The self-proclaimed queen of Christmas made moves — but her time on Countdown to Christmas will live forever (in reruns). After more than a decade on Hallmark Channel, Candace Cameron Bure signed a new deal with Great American Family.
“The reality of making them is a much tougher job than Fuller House or any other series, really,” the actress told Good Housekeeping of made-for-TV films in 2019. “This is definitely some of the hardest work that I do because they’re such a grind: long hours, quick turnaround, putting on your happy face every day, and going out there to make Christmas happen.”
Bure’s first Hallmark holiday movie was 2008’s Moonlight & Mistletoe. After returning for 2013’s Let It Snow, the Full House alum has been featured in at least one Countdown to Christmas movie every year.
“I’ve had a long-standing relationship with Hallmark Channel for 12 years,” Bure told The Washington Post in 2020. “Being intentional with my career and my choices, their branding has always lined up with what I want to represent and with the type of programming that I do, which is all family-friendly entertainment. And so I love that. I have fans who are 6 years old who recognize me as D.J. Tanner, whether it’s from the original show or the new show on Netflix. And then I have 60-year-old fans that love me on Hallmark Channel. I couldn’t be more thrilled. I love being associated with Christmas — it’s my favorite holiday of the year.”
Ahead of the 2022 season, however, Cameron Bure announced she would now develop, produce and star in films on GAC Family and GAC Living after former Hallmark Channel CEO Bill Abbott took over GAC Media.
“I’m very excited to develop heartwarming family and faith-filled programming and make the kind of stories my family and I love to watch. I am constantly looking for ways that I can inspire people to live life with purpose,” the actress said in April 2022. “GAC fits my brand perfectly; we share a vision of creating compelling wholesome content for an audience who wants to watch programming for and with the whole family. Great, quality entertainment with a positive message is what my partnership with GAC is all about.”
As she prepared to appear in her first film as part of the network’s annual Great American Christmas – a movie titled A Christmas … Present — in November 2022, she and Abbott sparked controversy with an answer to a question about LGBTQIA+ couples on the network.
“I think that Great American Family will keep traditional marriage at the core,” she told WSJ. Magazine as Abbott added: “It’s certainly the year 2022, so we’re aware of the trends. There’s no whiteboard that says, ‘Yes, this’ or ‘No, we’ll never go here.’”
Cameron Bure released a lengthy statement about the backlash at the time, which read in part: “All of you who know me, know beyond question that I have great love and affection for all people. It absolutely breaks my heart that anyone would ever think I intentionally would want to offend and hurt anyone. … I am a devoted Christian. Which means that I believe that every human being bears the image of God. Because of that, I am called to love all people, and I do. If you know me, you know that I am a person who loves fiercely and indiscriminately. My heart yearns to build bridges and bring people one step closer to God, to love others well, and to simply be a reflection of God’s huge love for all of us.”
In the WSJ. piece, Cameron Bure also opened up about why she made the move. “It basically is a completely different network than when I started because of the change of leadership,” she said, referring to Abbott, who left Hallmark in early 2020 amid backlash over pulling a commercial featuring a same-sex couple.
“For me, she’s the key piece of what we’re doing,” he told the magazine about the former child star.
Scroll through for an unofficial ranking of Cameron Bure’s Hallmark movies before she left the network: