AUNT BETTY: Hey, y'all. This is Sam's Aunt Betty. This week, the business behind holiday movies. All right, let's start the show.
SAM SANDERS, HOST:
Hey, y'all. You're listening to IT'S BEEN A MINUTE from NPR. I'm Sam Sanders. It's a holiday weekend. So we're going to give you an episode right now all about holiday movies and not just the great ones but the cheesy ones, too - you know, the TV movies on Hallmark and Netflix with actors who are famous enough and plotlines that are equal parts ridiculous and predictable.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "A RICH CHRISTMAS")
TYLER ABRON: (As Valerie Rich) Now that Thanksgiving is behind us, we can all focus on my favorite time of the year.
STEPHEN SORRENTINO: (As Henley) I can only guess.
ABRON: (As Valerie Rich) Christmas.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "WRAPPED UP IN CHRISTMAS")
TATYANA ALI: (As Heather Nash) It's not easy meeting someone great. Maybe I will take a break from dating during the holidays, maybe through spring.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "A CHRISTMAS CRUSH")
CINDY SAMPSON: (As Addie) Christmas is the busiest time of year at my office. So I thought I'd brighten everyone's Monday. It's hard to be grumpy with a Mary Berry muffin in your mouth.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "JINGLE JANGLE: A CHRISTMAS JOURNEY")
PHYLICIA RASHAD: (As Grandmother Journey) Once upon a time lived the greatest inventor that ever there was, Jeronicus Jangle.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) Merry Christmas.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) Merry Christmas, indeed.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As character) Jangle...
SANDERS: I brought two self-professed holiday movie superfans on the show to help me with this discussion, Pop Culture Happy Hour co-host Linda Holmes and author and former NPR Code Switch reporter Kat Chow. We'll share our holiday movie favorites and least favorites in this episode. And we'll tell you just how the holiday movie industrial complex became big, big business. All right. Enjoy.
Why does it seem like this year, last year, last two or three years, there are more and more holiday movies every year - like, dozens? Are we in the midst of, like, peak holiday movie?
LINDA HOLMES, BYLINE: Well, they do well. That's why people keep doing them.
SANDERS: OK.
HOLMES: They are, I believe, cheap to make...
SANDERS: Yeah.
HOLMES: ...Fairly easy to replicate. Hallmark gets very good ratings during this time of year. They get a big audience for these relative to what cable television now pulls. If they're on broadcast of some sort, you can show them over and over. And if they're on streaming, you can leave them available as long as you want. I think it's return on investment, Sam. I got to tell you.
KAT CHOW: Yeah.
HOLMES: I don't think it's...
CHOW: Yeah.
HOLMES: ...The magic of Christmas.
SANDERS: OK.
CHOW: But I also wonder if right now, you know, these days the past few years, people are just really searching for that type of balm. And then also with production schedules, it's easier to get sort of the big-ticket stars like Brooke Shields for Netflix or Jimmy O. Yang - the relatively big stars to star in these movies that are quite formulaic. But, you know, you're - they're fun. And you know what to expect.
HOLMES: Yeah.
SANDERS: Yeah. So, you know, there are increasingly a large number of Netflix holiday movies. But Hallmark still takes the cake in this. They have, like, dozens of holiday movies...
HOLMES: Yes.
SANDERS: ...Every year, it seems. And by some metrics, over the course of a holiday season, some 80 million-plus people will consume some kind of Hallmark holiday film content.
HOLMES: That's just...
SANDERS: What the heck?
HOLMES: ...The ones that admit it, you know?
CHOW: Yes.
HOLMES: So the real...
SANDERS: Wow.
HOLMES: ...Number is probably larger, I would guess.
SANDERS: When did Hallmark Channel become such a holiday movie machine?
HOLMES: I'm going to say roughly 15 years ago, it really...
SANDERS: OK.
HOLMES: ...Started to ramp up. I can remember - and I don't know if it was Hallmark. But I remember waiting for some medical tests to come back right around Christmas. Everything was fine.
SANDERS: Yeah.
HOLMES: And I spent, like, a couple of days at my parents' house watching "Single Santa Seeks Mrs. Claus," I think it's called...
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SINGLE SANTA SEEKS MRS. CLAUS")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #4: (As character) Who is it?
CRYSTAL BERNARD: (As Beth) His name's Nick. And he's cute in this smiling, loving kind of way.
SANDERS: (Laughter).
