa Joan Hart) star in a similar movie yesterday?" Then you recognize familiar story elements: a beautiful businesswoman visiting a homey small town days before Christmas, a cute first meeting with a generically handsome man, a team effort to save the town's cherished Yuletide tradition, all of it building to a "now-we're-a-couple" kiss as a wrapup.
It's as if these movies are all cobbled together using the same script, one that comes with "Mad Libs"-style blank spaces throughout so that specific details can be filled in to make each film a smidge different. Here's your chance to create a fill-in-the-blanks TV Christmas movie the same way the professionals do it.
