Family Ties aired on NBC for seven seasons more than 25 years ago, but fans of the series will see two of its stars reunite in a new Lifetime Christmas movie titled Becoming Santa.
Michael Gross and Meredith Baxter are together again on the small screen as Santa and Mrs. Claus. Yes, Gross is taking on the role of Santa Claus for the Lifetime movie.
He spoke about the decision to take on the role in an interview with YourTVLink. He said:
“I’m 6 feet, 3 inches and 180 pounds, so I thought, ‘This does not make sense.’ Obviously, I knew it was ‘gimmick’ casting – so to speak — with Meredith and myself, and that was a good place to begin. I could see her as Mrs. Claus, but not so much me as Mr. Claus. I didn’t get it, but I read it and saw it was sort of a straightforward Santa Claus, then I talked with the producers and realized they were going to go with the full-on body padding and so forth.”
Gross also spoke about working with his former on-screen wife again for the film.
“We had not spent this much time together since ‘Family Ties’ ended in 1989. We had worked together since, but it was in Los Angeles, so we’d both go to our own cars and homes every night. Here, we were on location (in Vancouver, British Columbia) and in the same hotel for three weeks, right across the hall from each other. We drove to the set together and really caught up in a way we had not in over 25 years, so we had so many laughs and so many heart-to-hearts. It was just great.”
This is not the only on-screen reunion Lifetime has cooked up this holiday season. They reunited the couple from Family Matters, played by Reginald VelJohnson and Jo Marie Payton, in a film that aired on Saturday night.
Becoming Santa will air on December 12 on Lifetime. Will you watch? Tell us what you think.
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