HOLMES: ...With Crystal Bernard from "Wings" and Steve Guttenberg.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SINGLE SANTA SEEKS MRS. CLAUS")
STEVE GUTTENBERG: (As Nick) I just can't play Santa.
BERNARD: (As Beth) Yes, you can.
GUTTENBERG: (As Nick) I'm just not right for the role.
HOLMES: It's...
SANDERS: Oh.
HOLMES: I think of that as being that early part of this phenomenon. It's definitely been big business for at least 10 or 15 years.
CHOW: Yeah. And I love that - how you put it as big business because so much of these movies, too, is tied to Hallmark's brand.
HOLMES: Oh, boy.
CHOW: Branded blankets, branded socks, anything of that nature, where you can buy these products that are Hallmark-related. And, you know, the movies kind of push that. And it becomes this very circular network of Christmas Hallmark things.
SANDERS: Yeah.
HOLMES: And there have been a few that have, like, very, very obvious - the one that - Mariah Carey directed one of these.
SANDERS: Wait. Wait. What?
HOLMES: Yeah. Mariah Carey directed a Hallmark movie. She appeared in it also. It was with Lacey Chabert.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
LACEY CHABERT: (As Kristin Parson) I love you, Silver Falls.
MARIAH CAREY: (As Melissa McKean-Atkinson) Merry Christmas.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: "A Christmas Melody."
CHOW: She is just so multitalented.
SANDERS: I like it.
HOLMES: And that was one of the ones that had a Folgers - like, clearly had some kind of Folgers product deal. And so they kept having, like, these close-ups of, like - someone would say, like, oh, I brought you a welcome basket as you arrive in our small, adorable town. And they would put the basket up. And it would be, like, a giant can of Folgers and then, like, a few different things around the edge.
CHOW: Wow.
SANDERS: Oh, my God.
CHOW: It's honestly just so - it's amazing how creative, you know, these brands can get. And it really reminds me of how Food Network, for example, is getting in on this, too, at least through the Discovery Plus...
HOLMES: Right.
CHOW: ...Platform, where there's a movie that came out this year called "Candy Coated Christmas." And Ree Drummond, who is a Food Network star, actually appears on it.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
REE DRUMMOND: (As Bee Tyler Essary) First time in Peppermint Hollow?
MOLLY MCCOOK: (As Molly Gallant) No. It's just been a while.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: With one thing in mind.
CHOW: You know, as you can imagine, it's about a young woman who returns to her, I think, mother's hometown. And her plans to launch her business are, you know, put off by some extenuating circumstances. And romance ensues, as you could imagine.
SANDERS: Wow.
HOLMES: They use it...
SANDERS: So...
HOLMES: ...To expand the brands of stars that they already have. So...
SANDERS: Wow. And, like, the scale of the number of movies - it's really remarkable. So The LA Times reported that last year, in 2020, the Hallmark Channel and its sister network, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries - they aired 40 new TV movies about Christmas.
HOLMES: Yeah.
SANDERS: In that same period last year, Lifetime had 34 new releases. I'm guessing those numbers are only up this year. And it is like a machine. So the folks at Hallmark - they will tell anyone who will listen what their formula is for holiday film success. The executives at Hallmark give really intense and deep notes. And I'm cribbing here from reporting from Vox and the LA Times. Some Hallmark execs will give notes on the types of plaid shirts that the male characters wear and how their hair is parted. They have to be a certain type of color throughout the entire film. And they love it if the scene has the faint glistening of Christmas lights kind of out of focus behind the actors in at least, like, half of the film. It's a machine.
CHOW: It's a machine.
HOLMES: Yes.
SANDERS: It's a machine.
HOLMES: It is. And they know exactly where to spend the money and where not to spend the money. I was watching one of these the other day and realizing that - I think Kat will recognize what I'm talking about. You can always tell that it's an inexpensively made Hallmark movie because people will be at, like, some Christmas party. And you'll hear, like, this completely random, generic...
CHOW: Yes.
HOLMES: ...Like, poppy - somebody will be like, (singing) jingle bells of my heart. And you're like, I've never heard this song before.
CHOW: That's not a real song.
SANDERS: (Laughter).
HOLMES: And it's just some weird thing people made up where, in reality, they'd be playing a song that you have to pay for, like...
CHOW: Right.
HOLMES: ..."Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree"...
SANDERS: Exactly.
