Her Final Fury: Betty Broderick, the Last Chapter

This is easily one of the most entertaining TV movies ever. Great performances, particularly from Baxter and Ivey. Do not miss this movie if it comes on. There's a reason it's regularly among the top 10 cable shows whenever it's on.

Meredith Baxter miraculously makes us feel some sympathy for the spoiled former wife of attorney Daniel Broderick even in this sequel to the original television film. Betty is now in prison for murdering her husband and his new wife in their bedroom. It's hard to feel sympathy for a woman who was getting $16,000 a month in alimony and living in a million-dollar home overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Regardless, Betty was determined to win the divorce even if it meant killing Dan and his wife and going to prison for the crimes. She wasn't going to be embarrassed but she did the same to her husband and her own family. Judith Ivey plays the prosecutor in the case. Kelli Williams returns as does Stephen Collins. I get the feeling that they had so much fun making the original that they returned to the sequel. Most of the original cast is back in the sequel.

I think this was a very interesting and well written movie. The substance of the movie was explosive. So very often one spouse works very hard to make a success out of the other mate. In the end they are tossed aside. Once success comes, the spouse who took second place is discarded because the feeling is they are a flaw in the society of the elite and successful. She had good reason to be angry, but there are better and more effective ways of getting even. Murder should never be a consideration. Betty went too far! The actress who played the sister of Linda, The new wife, showed a very uncanny resemblance to the actress who played Linda. I wonder if there is some relationship there.

She's a good TV actress, but women scorned seem to be her genre. I'd like to see her work in some better quality productions. She's the darling of Lifetime TV (that someone I know of calls the "Stayfree Channel"