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Primetime Show Reviews
"The 19th Wife"
review by Suzanne
Premieres on Monday, September 13 at 9 pm et/pt
This is a really good movie-better than most I've seen on
Lifetime. Everyone should watch it. It's a good mystery, good family
drama, good romance, and more. The performances are outstanding, too.
It's ostensibly about a polygamist Mormon sect in St. George,
Utah. One of the husbands is murdered, and his wife, BeckyLyn (Patricia Wettig)
is arrested. A young woman in the sect, Queenie (played by Chyler Leigh),
doesn't believe that her friend murdered anyone. She allies herself with the
woman's son, Jordan (Matt Czuchry), who was thrown out of the sect when he was
younger. Of course, the people in charge of the sect, particularly The
Prophet (Patrick Garrow, who reminds me of Eric Stoltz), don't want the truth to
come out.
Also, in the movie, Queenie is reading a forbidden book that was
written by one of Brigham Young's wives, Ann Eliza. We see parts of the book (or
flashbacks to the 18th century if you prefer) at key moments in the movie.
Mormons will not like this movie. Even though it's about a polygamous sect, and
not about regular Mormonism (they are very careful to say), the parts about
Brigham Young are not something they will like. For me, that part was very
amusing to watch.
Anyway, it's a very good story and has some great feminist
messages. It's also a good ending, but not one you might expect.
More info:
LIFETIME TELEVISION TO PREMIERE THE 19th WIFE ON SEPTEMBER 13,
STARRING CHYLER LEIGH, MATT CZUCHRY AND PATRICIA WETTIG
Drama Based on David Ebershoff’s Best-Selling Novel Takes Inside
Look at Polygamy
LOS ANGELES (August 19, 2010) – Chyler Leigh (Grey’s Anatomy),
Matt Czuchry (The Good Wife) and Patricia Wettig (Brothers & Sisters) star in
the upcoming Lifetime Original Movie The 19th Wife, based on David Ebershoff’s
New York Times best-selling novel that takes an inside look at the secret world
of polygamy. The film, from Sony Pictures Television, will premiere on Monday,
September 13, at 9PM ET/PT on Lifetime Television.
ABOUT THE 19TH WIFE
The film follows “19th Wife” and fundamentalist sect “First
Church of Latter Day Saints” member BeckyLyn (Wettig), who is accused of killing
her husband. Queenie (Leigh), another wife in the sect, doesn’t believe BeckyLyn
is capable of such violence and, desperate to prove her innocence, reaches out
to BeckyLyn’s excommunicated son Jordan (Czuchry) for help in freeing his
mother. But when Queenie and Jordan start asking questions about the fateful
night of the murder, they quickly see all is not what it seems -- putting their
own lives at risk.
Many photos
All Rights Reserved. Photographs solely for advertising,
promotion, publicity and/or reviews of this motion picture and to remain
property of Lifetime Television. Not for sale or redistribution.
Photo Credit: Chris Large/Lifetime Television.
ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
The 19th Wife is produced by Sony Pictures Television for
Lifetime Television. Barbara Lieberman (Lifetime’s Lying to be Perfect) and
Andrea Baynes (Sex and the Single Mom) serve as executive producers. Rod Holcomb
(The Good Wife) directs the teleplay by Richard Friedenberg (James Patterson’s
Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas).
