GAF Launches Christmas Lineup A Week Early

Published: October 13, 2023

GAF Launches Christmas Lineup A Week Early

By Movieguide® Contributor

The Great American Family Network has announced that its official Christmas lineup will begin a week earlier than scheduled.

The original start date was slated for October 20, but it will now begin tonight, October 13.

“I am thrilled to invite you to the third year of the most heartwarming holiday experience on television. Great American Christmas on Great American Family is here,” Candace Cameron Bure shared in a video.

“We’re bringing you Great American Christmas 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And beginning this Saturday and continuing through December 23, we will premiere 20 new movies this Christmas season,” the actress continued.

Bure’s Great American Christmas movie, MY CHRISTMAS HERO, will premiere November 24 at 8 p.m. ET. The movie follows Bure as Nicole Ramsey, a US Army reservist and orthopedic physician. “This Christmas, with the help of many dedicated heroes, Dr. Ramsey is on a mission to honor a special fallen soldier and bring much needed healing to her own family,” a description reads.

Trevor Donovan, Jill Wagner, Lori Loughlin and Danica McKellar will also debut new movies this Christmas season.

Trevor Donovan stars in ‘TWAS THE TEXT BEFORE CHRISTMAS with Merritt Patterson. The movie premieres October 21 at 8 p.m. ET. “An unexpected text message sent to the wrong number (Patterson) sets into motion a Christmas tradition with a new family (Donovan) over three separate years,” PEOPLE’s description reads.

Movieguide® Award nominee Wagner stars in BRINGING CHRISTMAS HOME. The movie follows military history professor Caroline Upton (Wagner) as she assists Russell Carlisle (Paul Greene) as the pair investigate love letters from WWII.

Wagner has been vocal about her support for the military in the past. In March, she and her husband, David, honored National Vietnam War Veterans Day. The couple even named one of their daughters Army. Movieguide® reported:

“We wanted a patriotic name, and my husband is in the military so we chose her first name to be Army.

“We thought that was a good name to honor both,” she said. “Her middle name is Gray (spelled the American way, with an A) because I have always loved that name. It is strong, intelligent, soft and feminine all in one … which is what I want her to be.”

Her movie premieres October 28 at 8 p.m. ET.

Loughlin’s A CHRISTMAS BLESSING will premiere November 12 at 8 p.m. ET. In it, “A TV chef (Loughlin) is divinely inspired to take over her late aunt’s charity with help from a new friend (Jesse Hutch) and handsome business associate next door (James Tupper),” per PEOPLE.

Movieguide® reported, “GAF was the first network to welcome Loughlin back after her college admissions scandal. She also attended this year’s Movieguide® Awards where she reunited with Candace Cameron Bure.”

While McKellar was originally slated for ROYAL CHRISTMAS BALL, the movie was postponed until next Christmas due to filming delays.

“I wanted to talk to you about my Christmas movie this year that will be airing Christmas season 2023,” she said in a video for GAF. “I was originally going to be doing a movie called ROYAL CHRISTMAS BALL. This is a movie that I wrote the story for and it involves a couple of elaborate waltz routines and I am very excited about it. It’s an awesome story.”

“And waltz movies, like these big dance movies, they take a lot more preparation, so we ran out of time…[for ROYAL CHRISTMAS BALL],” she added.

However, her replacement movie, A ROYAL DATE FOR CHRISTMAS, will premiere November 25 at 8 p.m. ET. “When a European Duke (Runyon) arrives in the U.S., he realizes that his bags have been lost in transit. He has no choice but to be styled, and ultimately inspired, by Bella (McKellar), the owner of a local boutique,” PEOPLE reports.

Find GAF’s full Christmas lineup below: