Lifetime Networks' Summer Of 2008 Kicks Off With Memorial Day Movie Festival May 25 and May 26
SMASH HIT DRAMA 'ARMY WIVES' RETURNS FOR SECOND SEASON SUNDAY, JUNE 8
POPULAR REALITY SERIES 'HOW TO LOOK GOOD NAKED' COMES BACK IN JULY WITH
EXPANDED HOUR-LONG FORMAT
Lifetime Original Movies Include Adaptation of Jodi Picoult's Best-Selling
Novel 'The Tenth Circle,' Starring Kelly Preston and Ron Eldard
Lifetime Movie Network Presents the Powerful True Life Story 'Little Girl
Lost: The Delimar Vera Story,' Starring Judy Reyes, Ana Ortiz and A
Martinez
NEW YORK, May 15 -- Looking to match last year's
record-setting summer when "Army Wives" became the most successful series
in the network's 24-year history, Lifetime Television will be serving up
another diverse programming slate this season, beginning with a
weekend-long Memorial Day movie festival.
Buoyed by robust double-digit growth among W18-49 and W18-34,
Lifetime's hot weather schedule reflects its growing dominance in all
programming genres, from movies and drama to reality. On the series side,
the summer features the second season returns of 2007's #1 new cable drama
among women, "Army Wives" (June 8), and the popular "How to Look Good
Naked" reality series, hosted by Carson Kressley (July).
Upcoming Lifetime Original Movies, the top-rated original movies on
basic cable among W18-49, W25-54 and W18+, include "The Tenth Circle," an
adaptation of Jodi Picoult's powerful best-selling novel starring Kelly
Preston and Ron Eldard (June 28). Later this summer, Lifetime Original
Movies will feature Tatum O'Neal (August 2), Valerie Bertinelli -- in her
first-ever Lifetime original production -- along with platinum-selling
recording artist Joanna "JoJo" Levesque (August 9), and Chelsea Hobbs
(August 16).
The #2 women's channel Lifetime Movie Network will premiere the
Original Movie "Little Girl Lost: The Delimar Vera Story" (August 17),
starring Judy Reyes (Scrubs), Ana Ortiz (Ugly Betty) and A Martinez
(General Hospital). Lifetime Movie Network, which has posted eight straight
months of household ratings gains, will celebrate its 10th anniversary in
June.
Said Susanne Daniels, President, Entertainment, Lifetime Networks:
"These shows represent the first wave of our new 2008-09 programming slate,
including the upcoming sixth season premiere of 'Project Runway' in
November. With such diverse fare as the gripping stories of 'Army Wives,'
the emotional empowerment of 'How to Look Good Naked' and compelling movies
on both networks, we're giving viewers some great summertime
entertainment."
Highlights of Lifetime's 2008 Summer Schedule
"ARMY WIVES" -- Sunday, June 8, at 10PM (ET/PT) -- The critically
acclaimed series returns with 19 new episodes as well as a special
season-ending, two-hour holiday movie in late fall. "Army Wives" focuses on
the struggles, dreams and friendships of a diverse group of women -- and
one man -- living with their spouses and families on an active army post
and the pressures and traditions of the military on those who are left
behind. "Army Wives," starring Kim Delaney, Sally Pressman, Brigid
Brannagh, Brian McNamara, Sterling K. Brown, Wendy Davis, Drew Fuller and
Catherine Bell, is filmed on location in Charleston, South Carolina. Mark
Gordon and The Mark Gordon Company's President of Production, Deborah
Spera, are executive producers. Nick Thiel and series creator Katherine
Fugate also serve as executive producers. The series is based on the book
Under the Sabers: The Unwritten Code of Army Wives by Tanya Biank, who is a
consultant. "Army Wives" is produced by ABC Studios.
"HOW TO LOOK GOOD NAKED" -- July -- Hosted by Carson Kressley, the
series returns for a second season with an expanded hour-long format. The
series is both an internal and external makeover show that in just five
days teaches women of all shapes and sizes to embrace exactly who they are.
