Lifetime Movies: A to Z

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A Is for App

With the new Lifetime Movie Club app and the $3.99 monthly subscription, 30 or so stories of sex, mystery, and murder are a click away at any time. 

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B Is for Biopic

Hollywood excesses make for shocking real-life tales. As Elizabeth Taylor in Liz & Dick (2012), Lindsay Lohan swigs booze straight from the bottle, while Yaya DaCosta self-destructs as Whitney’s Houston (2015). 

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C Is for Cheating

… among the cast! Both married, Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott had an affair on the set of Mind Over Murder (In the 2006 flick, her character, described as “the city’s most famous, best-looking prosecutor,” suddenly turns psychic!) and LeAnn Rimes and Eddie Cibrian stepped out on their spouses while shooting Northern Lights (2009) in snowy Canada. 

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D Is for Dishonesty

Sex, Lies & Obsession (2001). ’Til Lies Do Us Part (2007). Lies My Mother Told Me (2005). Virtual Lies (2012). Cradle of Lies (2006). See a pattern here (other than the fact that the first two feature Melrose Place alums)? Indeed, deception drives the drama in a vast array of the network’s titles. 

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E Is for Eye Candy

James Marsden smolders in On the Edge of Innocence (1997); Josh Hopkins doffs his shirt in 12 Men of Christmas (2009); Stephen Amell flexes his guns in Justice for Natalee Holloway (2011). Oh, we could go on. 

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F Is for Flowers in the Attic

Taboo topic = ratings gold! This 2014 adaptation of the incest-y V.C. Andrews best seller (starring Heather Graham) was so successful, the network churned out an astonishing three sequels. 

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G Is for Guilty Pleasure

Step 1: Set phone to silent. Step 2: Pour large glass of wine. Step 3: Behold Danica McKellar (aka The Wonder Years’ Winnie Cooper) as a suburban crime solver in Inspector Mom (2006). Step 4: Enjoy privately. Step 5: Repeat as needed. 

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H Is for Headlines

The American exchange student accused of slashing her roommate inspired 2011’s Amanda Knox: Murder on Trial in Italy (with weepy Hayden Panettiere) — just one of Lifetime’s many based-on-a-true-story offerings. 

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I Is for Infants

Then comes baby in the baby carriage. Then comes a psycho nurse who steals baby (2007’s My Baby Is Missing), or a kidnapper who unloads baby on the black market (2013’s Baby Sellers). 

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J Is for Joke

Saturday Night Live lampooned the pop—culture staple in a 2002 sketch featuring John McCain and Amy Poehler. “To Love, Honor, and Stalk: The Gillian Woodward Story” told the terrifying tale of a woman whose personal space was invaded — by her husband! Also worth a Google: SNL’s 2011 game show “What’s Wrong With Tanya?”

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K Is for Kleenex

Tissues are a must for tearjerkers such as We Were the Mulvaneys (2002) which showcases Blythe Danner and Tammy Blanchard as part of a close-knit New York clan torn apart by tragedy. 

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L Is for Laughs

Not every Lifetime flick causes elevated heart rates! A wedding planner (Denise Richards) falls for the best man in the 2004 rom-com I Do (But I Don’t), and a frumpy editor (Poppy Montgomery) develops a secret alter ego — whimsically named advice columnist Belinda Apple — in Lying to Be Perfect (2010). 

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M Is for Meredith Baxter

Although A Woman Scorned: The Betty Broderick Story (1992) was made for CBS, Baxter’s star turn as a murderous jilted wife aired on a seemingly endless loop on Lifetime — and became a classic. 

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N Is for Nepotism

Cast me, cast my kid: Cheryl Ladd teamed up with daughter Jordan in Every Mother’s Worst Fear (1998). Susan Sarandon costarred with daughter Eva Amurri Martino in The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe (2015).

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O Is for Oscar Winners

Future trophy winners who have signed on Lifetime’s dotted line include Hilary Swank (1996’s Terror in the Family) and Reese Witherspoon (1991’s Wildflower). 

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P Is for Prostitution

The world’s oldest profession is laid bare in Co-Ed Call Girl (1996), with Tori Spelling as a mousy student moonlighting at Paradise Escorts. FYI: Spelling shot just two Lifetime originals. Co-Ed was one of many titles that debuted elsewhere but found new life on the cable channel. 

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Q Is for Question

Us tackles some head-scratchers posed by Lifetime movie titles. Who Is Clark Rockefeller? (2010) A German con artist played by Eric McCormack. What If God Were the Sun? (2007) Um…what? Mother, May I Sleep With Danger? (1996) Only if you want trouble.

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R Is for Racy

For mature eyes only! Jeremy Sumpter can’t quit Internet porn in Cyber Seduction: His Secret Life (2005). And in The Babysitter’s Seduction (1996), Stephen Collins takes up with the help (Keri Russell) after his wife dies under mysterious circumstances.

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S Is for Single White Females

As in the creepy, envious pal who wants to be just… like… you. Lifetime’s best duos: bitch-queen cheerleader Tori Spelling and knife-wielding Kellie Martin in A Friend to Die For (1994), and dueling rock chicks Jennifer Blanc and Shannen Doherty in Friends ’Til the End (1997). 

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T Is for Titles

These are all 100 percent real flicks that have spiced up Lifetime: Baby Monitor: Sound of Fear (1998), My Stepson, My Lover (1997), Dirty Teacher (2013), Crimes of Passion: She Woke Up Pregnant (1996), and Confessions of a Go-Go Girl (2008). 

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U Is for Unauthorized

The latest iteration of the Lifetime movie: salacious peeks behind the scenes at fan-favorite shows such as Saved by the Bell (2014) and Full House (2015).

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V Is for Viewers

Decades later, Almost Golden: The Jessica Savitch Story (1995) stands as Lifetime’s most-watched original: 7.1 million people saw Sela Ward portray the gone-too-soon newswoman. 

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W Is for Women in Jeopardy

The theme of so many movies staked its claim with Lifetime’s very first offering, 1990’s Memories of Murder. Amnesiac Nancy Allen can’t remember why a killer would be targeting her family. At the time Allen said, “This isn’t just a suspense film, but something I could really get my acting teeth into.” Alas, the Los Angeles Times dubbed it “forgettable.” 

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X Is for Xanax

In 2013’s Anna Nicole, the late Playboy model Smith (played by Agnes Bruckner) looks to a pill-champagne cocktail to help her strip for the very first time at a Texas jiggle joint. 

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Y Is for "Your Mommy Is Already Dead. I'm Your New Mommy Now"

Overblown dialogue like that — delivered by unhinged surrogate Jessica Lowndes in Kristen Wiig and Will Ferrell’s A Deadly Adoption (2015) — is simply irresistible. 

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Z Is for Zaftig

Pre-Big Bang Theory, Kaley Cuoco suited up for the 2007 drama To Be Fat Like Me. She played an in-shape high school student who exposes the perils of being overweight — via a hidden-camera documentary. Call it the role of a lifetime!