{"id":4617,"date":"2013-12-08T10:52:55","date_gmt":"2013-12-08T15:52:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/?p=4617"},"modified":"2013-12-08T10:53:29","modified_gmt":"2013-12-08T15:53:29","slug":"review-guess-whos-coming-to-christmas-airing-on-up-tv-tonight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2013\/12\/review-guess-whos-coming-to-christmas-airing-on-up-tv-tonight.html","title":{"rendered":"Review: &#8220;Guess Who&#8217;s Coming to Christmas&#8221; airing on UP TV tonight"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Here\u2019s today\u2019s dispatch from the crossroads of faith, media and culture.<\/p>\n<iframe title=\"UP Original Movie: Guess Who&#039;s Coming to Christmas\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/DPfaE24CvKM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p><strong><em>Guess Who&#8217;s Coming to Christmas<\/em> airs tonight (12\/8) @ 7:00 PM (ET) on UP.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.uptv.com\/guesswhoscomingtochristmas\">from the UP website<\/a>): <\/strong><em>Jaded rock star Dax (<strong>Drew Lachey<\/strong>) is found by New York paparazzi passed out in his car with a frozen holiday turkey in the passenger seat.\u00a0 In order to repair his tarnished image, Dax publicly agrees to grant a fan\u2019s \u201cDear Santa\u201d Christmas wish.\u00a0 To his dismay, his manager Jason (<strong>Matt Ward<\/strong>) drops Dax off in Cedar Grove, a Midwest small town, where he\u2019s committed to spend a week and perform in a local holiday Christmas concert.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>At first, Dax is horrified to be stuck in the Reverend Harding (<strong>Peter Lacroix<\/strong>) family\u2019s home with strict rules and a curfew.\u00a0 In spite of himself, he soon becomes charmed by the Reverend\u2019s wife Lynne (<strong>Ellie Harvie<\/strong>), teenage son Tim (<strong>Evan Bird<\/strong>), and very surprised contest winner and daughter Kelly (<strong>MacKenzie Porter<\/strong>), a sassy, unemployed book jacket writer.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Between the family\u2019s backyard collection of llamas, quirky Christmas traditions and their overall kindness, Dax starts to appreciate what the Hardings have as a family \u2013 love, caring and an uplifting holiday spirit. \u00a0<strong>Olivia Cheng<\/strong>\u00a0also stars.\u00a0 The movie features a musical duet by Lachey and Porter, entitled \u201cYou.\u201d\u00a0 Directed by\u00a0<strong>Kristoffer Tabori<\/strong>\u00a0(UP\u2019s\u00a0The Carpenter\u2019s Miracle, \u201cJudging Amy\u201d).\u00a0 Script by\u00a0<strong>Neil<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0<strong>Tippi Dobrovsky<\/strong>\u00a0(Goodnight for Justice,\u00a0Operation Cupcake).<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Review:<\/strong> Up gets just ever so slightly edgier with this smart-with-heart yuletide romantic comedy about how love transforms a world-weary, seen-his-best-days rock star of the one-named variety (in this that name is &#8220;Dax&#8221;) likeably portrayed by season-two<em><strong> Dancing with the Stars<\/strong> <\/em>champ <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Drew_Lachey\">Drew Lachey<\/a>. Up-and-coming Canadian actress <a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm2311411\/?ref_=tt_cl_t2\">MacKenzie Porter<\/a> plays Kelly Harding, the 26-year-old unemployed book jacket scribe forced by circumstance to return home to live under the roof of her minister dad (Peter Lacroix). As a teenager Kelly had a crush on Dax and his picture still hangs on the wall of her old bedroom. When her mischievous younger brother Tim (Evan Bird) enters Kelly&#8217;s name in a <em>Dear Santa<\/em> contest that comically results in forcing a reluctant Dax to spend a week under the Harding family roof.<\/p>\n<p>Needless to say the lifestyles of Dax and Reverend Harding aren&#8217;t exactly in sync and Kelly too finds herself disillusioned by her former heartthrob. But, you know, how these things go. Will Dax find himself moved by the essential love and faith of the Harding clan? Will he and Kelly fall in love? Chances are you may guess the answers to those questions &#8212; but, as always in these movies, the fun is getting there. And that&#8217;s the key. <em>Guess Who&#8217;s Coming to Christmas<\/em> is good warmhearted fun for a cold pre-Christmas night.<strong> Recommended.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Encourage one another and build each other up \u2013 <\/em><b>1 Thessalonians 5:11<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here\u2019s today\u2019s dispatch from the crossroads of faith, media and culture. Guess Who&#8217;s Coming to Christmas airs tonight (12\/8) @ 7:00 PM (ET) on UP. Synopsis (from the UP website): Jaded rock star Dax (Drew Lachey) is found by New York paparazzi passed out in his car with a frozen holiday turkey in the passenger&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":225,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,13,16,24,25,31],"tags":[35,3998,5962,4870,6036,5979,5980,6034,5984,6035,5981,5130],"class_list":["post-4617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-family-matters","category-humor","category-movies","category-music","category-television","tag-1-thessalonians-511","tag-drew-lachey","tag-guess-whos-coming-to-christmas","tag-judging-amy","tag-kristoffer-tabori-ups-the-carpenters-miracle","tag-mackenzie-porter","tag-matt-ward","tag-neil-and-tippi-dobrovsky-goodnight-for-justice","tag-olivia-cheng","tag-operation-cupcake","tag-peter-lacroix","tag-up-tv"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Review: &quot;Guess Who&#039;s Coming to Christmas&quot; airing on UP TV tonight<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2013\/12\/review-guess-whos-coming-to-christmas-airing-on-up-tv-tonight.