LIFETIME: "Ladies of the 80's: A Diva's Christmas"

[Soapsuds]

It's tonight!!

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[Soapsuds]

Christopher looks rough. Linda looks younger than him.

[kalbir]

Linda Gray and Donna Mills were both born in 1940 but holy difference in the aging. 

[Soapsuds]

Donna had a lot of work done.

Linda looked like she had work done during her time on Dallas. Linda is a runner...lots of outdoor stuff. Too much sun and I think she's lost too much weight which makes her look older.

[soapfan770]

Awww what a cute movie.

Holy cow though Christopher looked like he was 90 years old and sun burnt.

Loni did rock that silver hair for real; the wig  made her look like Linda Evans.

What kind of soap opera was Great Lakes supposed to be anyways lol? Sounded like a mashup of GL, Days, PC, with a Loni’s character being a nod to Susan Lucci. Having a live Christmas episode and then becoming a reality soap…please don’t give RC and JG ideas

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[DaytimeFan]

Harmless, cute, light as a feather TV movie. I'm glad they all got to do it and qualify for their SAG/AFTRA health insurance. 

My bet is the part Morgan played was originally written for Dame Joan. The mention of 5 husbands and cooking English Christmas cake, and the dialog in general, had Joan written all over it. 

Loni's part also sounded like Morgan when they mentioned she studied rare diseases (Morgan does this IRL). 

The irony is for my griping that Loni did not have the soap pedigree, she was actually the best part of it and that's because she's a sitcom actress. She knew how to liven up the lines. She looked and sounded very much like she did in the 90s. By far the most vibrant and she's 78. 

While Donna looks good, she's very stiff and her voice, like Linda Gray's has aged considerably. Both Donna and Linda seemed a bit frail. 

Nicollette looked really hard.

Morgan is certainly zaftig but she still sounds like herself and has her swagger. 

I wonder how this might have been different if produced by Hallmark - their movies tend to have a sweeter tone. 

[All My Shadows]

Morgan's been on an interesting path the last few years. I follow her closely on Instagram, and she's been wearing several unflattering wigs lately (particularly, there's a short one that she seems to like a lot). She's still active and always up to something, and that's all that matters in the long run.

Who knows how to stream this lol

Also - I'm surprised we haven't brought this up yet, but I wonder if SuLu might've been considered for this, since she did Army Wives and Devious Maids on Lifetime post-AMC. She obviously stands out because she was more than just an "80s lady" in soaps, but she would've still fit the mold of being larger-than-life in that decade.

I think my daytime version would star Susan Lucci, Kim Zimmer, Jane Elliot, Linda Dano, and Erika Slezak.

Edited December 3, 2023 by All My Shadows

[Khan]

I was playing the exact same game in my head, @All My Shadows, lol!

It's so hard for me to come up with a definitive list, though, because there are so many actresses in daytime who I'd want to see working together.  But I can't argue with YOUR list at all!

And I'm still thinking there could be another "Ladies of the '80's," with repeat performances from Donna, Linda, Morgan and Nicollette, but also with actresses like Susan Sullivan, Ana-Alicia, Michele Lee, Joan Van Ark (God help us), Lisa Hartman Black, Charlene Tilton, Pamela Sue Martin - and, of course, Dame Joan.

[All My Shadows]

Part of me thinks Michele Lee has been blowing Donna's phone up like, "DONNA, you KNOW I would have loved to have been in on this. NO ONE can purposely chew scenery like ME, and we could have done an EXCELLENT update to the Pollyanna speech." "Absolutely, Michele, we'll call you for the sequel."

I'm glad they've given us this to indulge over. I wouldn't be mad if it became a yearly series of movies where they really did add more people into the fold, uncovering more and more of their co-stars from "Great Lakes" in a Love Boat-type way of just throwing in all of our faves from the era. Hallmark would have been more likely to go down that route.

[Khan]

I'm sitting here, thinking, "Aside from the soap divas, did we have any other 'ladies of the '80's' who could show up in sequels?"  You've got the primetime soaps, but what about sitcoms and drama shows? 

There's Shelley Long, I guess, and Julia Duffy; the surviving "Designing Women" cast members; and Tyne Daly and Sharon Gless.  But I'm hard-pressed to come up with others.  (I'm leaving out Roseanne Barr and Cybill Shepherd for obvious reasons, lol).

Edited December 3, 2023 by Khan

[kalbir]

The big 1980s family sitcom moms: Phylicia Rashad, Meredith Baxter, Judith Light, Joanna Kerns.

[Soapsuds]

Michelle Lee was mentioned in the movie.

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For daytime I'd add Colleen Zenk to the cast and I'd beg and plead Susan Flannery to un retire and do a daytime version.

@DaytimeFan

I agree Loni was very good in the movie.

Edited December 3, 2023 by Soapsuds

[Khan]

And Alley Mills!  You can't forget Kevin Arnold's mom, lol!

Sadly, there are so many actresses from that period who are no longer with us: Dixie Carter, Markie Post, Mary Frann, Angela Lansbury, all four "Golden Girls."

Maybe Susan Flannery could recreate her death scene in "The Towering Inferno," lol?

Edited December 3, 2023 by Khan

[All My Shadows]

This is the type of rabbit hole I've missed going down lol

Susan Saint James, where you at, girl? Steffy Powers, are you free? 

[Soaplovers]

I would add Deidre Hall because she was very popular in the 80s on Days.. plus had a bit of success as a working prime time actress in the late 80s/early 90s.

I knew Loni would be good because she has the comedy/sitcom background and knows how to balance the line between campy and non-campy comedy.  

Susan Sullivan would be good if they do a follow up because she was known in the 80s for being the long suffering heroine, but also went onto success in sitcoms in the 90s and thereafter with a more broad style of acting.  She could play a character in the follow up where she was known for playing the warm and moral center on the soap, like Maggie on FC, but behind the scenes be more like her character from Dharma and Greg.

I also second Ana Alicia being in one of these types of movies. Her dismissal from FC helped cause a huge ratings drop and it would be nice for new generations to be re-introduced to her.