Ladies of the 80s: A Divas Christmas is Lifetime Network's attempt to turn 80s era night-time soap characters into a Christmas movie. For this movie, they brought Donna Mills, Morgan Fairchild, Nicolette Sheridan (Knots Landing), and Linda Gray (Dallas) characters back to life in the mythical soap, "The Great Lakes." They have also included Loni Anderson (best known for WRKP in Cincinnati) who was an 80s diva though not in a soap. The story revolves around The Great Lakes cast being forced to share an architecturally interesting house to film a live finale episode. As the cast gathers in the house, we learn the Divas real lives are as complicated as the characters they portray in the soap. The drama creates headaches for the show's writer-producer Alex (played by Travis Burns who is best known for the Australian soap Neighbours) and director Nell (Taylor Ann Thompson). Nell and Alex also serve as the romantic element of the movie. They were college friends who intermittently work together. Nell had long desired this friendship to be something more. Alex was always too busy with his career to notice Nell's interest and the Divas decide to band together and help Nell get her man.
It was a great premise for a holiday movie and an ambitious attempt to not only reunite these 80s soap stars but take nostalgia to the next level by weaving their past characters into an entirely new storyline. Everything was in place for a potentially great Lifetime Christmas movie with a unique twist. I thought Lifetime would pull it off, but the movie never reached its full potential. Nell and Alex's characters felt very forced, and their romantic storyline was going nowhere. I wondered why it was even included in the movie. The Divas needed less focus on their soap caricatures and more development of their character's backstories to facilitate the reconciliation storylines that were critical to the movie's ending. Even Christmas itself was just a background and not really part of the story.
Was it all too much to expect from a Lifetime Christmas movie? Perhaps, but I did enjoy seeing all the Divas in one movie and watching them resurrect their most infamous characters. It was just enough of a draw to hold my interest to the end. If you are not a fan of 80s soaps or they were before your time, it's probably best to skip this one for another Christmas movie. If you are a fan of those shows or the Divas, then it's worth your time just for the pleasant trip down nostalgia lane.
