Hallmark and the holidays go together like, well, egg nog and nutmeg. So it’s not a surprise that, as the folks at Crown Media continue to roll out shows for their new streaming service Hallmark+, they’d have a ton of holiday-themed miniseries among them. In Holidazed, most of the “action” takes place around one well-appointed cul-de-sac in Oregon.
Opening Shot: A gleaming vintage pink Cadillac drives down a holiday-decorated small-town main street.
The Gist: On a cul-de-sac in Oak Bay, Oregon, a number of families are getting ready for the holidays. This means decorating, baking, wrapping gifts. They are also waiting for their loved ones to arrive.
The pink Caddy parks at the Manetti-Hanahan house, which is the house on the cul-de-sac that has so many lights it can seemingly be seen from space. Charles (John C. McGinley) wants the house to be brighter and gaudier than ever this year, and when his wife Connie (Virginia Madsen) pulls up in the Caddy, she’s shocked to see her son-in-law on a bucket lift, hanging tinsel.
Every holiday season, Charles has beef with Manny Camarera (Tim Perez), his next-door neighbor, over the lights. As he frets over whether the lights are infringing on his yard, his wife Clarice (Françoise Robertson) tries to get him to focus on the arrival of their daughter Gaby (Noemi Gonzalez). She’s alarmed, though, to learn that her brother Kevin (Bert Cardozo) is dating Katie Manetti-Hanahan (Holland Roden), who of course is part of their archrival next-door neighbor’s family.
Mike and Jennifer Lewin (Jeff Joseph, Robinne Fanfair) are anticipating the tension that may occur when her divorced parents, Robert (Dennis Haysbert) and Linda (Loretta Devine) will be sharing the same space. One thing Jennifer doesn’t tell her father, however, is that Linda is bringing her new boyfriend with her.
At the Lin house, Ted (Osric Chau) is visiting with his fiance Marcus (Shawn Ahmed); his mother Lois (Sharon Crandall) is excited to help them plan their wedding. She’s also happy that her mother-in-law, Grandma Lin (Lucille Soong) will be going to a spa, a gift from her and her husband Steve (Stanley Jung). Ted is relieved because, well, he hasn’t told Grandma that he’s gay, though he’s out to everyone else. But when Grandma shows up, Ted introduces Marcus as his “friend.” And when Grandma finds the wedding planning binder, she assumes Marcus is the fiance of Ted’s rather-be-single sister Ella (Jasmine Chen).
Lucy Woods (Lindy Booth) is content to spend a quiet Hanukkah with her daughter Annie (Bella Grace), until her attention-sucking sister Sylvie (Rachelle Lefevre) blows into town. Josh Hill (Ian Harding) visits his family right before he and his girlfriend make a big move to Australia, but he keeps having friendly but contentious run-ins with the town’s sheriff, Nora Jacobs (Erin Cahill), a former high school classmate.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Holidazed feels like a series version of those all-star Garry Marshall-directed holiday films: Mother’s Day, New Year’s Eve and Valentine’s Day.
Our Take: Watching the first episode of Holidazed really was an exercise in keeping track of all the stories that creator Claudia Grazioso and her writers have presented in the span of 42 minutes. All six family situations are introduced, with the only real crossing between them having to do with Belle having a crush on longtime best friend Max Lewin (Lennox Leacock) and the aforementioned romance between Katie and Kevin.
At some point or another, we may see the families mix together — especially in the feud between the Camarenas and the Manetti-Hanrahans — but the structure of the rest of the episodes, which concentrates on one of the six family situations, will likely minimize those interactions.
That structure will be helpful, because ping-ponging back and forth between all of these families would get tiring after a few episodes. It may also give viewers a chance to visit the families they liked best during the first episode before visiting the rest.
The stories all seem to be in the Hallmark viewers’ comfort zones, though the one that feels most retro is the misunderstandings and confusion that ensues in the Lin family simply because Grandma doesn’t know Ted is gay, and they don’t want to tell her for fear that it’ll “agitate” her, due to a recent medical emergency. It certainly feels like that plot came straight out of a sitcom episode from the eighties, complete with the idea that Marcus and Ella are going to have to pretend to be a couple. Let’s hope that by the end of the Lin’s episode, those misunderstandings are resolved.
The rest of the stories don’t really represent anything life-altering. There isn’t even any real dysfunction, as much as some of the characters throw that word around a lot. Charles and Connie have to deal with Katie being a “traitor” and his son Clark (Giles Panton) and his wife Laurie (Hilary Jardine) try to eat vegan in a very meat-oriented home. But they all represent the usual mishegas families go through at the holidays, when there’s some conflict, a lot of togetherness, and situations both joyous and deeply uncomfortable.
The most intriguing story is the obvious romantic setup between Josh and Nora, because it has all the earmarks of a classic rom-com. We pretty much know that Josh is never going to leave for Australia, for instance. But even though we have a good idea how this story is going to turn out, we still want to see it because of the chemistry between Cahill and Harding.
Sex and Skin: None.
Parting Shot: After the usual family Manetti-Hanahan family squabbling, Connie has everyone sign a behavioral pact, which includes no drinking (!) and no swearing. After Charles lights up the house, and then the lights immediately go out, he yells, “ffffff…udge!”
Sleeper Star: We’ll watch John C. McGinley in just about anything, and he’s in classic McGinley form here as Charles Manetti-Hanahan.
Most Pilot-y Line: Josh, who’s an architect, helps Nora’s son Theo (Sebastian Billingsley-Rodriguez) stabilize his Lego tower, in an eye-rolling moment where Nora can see how good he is with kids.
Our Call: STREAM IT. Holidazed will make you dazed after the first episode, because of all the stories and characters that are introduced. But then the show should settle into what is basically a series of mini Hallmark-style holiday films, with all the feelgood scenes those films are known for.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.