5 hours ago, titan1978 said:

For years I thought the Cheryl Ladd thriller Lisa was a TV Movie and it was an actual film!

I still remember when Siskel & Ebert reviewed the movie on their show. IIRC, they spent most of the time questioning who was the movie even made for, lol.

It's funny how USA went from being one of the trashiest networks on cable to one of the most earnest (WWE programming notwithstanding), while Lifetime and LMN went from being progressive "women's networks" to the new destination for the most regressive "women-in-peril" movies out there.

1 hour ago, Khan said:

while Lifetime and LMN went from being progressive "women's networks" to the new destination for the most regressive "women-in-peril" movies out there.

Talk of the more earnest and progressive era of Lifetime reminded me of Baby Cakes starring Ricki Lake. I could have sworn it was a Lifetime original but the internet tells me it was a CBS tv movie.

Speaking of movies made for USA ... I would watch the hell out of Tap Pant Desire.

2 minutes ago, titan1978 said:

Talk of the more earnest and progressive era of Lifetime reminded me of Baby Cakes starring Ricki Lake. I could have sworn it was a Lifetime original but the internet tells me it was a CBS tv movie.

One of the weirdest coincidences is that the four prominent actresses who played Tracy from Hairspray followed it up up with a body positivity TV-movie.

Ricki Lake -- Babycakes

Marissa Jaret Winokur -- Beautiful Girl

Nikki Blonsky -- Queen Sized

Maddie Baillio -- Dumplin'

17 minutes ago, Franko said:

One of the weirdest coincidences is that the four prominent actresses who played Tracy from Hairspray followed it up up with a body positivity TV-movie.

That is wild!

Lisa was a really good movie especially the relationship between the mother and daughter.. and the twist was that the daughter was basically stalking the serial killer with him being a bit uneased about not being the one in power.. and the mother/daughter teaming up against the killer at the end was effective as well. Great soundtrack as well.

USA made for tv movies were the thing back in the late 80s and early 90s.. Morgan Fairchild was in at least two

Of course, no discussion of USA Original Movies would be complete with THIS gem, featuring Jane Seymour, Barry Bostwick, Chad Allen, John Martin (ex-Jon Russell, OLTL) and Frances Fisher. (Anyone who wears wigs that cheap-looking must be a psycho.):

Edited 4 hours ago4 hr by Khan

16 hours ago, titan1978 said:

Talk of the more earnest and progressive era of Lifetime reminded me of Baby Cakes starring Ricki Lake. I could have sworn it was a Lifetime original but the internet tells me it was a CBS tv movie.

The one thing I remember most about that movie? She took a guy who dressed very conservatively...and turned him into Leo Stark.

16 hours ago, Franko said:

Speaking of movies made for USA ... I would watch the hell out of Tap Pant Desire.

LOL!!

So many of those fake USA movies sounded so real. I'd watch "Cheek Beat," if only because I'm a sucker for anything starring Lisa Hartman Black.

Those Knots ladies certainly starred in many tv films! I knew Lisa Hartman Black from other stuff before I saw Knots Landing reruns. She was one of those celebrities that I just knew who she was without remembering her in anything. The same with Ann Jillian!

Two soap connected ones I watched were To Love, Honor, and Deceive starring Vanessa Marcil, and Terror in the Shadows with Marcy Walker and Genie Francis. Both were fun to watch but I wouldn’t call them good films. The stories were typical tv movie thrillers. But they were both fun.

There is also the TV movie sub-genre of films about the actual celebrity starring themselves. Ann Jillian did the one about her cancer fight. Deidre Hall about her surrogacy, and Joan and Melissa Rivers about grieving Edgar and rebuilding Joan’s career. I remember thinking Joan actually did some decent acting in it too, but I was a kid so if I saw it today I might have a different opinion.

This thread has really unlocked some childhood memories for me!