Now That's What I Call Dated: Fake Made For TV Movies About Tonya Harding

Like Monica Lewinsky, OJ Simpson and John Wayne Bobbit, Tonya Harding was a favorite (and easy) target among talk show hosts and hacky comedy writers. However, unlike her sad peers, Harding was the only one to inspire a trio of faux made for TV movies.

Comedy Central promoted this heavily and at one point ran five of these in a row before finally yanking it off the air for good. Out of the three this is probably my favorite because it’s fairly subtle and mimics the look of a made for TV movie perfectly.




This ran during the very early years of Late Night With Conan O’Brian. Scott Thompson is perfectly creepy as Harding and I like the CIA non-sequitur that Andy mumbles at the very beginning.




Technically National Lampoon’s Attack of the 5’2 Women was a real made for TV movie (it ran on Showtime). However, I’ve included it hear because it is a cheap disposable parody. As a side note the appeal of Julie Brown has always eluded me. Really, I don’t get it.