More Sex and the Single Mom

By: Claire Zachary

You want to know the good thing about a Lifetime movie sequel? Thanks to all of the steamy black and white flash backs, you don’t need to see the first one to enjoy the second! We open on single mom Jess Gradwell (Gail O’Grady) with a three year old and a teenager. I know, I know large elephant in the room, what’s with the age gap? Jake, the three year old, is the love child of a 6 week love affair with heart surgeon Alex Clifton (Grant Show), and Sarah, the 18year old, Jess’s first child from her ex-husband. Jess eventually rebounded from the affair and her life becomes somewhat settled with a fiancé, a growing law career, and a daughter who is about to graduate and move to college. A blast from the past re-enters Sarah’s life and creates, what else…Lifetime drama. But before we get to that, Sarah has decided she doesn’t want to learn from her mother’s mistakes she would rather make some of her own. While trying to advance her photography career she begins an internship with a leather wearing, motorcycle riding professional photographer (who is 28 by the way). After a whirlwind weekend of love making, Sarah realizes her mother was right and her “first time” turned out to be nothing but a conquest for the photographer. Now, back to Jess… After Alex realizes Jess had his baby, he tries to become a part of their lives whether Jess’s fiancé likes it or not. Jess, Alex, and Jake have a joyful, somewhat twisted day at the zoo and ba-da-bing all of the emotions come rushing back! Throw in one a deep conversation with her daughter, and Jess has made up her mind to get back with the heart surgeon, this time forever. I never saw the first one but More Sex and the Single Mom was exactly what I needed while trying to write a paper and procrastinating at the same time.

For the Love of Grace

By Connie Rust

I like Lifetime as much as any red-blooded American girl, but sometimes I go into overload with all the lust and lying, murder and mistrust, bigamy and beatings ,fornicating and... well, you get the idea. Sometimes I need a heaping helping of cheese with a side order of sweetness. Such is the case with “For the Love of Grace.” In this heartwarming tale of destined love, heroic but suspended firefighter Steve Lockwood (Mark Consuelos, or Mr. Kelly Ripa) has a chance meeting with “how to” book author Grace Harlan (Chandra West, definitely a hall of famer). Still reeling from the death of his wife, Steve is attracted to Grace but apprehensive. Rescuing her from a fire sets the stage for romance. It is about now that we all need to check our insulin levels because the rest is just too sweet. When Grace goes to the fire station to thank Steve, she is inspired to write a book about the brave young men who work there. Now, the story would not be complete without a type-A fiancée for Grace who has trouble scheduling their upcoming nuptials between business appointments. Throw in a well meaning matchmaker brother for Steve and a flighty friend for Grace and you have the perfect antidote for Lifetime debauchery!

Lucky 7

By Claire Zachary

Mother knows best when it comes to matters of the heart… or does she? Before Amy Meyers' (Kimberly Williams-Paisley) mother dies from cancer, she helps Amy draft a “foolproof” timeline for the rest of her life. Of course with this being a Lifetime movie, it is not so simple. Amy did manage to follow mother’s orders and gets elected class president, travels through Europe, attends law school, and becomes a successful Seattle lawyer. As for finding love, Amy adamantly tries to stick to the plan by marrying her seventh boyfriend. However, she did not anticipate falling for boyfriend number six, a good-looking, yet cocky, young buck climbing the corporate ladder named Daniel (Brad Rowe). Just like a savvy lawyer she tries to get her way and shops around for a replacement “number 6,” who happens to be Peter Connor (we would commonly refer to him as Dr. McDreamy nowadays, Patrick Dempsey). Peter is a former Wall Street broker turned bagel shop owner who fortunately has a crush on Amy. After an innocent weekend trip develops into a romantic escapade with Peter, Amy begins to second guess her literal interpretation of her mother’s timeline. Is it time to let go of her mother’s hand and follow her heart? This film is big screen worthy, so I guess Lifetime and its viewers are the “lucky” ones.

The Pregnancy Pact

by Kristin Duncan

What better way to spend a Saturday morning than watching a group of teenage girls that are desperate for attention make a pact to (insert drum roll) get pregnant? The story is loosely based on the real life events in small-town USA, Massachusetts. The “film” is laden with TV has-beens, which is Lifetime recipe for success. Camryn Manheim (from The Practice) plays the school nurse, who is first to notice the spike in the school’s pregnancy rate and ultimately resigns, as the town will not support her advocacy of providing prophylactics and sex education. The first twist involves an abstinence activist mom Nancy Travis (from 3 Men and a Little Lady) whose daughter (Sara) joins the ranks of the PG teens. Even though she had the highest ambitions for her daughter, Sara could not resist the allure of being a 16 y/o mom. Even though baby daddy is determined to graduate from college and experience life outside of a small town, she harbors no ambition to escape the town to further her education. Now presents the plot thickener, Thora Birch (from American Beauty), a young intuitive reporter with her own twist to the story. She is determined to break the story of the pregnancy pact and has a little secret of her own. Through some not-so-subtle twists, it becomes apparent that she gave birth to a child as a teenager and is dealing with the aftermath of putting the baby up for adoption. Even more revealing, the baby’s father is the current school counselor. Ohhhhh-awwwww… The journalist breaks the story and causes a media frenzy in the small town. Sit back and enjoy some emotional moments with the parents/ teens dealing with the harsh reality of their pregnancies and realizing it isn’t like their view originated from a Huggies commercial.

Stranger in my Bed

by Kate Flowers

Nothing says courage like faking your own death to break free from an abusive relationship. That’s exactly what Sara, played by Jamie Luner, does in an attempt to start a new life free from her husband, Ryan (Chris Kramer). Obviously, this is the television piggyback of Sleeping with the Enemy, minus the side story about the blind mother in a home. Let me just say this about Luner: The girl ages WELL! She looks as beautiful, if not more, than she did as Cindy in the 80’s teenybopper sitcom Just the Ten of Us. In Stranger in my Bed, she plays Sara, who is being beaten ruthlessly, yet is content to stay with her abuser regardless of her horrific circumstances... or so we think. She plans a caving trip for “work” purposes and convinces her husband to tag along. Long story short, Sara has a faux spelunking accident and the hubby goes for help. She then hauls tail to another city where she becomes someone brand spanking new. Complete with a new name, job, best friend, boyfriend, and most exciting of all... new and improved hair, she makes a fresh start. As you may guess, trouble ensues when old Ryan starts having his suspicions and hires a PI to track her down. I won’t spoil the ending, but I will tell you that this IS worth watching simply because the last scene does NOT contain a woman wrapped in a blanket sitting in the back of an ambulance.

Gospel of Deceit

by Rachel Duncan

Ok… so the main female character is married to a preacher/televangelist… who takes in a stranger as a handyman…who has an affair with the preacher’s wife… who, at age fifteen, had a baby… who grew up and moved in with a preacher and his wife to work as a handyman… and that’s just in the first thirty minutes! Oh, and did I mention? … The handyman’s father is his own grandfather… or is he? If you like secrets and deception, extortion, attempted suicide and murder, vanity, arrogance, greed, with a little psychosis thrown in, this is the movie for you! If you can get past the fact that the preacher wears ridiculous looking short robes when he is preaching, get ready for a Lifetime buffet of humanity!