A Good Friday Play is Set to Air on Great American Family

The cable television network continues to intersperse faith-based fare into its regular family-friendly programming.

A digital poster for "The Passion Play" that is to run this week on Great American Family channel. Image: Shepherd Church.

When Great American Family launched in 2021, it set its sights on challenging the Hallmark networks, which came as little surprise since the founder of the new channel - Bill Abbott - had been the CEO of Hallmark's parent company Crown Media for 10 years. A committed Christian, he also aimed to inject a periodic faith-based flavor into the otherwise Hallmarkesque programming of his new venture.

The latest example is to come on Good Friday with a broadcast of The Passion Play, described on the channel's website as "an inspiring retelling of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ." The production, a stage performance from Shepherd Church in Los Angeles, features song, dance, and spoken-word drama, and it promises to help the viewers "experience the power of the Gospel shown like never before."

Candace Cameron Bure and Shepherd Church Lead Pastor Dudley Rutherford appear in a social media post to promote "The Passion Play." Image: Candace Cameron Bure/from Instagram.

That aforementioned church is the home church of Candace Cameron Bure, who is both the leading on-screen star and Chief Creative Officer at Great American Family, and she obviously helped make this airing of the play happen. In a social media post promoting it, she says "the performances are Broadway-worthy," and that she "cried throughout" as it was staged live in church a few days ago.

The Passion Play will air this Friday, April 7th, at 4:00 PM EDT/1:00 PM PDT exclusively on Great American Family channel. You can get a feel for what to expect in the trailer below.