HOLMES: ...Or something like that.
SANDERS: So it kind of feels like the Christmas version of the "Selling Sunset" songs.
CHOW: Yes.
HOLMES: Yes.
CHOW: Oh, my gosh. That's such a good...
HOLMES: Absolutely.
CHOW: ...Way of putting it.
SANDERS: (Laughter).
CHOW: Exactly that.
SANDERS: Coming up, the holiday movies we hate.
There are lots of genres of film where I will watch a lot of that type of movie. Like, I'll really never say no to any horror film. But I will never have a month of the year where I watch, like, a dozen horror films.
HOLMES: Yeah.
SANDERS: What is it about holiday movies that gets these diehard fans to watch so many of them at the same time each year?
CHOW: That's a good question. I think it's such an easy-to-digest formula. It's always variations on a theme of usually a younger woman, who is a journalist or a...
SANDERS: All these journalists.
CHOW: ...Princess or a...
SANDERS: It's like they love making us journalists in these movies.
CHOW: They love journalists. They love architects. They love people who are going to their hometowns to renovate castles...
SANDERS: (Laughter).
CHOW: ...Or cottages (laughter). And then they run into some - I don't know - handsome prince-like character.
SANDERS: Yeah.
CHOW: And so you kind of just know what type of journey you're going to go on. And I think that's why it's so easy just to watch five of these or, you know, 10 of these in a week.
HOLMES: Exactly. And when you have a lot of people around in a family and you're trying to find something that a lot of different people might be willing to sit around and watch...
SANDERS: It's safe.
HOLMES: You sort of...
SANDERS: It's safe.
CHOW: It's so safe.
SANDERS: Yeah.
HOLMES: If you can get people where they all kind of know it's silly, sometimes it's a pretty agreeable thing for a whole bunch of people to watch together.
SANDERS: I agree. With that, before I have you give our listeners some holiday movie recommendations from this year or whenever, can you both tell me the holiday movie that you hated the most recently? I have a pick. But I'll let y'all go first.
HOLMES: Oh, hated the most.
SANDERS: Yeah.
HOLMES: Usually, I turn them off if I don't like the people at the beginning.
SANDERS: Not me. I buckle up for that ride, Linda. I will...
HOLMES: I mean...
SANDERS: ...Watch a bad movie...
HOLMES: I will say...
SANDERS: ...And curse the whole time.
HOLMES: I will say, I did not enjoy "Candy Coated Christmas." I did not enjoy the Food Network one.
SANDERS: So, listeners, if you don't want spoilers, cover your ears for, like, 15 seconds. Linda, what happens in this movie?
HOLMES: I barely remember. But...
SANDERS: (Laughter).
HOLMES: There is a part at the beginning where, like, she drops her coffee. And he says, oh, I'll buy you a new one. And she says...
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "CANDY COATED CHRISTMAS")
MCCOOK: (As Molly Gallant) Yeah. Obviously, the universe is telling me to cut back on caffeine.
AARON O'CONNELL: (As Noah Winters) Or it's telling you to switch to decaf.
HOLMES: Now, that makes no sense.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "CANDY COATED CHRISTMAS")
O'CONNELL: (As Noah Winters) Merry Christmas.
HOLMES: She was clearly supposed to say, coffee. And he was supposed to say, switch to decaf.
CHOW: (Laughter).
SANDERS: Yeah.
HOLMES: They just said the same thing. And it was one of those moments where you're like, I really think they...
SANDERS: Yeah.
HOLMES: ...Just didn't bother to redo this.
CHOW: They just did not want to take that extra take.
SANDERS: Yes.
HOLMES: When a cheap Christmas movie gets to the point where it actually - you can see the seams in that way, then it takes me right out of it.
SANDERS: I love that you feel so strongly about that one scene.
HOLMES: I feel...
SANDERS: I really do.
HOLMES: ...Very strongly about it.
SANDERS: (Laughter).
HOLMES: Don't distract me.
SANDERS: Yes. Yes. All right. You got one pick. Kat, do you have one that you hate?
CHOW: Yes. Well, I don't know if I hate it. But I think this is a movie where, you know, it's just - it's confusing to me why it exists. And it would be the third movie in "The Princess Switch," which stars Vanessa Hudgens. And I cannot remember...
SANDERS: Now, this is the one where she's, like, two or three characters.
CHOW: Well, yeah. She's three characters now. She plays this...
