Diva’s Christmas Carol

Lifetime and Lifetime Movie Network have a ton of Christmas-themed movies that you should check out if you haven’t already seen them, and they are also letting folks watch free movies online, so you don’t have to miss a thing, and you can even vote on the next movie(s) they will put online.

Here’s a couple of viewers’ favorites:

This one is showing on Tuesday, December 21st with an encore run at midnight on the 22nd. So set those DVRs or if you read this too late, spring for the DVD for someone’s stocking, then borrow it. “Diva’s Christmas Carol” (2000) stars Vanessa Williams as successful pop singer, Ebony Scrooge. Yes, it’s based on Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” and the thought of yet another version may make you groan, if you’ve never seen this one, but ask yourself — how many “Christmas Carol” versions have Kathy Griffin as one of the ghosts? Viewers gave Vanessa Williams big props for her performance.

“The Christmas Blessing” (2005) with Neil Patrick Harris playing, if you can believe it, a young doctor named Nathan. An unfortunate tragedy at work sends Nathan back to his hometown where, having quit his profession, he works as a mechanic for his dad and also coaches basketball. He meets a young single mother (Rebecca Gayheart) with a child, and a promising mutual attraction develops but there are some complications — medical ones.

This made-for-TV movie has 6.3 stars and is actually a sequel to an earlier film, “The Christmas Shoes” with Rob Lowe as a workaholic lawyer, which got a higher rating (6.7 stars). One viewer says that it doesn’t make a difference in what order you watch the movies, you will enjoy both. Rob Lowe also appears in “The Christmas Blessing.”