All She Wants for Christmas Is the Big Story

If you stand on the steps of the white gazebo and focus on the wet, mud-splattered car parked in front of the corner restaurant, maybe squint to avoid seeing the leafy maple tree, and overlook the green grass, then it’s beginning to look a little bit like Christmas ... more or less.

After days of overcast skies, the June sun is blazing down on the set of “Secret Santa” on the fabled Warner Bros. lot in Burbank. On the Midwest street outdoor set -- whose town square was built for the 1945 movie “Saratoga Trunk” -- the holiday season is in full swing. Crew members hose down the dusty sidewalk to simulate December damp.

Extras layered in sweaters and coats for filming shed as much as they can while lounging in shade. Decked out in flannel, actor Steven Eckholdt dodges the sun to keep his makeup intact for the next scene in this year’s Christmas movie from writer-producer Beth Polson (“The Christmas Box,” “The Christmas Wish”), airing Sunday on NBC. The holiday trimmings seem out of place in the summer breeze, but the view is pure Americana: Victorian houses, a courthouse, a white church (used in “The Waltons”), a redbrick business district and tree-lined streets.

The setting is Hamden, Ind., a hamlet of 5,000 souls. According to mayor and innkeeper Winifred (played by former “West Wing” star Kathryn Joosten, a.k.a. Mrs. Landingham), “We carry Christmas in our hearts all year round.”

Darting across the square is Jennie Garth, star of the WB network’s “What I Like About You.”

Garth plays Rebecca Chandler, a cynical journalist assigned to write another puff piece about Hamden’s mysterious holiday benefactor, who each year helps a local resident. Dumped by her boyfriend and yelled at by her boss, Rebecca decides to play sleuth and uncover the true identity of the Secret Santa.

“People come to this little town every year, trying to figure out who the Secret Santa is,” says Eckholdt, who plays local millionaire (and prime Secret Santa candidate) John Martin Carter.

“Unlike some of the other characters,” Eckholdt continues, “he actually knows who it is. He’s more of a Cheshire cat. I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you. You just have to watch. It’s not important who it is, that’s the point. Secret Santa ceases to be once you know who he or she is.”

When there is no room at Winifred’s inn, Rebecca accepts lodging in a rest home (shot in a convent for retired nuns), where she meets a kindly caretaker, Russell (Charlie Robinson), and charming resident Miss Ruthie, played by “Leave It to Beaver” star Barbara Billingsley.

Rebecca then proceeds to charge around Hamden, aggressively trying to ferret out the truth. She winds up meeting kindness and patience -- if not a whole lot of answers -- at every turn.

“She’s just so busy and clouded by what she thinks is important in life,” Garth says, “her relationship that’s not working, her career. She’s so driven. She doesn’t have a family to speak of, or one she would admit to having. This is all completely foreign territory to her, these people and their ability to care for each other, their emotions, just their love of life.

“She comes here, isn’t looking for anything and doesn’t know she’s finding anything until she’s found it, then she’s thinking, ‘Wow, what’s happened to me? Why am I feeling these things?’ ”

“Winifred takes this girl under her wing,” Joosten says, “and lets her know that there are other things in life than chasing after the story. We all let her know that we think highly of her, and she’s welcome in our community and our lives.”

“It’s a story about giving,” Polson says, “and the definition of giving, whether that’s giving of yourself or giving that’s wrapped up.”

Kate O’Hare writes for Tribune Media Services.

“Secret Santa” airs at 9 p.m. Sunday on NBC. The network has rated it TVG (suitable for all ages).

Cover photograph by Paul Drinkwater.