After ‘A Cowboy Christmas Romance,’ Will Lifetime Feature More Sex Scenes?
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Lifetime movies reached a new, perhaps overdue milestone when A Cowboy Christmas Romance premiered on December 9. The holiday movie (written and executive produced by Grey’s Anatomy alum Sarah Drew) featured Lifetime’s first-ever sex scene.
Jana Kramer stars in the TV movie as Lexie Crenshaw, a real estate closer who returns to her hometown in Arizona and tries to convince a horse-whispering rancher, Coby Mason (Adam Senn), to part ways with his land. As it always goes with this style, an unlikely romance forms between these two, their connection leading to Lifetime’s most NSFW, albeit brief, scene.
Setting the romantic tryst in a barn certainly played into a specific kind of fantasy we’re seeing play out on other corners of TV. Fox‘s Farmer Wants a Wife, for example, is also selling a story about career-oriented women who venture out to a small town and find love with cowboys.
Lifetime
Now that there has been a sex scene in a Lifetime movie, will the network continue to produce more? Or was A Cowboy Christmas Romance a one-time exception? Tia Maggini, senior vice president of scripted content at Lifetime, tells TV Insider that the movie’s ratings proved the network’s suspicions that there was an audience for this break from tradition. Moving forward, Lifetime will still make its tried-and-true formats while continuing to experiment.
“We were delighted that the audience showed up for A Cowboy Christmas Romance, proving once again that women love cowboys and women love romance — especially when they’re together!” Maggini says. “We’re committed to continuing to make family-friendly movies that celebrate the magic of Christmas — snow, hot cocoa, mistletoe, and more — and hopefully more movies that speak to ladies looking for slightly more mature themes, too.”
Drew’s script delivered delicate steam to the network while still keeping with its familiar holiday storytelling. Whether she continues to star and create Lifetime movies or not, A Cowboy Christmas Romance seems to have opened the doors to a new era of Lifetime movies.
A Cowboy Christmas Romance is available to rent and buy on VOD on Prime Video and other digital platforms. Lifetime titles can also be watched on Philo, DirecTV Stream, and Hulu with Live TV. It can also be watched on Lifetime’s website with a cable provider login.
