All My Children
TONIGHT: AMC Alum Jonathan Bennett in Hallmark’s First LGBTQ+ Led Rom-Com ‘The Holiday Sitter’
In Hallmark’s first holiday movie offering featuring a same-sex love story at its epicenter, Jonathan Bennett (ex-JR Chandler, All My Children) not only stars, but is the project’s executive producer. And, on Sunday night, when The Holiday Sitter premieres at 8 p.m. EST, it’s a big deal.
After much outcry for Hallmark’s Countdown to Christmas programming block to be more inclusive, the channel is now poised to be on the right side of history.
The set-up of this ‘meet-cute’ rom-com goes something like this: Sam (Bennett) who is a workaholic has to ditch his Hawaiian holiday plans when he is asked to watch his sister’s children (his niece and nephew). However, when Sam becomes overwhelmed, he gets a helping hand from his sister’s neighbor, Jason played by George Krissa. And within a blink of an eye, Sam and Jason find they are both unattached and attracted to each other, and Christmas becomes a lot brighter for the two of them.
As for Bennett, he previously appeared in Hallmark’s 2020 film, The Christmas House which was the channel’s first holiday movie to include a same-sex storyline. He later returned to that role in last year’s sequel The Christmas House 2: Deck Those Halls.
Bennett told USA Today on tonight’s milestone Hallmark holiday tale: “What’s so special about The Holiday Sitter is that it’s the first time we’ll see two men meet-cute and fall in love at Christmas. We tell a story that’s really important, so people that are watching it feel seen when they watch it. But just like Christmas is for everybody, The Holiday Sitter is for everybody… It just happens to have two men as the lead.”
Photo: HallmarkChannel
Hallmark Media’s Executive Vice-President, Lisa Hamilton told Deadline: “We felt that it was time for a story with a gay couple. We are really trying to make it so that everybody sees themselves when they tune in. We are trying to stay true to the Hallmark brand values, one of which is inclusiveness. It’s a true of Hallmark cards, which has a card for every kind of occasion. In the past, there was a focus on one particular kind of love story, and I think everybody thought, ‘wow, we’re not telling the whole story here.’”
I will check out The Holiday Sitter. But not news to me that Hallmark has been showing more inclusive stories in the last couple of years. These include racial, ethnic, and gender. Even a Hanukah story. Sometimes even more than the soaps.
I’ll skip it, just like I do all these sappy cheesy Helliday Hallmark movies. That said, a gay couple in a sappy movie is just as good as a straight couple, if you want to watch those things.
As for what Candace Cameron or her brother think about anything….. well, I think you all can guess how a Devil feels about those two.
Satan … You should LOVE Candace and Kirk!!!!! They push exactly the type of divisive, hateful Christianity that makes it easy for you to debunk it! Those two (and all of Hollywood) make your job easy!! What do you got to complain about?
If you really want to see something HELLarious, look up the videos Kirk made with one if his preacher friends named Ray Comfort. Especially the one where he insists that bananas are proof of my Former Employer’s existence & creation plans. (even though the common banana you find in your grocery stores was actually a hybrid created by the agriculture industry and never existed in the “wild”.)
No report here for The Holiday Sitter. I watched for a while, but it was one of the Hallmark shows that didn’t appeal to me. And not because of the gayness. So I changed the channel, and found a Harry Potter that I hadn’t seen for a while. Satan, A few of characters that belong in your domain. :)))
Maybe they’ll do a Voldemort Hallmark movie next?
Yay! Loved it as much, if not more than any other HM Christmas movie!
This is so encouraging!!It is hard to believe that in this day and age that anyone working in Hollywood can be homophobic as is Candace Bure.
Steve Burton is also said to be so. Very disappointing since he is now working and has been working on shows with gay writing regimes.
Yea. It is REALLY sad when people have an opinion contrary to yours. You expect people to bend over backwards (literally) to follow your opinion … But if anyone disagrees with your opinion, they ought to be killed. Let people live!!
That reply is rather satirical. The bending over backwards mention is crude. Nobody mentioned anything about killing anyone. And letting people live is what LGBT+ people have been seeking for decades, so thank you for agreeing in a roundabout way.
I will gratefully pass … But hope it does well.
In the ratings and such!!! These actors need to make a living!
When I first watched Hallmark a few years ago it was a nice, happy ending network. No academy awards here. A diversion from real life dramas and violence going on everyday in the news. And I liked their stores, But now controversy re program content between the newer competing network and some actors leaving to join it. Very disappointing.
I case anyone is interested just saw a cleaned up version of Josh Kelly/Cody/GH is in a Hallmark movie Christmas Bells Are Ringing 2018. :)))
Just to keep you updated on Hallmark. :)))). It was featured on CBS Sunday Morning today as the happy show, that has a good ending, with romance, high cable ratings, and many women viewers of all ages. I’ve even noticed the major big three cable networks have a happy Christmas movie or two this year. Daytime soaps could take a lesson. Since they are shown 24/7, in a way these Hallmark movies are also taking the place of soaps for “romance in the afternoon” instead of all of the violence on GH recently. It showed about how Hallmark has gotten more inclusive over the years, including a gay story “The Holiday Sitter.”
