Lori Loughlin will star in the Great American Family movie Fall Into Winter, which premieres in January. Her character is aghast when her brother sells his half of their family-owned, upscale candy shop to his best friend from high school, and her nemesis, forcing a sudden urgency to find connection and common ground. Fate ultimately brings the pair together. 

Loughlin spent two months in prison in 2020 for her involvement in a scandal related to college admissions. 

“Lori is a genre-defining star that I have had the honor to call a close friend and collaborator for more than 15 years,” said Bill Abbott, president and CEO of Great American Media. “We have a shared vision for creating meaningful and memorable movies that resonate with our passionate fans, and I look forward to welcoming her back to Great American Family to anchor our 2023 winter programming slate.”

Abbott ran Hallmark Channel before moving to Great American Media. 

Loughlin’s TV roles include Full House, Fuller House and When Hope Calls, the latter airing on Hallmark Channel and then shifting to Great American Family.

Fall Into Winter is executive produced by Brad Krevoy and Susie Belzberg Krevoy. David Anselmo produces for HP Into Winter Productions, Inc. Cara J. Russell wrote the project. ■

Former Hallmark Channel head Bill Abbott announced that his new channel GAC Family will be bringing back Lori Loughlin and the series When Hope Calls, which previously appeared on Hallmark Channel.

Loughlin has been in the news for her involvement in the college admissions scandal. She was a regular on Hallmark Channel, most recently as the star of When Calls the Heart.

When Hope Calls is a spinoff of Hallmark's When Calls the Heart and will appear exclusively this season on GAC Family.

Loughlin will appear as her When Calls the Heart character in a two part season premiere with the kind of holiday spin Hallmark and GAC Family viewers enjoy. The premiere is titled When Hope Calls: A Country Christmas. It is scheduled to appear Dec. 18.

The When Hope Calls season one cable debut in February 2020 averaged a 2.0 household rating and 2 million total viewers. The show and Loughlin’s appearance will help drive viewership to the new channel, GAC expects.

Abbott led the acquisition of Great American Country and Ride TV for his new company GAC Media. The networks were officially rebranded this week as GAC Family and GAC Living, and will follow the Hallmark playbook of family friendly entertainment and holiday celebrations.

GAC previously announced that Debbie Matenopoulos and Cameron Mathison, who had been stars of Hallmark's Home & Family daytime show when Abbott ran the network, would be hosting a special on GAC Family, Welcome to Great American Christmas on Oct. 24.

In the premiere of When Hope Calls: A Country Christmas, Part 1, "a Christmas festival worthy of Harper’s Bazaar happens in the town of Brookfield as the community is one of three contenders in the magazine’s search for America’s #1 Country Christmas Town. In the midst of the fuss, a stagecoach appears, and out steps Abigail Stanton, Loughlin’s character, and her son, Cody who have brought a troubled boy to the town’s orphanage."

Also Read: GAC Family Adds Three Movies to Great American Christmas Slate

Executive producers of When Hope Calls are Brad Krevoy, Brian Bird, Michael Landon, Jr., Alfonso H. Moreno, Kaitlyn Greenough, and David Anselmo. Producer is Kym Crepin. Supervising producers are W. Michael Beard and Michael Shepard. Director is Bradley Walsh. The spinoff series is created by Alfonso H. Moreno.

Fuller House star Lori Loughlin Wednesday was taken into custody and released on $1 million bond on charges of participating in a college admissions bribery scheme.

Loughlin, 54, was released on $1 million bond Wednesday after appearing in Los Angeles federal court in connection with federal charges that she and her husband Mossimo Giannulli allegedly paid bribes in an effort to get their two daughters into the University of Southern California. Loughlin will have to appear in court in Boston on March 29, according to published reports.

Loughlin turned herself in to FBI authorities earlier in the day as part of the sweeping college admissions scandal, in which more than 30 other people -- including Desperate Housewives star Felicity Huffman -- were also arrested and charged.

Loughlin was allowed to retain her passport and travel to Canada where she is currently filming a project, according to USA Today.

While Loughlin is arguably best known for her role as Rebecca Donaldson on the 1990's sitcom Full House -- as well as Netflix’s recent reboot of the series Fuller House -- she’s more recently become one of family-targeted Hallmark Network’s most recognizable stars. She’s appeared in several of Hallmark’s ratings-strong, Christmas-themed movies, including last year’s Homegrown Christmas and 2016's Every Christmas Has a Story.

