Lifetime Movie 'The Santa Con' Premieres Tonight, Stars Melissa Joan Hart, Barry Watson

The Santa Con premieres December 13 on Lifetime. Photo by Courtesy of Lifetime
Copyright 2014

Lifetime Original Movie The Santa Con premieres on Saturday, December 13 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. The film stars Melissa Joan Hart (Sabrina the Teenage Witch), Barry Watson (Hart of Dixie), Melissa Sagemiller (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit) and Wendy Williams.

Wendy Williams stars in The Santa Con.
Photo by Courtesy of Lifetime Copyright 2014

Small-time con man Nick DeMarcco (Watson) is ordered by his parole officer to take a minimum-wage job as a department store Santa during the holidays…and he hates it. Near the end of his first shift, he hastily promises a young boy, Billy (Tucker Meeks), that Santa will bring his estranged parents back together by Christmas. When his sister Rosemary (Melissa Joan Hart, Melissa and Joey) hears this, she is livid and can’t believe he would break a little boy’s heart with an empty promise. After a long night of soul searching – and with the help of an insightful female pastor (Williams) – Nick decides to make good on his promise to the child, somehow. But after meeting the boy’s mother Carol (Sagemiller), will Nick ultimately choose to put the happiness of others ahead of his own?

Watch a sneak peek of The Santa Con below:

Lifetime Holiday Movie Schedule Released

Grumpy Cat, Aubrey Plaza, Academy Award nominee Taraji P. Henson, Emmy winner Chevy Chase Golden Globe nominee and Molly Ringwald, Emmy nominees John Ratzenberger, Conchata Ferrell, Cheri Oteri and Annabella Sciorra, Grammy winners Gladys Knight, Cliff "Method Man" Smith and Meat Loaf, Grammy-nominated singing group En Vogue, Grammy nominee David Alan Grier, Barry Watson, Melissa Joan Hart and Wendy Williams among others

An En Vogue Christmas
Saturday, November 22, 8 p.m. ET/PT

Over the years, the funky divas of En Vogue have gone their separate ways, until they are asked to perform a benefit concert to save the club that made them stars. They put aside their hesitations to reunite for the special night but first, must overcome their challenging history with Marty (David Alan Grier, In Living Color), their former manager and the man responsible for breaking them up. In the spirit of the holidays, the ladies find forgiveness and come together for an epic En Vogue Christmas concert to keep the club from closing its doors forever. Stars Terry Ellis, Cindy Herron, Rhona Bennett as themselves and features some of their biggest hits and two new original songs. Genelle Williams also stars.

Melissa Joan Hart Previews the Halloween Episode of 'Melissa & Joey'

Melissa Joan Hart in the "Witch Came First" episode of Melissa & Joey.  Photo Credit: ABC

ABC Family is airing special Halloween episodes of its Wednesday night comedies Melissa & Joey and Baby Daddy tonight. Tune in to Melissa & Joey starting at 8 p.m. ET/PT to find out what happens when Mel discovers she may have once been a teenage witch (and plenty of Sabrina the Teenage Witch reunions!). The episode was directed by Melissa Joan Hart, who stars as Melissa in the series. The actress/director offered a sneak peek of the episode when she met with members of the media last week. Read the transcript below:

What initially inspired you to direct an episode of Melissa & Joey?
MELISSA JOAN HART: I've been directing since I was about 20-years-old from my days on Sabrina the Teenage Witch. I guess I was always very bossy on set [Laughs] and I was just always wanting to learn new things. From my days on Clarissa, I was constantly following the directors and shadowing them and talking to the crew and figuring out how the cameras worked and trying to play with the lighting boards. I was always very curious about all the stuff going on behind the scenes.

I was fascinated by it all and when it came down to Sabrina, we had such a difficult time finding directors that could handle the style of show that hadn't really been done before, because it was technically a three camera show but it probably should have had only one camera. We didn't have a live audience, but we did shoot three days a week and we rehearsed twice a week, so it was sort of a hybrid show as one of the first hybrid, technically, single-camera sitcoms.