All My Children
‘All My Children’ Movie Writers for Lifetime Revealed: Ron Carlivati, Jamey Giddens and Leo Richardson
This week began and as reported with a spotlight article on Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos and how their production entity, Milojo, has been teeing up the All My Children reboot with Lifetime.
The L.A. Times featured the married couple, co-hosts of Live with Kelly and Mark, and former All My Children cast members (where they met and fell in love) about their plans to bring two All My Children movies to Lifetime and how they are working with the Agnes Nixon estate to make it come to fruition,
On Wednesday, it was revealed by Daytime Confidential, that All My Children reboot producer, Andrew Stearn handpicked none other than Ron Carlivati (ex-head writer, One Life to Live, General Hospital and Days of our Lives) and Jamey Giddens (who is the new co-head writer of The Young and the Restless, following his tenures on the writing teams of Beyond the Gates and Days of Our Lives), as the two scribes who will bring the first of two of Kelly and Mark’s All My Children movies to the page.
Photo: IMDb
RON CARLIVATI AND JAMEY GIDDENS CONFIRM THEIR BOARDING THE ALL MY CHILDREN MOVIE PROJECT
The second installment is said to be written by primetime writer Leo Richardson whose credits include: Star, Katy Keene and more recently the Penn Badgley (ex-Phillip Chancellor IV, The Young and the Restless) starring series, You.
Richardson also wrote for three years on the U.K.’s long-running soap, EastEnders. All My Children revival fans will recall Richardson’s name was attached as the writer for the first incarnation of the All My Children movies, entitled, Pine Valley.
Ron Carlivati took to X and confirmed he is indeed boarding the All My Children movie project. Carlivati shared, “So excited to share this news! Thanks to Andrew Stearn, Kelly Ripa, Mark Consuelos, Albert Bianchini and the Agnes Nixon estate for entrusting Jamey Giddens and me with the first of two planned All My Children movies for Lifetime! Stay tuned!”
Photo: Jeremy Smith/imageSPACE
Jamey Giddens confirmed DC’s announcement by taking to his account on X and expressing, “I’ve been booked and busy in 2026. Thanks to Andrew Stearn, the Agnes Nixon estate, Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos for entrusting Ron Carlivati, and me with the first of two planned All My Children movies for Lifetime!”
Some fans seemed to question how Giddens could be writing for the first All My Children movie at Lifetime, when he is the new co-head writer at The Young and the Restless with Dan O’Connor. Jamey answered that head on via X and explained, “We turned in our All My Children script months ago. My sole focus as of this past Monday, is Genoa City, Wisconsin! #YR”
ERICA KANE, MARIA SANTOS AND HAYLEY AND MATEO SANTOS TO APPEAR IN THE ALL MY CHILDREN MOVIE REVIVAL?
In the planned stories, Susan Lucci’s Erica Kane and Eva LaRue’s Maria Santos will be two characters whose lives we will get to see for the first time since the series was canceled by ABC back in 2011 after 41 years on the air. As well, Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos confirmed they will make brief appearances on-screen; one could assume as Hayley and Mateo Santos.
“It’d be wonderful to give the fans something that they’ve been yearning for so many years,” shared Mark Consuelos to the LA Times. “All My Children gave me my family. I met my wife there. It gave me my start in the business. It gave us so much. It would be a dream to be able to give back.”
So, what do you think of Ron Carlivati and Jamey Giddens getting nod to write the All My Children movie #1 script and Leo Richardson #2? Weigh-in via the comment section below.
All My Children
‘All My Children’ Revival Updates: Lifetime EVP Speaks on Why Proposed Movies are Great Fit, Mark Consuelos Wants To ‘Give Back’ to Fans
The All My Children revival via movies at Lifetime is still in the works from former series stars and marrieds, Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos, through their production company, Milojo.
The co-hosts of Live with Kelly and Mark were featured this week in a Los Angeles Times article which detailed their efforts to bring some of the citizens of Pine Valley back to your screens.
As previously reported, and reaffirmed by the L.A. Times, the All My Children movies will be set in the present day and focus on what beloved characters such as Erica Kane (Susan Lucci) and Maria Santos Gray (Eva LaRue) are doing now. In addition, Kelly Ripa confirmed that she and Mark Consuelos will also appear on screen briefly most likely appearing in their signature soap roles as Hayley and Mateo Santos.
Photo: ABC
ALL MY CHILDREN MOVIES BRING NOSTALGIA THAT CAN BE MADE TO FEEL NEW AGAIN
Elaine Frontain Bryant, executive vice president and head of programming for A&E, Lifetime, and Lifetime Movie Network said of the All My Children reboot, “Lifetime is always interested in shows that kind of tap into a powerful nostalgia that can be made fresh for today’s audience. There’s a whole generation of women that have missed these stories and these characters.”
