The Christian actress left the Hallmark Channel earlier this year to make movies with elements of faith.
With less than two weeks to go until her inaugural Christmas movie debuts on Great American Family channel, Candace Cameron Bure is highlighting the differences between that new network and her erstwhile employer, the Hallmark networks. A major factor in her decision to leave that latter outfit, where she was the leading star for nearly a decade and half, was her Christian faith, having stated at the time that she wanted to make "faith-filled" content, as we reported here.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, the 46-year-old Californian says Hallmark "basically is a completely different network" compared to when she began working there because of changes in the leadership. In fact, the former CEO of the Hallmark TV's parent company Crown Media, Bill Abbott, left that post to start Great American Family in 2021, which Bure indicates made all the difference for her.
"I knew that the people behind Great American Family were Christians that love the Lord and wanted to promote faith programming and good family entertainment."
In an indication that their shared Christian values will translate to the screen, her debut movie on the channel - A Christmas...Present - promises to focus on the "reason for the season." And Bure is not just an actress for Great American Family, which is not a faith-based channel per se, but also its chief creative officer, meaning she will have influence on programming in general.
In that context, The Wall Street Journal asked her if the network's Christmas movies would feature homosexual characters in prominent roles, which is indeed the case with some Hallmark Channel films. The former star of Full House and Fuller House made it clear Great American Family will not go that route, choosing instead to focus on Biblical marriage, which she calls "traditional marriage," meaning matrimony between a man and a woman (Genesis 2:24, Matthew 19:4 - 5).
"Great American Family will keep traditional marriage at the core."
Abbott, for his part, was less categorical in addressing the issue, saying there's no template in place that states "No, we'll never go there." It would prove quite a surprise, however, if such content made it onto Great American Family in light of his faith convictions and the fact that his departure from Hallmark is thought to have been prompted by the refusal under his leadership to air a commercial featuring a homosexual wedding.
As for Bure's new film, A Christmas...Present, which Great American Family is billing as "the must-see Christmas event of the year," it will air Thanksgiving weekend: Sunday, November 27th, at 8:00 PM ET/7:00 PM CT. The trailer below will give you a feel for what you can expect.