ABOUT SONY PICTURES TELEVISION
Sony Pictures Television is one of the television industry’s
leading content providers. It produces and distributes programming in every
genre, including series, telefilms, theatrical releases and family entertainment
around the world and for every platform: broadcast and cable television,
first-run and off-network syndication and digital distribution. In addition to
one of the industry’s largest libraries of feature films and television shows,
SPT boasts a current program slate that includes the top-rated daytime dramas
and game shows, landmark off-network series, original animated series and
critically acclaimed primetime dramas, comedies and telefilms. Internationally,
SPT is a leader in local language productions around the world, some of which
are co-produced with local partners and sells SPE-owned formats in approximately
70 countries. To better serve its clients and partners worldwide, SPT maintains
offices throughout the world, including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada,
France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, the
Netherlands, the People’s Republic of China, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Venezuela
and the United Kingdom. SPT's worldwide television networks portfolio is a key
strategy in SPE's long-range commitment to the global marketplace, with 122
channel feeds, which are available in more than 140 countries reaching almost
438 million households worldwide. SPT also creates original content for and
manages SPE’s premium video website, Crackle. Additionally, SPT is a part owner
of cable channel GSN, FEARnet, the premier horror/thriller website and VOD
service, and national media sales company ITN Networks, Inc. SPT advertiser
sales is one of the premiere national advertising sales companies, handling the
commercial inventory in SPT’s syndicated series as well as in all of SPE's
digital businesses in the United States, for Sony Music Entertainment and for
the Tennis Channel. SPT (www.sonypicturestelevision.com)
is a Sony Pictures Entertainment company.
ABOUT LIFETIME TELEVISION
Lifetime Television, the number one rated women’s network, is
committed to offering the highest quality entertainment and information
programming, and advocating a wide range of issues affecting women and their
families. Lifetime Television®, Lifetime Movie Network®, Lifetime Real Women®
and Lifetime Digital™ (which includes myLifetime.com, LMN.tv, Lifetime Games,
Roiworld.com, DressUpChallenge.com, MothersClick.com and LifetimeMoms.com) are
part of Lifetime Entertainment Services, LLC, a subsidiary of A&E Television
Networks, LLC. A&E Television Networks is a joint venture of the Disney-ABC
Television Group, Hearst Corporation and NBC Universal.
CREDITS
Produced by Sony Pictures Television for Lifetime Television
THE CAST
Queenie Alton CHYLER LEIGH
Jordan Scott MATT CZUCHRY
Five ALEXIA FAST
Ann Eliza LARA JEAN CHOROSTECKI
The Prophet PATRICK GARROW
Brigham Young JOHN BOURGEOIS
Mr. Heber DAVE BROWN
Sawyer Scott KARL PRUNER
Hiram Alton JEFF HEPHNER
And
BeckyLyn Scott PATRICIA WETTIG
PRODUCTION
Directed by ROD HOLCOMB
Written by RICHARD FRIEDENBERG
Based on the Novel By DAVID EBERSHOFF
Executive Producer BARBARA LIEBERMAN
Executive Producer ANDREA BAYNES
Produced by BRIAN LESLIE PARKER
Director of Photography PETER BENISON, C.S.C.
Production Designer s SANDY COCHRANE
BILL IVES
Editor VICTOR DUBOIS
Music by STEVE PORCARO
Chyler Leigh as “Queenie Alton”
Chyler Leigh was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, and raised
in Virginia Beach and Miami Beach. She began her career in front of the camera
at age 12 modeling for magazines and catalogues. Her success in print later led
to national commercials for Coca-Cola and Wendy's, among others.
By age 16, she had already completed several pilots (ABC's
Wilder Days and The WB's Saving Graces). Aaron Spelling confirmed the young
actress’ talent when he hired her as a series regular in The WB series Safe
Harbor after seeing her performance on Saving Graces. She also gueststarred on
7th Heaven in a powerful three-story arc as “Frankie,” a young, inept mother who
adversely influenced the family.
Leigh made her film debut in the Columbia/Tri-Star hit comedy
spoof Not Another Teen Movie. She originally auditioned for a smaller role, but
the producers and directors were so impressed with her performance that they
invited her to read for the lead.
By January of 2002, Leigh had already landed a series role on
the Fox comedy That ’80s Show (from the producers of That ‘70s Show). After the
short-lived run, Leigh was immediately brought to executive producer David E.
Kelley and hired as the lead in his new series, Girls Club. After only two
episodes of Girls Club had aired, Leigh received a personal phone call from
Kelley informing her of the show's cancellation and his desire to bring her to
his already established series, ABC’s The Practice. With only weeks between
shows, Leigh was at work on the set of The Practice as Claire Wyatt.
Leigh went on to star in the half-hour comedy pilot Lucky Us and
the drama pilot Rocky Point, opposite Billy Campbell. She also guest-starred on
the drama The North Shore and, in 2005, starred as Carla Noll in the
critically-acclaimed Reunion.
