Heavy/Getty Lacey Chabert will star in a new Hallmark TV show
Actress Lacey Chabert, who just starred in her 38th Hallmark movie with the premiere of “Haul Out the Holly: Lit Up,” is ready to try something new. Hallmark Media announced on November 27, 2023, that Chabert will host and executive produce her first “unscripted” TV show for the network next year, according to Deadline.
The 10-episode series, called “Celebrations with Lacey Chabert,” is one of the multiple unscripted projects in development at Hallmark for 2024, according to a press release.
Here’s what you need to know:
Lacey Chabert Will Get to Put Her DIY Skills to the Test in New Series
Chabert’s new series will follow the star as she “surprises kids, families and adults who are making a positive impact in their communities by throwing them the celebration of a lifetime,” per Deadline.
For each person she gets to surprise, Chabert will have just three days to work with party planners, family members and volunteers to create one-of-a-kind surprise event. The series is scheduled to debut in late 2024 on Hallmark’s subscription streaming service, Hallmark Movies Now.
It’s a perfect fit for Chabert, who loves to dive into DIY projects to celebrate special occasions with her family, including husband David Nehdar and their seven-year-old daughter, Julia.
“As a lifelong DIY enthusiast, I fell in love with party planning while coming up with creative ways to bring my daughter’s birthday parties to life,” Chabert said in a press release.
In August, Chabert shared a video of how she built and decorated a homemade treat cart for Julia’s birthday. For Julia’s sixth birthday in 2022, Chabert shared another video of the elaborate Parisian-themed birthday party they threw.
“I am so excited to lend my love of crafts to create joyous moments for deserving people,” she said of her new series. “This is going to be an epic party as we celebrate real-life heroes, complete with ups and downs that only unscripted television can capture.”
After Chabert shared the news on Instagram, many of her Hallmark colleagues celebrated the news in the comment section, including Kristoffer Polaha, Will Kemp, and her “A Merry Scottish Christmas” co-star Scott Wolf.
For instance, Cindy Busby wrote, “This is absolutely perfect!! Yay!!!! 🥳🥳🥳”
Nikki DeLoach chimed in, “So happy for you babe ❤️”
Chabert hinted at a series in the works when she talked to Forbes in January 2023, though it’s not clear if the “Celebrations” series is the one she was talking about.
“There’s a lot of other stuff at Hallmark that we’re looking to do,” she said at the time. “I have an idea for a reality show that I hope we will see come to fruition very soon.”
Hallmark Has Plans for Many More Unscripted Programs
Crown Media“Meet the Peetes,” Season 2
In a press release about Chabert’s series, Hallmark said it is one of multiple unscripted programs in development, thanks to its new partnership with creative consultant and “master unscripted storyteller” David Stefanou.
According to RealScreen, Stefanou is the former SVP of development and programming at WEtv. He lost his role during a slew of layoffs by AMC Networks in December 2022. Unscripted series he’s developed over the years include the new documentary series “Grown & Gospel” and five seasons of “Tori & Dean: Love Inn,” starring Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott, per IMDb.
Lisa Hamilton Daly, Hallmark’s executive vice president of programming, said in a statement, “We’re proud to announce our foray into the unscripted programming space. The Hallmark brand lends itself to a wide array of opportunities to tell stories that bring inspiration, comfort, joy and happiness to our viewers, so tapping into this genre allows us to evolve and expand our programming footprint in incredibly rewarding ways.”
Technically, Hallmark has dabbled in unscripted programming before, including airing two seasons of Holly Robinson Peete’s reality show, “Meet the Peetes,” centered around her family in 2018 and 2019. But Hallmark seems to be differentiating between reality TV, in which stars’ personal lives are chronicled with hidden cameras, and unscripted content, which stars can host or provide expertise for to offer short-term series that inspire, inform and entertain fans.
The company’s press release said it plans to “expand its footprint in the unscripted programming space in the new year,” devoted to creating different kinds of “quality content” like the Hallmark movies and series viewers have come to love over the last two decades.