OWN President Tina Perry Unwraps the Network’s Christmas Movies

This year the standard bearers in Christmas movies Hallmark and Lifetime made concerted efforts to be more inclusive OWN Oprah Winfrey Network however did not need to change course to show diversity Sure OWN movies follow the established Christmas movie formula to a point The difference with them is the Black actress is not just the wise best friend She is the starquotThis is a slate we have been interested in developing for quite some timequot said OWN President Tina Perry pictured at top quotLast year was our first year We talk to our viewers a lot We learned from them that holiday movies are something they love and we try to make content relatable to their lives They were not seeing enough movies accurately reflecting their lives and traditionsquotFor the next three Tuesdays on OWN they will First up on December 8 is A Christmas for Mary December 15 brings Cooking Up Christmas and First Christmas premieres on December 22Last year the three OWN Christmas movies reached 17 million unique viewers Perry noted and ranked among the top six of holiday movies on cablequotEveryone loves good old holiday magic love stories and family coming togetherquot she explained quotOur movies are deeply rooted in family and lovequotBeginning with A Christmas for Mary those values are on vivid display Vivica A Fox pictured above Jackamp233e Harry and Morgan Dixon star in the story of a journalist Dixon who looks into her familyamp8217s past while working on a holiday project and discovers a beautiful love story that happens to be perfect for her assignment Fox plays a tough magazine editorIn Cooking up Christmas an MLB player is worried about holding onto his career and his life Lamman Rucker Greenleaf plays Donovan Jackson a widower raising his three children Heamp8217s a great athlete and a great dad but is so strictly disciplined he unintentionally can suck the joy out of a holiday Enter Chloe Meagan Holder pictured above with Rucker an innovative chef who knows how to put some joy into everythingquotWe all know that sports and AfricanAmerican contributions are a part of our history and culture so it was fun to create a movie about a professional athlete raising his kidsquot Perry saidSure we expect Donovan and Chloe to fall in love after all this is a Christmas movie but there are wonderful details that make this an OWN movie While Donovan keeps his children on a militarylike schedule amp8211 enforcing workouts monitoring what they eat he forgets to relax a little Heamp8217s convinced that should a grain of sugar pass their lips something awful will happenChloe though knows her way around a kitchen and figures out healthy versions of Southern classics She provides warmth common sense and delicious food which looks incredibly appetizing Perry shared that the recipes used in this were from the family of Angela BurtMurray who wrote the script That dollop of authenticity seasons it just rightA dose of reality is also woven into First Christmas in which the foster system is a critical plot point Author Halle Idara Victor pictured above left with Tonea Stewart has hit the dreaded writer39s block and could be let go from her book deal a popular series she created if she doesn39t produce Yet Halle who grew up bouncing around foster homes takes a chance and visits with family she never knewquotFirst Christmas explores important subject matter in our communityquot Perry noted quotWith Halle meeting her biological family for the first time we knew we were getting the core our viewers would relate toquotEntertainment a lot of times can glamorize family and make it seem like a seamless experience for everyonequot she continued quotIf you didn39t have that and don39t have it you are in this world of dysfunction And that39s not it at all This girl found her path and journey in the foster care system and it was a very successful onequotOWN39s Christmas movies like the others leave us happier and more hopefulquotWhat makes our movies stand out is we put our audienceamp8217s culture at the centerquot Perry concluded quotBut we have that holiday fun that39s been around for some time We want to bring joy to our viewers39 lives and their families this season We all know what a challenging time this has been for everybody I think we are all looking forward to next year but we want to celebrate the holiday season and give people a moment of what they can be thankful for this year and bring joy to their livesquotA Christmas for Mary premieres December 8 at 9 pm Cooking Up Christmas will be telecast on December 15 at 9 pm First Christmas is scheduled for December 22 at 9 pmClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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OWN President Tina Perry Unwraps the Network’s Christmas Movies

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OWN President Tina Perry Unwraps the Network’s Christmas Movies

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