Leigh currently stars on ABC’s hit drama, Grey’s Anatomy as
“Lexie Grey.”
Leigh is married to fellow actor Nathan West. They have three
children.
Patricia Wettig as “BeckyLyn Scott”
Best known for her work on the acclaimed ABC hit drama series
thirtysomething, Patricia Wettig earned three Emmys® and one Golden Globe® Award
for her role as “Nancy Weston.” Currently, Wettig stars on the ABC drama series
Brothers and Sisters. Wettig is an accomplished actor with a wide variety of
credits in film and television. She played the role of Vice President Caroline
Reynolds in Prison Break and has recurred in numerous television series,
including Alias, Boomtown, Breaking News, The Practice, L.A. Doctors and St.
Elsewhere, among many others. She starred in such TV movies as Langoliers,
Parallel Lives and Taking Back my Life. In film, Wettig has appeared in City
Slickers, City Slickers II, Guilty by Suspicion, Dancer, and Me and Veronica.
Among her numerous works on stage are The Woolgatherer, A Tale Told, Childe
Byron and The Diviners for The Circle Repertory Theatre; The Dining Room, for
Playwrights Horizon; the world premiere of The Paris Letter for The Kirk Douglas
Theatre; and Angels Fall for The South Coast Repertory. She was one of the ten
finalists for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize for her play, My Andy.
Wettig graduated with a bachelor's degree from Temple University
and earned a MFA in playwriting from Smith College in 2001.
She currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband. They have
two grown children.
Matt Czuchry as “Jordan Scott”
Matt Czuchry currently stars on the critically acclaimed CBS
series The Good Wife. He is perhaps best known for his role as “Logan” on the
long-running CW series Gilmore Girls. His additional television credits include
Friday Night Lights, Veronica Mars, 7th Heaven, The Practice and Young
Americans.
Czuchry attended the College of Charleston in South Carolina,
where he graduated with honors and was the captain of the tennis team.
In his free time, he loves to play basketball. Raised in
Kingsport, Tenn., Czuchry divides his time between Southern California and New
York City. His birth date is May 20.
Jeff Hephner as “Hiram Alton”
Jeff Hephner is best known for his role as "Matt Ramsey" during
the third season of The O.C.
On television, Hephner starred in The CW series Easy Money and
as author Pat Conroy in the Hallmark Hall of Fame television movie The Water is
Wide. Hephner’s additional TV credits include Mercy, Private Practice, CSI, NCIS,
House, Nip Tuck and Lifetime’s Drop Dead Diva.
Hephner is currently shooting a recurring role on the new CW
series Hellcats, produced by Tom Welling and starring Ashley Tisdale.
ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
BARBARA LIEBERMAN (Executive Producer) is a multiple Emmy® Award
and Golden Eagle Award-winning producer and most recently executive produced the
Lifetime Movie Network Original Movie Seven Deadly Sins and the Lifetime
Original movies Lying to Be Perfect, True Confessions of a Hollywood Starlet,
Matters of Life and Dating, The House Next Door and Murder in the Hamptons. She
also executive produced Trump Unauthorized, Lifetime’s Obsessed, The Dead Will
Tell, The Stranger Beside Me, Gleason: The Jackie Gleason Story and the
miniseries And Never Let Her Go. Lieberman served as senior vice president,
Motion Pictures for Television and Miniseries at ABC Entertainment from
1992-1998. Among her many highly rated and critically acclaimed credits for ABC
are the Emmy® Award-winning Oprah Winfrey Presents: Before Women Had Wings,
starring Oprah Winfrey; First, Do No Harm, starring Meryl Streep; Into Thin Air;
Radiant City, starring Kirstie Alley; Oprah Winfrey Presents: The Wedding,
starring Halle Berry; Stephen King’s The Shining; Getting Out, starring Rebecca
de Mornay; the Emmy® Award-winning miniseries Family Pictures, starring Anjelica
Huston and Kyra Sedgwick; Betrayed by Love, with Patricia Arquette; and the hit
miniseries The Jacksons: An American Dream.