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Review: &quot;Guess Who&#039;s Coming to Christmas&quot; airing on UP TV tonight\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here\u2019s today\u2019s dispatch from the crossroads of faith, media and culture. Guess Who&#8217;s Coming to Christmas airs tonight (12\/8) @ 7:00 PM (ET) on UP. Synopsis (from the UP website): Jaded rock star Dax (Drew Lachey) is found by New York paparazzi passed out in his car with a frozen holiday turkey in the passenger&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2013\/12\/review-guess-whos-coming-to-christmas-airing-on-up-tv-tonight.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Faith, Media &amp; Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-12-08T15:52:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-12-08T15:53:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John W. Kennedy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Review: \"Guess Who's Coming to Christmas\" airing on UP TV tonight","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2013\/12\/review-guess-whos-coming-to-christmas-airing-on-up-tv-tonight.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Review: \"Guess Who's Coming to Christmas\" airing on UP TV tonight","og_description":"Here\u2019s today\u2019s dispatch from the crossroads of faith, media and culture. Guess Who&#8217;s Coming to Christmas airs tonight (12\/8) @ 7:00 PM (ET) on UP. Synopsis (from the UP website): Jaded rock star Dax (Drew Lachey) is found by New York paparazzi passed out in his car with a frozen holiday turkey in the passenger&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2013\/12\/review-guess-whos-coming-to-christmas-airing-on-up-tv-tonight.html","og_site_name":"Faith, Media &amp; Culture","article_published_time":"2013-12-08T15:52:55+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-12-08T15:53:29+00:00","author":"John W. Kennedy","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2013\/12\/review-guess-whos-coming-to-christmas-airing-on-up-tv-tonight.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2013\/12\/review-guess-whos-coming-to-christmas-airing-on-up-tv-tonight.html","name":"Review: \"Guess Who's Coming to Christmas\" airing on UP TV tonight","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-12-08T15:52:55+00:00","dateModified":"2013-12-08T15:53:29+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/e5d5ef9caeb6b01bcbf08ca6de6591c2"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2013\/12\/review-guess-whos-coming-to-christmas-airing-on-up-tv-tonight.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2013\/12\/review-guess-whos-coming-to-christmas-airing-on-up-tv-tonight.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2013\/12\/review-guess-whos-coming-to-christmas-airing-on-up-tv-tonight.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Review: &#8220;Guess Who&#8217;s Coming to Christmas&#8221; airing on UP TV tonight"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/","name":"Faith, Media &amp; Culture","description":"Beliefnet Voices - John W. Kennedy","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/e5d5ef9caeb6b01bcbf08ca6de6591c2","name":"John W. Kennedy","description":"John W. Kennedy is the founder and Dir. of Development of The Creative Universe Entertainment\u2122, a media consultation and development company focusing on the creation, development and support of high-quality mainstream entertainment that upholds positive timeless values, including trust in God. Current projects include \"Bryant Park\" (an uplifting romantic-comedy) and \"Photo Finish\" (an award-winning sci-fi TV pilot). He has written over 100 children's novels based on episodes of the Cartoon Network series \"Ben 10\", \"Ben 10: Alien Force\", \"Ben 10: Ultimate Alien\", \"Ben 10: Omniverse\" and \"Generator Rex\" among others. He also writes Beliefnet\u2019s \"Faith, Media &amp; Culture\" blog. Previously, he has produced successful news and talk programming for CNN, Fox News, Pax TV and SiriusXM. Specialties: Script Writing, Movie\/TV Novelizations &amp; Adaptations, TV Content Creation and Development, Creative Consultation, Producing and Booking News and Talk shows. He can be reached for writing, producing and consulting services at 516-640-1182.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/author\/jkennedy"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/225"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4617"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4617\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4618,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4617\/revisions\/4618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}