Jason Priestley and Lacey Chabert Talk about Their New Programs on Lifetime

Originally Published April 26, 2007
As a woman, I believe Lifetime Networks' slogan should no longer be "Television for Women," but "Television that Sucks Women in and Leaves Them No Choice but to Watch."

Thus, it was almost dangerous for me to attend the Lifetime Upfront and see the upcoming programming, because it was only destined to mean I'd have to find the time to watch more shows and movies.

Well, my premonitions were right. First, there's the new show Side Order of Life starring Marisa Coughlan (Boston Legal) and Jason Priestley (Beverly Hills, 90210). The Side Order of Life clip took two seconds to reel me in, portraying a young photographer (Coughlan) who reevaluates her life and forthcoming wedding (to Priestley's character) after finding out that her friend's cancer has returned.

Even before watching that clip I knew I was going to at least check out Side Order of Life. To me, a Beverly Hills alum = a must-watch-at-least-once show.

Priestley told me he doesn't feel any pressure doing another TV show. "This is what I do. God knows this is my third show since 90210 ended, and the last one [Love Monkey] was unceremoniously kicked off the air. They can't all be huge hits."

Luckily for fans such as myself, Priestley doesn't mind that he's still associated with a show he stopped being in almost ten years ago. "90210 was really one of those seminal shows. People identified with it so strongly... It's etched in people's minds."

On the subject of Beverly Hills, 90210 alumni, Jennie Garth was also at the Lifetime Upfront to promote her new movie, Girl, Positive, which is about an HIV-positive teacher who must help her student (Andrea Bowen of Desperate Housewives ) who thinks she may also have become infected.

Let me just get this out of my system: seeing Brandon and Kelly (fine fine, Jason Priestley and Jennie Garth) in the same room together was absolutely surreal. They were both such a huge part of television history, and seeing them in person, together, was pretty iconic.

Since we're on a roll with TV icons, Lacey Chabert (Party of Five) will be starring in the Lifetime movie What if God Were the Sun? this May. Chabert plays an emergency room nurse whose father passes away, and as a coping mechanism, forms a relationship with a terminally ill patient (Gena Rowlands of The Notebook). The former child star turned brilliant actress is excited for her Lifetime movie, which deals with grief, healing, and acceptance, saying, "In times like these it's so important to always find that hope."

Chabert became famous at age 11 for her role as Claudia Salinger on the hit show Party of Five. Since then she has become quite the TV and movie star. Chabert recently finished shooting a pilot for Fox that is currently known as the "Untitled Liz Meriwether Project," which Chabert describes as "a single camera comedy featuring four girls out of college, kind of like Sex and the City."

Like Priestley, Chabert has no negative feelings toward still be linked to her Party of Five roots. "For some reason people think I'd be embarrassed by it," she said, adding that Party of Five, "made me the actress I am today. There was no better learning experience. And on the personal side, during those pivotal years of my life, I had a great group of people around me." Chabert still keeps in touch with that great group, and in fact, she'll be seeing Neve Campbell and Scott Wolf this coming weekend.

The Lifetime Upfront was "very surreal," for Chabert, who said it's her first upfront since Party of Five, when she was about "a foot shorter."

In addition to these three new developments, there are of course, about 9 million other new Lifetime shows and movies hitting the network in the upcoming months. Lili Taylor (Six Feet Under) is starring in a very funny/serious new drama series, State of Mind. Taylor's character is a family therapist who not only has to deal with her patients' problems, but also her own, when she discovers that her husband is cheating on her with their marriage counselor. (Side note to all you '90s TV show fans: Devon Gummersall is also in this show. Not sure where he's from? Let me remind you: My So-Called Life and the guy who raped Julie on Felicity.)

Next there's Army Wives, which is my least favorite of all the new series, because the acting seemed a bit over the top, even for Lifetime. However, I'll probably still watch the first episode. Army Wives stars Kim Delaney (NYPD Blue) and Catherine Bell (JAG), and features a group of women, and one man, who are living with their families on an active army post.

My favorite, favorite, favorite Queer Eye guy, Carson Kressley, will be hosting a new reality show for Lifetime, appropriately titled, How to Look Good Naked. Kressley teaches women of all sizes how to feel good about themselves in their clothes... and naked. Yup, that's right. Kressley has girls strip down to their bra and underwear and makes them like it! In reference to his old times at Queer Eye for the Straight Guy he said, "Straight guys will do anything I say. Women? Whoa!"

Also during his presentation, Kressley asked medium/clairvoyant Lisa Williams (Lisa Williams: Life Among the Dead) if his show was going to get picked up. He then said, "If it doesn't work out, I could go do Army Wives because I look terrific in olive."

There you have it - a small sampling of the abundance of new programming that Lifetime has to offer. As a woman who loves television, I do like this network... a lot. But, I promise not to go as far as to say that men will enjoy all these new shows as well. Two years ago I wrote a column about how Lifetime helps women get over breakups, but I'm 99% sure that it won't work such wonders for men. Then again, Lifetime only prides itself on being for the female gender, and they do a damn good job at delivering that promise.