Kelsey Grammer Is a Modern-Day Scrooge in Lifetime’s ‘The 12 Days of Christmas Eve’

Lifetime

In his newest film, The 12 Days of Christmas Eve, part of Lifetime’s 2022 “It’s a Wonderful Lifetime” programming, Kelsey Grammer plays a successful but ill-tempered businessman who gets into a deadly car accident on Christmas Eve, after which a very even-keeled Santa-in-limbo gives him 12 chances to redo the 24 hours that brought him there, Groundhog Day style.

In true holiday-movie fashion, to live, Grammer must learn the meaning of Christmas and repair his relationships, specifically with his daughter, who is played by Grammer’s actual daughter, Spencer Grammer.

Similar to the 2004 film of the same name with Steven Weber and Molly Shannon, in which a successful business executive neglects those closest to him and must redo Christmas Eve until he gets it right, and the classic Charles Dickens novel A Christmas Carol, the film is about second chances and the importance of prioritizing family. Luckily, the wrought father-daughter relationship between Kelsey’s workaholic character Brian and his doctor daughter Michelle is nothing like the one between the real-life Grammers, and this is quite visible when watching the two of them talk to each other.

“Spencer was always front and center,” Kelsey says of his relationship to his daughter when she was young. “She went everywhere with me, in the first few years.”

Spencer still remembers this vividly, and credits it for her interest in acting. “I grew up going to watch him work all the time, especially when he was doing the last few years of Frasier. I loved showtime. I loved being backstage and in the wings. I always wanted to work with him.”

Spencer, who has been acting for most of her adult life, is most well known for her role on the late 2000s-era sorority drama series Greek as well as being the voice of Summer, Morty’s sister, on Rick and Morty. This is the first time she’s worked with her dad onscreen. “The idea of being able to play my dad’s daughter in a film has always been a dream of mine,” Spencer says. “We had a great time. It was so much fun, truly magical.”

“I don’t know if it’s because I spent so much time on set with him, but it felt so natural and easy,” Spencer adds. “I’ve always loved Christmas. I couldn’t have asked for a better story. It was magical to share it with my actual father.”

Kelsey, too, could not have been happier to work with his daughter. “We just sort of hit the ground running,” Kelsey said. “It was a lovely time.”

The 12 Days of Christmas Eve, which Kelsey admits is a nod to Groundhog Day as well as Dickens, premieres on Lifetime on Saturday, Nov. 26, at 8pm ET/PT.