SANDERS: Lord.
CHOW: ...Royalty who is engaged to be wed to a prince.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE PRINCESS SWITCH 3")
VANESSA HUDGENS: (As Margaret Delacourt) Stacy and I are handling the details ourselves. So we'll be there.
CHOW: She plays a baker from Chicago.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE PRINCESS SWITCH 3")
HUDGENS: (As Stacy Wyndham) I'm so glad I have you to help me with all this crazy, last-minute stuff.
CHOW: And then she plays also, in this latest movie, a kind of sexy, distant cousin named Fiona...
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE PRINCESS SWITCH 3")
HUDGENS: (As Fiona Pembroke) Maggie-moo.
CHOW: ...Who seems almost like she could be a villain.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE PRINCESS SWITCH 3")
HUDGENS: (As Fiona Pembroke) What brings you to my private little corner of purgatory?
CHOW: But she redeems herself. And it's not that I hate this movie. I still watched it. I still watched movies one through three, enjoyed them.
SANDERS: Wait. You've watched the whole series.
CHOW: Yeah, Sam. Like you, I commit, you know? I have to go through and just watch every single thing. And I'll watch it till the very bitter end. And as much as I want to root for Vanessa Hudgens, it's a lot.
HOLMES: Can I - and can I just say, they broke their formula because in the first one, there were two Vanessa Hudgenses. And then in the second one, there were three Vanessa Hudgenses. In the third one, there should have been four Vanessa Hudgenses.
CHOW: Yes.
HOLMES: But there are only still three Vanessa Hudgenses.
CHOW: There has to be this infinite number. I mean, it's like she has to have...
HOLMES: They have to keep multiplying.
CHOW: Exactly.
HOLMES: It has to go in a kind of an "Orphan Black," endless clones kind of direction.
CHOW: That's exactly why it's frustrating to me.
HOLMES: What is the point of watching three Vanessa Hudgenses again?
CHOW: Exactly. If there is going to be a "Princess Switch 4," my suggestion for Netflix is that they make it, like, a racing movie or something like that, like "Fast And Furious."
SANDERS: I can't wait for, like, "F9," nine Vanessa Hudgenses...
HOLMES: (Laughter).
SANDERS: ...Going into space for Christmas.
HOLMES: Yeah.
SANDERS: So my pick for, gosh, that was a horrible holiday movie has to be this year Netflix's "Single All The Way."
HOLMES: Oh.
SANDERS: What a trash heap of a film.
HOLMES: You hated it.
CHOW: Jennifer Coolidge, though.
SANDERS: I felt like Jennifer Coolidge was, like, tamped down. She didn't go full Jennifer Coolidge at all throughout the entire movie. So that was a waste. And the two main characters had no actual chemistry.
CHOW: That is true.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SINGLE ALL THE WAY")
PHILEMON CHAMBERS: (As Nick) Hey. How long are you going home for?
MICHAEL URIE: (As Peter) Ten days.
CHAMBERS: (As Nick) So maybe you don't need that tower of sweaters.
SANDERS: It was as if they had cast two men to play this movie, to be the leads in this gay rom-com holiday film. But then one of the two must have got sick. And they just found somebody else really quickly.
CHOW: (Laughter).
SANDERS: Also, this is a spoiler alert. The movie takes place in Vermont, like, small-town, quaint Vermont. And one of the romantic partners is Black. And he's there with the other one's family, all these white folks. And the entire movie, there is no acknowledging what it feels like to be a Black person going to your...
HOLMES: Yeah.
SANDERS: ...White maybe-partner's house in Vermont for Christmas. I've been to Vermont. Let me tell you something about Vermont. It is a place in which one notices how Black they are.
(LAUGHTER)
SANDERS: A lot.
HOLMES: Yeah. Yeah.
CHOW: And one thing that this movie did was it tried to have that sort of rom-com trope where two characters pose and pretend they're in a relationship, which is what Peter and Nick, the protagonist, did.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SINGLE ALL THE WAY")
CHAMBERS: (As Nick) Oh, you're funny.
URIE: (As Peter) It would solve everything. I can temporarily bury the pain of my pathetic love life while also showing my family that I'm not a mental case who has no ability to be in a relationship.
CHOW: And they immediately dropped the facade. And there was...
SANDERS: Yes. Yes.
CHOW: ...Really just no...
SANDERS: Yes.
