Network: NBC
Original Air Date: May 27th, 1985

What could be better than a mini-series with Stefanie Powers?

How about a mini-series with two Stefanie Powers. I kid you not.

From Non-Fab to Tre-Fab:


















The end result (and a nice split screen!):



Stefanie plays Sabrina (Breenie) and Stephanie, twin sisters who have taken two very different paths in life. While Stephanie has settled down and had two kids with her hunky college professor hubby Grant (Barry Bostwick, who is amazing as usual). Her life consists of a seemingly loveless marriage, a part time job at the college bookstore and tending to her young children, one of whom has recently taken upstealing (Jason Miller from Growing Pains. The daughter is played by an extremely young Faruza Balk). She's thrilled when her much more sophisticated sister, Sabrina flies her to Venice for their birthday. On the outside, Breenie is quite enviable with her art collecting gig, closet full of designer clothes, plenty of suitors and a big ol' giant house with a staff! OK, so maybe her life is pretty good. But ask Breenie about it and you're certain to get another answer. This lovely lady has gotten herself mixed up with the seedier side of London's posh scene and finds she is basically a kept woman for the local mobster. He heads out of town for a month, while Breenie and Stephanie head toVenice and hatch their "harmless" scheme... to switch places.

So off they go, Breenie becomes a housewife (and has a knack for it!) and Stephanie runs around London with one of Breenie's old suitors (played by the gorgeous Fabio Testi from Nothing Underneath). After a car accident, which leaves Breenie bruised, she and Stephanie opt to keep the fantasy up for just a bit longer... but as more time passes while playing this game, the less enticing returning home to suburbia becomes to Stephanie. Then Breenie's mobster boyfriend returns and things take a turn for the worse.

Deceptions is like all of your favorite night time soaps on a more epic level. The scenes in London and Venice are amazing to look at. Gina Lolobriggida plays Princess Alessandra, which should give you a nice clue to how glamorous this movie is. And it's a ton of fun. I put it on expecting to watch only the first half in one sitting and then finish it in another. But I watched this little bit of eye candy from beginning to end in one go. Stefanie is great as both girls and gives each just a touch of difference so you can see why someone would confuse them, but you're also aware of each's unique personality.

And it's so... 1985. The wardrobe is awesome to behold and the music! Oh, the music! The opening song features "I'm So Excited," by the Pointer Sisters, which sets the pacing for this fun ride. I love a little opulence, but 80s opulence?!? Well, it was just never done better!

And what a great way to twist the escapist "fantasy" so many of us have of a world full of caviar dreams (thank you, Robin Leach!). The lucky girl is the one who realizes that life with a college professor and a couple of kids is far more rewarding than one built on great style, hot men and money. We know that's not true, but what a sweet thought, no?

 

Network: CBS
Original Air Date: March 1st, 1986

A fairly by the book drama is livened up by good performances, most notably from Barry Bostwick. I mean, is he ever bad? Here he plays Nick, a down and out filmmaker. Well, not so down and out, he seems moderately successful, but unlucky with love and his marriage to the lovely but distant Sharon (Lee Purcell). His daughter moves out, his wife goes on a business trip and Nick meets Marisa (Cristen Kaufman) at a party. She looks youthful, but she certainly can’t be jailbait. Yeah, right. And this underage honey is T-R-O-U-B-L-E. Her father is an angry cop (Paul Sorvino) and he gets bent on revenge when he learns of his daughter’s seduction, er, rape. Of course, Sharon gets pulled into the fray and before you know it, Nick is on his way to becoming the neighborhood sexual offender. Oh, I mean divorced neighborhood sexual offender! Now that sucks!


She wanted it... she wanted it bad!
Nothing more than a salacious drama, Betrayed by Innocence doesn’t have an ounce of romance in it, which is why I’ll keep calling it a drama. It’s got lots of drama! The leads are definitely attractive and the seduction scene is well done, but there’s nothing sweet about either of these two. Nick is a little too self-centered and Marisa… well, she’s just too young. I have a very hard time believing Nick had no idea she was underage. I mean, c’mon Nick! She’s way too wide-eyed. But as immature as she may appear, Kaufman was great up against Sorvino. She’s every bit the little brat you’d expect from a girl rebelling against a police officer father. Cristen's last appearance was in 1999 and it's a shame because there's just enough Virginia Madsen in her to make her someone to watch for.

The best scene in the movie features Bostwick asking Kaufman for a dance. I guess there wasn’t much money for an actual score because it sounds sort of like someone hit the samba button on their Casio! Bostwick says “This is my favorite song.” Hmmm… In the next scene (the seduction), Roxy Music is playing. So they could afford Roxy Music but nothing else?!? Couldn’t they just use the song twice?

Of note, Isaac Hayes appears briefly as does Thom Christopher who some of you will recognize as Hawk from Buck Rogers (or Carlo Hesser on One Life to Live. I know him from both cuz I’m just that nerdy!).