Video

The Enduring Appeal of the Lifetime Movie

Why the network’s feel-bad melodramas have so many delirious fans.

What makes a great Lifetime movie? It’s not the tawdry nostalgia of The Unauthorized Saved by the Bell Story or its ilk. Aside from the occasional recent gem, true fans of the form can tell you it’s been in decline for some time.  

Kristen Wiig and Will Ferrell seem to understand that. The unlikely pair’s new Lifetime feature A Deadly Adoption premieres tonight, and it looks to have all the elements of the classics: the teasingly vague title, the overheated domestic crisis, the stars who look like they have no idea what they’re doing there in the first place.

In the video above, a fan explains what make Lifetime movies such cathartic wine-and-popcorn viewing.