CHOW: ...Continuation of that. And I was very confused. And I do agree. They really should have had Jennifer Coolidge do more because she could have saved that movie.
SANDERS: Oh, yeah.
When we come back, the holiday movies we love.
All right. We've talked about holiday films that we hate. I'm going to give y'all this chance now to recommend a holiday movie that you love to our listeners. They can be of the Hallmark, Netflix variety. They can be from this year. They can be from wherever - but one holiday film that you want to recommend to our listeners.
HOLMES: Well, I would say my favorite Hallmark movie ever got a sequel this year. So now there are two. The first one was called "The Nine Lives Of Christmas."
SANDERS: I remember this one.
HOLMES: Whew.
SANDERS: Explain that plot. It's so bonkers.
HOLMES: Yeah. It's about a firefighter who finds a lost cat.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE NINE LIVES OF CHRISTMAS")
BRANDON ROUTH: (As Zachary Stone) I'll feed you. But that's it. I had a long day.
HOLMES: And then he meets this woman. She also has a cat.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE NINE LIVES OF CHRISTMAS")
KIMBERLEY SUSTAD: (As Marilee White) Hi, Queenie. Oh, how are you?
HOLMES: He doesn't want to settle down. But then they fall in love. And that's...
SANDERS: Because their cats fall in love.
HOLMES: Because their cats fall in love. And that's "The Nine Lives Of Christmas." And this year they made a sequel called "The Nine Kittens Of Christmas."
SANDERS: Gee, how do you have a sequel?
HOLMES: So good.
SANDERS: They already got together.
HOLMES: Well, in which you find out that they did not stay together, which, to me, is breaking the rules of these movies. I...
CHOW: That is just a groundbreaking convention.
HOLMES: You find out that they have not stayed together. But they miss each other. And they are brought back together - something, something. She's been a veterinarian in Miami. And then she comes back to the town where they live. And his boss, the fire chief, played by Gregory Harrison, is getting ready to retire. And then they find a whole box of kittens that need homes.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE NINE KITTENS OF CHRISTMAS")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #5: (As character) Ten-week-old kittens.
ROUTH: (As Zachary) Somebody left them at the fire station this morning.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #6: (As character) Look at this face.
HOLMES: So the movie actually has nine kittens getting homes. It does give them a more resolved ending. I do not think they will be able to...
CHOW: OK.
HOLMES: ...Make a third one where you find out they once again broke up.
CHOW: Or there's another Vanessa Hudgens in a - somewhere.
SANDERS: No. Don't be so sure.
HOLMES: I don't think that would work too well.
SANDERS: (Laughter) Kat, what you got?
CHOW: OK. So it's the one that, actually, Brooke Shields is starring in. And it's "A Castle For Christmas." And as much as I really wanted to dislike the way its plot is shaped - it's about this author named Sophie Brown, who is Brooke Shields.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "A CASTLE FOR CHRISTMAS")
BROOKE SHIELDS: (As Sophie) The only title I'm interested in is my next book, which I'm going to write at Dun Dunbar in the library.
CHOW: And she basically goes to Scotland and lives in a castle for a while to weather a cancellation that she is experiencing. Yeah. She happens to meet this secret duke character, who lives in the castle.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "A CASTLE FOR CHRISTMAS")
SHIELDS: (As Sophie) Mr. Dunbar.
CARY ELWES: (As Myles) Technically, it's duke.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As character) Myles is the 12th duke of Dunbar.
HOLMES: It's goofy. It is a little bit cheesy. But I did enjoy it. And Drew Barrymore makes some kind of surprising and maybe not necessary but still delightful appearances.
SANDERS: OK.
HOLMES: My favorite thing about that movie is that that is the only movie I've ever seen - you can have sex in a Netflix Christmas rom-com. And this is the only movie I've ever seen where the people disappear into a bedroom to have sex...
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "A CASTLE FOR CHRISTMAS")
ELWES: (As Myles) We shouldn't be doing this.
HOLMES: ...While the score playing is "Angels From The Realms Of Glory."
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "A CASTLE FOR CHRISTMAS")
SHIELDS: (As Sophie) No, we definitely should not be doing this.
BETH HART: (Singing) Angels from the realms of glory, wing your flight.
CHOW: Yes (laughter).
HOLMES: I loved it.
SANDERS: (Laughter).
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "A CASTLE FOR CHRISTMAS")
HART: (Singing) Ye who sang creation's story now proclaim...
