PRESS RELEASE FROM UP-TV:
First Weekend of UP’s Christmas Offering Attracted 5.4 Million Viewers
ATLANTA – November 10, 2016 – UP TV, television’s family-focused entertainment destination targeted to adults, has added an additional U.S. premiere movie to its previously announced “We Get Christmas” lineup. In Falling For Christmas, champion figure skater Claire becomes injured and is sent to a rehabilitation center in the snowy mountains where she meets and falls for a ruggedly handsome local man who shows her there is more to life than competition. The romantic comedy stars Leah Renee (Satisfaction), Niall Matter (Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce), Michael Tiegen (TRON: Legacy), Gracyn Shinyei (When Calls the Heart), Lochlyn Munro (White Chicks) and Lisa Whelchel (The Facts of Life). Falling For Christmas premieres Saturday, November 26 at 7 p.m. ET and is one of three premiere movies debuting Thanksgiving weekend.
Falling For Christmas is executive produced by Timothy O. Johnson with Oliver De Caigny serving as producer. The movie is directed by Christie Will and written by Barbara Kymlicka.
UP lit up its annual Christmas festivities with 50 fun-filled days of warm and merry holiday movies, specials and marathons on Saturday, November 5, with a day of fun for the family that included Christmas movies and holiday-themed episodes of America’s Funniest Home Videos. Sunday’s world premiere of Married by Christmas was the strongest UP premiere movie of 2016 to date in W18-49 and W25-54. Overall, the network attracted 5.4 million total viewers P2+ on its opening holiday weekend.*
In the coming weeks, the “We Get Christmas” holiday programming offering features five other world premiere movies, one U.S. premiere movie, special episodes of some of television’s most beloved family series and a GilMORE the Merrier binge-a-thon hosted by Sean Gunn as his beloved Gilmore Girls character, Kirk Gleason. The marathon features all seven seasons of Gilmore Girls from start to finish, 24 hours a day for 153 hours straight beginning Friday, November 18 at 6 p.m. ET to Friday, November 25 at 3 a.m. ET.
Emphasizing holiday movies and memories, UP’s Thanksgiving and Christmas season program highlights include the following. Encore presentations are detailed in local in listings.
UP kicked off its holiday programming campaign with Married by Christmas (World Premiere Movie) which aired on Sunday, November 6 at 7 p.m. ET.
When it comes to her work, Carrie Tate (Jes MaCallan) takes herself very seriously. She has dedicated her entire life to growing Emerson Foods, the high-end food distribution company founded by her father, and doesn’t have much time for a social life.
Stars: Jes MaCallan, Coby Ryan McLaughlin, April Bowlby, James Eckhouse, Ryan Caltagirone
Upcoming titles include:
Merry Christmas, Baby! (World Premiere Movie) – Sunday, November 13 at 7 p.m. ET
The Chandler family is back and bigger than ever in the fourth installment of the Marry Me for Christmas franchise. Determined to make her baby’s first Christmas a memorable one, Marci (Malinda Williams) throws herself into both planning the perfect Christmas and building her new event planning business. But when the business gets off to a rocky start and members of her family face their own hardships, Marci will discover that when your plans for a perfect Christmas start to fall apart, it just might be the miracle you need.
Stars: Malinda Williams, Karon Riley, GregAlan Williams, Chrystale Wilson, DeEtta West, Brad James, Victoria Rowell
GilMORE the Merrier Binge-a-Thon – Friday, November 18 at 6 p.m. ET - Friday, November 25 at 3 a.m. ET
Hosted by Gilmore Girls’ Sean Gunn as his beloved character Kirk Gleason, UP will air all seven seasons of the series 24 hours a day for 153 hours straight. The backdrop of the marathon is UP’s GilMORE the Merrier Viewing House, which is a custom designed home environment that will showcase the ultimate in comfort and accessibility for super fans of the series as they view all 153 episodes. Prior to and throughout the seven-day event, UP will air fun and engaging spots hosted by Gunn’s character that are loaded with practical guidance and tips on how to train for and “binge” your way through all of the episodes in perfect comfort. Gilmore fans can watch every episode fully loaded with trivia pop-ups and commentary by popular podcast personalities the “Gilmore Guys” during UP’s binge-a-thon. The network will also feature a watch and win sweepstakes featuring one prize every hour during the marathon plus ten grand prizes.
A Puppy for Christmas (World Premiere Movie) – Friday, November 25 at 7 p.m. ET
After her destructive puppy Buster causes Noelle to lose her boyfriend, her apartment and her job, Noelle is invited to spend the holidays on a farm with her rugged co-worker Liam. But when Noelle’s city past catches up with her, things get complicated. Noelle must choose between the safe, successful world she left behind, or an uncertain, unpredictable and exciting future with Buster and Liam.
