comments In 2000, the Hallmark Channel aired its first original holiday-themed movie, "The Christmas Secret," about a professor who sets out to prove that reindeer can fly, and later meets Santa. In the 20 years since, other networks, notably Lifetime, have gotten in on the game, turning end-of-year programming into a nonstop marathon of tinsel, kisses and Christmas dreams coming true. But the genre hasn't always brought good cheer to viewers, many of whom noticed a distinct lack of marginalized groups. As Salon's Amanda Marcotte pointed out last December, "running down this year's schedule of Christmas movie offerings is like a trip into an uncanny valley of shiny-teethed, blow-dried heteronormative whiteness, with only a few token movies with characters of color. It's like watching 'The Stepford Wives,' but scarier, since the evil plot to replace normal people with robots is never actually revealed."