SANDERS: My pick for favorite holiday movie is a classic, "The Preacher's Wife."
HOLMES: Oh, sure.
SANDERS: And I recommend it because it has the best holiday movie soundtrack of all time. The soundtrack to "The Preacher's Wife," which features Whitney Houston as the preacher's wife...
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I BELIEVE IN YOU AND ME")
WHITNEY HOUSTON: (Singing) I believe in you and me.
SANDERS: The whole soundtrack is just her with a gospel choir, singing gospel songs and Christmas songs with the whole choir.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "JOY")
GEORGIA MASS CHOIR: (Singing) Soul-saving joy. Oh, joy, joy...
SANDERS: It is arguably one of the better Whitney Houston albums. It's perfect.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HOLD ON, HELP IS ON THE WAY")
WHITNEY HOUSTON: (Singing) Hold on. Hold on. Help is on the way. Help is on the way. Hold on. Hold on.
SANDERS: So just for the soundtrack, it's great. But on top of that, Denzel Washington is an angel in the movie. And this movie is directed by Penny Marshall. It's a gem.
HOLMES: It is a gem.
SANDERS: I love it, and I recommend it.
CHOW: That's a good one.
SANDERS: On that note, I'm going to let both of you go and watch some more holiday movies. But my last question for you is a simple one. If you were in charge of Hallmark holiday films and you had an unlimited budget to make your own holiday movie, who would y'all cast as your leads?
CHOW: Oh, my gosh. That's such a good question.
HOLMES: I want to cast Chris Evans and...
SANDERS: Yeah.
HOLMES: ...Merritt Wever.
CHOW: Whoa.
SANDERS: Yeah. Oh, that's great. I like that.
CHOW: That is so, so good. I would cast Steven Yeun. And I would also cast - oh, man. The other lead is going to be a hard one.
HOLMES: Just him, just him (laughter) - just him and him and him and him.
CHOW: Yeah, him and him. He could just play...
SANDERS: You only need him. You just need him.
CHOW: ...Twenty clones of himself a la "Princess Switch."
SANDERS: Just have him, like, decorate a Christmas tree shirtless. I'm good.
HOLMES: Yeah.
SANDERS: (Laughter) That's all I really need.
HOLMES: Yeah. Yeah.
SANDERS: If I could cast any holiday movie, I would just make the entire cast of the "Fast & Furious" franchise make a Christmas movie with cars.
CHOW: That would be very successful, Sam.
SANDERS: Right?
HOLMES: That's a winner.
SANDERS: Who plays Santa in the Christmas "Fast & Furious"?
HOLMES: Samuel L. Jackson.
SANDERS: I want it to be - no, just make Helen Mirren Santa.
HOLMES: Oh, Helen Mirren be Santa.
CHOW: Or the - Brian Cox from "Succession."
SANDERS: (Laughter).
HOLMES: That's a good Santa.
CHOW: Could have a twist to it.
SANDERS: That's a very good Santa. On that note - to take us home, I really hope the production staff can lay in Whitney Houston and her choir's rendition of "Joy To The World" from "The Preacher's Wife" soundtrack. It's so beautiful. Kat, Linda, thank you both. Come back soon. Merry, merry Christmas.
CHOW: Thank you.
HOLMES: Thank you, Sam. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas, Kat.
CHOW: You too, Linda.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "JOY TO THE WORLD")
WHITNEY HOUSTON: (Singing) Everybody sing, joy to the world.
SANDERS: Thanks again to author Kat Chow. Kat put out a memoir this year that you may have heard about on our podcast. It's called "Seeing Ghosts." Go check it out. And then come back to this feed and listen to our other episode featuring Kat and her book. Also, thanks to Linda Holmes, co-host of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour. And Linda is also an author. Go get her book "Evvie Drake Starts Over." It is in bookstores everywhere.
AUNT BETTY: Now it's time to end the show the way we always do. Every week, listeners share the best thing that happened to them all week. But this week, since 2021 is drawing to a close, we asked listeners to share the best thing that happened to them all year. Let's hear some of those submissions.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
PHILIPPE: Hi, Sam. This is Philippe (ph) from Brooklyn, N.Y. And the best thing that has happened to me all year was for the first time, I went on a 100-mile bike ride, not once, but twice. I started in south Brooklyn, traveled up to Manhattan, crossed over the George Washington Bridge to New Jersey and then rode up along the Hudson and then went back. And it was great (laughter). The second time was for my birthday. And I was to fight the anxiety of getting older. And I think it worked.
