Tonight, Lifetime will jump on the sentimental trend of reuniting veteran actresses for our giddy enjoyment by airing Ladies of the 80s: A Divas Christmas, a festive romp that stars Loni Anderson (WKRP in Cincinnati), Morgan Fairchild (Falcon Crest), Linda Gray (Dallas), Donna Mills (Knots Landing) and Nicollette Sheridan (Knots Landing).
The holiday flick from longtime producer Larry A. Thompson (Liz & Dick) follows five soap opera divas as they reunite to shoot the final Christmas episode of their long-running sudser.
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“I’ve known all these ladies all these years,” he told Deadline. “We’ve worked together, made movies together, and Donna Mills I’ve managed since Knot’s Landing and I still do. So between managing Donna and being friends with the ladies, I said it might be fun to have all these ladies in a movie. And there’s been a trend lately of older stars joining together to be in movies, whether it would be 80s for Brady or the Book Club movies. Even on The Bachelor, the older guy is getting a girl. So I thought, this may be very commercial and may be very timely.”
Here’s the logline: The producer, Alex (Travis Burns) and director Nell (Thompson’s daughter, Taylor Ann), who happen to be old college friends, do their best to keep things on the rails but as the ladies come together, old rivalries resurface that threaten to tear the production apart. With the show nearly canceled before it even begins due to the ladies’ famous diva behavior, they reluctantly agree to set aside their differences and past secrets to “act” as if they all still love each other. When old sparks reignite between Alex and Nell, the ladies become eager to play cupid and conspire to bring the couple together.
In the above video, the women (sans Anderson, sadly, who had trouble opening the video portal on her laptop, dang-it), talk about coming together for the Los Angeles shoot, and also reminisce about the good (and bad) days of making primetime soaps.
Ladies of the 80’s: A Divas Christmas is executive produced for Lifetime by Thompson. Christie Will Wolf (Christmas on Candy Cane Lane, The Art of Passion) directs from a script by James Berg & Stan Zimmerman (The Golden Girls, Gilmore Girls) with Robert G. Endara II and Ed Polgardy producing.