The Real Story Behind That Sexy Colonel Sanders Lifetime Movie

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By  Dennis Lee

A few days back we briefly discussed Mario Lopez starring as the battalion leader of fried poultry himself, Colonel Sanders, in a sexy Lifetime movie called A Recipe for Seduction. I know. It was hard for us to believe, too. We are still amazed.

But... what the heck? Why is this even happening? The Washington Post reports on this sultry on-air concoction of 11 secret herbs, spices, and romance. As you probably imagined, it's all about marketing. KFC has tried to reimagine the goateed Colonel in many different ways, whether it was re-casting him with Norm Macdonald, Jim Gaffigan, or Reba McEntire. But it's trying to keep the Sanders image up to date when competition with promotions featuring, say, Travis Scott get intense.

And this isn't even the first time KFC has tried to reboot the ol' Colonel as a steamy hunk of man-chicken, either. Remember that weird video game from last year? It was called Love You, Colonel Sanders! A Finger Lickin' Good Dating Simulator. Our pals over at Kotaku experienced the game in its full marketing-driven experience and weren't particularly impressed. It's hard to fall in love with someone when all they want to do is shove chicken in your face at all times. Well, at least for some people.

The movie isn't a biographical one, but it turns out Harland Sanders was a big ol' cheater. He was married twice, first to Josephine when he was 19, but three children later things fizzled, so he decided to take things outside of his marriage with a woman named Claudia Ledington, who was a former waitress at his first restaurant, Sanders Cafe. Eventually the two married. Spicy.

Shit's pretty weird these days, so I guess brands are just embracing the weirdness? Right now it's hard enough to keep anybody's attention, so we'll just chalk this one up as a really sexy elaborate stunt, featuring Mario Lopez. I know there's currently an embargo on it, but I wonder if anyone's going to be whipping out the old catchphrase. You remember that old chestnut, right?

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