AMBER: Hey, Sam. This is Amber (ph). The best thing that happened to me this year was getting to go back to college in person, meeting a ton of new people and reconnecting with old friends.
JOY DIAZ, BYLINE: Hey, Sam. It's Joy Diaz in Austin, Texas. What a year 2021 has been. I can tell you that the best thing that happened to me this year is that I lived. I know it sounds like a lot of drama. But I got sick with COVID. My son got sick with COVID. He was only 10 at the time. We lived to tell the story. And also, Sam, in December, I filed to run for governor in the state of Texas.
KIMBERLY: I got the courage to finally walk away from a prestigious job that I had worked really hard to get but that wasn't making me happy at all. And now I have the opportunity to learn to feel good about myself and feel worthy just for who I am without a fancy-schmancy title.
NICK: Hey, Sam. This is Nick (ph), calling from Houston. The best thing that's happened to me this year was earning a director role for a student organization at my university. This has opened the door for so many opportunities and has allowed me to create bonds and relationships that I believe will last a lifetime.
CINDY: Hi, Sam. This is Cindy (ph) from Los Angeles. The best thing that happened to me this year was finally being able to go to the Grand Canyon. It was on my bucket list. I went this year to celebrate turning 50 and for beating cancer again. We saw a lot of beautiful sunsets and sunrises and, of course, the canyon. But on my birthday evening, a special treat - I saw a beautiful sunset and a full moon rising. It was incredible to see one sky hold the moon and the sun over the canyon. It was inspiring, and it was restorative.
CHRIS: This is Chris (ph) calling you from River Styx, Ohio. And the best thing that happened to my wife and I this year was to take a two-hour drive from our house to an airport, take a flight from that airport to an airport on the East Coast, take a flight from that airport to an airport in Sweden, take a flight from Sweden to Norway, take a second flight from Norway to another airport in Norway, with a train ride in between, get a rental car drive, two and a half hours to a small ferry port, from there, get on a small open boat and ride under the northern lights for 25 minutes across the open ocean to an even smaller ferry port, disembark, get into a car, ride for a couple of minutes and then watch my wife and my daughter hug each other for the first time in two years.
IAN: Hi, Sam. This is Ian (ph). The best thing that happened to me all year was getting the vaccine and also going to summer camp. It was really fun 'cause I could go on water slides. There was a pool. And it was just really fun. Bye-bye, and happy new year.
ALEX: Hi, Sam. This is Alex (ph). A lot of good things happen this year. I finished my Ph.D. I got a job of my dreams. And I got six more months with a lot of people I'm really close with. But the best part of this year was yesterday, when many of those close friends surrounded me and surprised me and gave me a party to celebrate all my accomplishments and my going away. And I'm going to miss them so much. It was the perfect cap to this year that was really hard in so many ways.
AMBER: Thanks.
CHRIS: Thanks.
ALEX: Thanks for all that you do.
PHILIPPE: Thanks. Happy holidays.
CINDY: And happy new year.
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SANDERS: Thanks again, to all the listeners you heard there - Philippe, Amber, Joy, Kimberly (ph), Nick, Cindy, Chris, Ian and Alex. And I got to say, the best part of my year was getting my couch back. In July of 2020, at the peak of the pandemic, I put all my stuff in storage, left my apartment in Los Angeles and went to Texas for several months. And then I bounced around the country for several more months. And I haven't had a permanent address in, like, a year and a half. But this month, I got one again, and I got my stuff back. And I didn't realize how much I missed my couch - best part of my year, seriously - getting my couch back. I love it so.
Listeners, you can send your best thing to us at any time throughout any week. We still love to hear from you. Just record yourself and send a voice memo to [email protected].
All right. This episode was produced by Anjuli Sastry Krbechek and Audrey Nguyen. Our fearless editor is Jordana Hochman. And we had engineering support from Daniel Shukin. Also, special thanks to Audrey Nguyen. Audrey has been with the IT'S BEEN A MINUTE team for a few months now, helping us out with production and all kinds of stuff. She's leaving us to go back to the team at NPR's Life Kit, where she'll keep doing amazing work. Audrey, it's been great working with you. Come back soon. All right, listeners, take care of yourselves this holiday weekend. I'm Sam Sanders. We'll talk soon.
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