Lifetime TV is the latest US Cable TV Channel  to launch its own original LGBTQ Holiday movie this season, a groundbreaking first for the channel  Part of a growing trend of adapting their signature highly sentimental rom-com where everyone is guaranteed a happy-ever-after-ending. 

Helmed by openly gay Canadian filmmaker Pat Mills  from a script by Michael J Murray, “The Christmas Setup”  tells the romantic adventures of Hugo, a gay New York City lawyer (Ben Lewis.  He is returning home with with his best friend, Madelyn (Ellen Wong) to spend Christmas with his family in Milwaukee.

The family matriarch  is  his mother Kate ( Fran Drescher)  who is in charge of all the local Christmas celebrations.  It still leaves her enough time to play  matchmaker for Hugo ensuring that he crosses paths with Patrick  (Blake Lee) his old school crush i.e. the one who got away.

She does a good job, and not only does Hugo take the bait, but he falls hook line and sinker for hunky Patrick.  But then just as he (and we) think that this about to be a happy ever after endin,. Hugo gets offered a major job promotion which will mean him moving to London, and his future looks muddied again.

Whether this queer romance movie will be  more satisfactory than Hulu’s disappointing Happiest Season, only time will tell.   However as Lee and Lewis are husbands in real-life we expect their chemistry to be completely sizzling on screen.  Plus the fabulous raspy voiced Drescher, star of The Nanny for years, has a great empathy with the LGBGTQ community having been married to a  gay man for over 20 years,.

The Christmas SetUp is streaming on Lifetime TV from December 12th 

.