About Christmas TV History

Sunday, July 17, 2022

Christmas in July 2022: A Dream of Christmas (2016)

 



Merry Christmas in July! It is Day #17 of the month-long celebration of Christmas entertainment. As announced before, each day this month I will be sharing brief reminisces about Christmas TV episodes, specials, and movies with a IT'S A WONDERFUL SUMMER attitude. Yes--this month I'm sharing brief essays about TV adaptations of the 1946 movie "It's a Wonderful Life" along with TV programs with significant references to the movie. Just a little something different and a way for me to show off the diversity of holiday stories I've collected in the encyclopedia Tis the Season TV (the updated and expanded 2nd edition being released soon).   


Today's discussion is on the Christmas TV movie A Dream of Christmas which made its debut on Dec. 3, 2016 on the Hallmark Channel. In this feature-length story, Penny is feeling frustrated when she considers how changed her life would be if she had made different decisions. When she slips on the ladder placing the angel on top of the Christmas tree, Penny awakens to find her wish come true--she’s not married and she has a more senior position at the advertising company where she works. As a single woman with a better career, Penny re-evaluates her life, in this story inspired by the 1946 holiday movie It's a Wonderful Life.

The cast includes Nikki DeLoach as Penny Atwell, Andrew Walker as Stuart Fischer, and Cindy Williams as the angel Jayne.

 

 

A Dream of Christmas fulfills the romance formula of Hallmark Christmas movies while also paying homage to the narrative structure of It's a Wonderful Life by giving a character a glance at an alternate life guided by a guardian angel.


Are you familiar with this 2016 Hallmark movie? Have you seen this one before? Please feel free to leave comments below.


Joanna Wilson is a TV researcher and book author specializing in Christmas entertainment. More about the TV programs mentioned on this website can be found in her book "Tis the Season TV: the Encyclopedia of Christmas-themed Episodes, Specials, and Made-for-TV Movies." Her latest book "Triple Dog Dare: Watching--& Surviving--the 24-Hour Marathon of A Christmas Story" was released in 2016. She is currently updating and expanding the encyclopedia for an upcoming release. Her books can be found at the publisher's website: 1701 press.com

*Support this website and its research by purchasing the books at 1701 press.com

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