Our Ask Billy question is about some other ladies.  Harry in Seattle writes, “Because of you, I watched Ladies of the ‘80s: A Divas Christmas.  I’m curious about the guys.  Who is that British guy who played Alex?  WOOF!  And the opening credits listed Scott Evans, but I never saw him.  Did he get left on the cutting room floor?”

Lifetime’s attempt at a holiday flick starring five nighttime soap divas had its moments.  But it is definitely not the film they intended to make.  Pretty much nothing about the ages or relationships or story makes much sense.  Nicollette Sheridan’s character talks about going to Limelight in NYC with her “bestie” Donna Mills back in the day.  However, Mills is 22 years older than Nic – so it’s unlikely that a 21-year-old was clubbing regularly with her 43-year-old co-star.  And on the soap, Morgan Fairchild played the mother (well, maybe stepmother) to Sheridan, Mills, Linda Gray, and Loni Anderson.  Except Fairchild is younger than all her “children” – with the exception of Sheridan.  Turns out Joan Collins was originally cast as “mother”, Morgan was going to play the Nicollette role, and Jaclyn Smith was going to play the Linda Gray part.  Then the writers and actors strikes loomed, and Lifetime gave them 13 days to shoot the movie or scrap it.  The scheduling didn’t work for Joan and Jaclyn, who dropped out, Morgan decided she’d rather play “mother”, and Nicollette and Gray joined the cast.  One additional detail bears mentioning.  When the characters are texting each other, the graphics show the actresses’ real names, not their characters’ names!  Simply put, this movie is a mess…but a fun mess.

Getting back to Harry’s question, let’s talk about the guys.  He didn’t mention it, but I thought it was clever to have Christopher Atkins play Gray’s love interest…again!  As for Scott Evans, he was in there.  I know you were expecting Chris Evans’ hunky (and gay) brother.  Wrong one!  This Scott Evans is actually the African-American entertainment reporter on Access Hollywood.  As to Alex, he was played by Travis Burns – who is Australian, thank you very much – although he has some Brit in him.  Alas, not in the romantic sense.  He is reportedly straight, with a wife and a kid.  Still, I found him reminiscent of a young Maxwell Caulfield in Grease 2 – and I can’t think of a better compliment.  And the scene when he was writing the soap in his underwear?  Let’s just say I was mighty distracted.  If the writer of this flick looked like that, you’d be calling me little Billy Zimmerman!  Still, I’m in debt to Stan for including the scene – which you can see on BillyMasters.com.