Unauthorized Stories

[ClassyCo]

There was a time there that Lifetime was making a lot of these unauthorized expose-type television movies on cult TV shows. I remember watching them when they first came on, and I was totally psyched when I saw this set on eBay last week. I snatched it up for less than fifteen dollars, and it's scheduled to be in my mailbox tomorrow.

Have any of you guys watched them?

Your thoughts?

 

[Daniel Avery]

I think the novelty of seeing these movies recast popular TV shows with (somewhat) lookalike actors would be fun at first, but it was too close (time-wise) to the run of the original series. Most of the 'original' actors are still around, so the producers were setting themselves up to be criticized (maybe even sued) by the people who would know best whether the movie's material was true or not. Perhaps this would have caught on better if they'd done shows that were older, where many/most of the stars were no longer with us.

 

[ClassyCo]

I think the novelty of seeing these movies recast popular TV shows with (somewhat) lookalike actors would be fun at first, but it was too close (time-wise) to the run of the original series. Most of the 'original' actors are still around, so the producers were setting themselves up to be criticized (maybe even sued) by the people who would know best whether the movie's material was true or not. Perhaps this would have caught on better if they'd done shows that were older, where many/most of the stars were no longer with us.

I can see your point. I personally would like to see one with the actors from Dallas and Knots Landing being played by look-alikes, in a similar style to the one they did on Dynasty called The Making of a Guilty Pleasure.

I'm surprised that I didn't hear anything resembling a lawsuit revolving around these movies. Considering the majority of the cast of these shows are still relatively young and have memories of what did and did not happen, it seems that someone would have caused an uproar, if only for the publicity it would generate for themselves. But then again perhaps none of them bothered because they saw them for what they really are; cheap, publicity-grabbing Lifetime movies of the week.

 

[Daniel Avery]

Yes, there is a thing called The Streisand Effect. Barbra Streisand wanted to punish (sue) a magazine for publishing aerial photos of her home. By suing, she publicized the photos and the magazine to a degree that more people saw the photos due to the stories about the lawsuit than would have ever seen the photos in the original source.