‘A Recipe for Seduction’ is melting​ minds across the Internet today

Published on December 7, 2020

KFC and Lifetime have teamed up for a movie with Saved by the Bell star, Mario Lopez. What a world, what a sentence. The cherry on the top: Lopez is playing the famous colonel in Lifetime’s new romantic thriller. 

It’s a short film, to be clear, and 15 minutes in length. The film is called A Recipe for Seduction, which is an undeniably fantastic title. The story: “Presented by KFC and Lifetime. As the holidays draw near, a young heiress contends with the affections of a suitor handpicked by her mother. When the handsome chef, Harland Sanders, arrives with his secret fried chicken recipe and a dream, he sets in motion a series of events that unravels the mother’s devious plans. Will our plucky heiress escape to her wintry happily ever after with Harland at her side, or will she cave to the demands of family and duty?”

The suspense is already killing us: 

This is a take-it-or-leave-it, love-it-or-hate-it holiday offering from Lifetime. The grandma-friendly network tends to dominate the holidays with their holiday movie marathons. Honestly, as horrific as this short film may look in the eyes to some, it’s hard not to enjoy the sight of a Lifetime movie that has a sense of humor about itself. A lot of Lifetime movies take themselves very seriously, which is charming in its own way, too, but A Recipe for Seduction is one of Lifetime’s more overtly tongue-in-cheek titles. A few years back, Lifetime produced A Deadly Adoption with Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig. It was both a typical Lifetime movie and a low-key parody of the typical Lifetime movie. Lifetime isn’t above self-parody or occasionally laughing at itself, like A Recipe of Seduction. Which, based on the trailer, could easily be devoid of laughs, but we’ll see. 

Lifetime and KFC is an odd pairing. “Let’s face it, we could all use a little distraction this holiday season,” KFC U.S. CMO Andrea Zahumensky, explained. “So why not fill some of your time at home with a suspenseful drama and the comfort of our world-famous fried chicken?” Lifetime’s representatives, too, have made it clear A Recipe for Seduction is one big joke for the holidays. “Lifetime is the perfect holiday home to bring this spicy, unexpected tale to life,” says David DeSocio, who’s A+E Networks EVP of ad sales marketing and partnerships. “With a wink to the unique sensibilities celebrated in Lifetime movies, this co-production spotlights each brand’s POV and marries them in a fun and authentic way.” 

Making the collaboration between KFC and Lifetime funnier — Uber Eats is even getting in on A Recipe for Seduction. For the movie, the delivery service is offering customers six free crispy tenders for KFC purchases of $20. Like Lifetime, KFC is a brand that hasn’t shied away from poking fun at itself or its mascot, the Colonel. It’s too bad one of the previous actors who played the role, such as Norm Macdonald, isn’t playing the Colonel in A Recipe for Seduction. Maybe Lopez’s lack of comedy chops, however, could make him the right choice for a more straight-faced Colonel in… A Recipe for Seduction.

Ever since the first look for the Lifetime mini-film dropped online, people across Twitter and Facebook have been in awe. Whether they’re laughing for the right reasons is to be determined. For some reason, A Recipe for Seduction seems like a mini-movie just right for 2020. Based on how fast Lifetime shoots their movies, the company likely shot this Colonel Sanders film recently during the pandemic. Of all the movies to produce during a pandemic… A Recipe for Seduction is only 15 minutes long, but in our memories, it just might last forever. 

A Recipe for Seduction airs on Lifetime at 12 p.m. on December 13th.

Jack Giroux is a Staff Writer at Grit Daily. Based in Los Angeles, he is an entertainment journalist who's previously written for Thrillist, Slash Film, Film School Rejects, and The Film Stage.

Read more

More GD News