As for working with Kelly and Mark on the Lifetime movie versions of the soap, “They’re exactly the kind of partners you want at a brand,” expressed Bryant. “They’re trusted voices because every day they’re talking to their audience, which, a lot of times, is our audience. They bring a real credibility and have an authentic point of view. You meet Kelly and Mark and kind of what you see is what you get, and I think they bring that same authenticity to their development standards.”
Albert Bianchini, executive producer for Milojo, says he knows All My Children is so wildly popular with the fans of daytime. That was punctuated when seeing it in person, and how the energy was off the charts back in January of 2025 when Kelly participated along with Susan Lucci, former head writer, Lorraine Broderick and casting director, Judy Blye Wilson in a conversation with Andy Cohen at the 92nd Street Y in New York City.
© Steven Bergman/AFF-USA.COM Credit: AFF/Alamy Live News
“I’ve never seen a crowd like that in my life. People were lined up around the block, recalled the Bianchini. “Everyone wanted to know, ‘When is (All My Children) coming back? We want more.’ We got to see that in real life and Kelly got to feel it in real life, and it made so much sense. I just know that the minute it gets out in the world, people will want more and more and more. There’s just a love there.”
Kelly Ripa added that they are, “working closely with Bob and Sarah Nixon, who are also serving as producers.” She recalled, “She (Agnes Nixon) was so far ahead of her time. She covered topics that weren’t being covered. It was extraordinary the audiences that the show drew, and she served them real stories that were affecting Americans across the country but weren’t necessarily being represented anywhere.”
“It’d be wonderful to give the fans something that they’ve been yearning for so many years,” shared Mark Consuelos. “All My Children gave me my family. I met my wife there. It gave me my start in the business. It gave us so much. It would be a dream to be able to give back.”
THE CANCELLATION AND STOPS AND STARTS OF ALL MY CHILDREN REBOOTS
All My Children aired on ABC from 1970 to 2011. It got a second chance at life when Prospect Park resurrected the show and brought it to The OnLine Network and Hulu for one season in 2013.
Recently, the series made a return through the estate of Agnes Nixon and is streaming internationally on BEONDTV and through their partnership with PlutoTV Canada with episodes starting in 1995. Fans hope original episodes will some day soon be available in the U.S. as well, but that could prove more difficult since ABC owns the rights to the episodes stateside.
Now 13 years later, while there is no word yet on a definitive production start date to the two movies at Lifetime, all the people involved seemed determined to make it come to life.
So, what do you think of the executive vice-president of Lifetime and LMN being enthusiastic about Kelly and Mark’s All My Children movie revivals? Are you wanting to see this come to fruition? Kelly and Mark seem to have made this a very high priority. Do you hope that by 2027 we might be able to get this to the finish the line and into production? Weigh-in via the comment section.
Starting on May 1, All My Children fans in Canada will be able to see classic episodes of the beloved former ABC soap opera when they stream on Pluto TV Canada.
Pluto TV picked-up the All My Children Channel that the Nixon family has created in partnership with BEONDTV +. The show which aired for 41 years on ABC and ended on the network in 2011, had so many memorable storylines and characters; the least of which is the enduring run of Erica Kane played by soap icon, Susan Lucci.
As previously reported, starting with episodes from the year 1995, which was the 25th anniversary of the soap. Pluto TV Canada viewers will be able to catch 8 episodes on repeat per day. With the success of the venture, the Nixons are hopeful that they will bring viewers many more years of the show to come.
Photo: ABC
Sarah Nixon, producer, shared with Michael Fairman TV exclusively, “We are thrilled that Pluto TV has launched All My Children in Canada! Let’s hope the engagement from our incredibly loyal fans across the border will encourage ABC to bring it to the U.S.! We share what Aggie (Agnes Nixon) always felt, that it is the enthusiasm and love from the fans that has kept this legacy beloved and relevant – to this day!”
In addition, 0ne week ago, during Susan Lucci’s visit to Los Angeles promoting her book La Lucci, she was joined by her former Pine Valley castmates, Rebecca Budig (ex-Greenlee, AMC, now Taylor, B&B) and Eva LaRue (ex-Maria, AMC) and the trio posed for a pic. At that time, LaRue shared via Instagram, “NEW All My Children channel streaming classic episodes 24/7 now on Pluto TV Canada! Fingers crossed to watch soon on Pluto US.”
That was also confirmed this week by TV Watercooler’s Jeevan Brar who took to X and expressed, “The All My Children channel begins streaming this Friday, May 1 on Pluto TV Canada.
So, Canadian viewers, excited about Pluto TV’s All My Children channel? United States fans, hopeful from Sarah’s message that perhaps soon, we can see the beloved soap once again as well? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.
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