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In her snowy home state of Utah, Marie Osmond serves up a warm cup of holiday cheer with Marie Osmond's Merry Christmas, her very first Christmas special. Mixing traditional songs and carols with modern melodies, Marie presents a sentimental hourlong program (originally aired on television in 1989), blending music with short sketches. The show features Kirk Cameron, then-teen heartthrob on Growing Pains; Candace Cameron, his sister and star of Full House; country singer Lee Greenwood; Sally Struthers and daughter Samantha, ice dancers Judy Blumberg and Michael Siebert, and the Osmond Boys. Marie opens the show with an outdoor rendition of "We Need a Little Christmas" and then moves into the studio where Kirk Cameron arrives on a snowmobile (fresh from rescuing a trio of blonde snow bunnies) to read "The First Christmas Story." Lee Greenwood performs "Christmas to Christmas" and later a duet with Marie. "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" is sung by Sally Struthers and daughter with help from the Osmond Boys--six stepping stones ages 4 to 12 who have the senior Osmonds' moves down pat. The adorable award, though, goes to Marie's 5-year-old son, Steven, who performs a rockin' version of "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" (clapping on the off-beat nearly the whole song). Marie has a good, strong voice, but many of the songs are overproduced and melodramatic. This, most likely, is a product of the big, pouffy '80s (her hair and outfits are also bigger-than-life) rather than a reflection of her talents. The closing number, "O Holy Night," sung by Marie alone, is quite lovely. --Dana Van Nest
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