Haven't I seen you somewhere before . . . ?

I watched a movie last night on Lifetime (which I find myself doing a lot less than I used to, for some reason). This was a romance based on a novel by top author Linda Lael Miller. A woman on the run jumps into a car and drives until it breaks down and gets a job in a diner, cooking, and she finds herself drawn to a handsome rancher. But the danger follows her.

As I watched the story I immediately thought of a Lifetime movie I saw earlier this year, this one based on a Nora Roberts novel. A woman wanting to escape bad memories drives until her car breaks down and gets a job in a diner, cooking. In the town she finds romance, but the danger follows her.

Now, I know there are only so many themes in romance, but damn! These movies were produced around the same time. The Nora Roberts adaptation was done specifically for Lifetime. Comments on the IMDB (Internet Movie Database) said the Linda Lael Miller movie was made for cable, but didn't name Lifetime specifically, although it has that network stamped all over it. But why make such similar movies at the same time? It didn't help that both female leads in the films were blondes, the men dark-haired. These are two prolific authors. Why not purchase the rights to stories not so similar?

Which brings me to why I don't watch as much Lifetime as I used to. The movies all seem the same, picked from a handful of plots. Woman-with-evil-husbands. Woman-with-promiscuous-or-otherwise-troubled-daughter. The supernatural. Woman-being-stalked-by-obsessed-man. Woman-having-extramarital-affair.

Then again, maybe I shouldn't complain. The lack of absorbing TV is probably good for my writing.