Perfectly Prudence

Jane Seymour reprises her role of Prudence McCoy in "Perfectly Prudence," a 2011 TV movie. This film is notable for reuniting Seymour with her Dr. Quinn costar, Joe Lando, who is still handsome with short hair.

In the last TV movie, Prudence was involved in a murder while on vacation. I'm a little disappointed that this wasn't another mystery. Here, Prudence, a Martha Stewart type, is preparing for another season of her TV show, with her daughter (Katherine Flynn) acting as producer. The only problem is, network execs are making a lot of problems. They want to change everything about the show, 'sex it up,' and give Prudence a young, sexy cohost (Valerie Azlynn). And one of the execs is an old love of Prudence's (Lando) - and the relationship didn't end well.

Since this is Hallmark, the film didn't have a lot of bite to it. Valerie Azlynn was terrific as Angie, and contributed much-needed energy and humor. Seymour is lovely, but she spent most of the movie being angry. It was good when she finally softened. And it was so nice to see her with Lando again.

My verdict: just okay. Certainly Seymour can handle a stronger script, and it's a good character with excellent household hints!

Jane Seymour enlivens this Hall Channel TV movie sequel to 2008's DEAR PRUDENCE about a Martha-Stewart-like TV personality. This time there's a corporate takeover and an attempted makeover of the show and an old lover who reappears. Valerie Azlynn is quite funny as the ditzy weather bunny who is being foisted on the show in order to improve the -- harrumph! -- demographics.

Director Paul Schneider fills out the piece with some nice auctorial comments; as Miss Seymour and Katherine Flynn as her daughter and producer walk and talk about how to present a particular guest, they finish by noting it will be a 'walk and talk' and the camera offers the audience a nice flourish to let us know that is what we've just seen. A pleasant setting and competent actors make this one that is worth seeing.

Jane Seymour gives a fun performance as this fiery Brit who knows what she wants. Her love interest is great too, as a cynical man who slowly uncrusts and reveals a good heart. There were some funny moments in the movie. And I realized after watching for the first time that the entire thing takes place at this rural mansion.

The boss' son is obnoxious (with no redeeming value). The show's premise was worn out 20 years ago. Prudence's daughter is very unattractive and an amateur actor. All the actors should be embarrassed to be a part of this disaster. Jane Seymour, a normally talented actor, must not have read the script before signing up. They reference cracking eggs; this show is a broken egg! Was it written (and don t forget bad casting) by a real loser or what? Yuck! 4 cracked eggs is my generous rating.

This movie is still good in spite of how hard they deliberately tried to ruin it.

"Dear Prudence" was great, a woman who gets dragged into being a detective by circumstance. She was assisted by a young lad, somewhat reminiscent of the "Hettie Wainthrop" series starring Patricia Routledge.

So how did they try to ruin it? First of all, Prudence is no longer a detective. This was the main point of the entire show, which has now been eliminated completely. Kind of like making an episode of Miss Marple where she turns out to be a knitting instructor on TV instead of a sleuth. I was at about 1:20 in to the film when I finally decided that nobody was going to get murdered.

Second, in "Dear Prudence" her assistant was young, perhaps teenage, cute, shy and geeky, with lots of personality. In "Perfectly Prudence" they have replaced him with a late-twenties, pudgy, unattractive geek with the personality of clammy dumpling dough. Removes half the reason to watch the show.

The other half of the reason, though, Jane Seymour, is quite delightful. She is still looking very good.

Unexpectedly, the movie is stolen by Valerie Azlynn, who has a real flair for comedy. Her crying scenes are particularly hilarious.

I think it's very ironic that the plot of "Perfectly Prudence" is about the network executives trying to ruin her TV show, destroying everything it stood for and totally revamping it purely for the sake of money, when that is exactly what they did to "Dear Prudence!"