"How to Look Good Naked" is produced by RDF USA (Wife Swap) and Maverick
TV, Ltd. and Axial Entertainment for Lifetime Television. Riaz Patel, Chris
Coelen, Greg Goldman, Alex Fraser, Jim Sayer and Jo Rosenfelder serve as
executive producers. Carson Kressley and Tony Yates are co-executive
producers.
"THE TENTH CIRCLE" -- Saturday, June 28, at 9PM (ET/PT) -- Kelly
Preston and Ron Eldard star in this adaptation of Jodi Picoult's
best-selling novel about a seemingly idyllic family whose lives are
shattered when their teenage daughter is drugged and date-raped by her
ex-boyfriend. Jaffe Braunstein Films. Executive producers: Howard
Braunstein, Michael Jaffe and Scott Goldman. From Sony Pictures Television.
"FAB FIVE: THE TEXAS CHEERLEADER SCANDAL" -- Saturday, August 2, at 9PM
(ET/PT) -- Tatum O'Neal, Jenna Dewan and Ashley Benson star in the
true-life tale of five cheerleaders, real-life "Mean Girls," who controlled
the lives of their fellow students while the school's principal, the mother
of one of the "Fab Five," looked the other way. Orly Adelson Productions.
Executive producers: Orly Adelson and Jon Eskenas. Studio: Fox TV Studios.
"TRUE CONFESSIONS OF A HOLLYWOOD STARLET" -- Saturday, August 9, at 9PM
(ET/PT) -- Valerie Bertinelli stars in the amusing story of teen star
Morgan Carter (played by pop-singer Joanna "JoJo" Levesque) who, after
rehab, is sent by her mother to live incognito in Fort Wayne, Indiana, on a
shoestring budget. Shenae Grimes (The CW's new "90210") also stars. Robert
Greenwald Productions. Executive producer: Barbara Lieberman. Director: Tim
Matheson. From Starz Media.
"TRUE CONFESSIONS OF A GO-GO GIRL" -- Saturday, August 16, at 9PM ET/PT
-- Chelsea Hobbs ("The Party Never Stops") plays Jane McCoy, a recent
college graduate, who much to her parent's dismay, decides to scrap her
plans for law school to pursue an acting career full-time. Struggling to
make ends meet, she meets a confident and persuasive friend who shows her
the way to make extra money go-go dancing. What starts as just an "easy
money" job, however, rapidly becomes an all-consuming activity that slowly
pulls Jane from her acting classes, her relationships with her boyfriend
and family, and, most importantly, from her true self.
Highlights of Lifetime Movie Network Summer Schedule
"THE SECRETS OF THE SUMMER HOUSE" -- Sunday, June 1, at 6PM* -- Lindsay
Price (Lipstick Jungle) plays a young wife who realizes that both her
husband and now their unborn son are at great risk unless she can break the
centuries-old curse of a family summer house. She uncovers the dark family
history of slavery that is at the root of the haunting, and manages to put
the vengeful spirit to rest.
"NIGHTMARE AT THE END OF THE HALL" -- Sunday, June 22, at 6PM* -- Sara
Rue (Less Than Perfect) portrays an author with writer's block who is still
haunted by the suicide of her best friend in prep school. Trying to get
back on her writing feet, she finds herself teaching, where she encounters
a young student, Laurel, who seems in every way to be the reincarnation of
her best friend from years ago. Laurel knows things about Courtney that
only her dead friend would have known.
"LITTLE GIRL LOST: THE DELIMAR VERA STORY" (WT) -- Sunday, August 17,
at 8PM* -- Judy Reyes, Ana Ortiz and A Martinez star in this compelling
true-life story of a mother, Luz Cuevas (Reyes), who believed her infant
daughter Delimar had died in their Philadelphia apartment fire. But six
years after that tragic incident, Luz spots a little girl at a birthday
party who she knows in her heart is Delimar. Feigning the little girl has
gum in her hair, Luzaida trims a lock of her hair and, with the help of a
local councilman (Martinez), sends it out for DNA testing -- which proves
the child is Delimar.
*check local listings
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