Prior to joining ABC, Lieberman was senior vice president of
production and development at Edgar Scherick Productions. In that capacity, she
served as executive producer on such television movies as Fever, ‘Til Death Do
Us Part, Four Eyes and Six- Guns, Anything to Survive and A Quiet Killer. In
1988, she produced the groundbreaking Eddie Murphy Productions comedy special
What’s Alan Watching?, starring Eddie Murphy.
Lieberman served as producer for four seasons on Saturday Night
Live, for which she received two Emmy® Awards and a Golden Eagle Award at the
Cannes Film Festival. She produced over 100 comedy shorts during her tenure
there, working with some of the biggest comedians and actors in the business.
Lieberman began her career in New York as a producer of independent features,
documentary films, specials and commercials in association with Oscar®-winning
director Chuck Workman.
ANDREA BAYNES (Executive Producer)
Andrea Baynes has compiled an impressive resume since her first
outing as executive producer on the 1986 television movie, Kate’s Secret. Among
her executive producer credits are the highly-acclaimed productions of Black
Widow Murders: The Blanche Taylor Moore Story, Oklahoma City: A Survivor’s Story
and The Interrogation of Michael Crowe. Baynes has produced numerous movies for
Lifetime Television, including Sex and the Single Mom, Confessions of an
American Bride, Perfect Romance and The Familiar Stranger. Other television
movie credits include Dear Prudence, Jumping Ship, Children of Fortune, Horse
Sense, Circle of Deceit, Burning Bridges, The Ann Jillian Story, Miss Rose
White, The Long Journey Home and Where Are My Children? In addition, Baynes
produced the feature film, Who Do You Love?
RICHARD FRIEDENBERG (Writer)
Richard Friedenberg is an Emmy® and Golden Globe® Award winning
writer. Friedenberg was selected by Robert Redford to write the screen
adaptation for A River Runs Through It, a script which won him an Oscar®
nomination. Friedenberg received two Emmy Awards for writing and coproducing and
a WGA Award nomination for Best Teleplay for the Hallmark Hall of Fame
production, Promise, starring James Garner and James Woods. This sensitive story
of a man's love for his schizophrenic brother won the Peabody Award, and
additional Emmys were awarded to the director and stars James Woods and Piper
Laurie.
Born in Westchester, New York, Friedenberg studied English
literature at the University of Michigan and did graduate work at the Sorbonne
in Paris. After returning to Boston, where he was raised, Friedenberg joined an
educational film company where his duties included everything from writing to
directing. At another film company in Salt Lake City, Friedenberg began
directing both television and film. After moving to Los Angeles, Friedenberg
wrote Bitter Harvest, a television movie starring Ron Howard, for which he won
the WGA Award for Best Teleplay and received his first Emmy nomination in the
same category.
His 1991 original script Dying Young starred Julia Roberts. In
1996, he wrote and directed the feature The Education of Little Tree, for which
he received a Hollywood Artist Award. Friedenberg also wrote and directed
Showtime original movies Mr. and Mrs. Loving and Snow in August. His additional
television credits include the adaptations of James Patterson novels Suzanne’s
Diary for Nicholas and Sam’s Letters to Jennifer for CBS.
ROD HOLCOMB (Director)
Rod Holcomb is an Emmy®, DGA, Humanitas Prize, and Peabody award
winning director and producer. He has helmed 22 pilots with a staggering 15 of
them going to series. They include ER, Lyon's Den, China Beach, The Education of
Max Bickford, and The A-Team. Besides this, Rod's recent television series
directing credits include NCIS:LA, The Good Wife, Justified, Numb3rs, ER, Lost,
and Shark. Additionally, Holcomb has directed many high caliber
made-for-television movies, including Code Breakers, The Pentagon Papers, Songs
in Ordinary Times, Thanks of a Grateful Nation, Convict Cowboy, Royce, Donato
and Daughter, and Stark. Holcomb recently optioned a series of books by Bob
Leuci and has sold one of them to Fox 21.
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