It Nearly Wasn't Christmas (1989) (TV)

Director:

Burt Brinckerhoff

Writers (WGA):

Stanley Isaacs (story) &
Golda David (story) ...

Genre:

Adventure | Comedy

Plot:

Feeling unneeded, a disillusioned Santa Claus (Charles Durning) quits Christmas. Through the selflessness...

Plot Keywords:

Christmas | Santa Claus | Family Relationships

Cast

Beverly Rowland	...	Mrs. Claus
Charles Durning	...	Santa
Risa Schiffman	...	Jennifer Baxter
Annette Marin	...	Laura Baxter
Wayne Osmond	...	Jeff Baxter
Tip Boxell	...	Jeff's Boss
M.J. Bench	...	Stubby
Dottie Bench	...	Roly Poly
Debbie Christensen	...	Muffin
Kenneth Kunz	...	Trouper
Bruce Vilanch	...	Philpot
Star Herrmann	...	Mother (as Star Roman)
Brett Webb	...	Son
Gary Barnes	...	Father
Paul Grace	...	Mugger

Also Known As:

The Nearly Wasn't Christmas (USA) (alternative title)

Runtime:

USA:100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Utah, USA

Company:

Osmond Entertainment

Trivia:

The shopping mall where Wayne Osmond's character performs is actually in Utah.

An Adorable Christmas Movie!

I taped It Nearly wasn't Christmas several years ago but for some reason I didn't watch it until this year and so far I have watched it 3 times and I think this movie is great! It is about a little girl named Jennifer who lives in Illinois and she is unhappy that her father (Played by Wayne Osmond) has been working in California and can't make it home for Christmas and her mother is to busy and doesn't have enough money to take Jennifer and herself to see him so Jennifer runs away and meets Santa Claus who is on a mission to see if there are people who still care about Christmas because he is feeling that no one believes in him anymore and that people have gotten greedy and have no good will towards each other. This is a very cute movie and I really liked watching it and I thought the cast was good and Wayne Osmond who plays Jennifer's father is one of the Osmond brothers and this movie was filmed in Utah back in the late 1980's and watching this movie you will definitely see how late 80's it is especially with the clothes, hairstyles and the mother's huge eyeglasses that practically take up her whole face but despite that it's still a great movie and Ted Lange who was part of the cast of the 70's/80's TV show The Love Boat is in this too! This movie reminds me of the Christmas cartoon The Year Without A Santa Claus because like that cartoon this movie has a Santa Claus who is feeling a little down in the dumps and feeling that people just don't care about each other and needs something to show him that there are still decent people out there that are nice and caring!