Fall TV Preview » Lifetime

Five

lacken — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 21:09:49 +0000

What’s It All About? Continuing its unwavering commitment to breast cancer awareness, Lifetime has tapped superstar actresses Jennifer Aniston and Demi Moore, singer Alicia Keys and directors Patty Jenkins (Monster, The Killing) and Penelope Spheeris (Wayne’s World) to helm this anthology of five moving, funny and deeply interconnected short films about women and their loved ones forging their own paths in coping with the disease. Five boasts a staggering all-star cast that features Emmy nominee Tripplehorn (Big Love) as a doctor who lost her mother (Ginnifer Goodwin) to breast cancer as a child then discovers she has it herself; Academy Award^® nominee Patricia Clarkson (Pieces of April) as a quirky woman who throws herself a rollicking mock funeral and meets the love of her life; Fonesca (How I Met Your Mother) as a young exotic dancer unable to fathom life, love — or a career — without breasts; and Dawson (Sin City) as a conflicted career woman who struggles to accept her family’s support.

“Our hope with [Five] is to entertain, inform and inspire dialogue, research and prevention,” said Aniston in a statement released when she joined the project. “Otherwise, our goals are small. We want these films to move people and empower those affected by breast cancer to stand tall through this challenge, which impacts ALL of our lives, no matter who we are.”

The Fairy Jobmother

jpfeiffer — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 21:17:17 +0000

What’s It All About? Based on the popular British format, this reality series follows international career specialist Hayley Taylor as she assists severelly job-challenged families with her no-nonsense and tough love tactics to motivate them to get back on the payroll. Closely assessing every area of each family’s life – from relationship breakdowns to how they present themselves publicly and the homes they keep – Taylor will assist them face the harsh realities of why they are unemployed and get them back on the road to financial and emotional recovery. By the end of each episode, she transforms their lives, not only with the opportunity of employment on the horizon, but a different attitude towards themselves and their family members.

Reviving Ophelia

jpfeiffer — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 14:23:24 +0000

What’s It All About? Inspired by the best-selling non-fiction book by Dr. Mary Pipher, Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls, this film follows the story of two mothers who find themselves faced with the difficulties of raising their teen daughters — one struggling with dating abuse and the other acting out with rebellious behaviors.

In Reviving Ophelia, sisters Marie (Kaczmarek) and Le Ann (Dickens) have always leaned on one another through life’s challenges but discover they need each other more than ever as they navigate the complexities of understanding and raising their teen daughters. Marie’s 17-year-old Elizabeth has the picture-perfect life, with a seemingly equally wonderful boyfriend. Meanwhile, Le Ann is raising 16-year-old Kelli as a single parent and finds it difficult to relate to the pressures her daughter is facing with boys, friends and school. When Kelli starts to suspect Elizabeth may be abused by her boyfriend, no one will believe her — especially Elizabeth. But when Elizabeth lands in the hospital, Kelli’s surprising insights help Marie give Elizabeth the courage to leave her violent relationship.

The 19th Wife

jpfeiffer — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 20:25:54 +0000

What’s It All About? An update of the best-selling novel by David Ebershoff, The 19th Wife is set in a Mormon village. The action is told from the perspective of Queenie (Leigh), who, when one of the sect’s husbands is murdered and the victim’s first wife is accused of the crime, joins with the hapless woman’s excommunicated son (Czuchry) to uncover the truth, in spite of the disapproval of the local prophet. “It’s a sleuth sort of thing in a town where you don’t go digging your nose around in business that’s not yours,” Leigh says. “The more Queenie starts digging her nose into what’s going on, the more the prophet gets agitated … and the more that she starts to dig up, the worse the prophet looks, and the more it’s exposing how atrocious polygamy can be.”

Project Runway

admin — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 20:50:10 +0000

What to Expect: For a while there, it really looked as if some nasty litigation would keep Tim Gunn and company from making it work on a new channel, but the series returns for Season 6 with a new city for a backdrop — Los Angeles instead of New York — and a new production company (the Real World team). Otherwise, though, the show should feel comfortably familiar, with Gunn, Heidi Klum, and judges Nina Garcia (now representing Marie Claire magazine instead of Elle) and Michael Kors, as well as a very similar set. Oh, and a bunch of cutthroat designers; let’s not forget them.

Sherri

admin — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 20:28:55 +0000

What’s It All About? Sherri is a single mother, a full-time paralegal, a part-time comedian/actress and a recent divorcée from her cheating husband. With support from her sister and her friends, Sherri gets back into the dating scene while managing her busy life. Shepherd (The View) brings plenty of attitude to her role, but with lines like “The stages of grief are anger, anger, anger, anger … candy!” and “I am single mother, hear me roar … between the hours of 8pm and 11:30!” the script too often stumbles into “Cathy” comic strip territory.

Georgia O’Keeffe

lacken — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 19:21:42 +0000

Joan Allen and Jeremy Irons? On Lifetime? In a biography of America’s most celebrated female artist? Surprised? Then you haven’t been paying attention to the network’s studious evolution from purveyor of entertaining fluff to that of thoughtful, fact-based films that have lured the likes of Shirley MacLaine, Malcolm McDowell, Sigourney Weaver — and now this remarkable pairing, most recently seen together in Impressionism on the Broadway stage. A makeup-less Allen (who also executive produces) is fiercely luminous as the Wisconsin-born O’Keeffe, and her effortless chemistry with Irons’ charismatic Alfred Stieglitz is the showpiece of the film, even as the latter teeters distractingly close to a cape-sweeping caricature toward the film’s end. Tyne Daly is bracing as O’Keeffe’s momentary tormentor-turned-lifelong-friend Mabel Dodge Luhan, the socialite who first introduced O’Keeffe to her beloved Taos. Though O’Keeffe-ophiles may grump that the film — originally optioned by HBO — occasionally smudges the line between fact and fiction, it is nonetheless a stunningly crafted, beautifully detailed love song to the oft-contentious, occasionally cruel and utterly unbreakable bond between the plainspoken artist and the eccentric, New York-based photographer who was the love of her life.

Rita Rocks

kpaloucek — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 21:54:19 +0000

What to Expect: As season two opens, working mom Rita Clemens (Nicole Sullivan) can’t help feeling a little misty-eyed at how fast her daughters are growing up, even though it means she might be getting some more quality time to herself. Or maybe not, as she receives some startling news: She’s pregnant. As is Sullivan herself, which means the writers don’t thankfully have to play “hide the baby bump” as the story unfolds. Watch for a guest appearance by Duane Martin, the real-life husband of co-star Tisha Campbell-Martin (she’s expecting, too, by the way).

DietTribe

kpaloucek — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 21:53:33 +0000

What to Expect: Lifetime clearly figures it has nothing to lose by sticking with a winning formula, so fitness trainer-hottie Jessie Pavelka and psychotherapist Stacy Kaiser both return for a second eight-episode season, with a new “diet tribe”: siblings Stephanie, Tiffany, Mary, LaNessa and Rita, all of whom have packed on the weight due to a variety of life issues and stress factors. Each of them has taken on a goal of losing between 35 and 50 pounds. And they’re doing it the hard way: diet and exercise. That’s just crazy enough to work!