When She Was Bad...

Before Farrah Fawcett starred in the wife-abuse television film "The Burning Bed", unintentionally spawning a new genre for TV movies--glamorous actresses going gritty with serious material--another "Charlie's Angels" star, Cheryl Ladd, went dramatic; here, she's the abuser. A suburban wife and mother finds she can't control a streak of inner-rage against her little girl, sending off signals to her husband (Robert Ulrich) but not getting any answers. This glossy production means well, but it promises a lot more than it delivers. Ladd, herself a proponent against child abuse in real-life, does mediocre work and Carmen Culver's tame script is disappointingly flat (especially when compared to another TV-movie, "Mary Jane Harper Cried Last Night" from 1977). Ladd was definitely not the forerunner for domestic unrest: she is coiffed, manicured, and flatteringly photographed. Perhaps she was making a point--that even upscale wives and mothers can easily spin out of control--but it doesn't lend this scenario any backbone when the lead actress looks like a million dollars.