Lifetime's 'College Admissions Scandal' TV Movie Trailer

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(Image credit: Lifetime +Getty Images)

published 7 September 19

When news of the college admissions scandal broke, it made headlines around the world.
Two of the most high profile people caught in the scandal were actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin, who appear to be the inspiration for the main characters in Lifetime's "ripped from the headlines" TV movie, aptly titled The College Admissions Scandal.
Lifetime released a trailer for the upcoming TV movie on Friday. It premieres on Lifetime on October 12 at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

We all knew it was only a matter of time before someone made a movie inspired by the college admissions scandal that rocked the world earlier this year.

Lifetime appears to have gone into production on its take, aptly titled The College Admissions Scandal, within hours of the story breaking because a trailer is already out and the "ripped from the headlines" TV movie is slated to premiere in October. For those of you keeping score at home, that's a mere seven months after news of the scandal actually broke back in March.

If you need a refresher, the "college admissions scandal," as its come to be known (even though its code name among investigators—Operation Varsity Blues—was a way better option), involved a number of wealthy parents who paid to help get their kids into elite universities.

The parents in question did this with the help of the scheme's mastermind, a man named William Rick Singer, who got kids in to top college through his so-called "side door." This term encompassed a range of unscrupulous methods, from fixing SAT and ACT scores to arranging for students to receive spots on teams for sports they had never actually played—complete with photoshopped pictures of them "playing" said sports. It was, as they say, a whole thing.

Even though the admissions plot involved a bunch of wealthy parents, two in particular emerged as the faces of the scandal: Actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori "Aunt Becky" Loughlin.

Unsurprisingly, Lifetime's take on the scandal revolves around two moms who may or may not (but almost certainly are) based on the actresses. Behold, Felicity and Lori's Lifetime doppelgangers:

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In the trailer, the blonde, Probably-Felicity-Huffman-Inspired mom (played by Penelope Ann Miller) is portrayed as a harried, over-anxious, but well-intentioned woman trying to do what's best for her kid:

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The Probably-Lori-Loughlin-Inspired mom (played by Mia Kirshner) gets a less favorable treatment, going so far as to lecture her daughter about Darwinism to explain why what they're doing is A-OK:

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Speaking of the kids, we also get a character who is, basically by default, going to be thought of as the Probably-Olivia-Jade-Inspired kid (played by Sarah Dugdale), who tragically, does not appear to be a sassy YouTube influencer:

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We do, however, get a tease of a scene in which she brazenly poses in front of a blue screen playing soccer to fake the evidence that she deserves a spot on her fictional dream school's (based, no doubt, on USC, where Olivia Jade was admitted as a member of the crew team—in spite of, you know, not rowing crew at all) team.

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Watch the ~dramatic~ trailer for Lifetime's The College Admissions Scandal below:

The movie is set to premiere on Lifetime (obviously) on October 12 at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

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