Stars: Cindy Busby, Greyston Holt, Christopher Russell
NEW ADDITION: Falling For Christmas (U.S. Premiere Movie) – Saturday, November 26 at 7 p.m. ET
When champion figure skater Claire becomes injured, she is sent to a rehabilitation center in the snowy mountains where she meets and falls for a ruggedly handsome local man who shows her there is more to life than competition.
Stars: Leah Renee, Niall Matter, Michael Tiegen, Gracyn Shinyei, Lochlyn Munro, Lisa Whelchel
The Rooftop Christmas Tree (World Premiere Movie) – Sunday, November 27 at 7 p.m. ET
Every Christmas for 15 years, Dale Landis fastens a tree to his roof and decorates it for the season; and every year he’s arrested for it. Determined to keep Dale out of jail this year, a judge orders idealistic attorney Sarah Wright and aggressive prosecutor John Riviera to work together to defend Dale and figure out the mystery behind the rooftop Christmas tree. Inspired by a true story.
Stars: Michelle Morgan, Tim Reid
Girlfriends of Christmas Past (World Premiere Movie) – Sunday, December 4 at 7 p.m. ET
When three strong-willed women join forces to seek the ultimate revenge on their cheating ex at his upcoming holiday retreat, love struck event planner Livvy meets Carter, the property manager organizing it all, leaving Livvy to question if she can leave off their revenge scheme long enough to finally forgive her ex and let a real holiday romance blossom. Stars: Tammin Sursok, Lindsey McKeon, John Brotherton, Meagan Holder
Season’s Greetings (World Premiere Movie) – Sunday, December 11 at 7 p.m. ET
Darcy Blake (Laura Bell Bundy) has the perfect job - she works for Harrington House, a successful greeting card company, in the editorial department. Writing heart-felt, meaningful copy for cards is very important to Darcy, especially at Christmas, which was important to her as a young girl. She realizes that she is a bit out of step with her fellow millennials, but that is fine with Darcy. Everything is about to change when Andrew Harrington arrives at the company to take over from his grandfather, and he has a very different view of the business and of the holidays.
Stars: Laura Bell Bundy
About UP
At UP, We Get Family. UP is one of television’s most trusted entertainment brands with content the leaves viewers feeling UP. UP tells the stories of families of all shapes, sizes and complexities through authentic, unique and relevant storytelling. UP offers hundreds of hours of original scripted and reality series, specials and movies as well as fan-favorite
series on multiple platforms. In addition, UP’s pro-social initiative, “Uplift Someone,” inspires people to do simple, everyday acts of kindness. UP is widely available on cable systems and satellite providers across the United States. Furthermore, UP’s subscription-on-demand offering, UP Faith & Family, features the best content in family and faith-affirming entertainment. Based in Atlanta, UP is a division of UP Entertainment, LLC and partners with the ASPiRE network on sales, marketing and other operational services.
END OF PRESS RELEASE
*Yay for UP! I'm so happy to see this movie found a home this Christmas Season- please share your thoughts below!!!
Net, I am so loving the Christmas movies this holiday season. I especially enjoy "A Christmas Detour" with Candace Cameron. I've watched it twice so far, and my all-time favorite is Thomas Kinkade's Christmas Cottage. Thanks for sharing these wonderful shows with us.
ReplyDeleteWishing you warm and cozy November days watching all your favorite movies.
~Sheri
Aha! So "Snow Capped Christmas"/"Falling for Christmas" finally found a home! Lol.
ReplyDeleteIt's unlike UP to add in Christmas movies after their line-up of new ones has been announced, so this was truly a surprise.
But... UP had more than 6 new Christmas movies last year, and I was surprised that they were only going to premiere 6 this year. I thought they would at least give us 7. Adding this last one to the schedule makes more sense.
I just wonder why it took so long to claim this one. Clearly UP must not have known for sure that they were getting this movie at the time they initially released their holiday line-up.
I wonder if "Falling for Christmas" was on track to go to Lifetime, and then Lifetime suddenly passed on it when they decided to scale down their premieres this holiday season -- leaving UP to jump in and snap it up.
In any case, I will add "Falling for Christmas" to the list of things I have to record.
Wow! Great to know where Lisa's movie ended up.
ReplyDeleteMisty
I was able to watch Falling for Christmas this evening on Hallmark Movies Now, and I really enjoyed it. Christmas and Figure Skating/Hockey= great combo. Great chemistry between all the actors. I just wish this movie was on DVD.
ReplyDeleteJill, I'm so glad to hear that you liked Falling for Christmas, I thought it was such a fun movie with great comedy and romance. Truly Hallmark-esque! (Not a real word, but should be!) Anyway, I recall some people saying they didn't love it as much as others, but I thought it was entertaining, family-friendly and very sweet. I really liked it!
DeleteI've been wondering if UP will play this movie again, and others, since they are currently on Hallmark Movies Now. Would love to see it on DVD too!!! :)