Loughlin also stars in Hallmark’s drama series When Calls the Heart, now in its sixth season, as well as Hallmark Mysteries and Movies’ film series Garage Sale Mysteries.

Neither Netflix nor the Crown Media-owned Hallmark Channel -- whose family-friendly programming fare appeals to women across multiple age groups -- would comment on the matter.

Computer company HP has pulled a 2017 advertisement featuring Loughlin and her daughter Olivia Jade Giannulli due to the scandal, according to Fortune.

Hallmark Channel will mark the second-season premiere of original series When Calls The Heart, with a two-hour event at the end of April.

Based on the Janette Oke novel of the same name, When Calls The Heart comes back on April 25 via a special presentation from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. (ET/PT).

The series, which averaged a 1.5 household rating during its 10-episode rookie run in 2014 that made it one of the top-five performers in its Saturday night timeslot, returns its top-liners Erin Krakow, Daniel Lissing and Lori Loughlin, who also stars in the network's Northpole holiday movie franchise and sister service Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, Sugar Cookie Murder entry. Introduced late last season, Jack Wagner is also a key cast member,

The series follows young teacher Elizabeth Thatcher (Krakow) who moves to Coal Valley, an early 20th century coal mining town, for her first classroom assignment. A mine explosion has claimed the lives of most of the community's men, leaving behind their widows—including the kindly Abigail Stanton (Loughlin). The newly widowed women face many challenges as they confront life alone in Coal Valley, including a stint working in the mines to support their families. As Thatcher adapts to the frontier lifestyle, she begins to fall for handsome Mountie Jack Thornton (Lissing). Wagner and James Brolin appeared in the final episodes of the first season, looking to bring justice to the coal mining tragedy.

Vewers embarking to Coal Valley for the sophomore-season debut with fill find Elizabeth and Jack closer than ever after theri first kiss in the installment entitled “Trials of the Heart." However, their budding union is threatened when she receives a distressing telegram from home requesting her return. As Jack gains a new understanding of Elizabeth's high-society family, Abigail remains in Coal Valley, where she nervously awaits the mining disaster trial, and finally confronts investigator Bill Avery (Wagner) about a shocking discovery that could put their own romantic future on hold.

When Calls The Heart’s late April bow continues Hallmark Channel’s original series presence on Saturday night.

The network, on April 18, will wrap up the first season of Good Witch with a two-hour finale, called “True Colors.” Starring Catherine Belle as Cassie Nightingale, the show, developed from the network’s successful telefilm franchise, has been the family-friendly’s most successful with the Nielsens to date, according to executives at the programmer.

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The March 14 premiere conjured a 2.3 household rating and 2.4 million viewers, according to live + 3 data. After three weeks on air, Good Witch has made Hallmark Channel the highest-rated and most-watched cable network in the Saturday 8 p.m. time period and has reached nearly 8.8 million unduplicated viewers.

Hallmark Channel has booked a return trip to the Northpole for holiday season 2015.

Just a little over a week after Northpole bowed to the network's top audience of 2014, Hallmark Channel will again work with Hallmark Cards on Northpole, with the telefilm serving as a tentpole of its annual "Countdown to Christmas" programming gambit.

In the second iteration, Lori Loughlin, who stars in the network's When Calls The Heart series and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries' telefilm Sugar Cookie Murder will play a woman who receives some unexpected Xmas cheer and magic from a team of elves headed by the cheerful Clementine, a role reprised by Bailee Madison (pictured, right).

“Developing a hugely successful film in partnership with Hallmark Cards was a tremendous accomplishment and we look forward to creating an even more spectacular second installment with Northpole 2 by casting two of the network’s most beloved leading ladies, Lori Loughlin and Bailee Madison,” said Michelle Vicary, executive vice president of programming for Crown Media Family Networks.

The Nov. 15 premiere of Northpole averaged a 3.5 household rating and 4 million viewers, according to Nielsen data, to shined as Hallmark Channel's most-watched and highest-rated movie to date in 2014 among households and viewers, plus adults and women 25 to 54.