12 of the Best Lifetime Movies to Record on Your DVR
Before Empire and Hidden Figures, Taraji P. Henson appeared on the network.
From its first movie launch in 1990 with Memories of a Murder to its rise as a network worthy of earning Emmy nods, Lifetime’s canon of made-for-cable movies has included tales that were ripped from the headlines, films that were inspired by true stories, and delights that are complete works of guilty-pleasure fiction. But no matter the genre, you can always spot wildly familiar names in the film credits.
In what seems almost like a rite of passage, many of today’s most prominent women in the entertainment industry—from Queen Latifah and Ellen Burstyn to Patty Jenkins and Jennifer Aniston—have loaned their acting, writing, and directing talents to the network. And even though the content has morphed over time to reflect cultural climates, satisfy trends, and comment on the hot-button social issues buzzing at office place watercoolers, two things have remained constant: a) They are all stories about women, and b) they are all entertaining.
After a deep dive into the network’s robust library—which gave us serious 1990s nostalgia thanks to the rotating cast of then-teen television mainstays like Candace Cameron Bure, Tori Spelling, and Tiffani Thiessen—we were able to curate what we believe is a list of the very best Lifetime has to offer. Some of our picks are so bad they’re awesome, while some will have you reaching for the tissue box. And yet, a few of the following are so on point their actresses were nominated for Emmy awards. Click through and stream to your heart’s content.
Abducted: The Carlina White Story
Keke Palmer and Sherri Shepherd take the reins on the wild ride that is a ripped-from-the-headlines head-scratcher. When a woman baby-naps a newborn from a New York hospital, she raises the little girl as her own with nary a hiccup—until that little girl becomes a teenager who’s digging into her past and grappling with her truths.
A Friend to Die For
Known also by its alternate title, Death of a Cheerleader, this chiller set amid the perils of high school cliques stars Beverly Hills, 90210’s Tori Spelling, Life Goes On’s Kelli Martin, and The Sandlot’s Marley Shelton. A mean-girl saga of backstabbing and, well, actual stabbing, it’s based on the time a student butchered her classmate in Orinda, California, in the mid-‘80s.
Five
In a Lifetime event that recruited a roster of industry heavy hitters in front of and behind the lens, Five sheds light on the ripple effects of breast cancer through a handful of interconnected short stories starring talent including Patricia Clarkson, Rosario Dawson, and Tracee Ellis Ross; directed by Patty Jenkins, Jennifer Aniston, Alicia Keys, and more. A 2012 Primetime Emmy nom, it is not to be missed.
No One Would Tell
Fresh off closing Full House in 1995, Candace Cameron Bure stars in a domestic abuse thriller, which perfectly encapsulates Lifetime’s 1990s catalog. She plays a sweet high schooler who suffers at the hands and manipulation of a popular jock, played by The Wonder Years’ Fred Savage. Though by today’s standards, this one would be considered criminally PG, the suggestion and Cameron Bure’s solid performance is enough to deliver its bruising message.
Flowers in the Attic
They had us at Ellen Burstyn. For the 2014 remake, The Exorcist actress affixed some finger waves and sunk her teeth into the role of the evil grandmother adapted from the V.C. Andrews plot-twisting page-turner embroiled with greed, abuse, and incest. And it scored her an Emmy nomination. Mad Men’s Kiernan Shipka costars as Cathy, one of the four siblings who are banished to the namesake top-floor prison.
Taken from Me: The Tiffany Rubin Story
International child abduction takes center stage in this fact-adapted 2011 Lifetime original that snagged its lead, Taraji P. Henson, awards attention. As schoolteacher Tiffany Rubin whose 7-year-old was abducted by his father and taken to his native South Korea, Henson gives a performance that brings her nightmarish years-long struggle to reunite with her son into painful reality.
Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story
A daughter to drug addicts, Liz Murray wanted more than her parents’ tragic ending. So she rewrote her story, one passing grade at a time. Based on a true story, this is one award-worthy Lifetime original with a happy resolution. It stars Thora Birch as Liz and gives viewers a peek into the teenager’s lonely odyssey from the streets of New York City to the hallways of Harvard University.
Speak
In 2005, Lifetime brought Jessica Sharzer’s indie gem (adapted from Laurie Halse Anderson’s young-adult novel) to the wider audience it deserves. Having been seen only by movie buffs at the Sundance and Woodstock Film Festivals, the cautionary tale stars Kristen Stewart as a high school freshman who struggles to find her voice after a traumatic experience over summer leaves her mute.
Steel Magnolias
Echoing the success of redos on the big screen, Lifetime gambled with its own attempt. And it paid off. Steel Magnolias, the tragicomedy centered on a Louisiana beauty salon and the female friendships within it, stars six Black actresses, including Queen Latifah and Alfre Woodard. And it was nominated for a slew of awards, with Woodward getting Emmy honors for her portrayal of curmudgeonly Southerner Ouiser.
She Fought Alone
Yet another Lifetime movie that lurks among the sordid corners of high school, and yet we can’t help ourselves. This one stars Tiffani Thiessen and Brian Austin Green, who would later reunite on everyone’s favorite nighttime soap, as couple Caitlan and Ethan: she, a teen raped by a football player; he, the boyfriend trying to shield her from universal small-town shame. Fun rumor: Thiessen and Green were reportedly dating IRL around the same time.
She's Too Young
There is no sidestepping the issue in Lifetime’s She’s Too Young. Instead, the movie confronts the effects of youth and sex to tell it like it is: There is an STD outbreak at Halifax West High School, and no one is immune. Not even Alexis Dziena’s good-girl Hannah Vogel, who along with Marcia Gay Harden as her mother, deliver as comprehensive a lesson in sexual education network TV can deliver.
Gracie's Choice
When you’re ready for a good cry, queue up this 2004 tearjerker. It star American sweetheart Kristen Bell as the teenaged superhero who saves the day when she fights for adoption of her siblings once her drug-addicted mother, played by Anne Heche, proves herself unfit to care for them. Diane Ladd (Laura Dern’s mother) costars as the grandmother.
DeAnna Janes is a freelance writer and editor for a number of sites, including Harper’s BAZAAR, Tasting Table, Fast Company and Brit + Co, and is a passionate supporter of animal causes, copy savant, movie dork and reckless connoisseur of all holidays. A native Texan living in NYC since 2005, Janes has a degree in journalism from Texas A&M and got her start in media at US Weekly before moving on to O Magazine, and eventually becoming the entertainment editor of the once-loved, now-shuttered DailyCandy. She’s based on the Upper West Side.
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