Before seeing Iron Man, the theater commercials were hyping the heck out of “The Andromeda Strain” tv mini-series, which premieres on A&E this Memorial Day.

My first thought was - is this remake really necessary?

Guess producers Ridley and Tony Scott thought that it was. The uber-special effects remake stars Benjamin Bratt, Andre Braugher, Eric McCormack, and Ricky (does he still go by Ricky?) Schroder.

The apocalyptic themes from Michael Crichton’s novel are certainly loud and clear on that trailer. It sounds like it’s next to impossible to find a cure with the melodramatic dialogue and music. I guess I’m intrigued enough to dvr it just to see what the so-called cure turns out to be.

Am I getting old or are these Lifetime movies getting better? I typically only watch these tv movies when I’m extremely bored and want a laugh.

But recently, I got wrapped up in the “Capture of the Green River Killer” mini series with Tom Cavanagh. It was pretty riveting (and graphic!) compared to the usual lover scorned tv fare on LMN.

And then yesterday, I watched “Barbara Taylor Bradford’s A Secret Affair“. That’s like twice in a month that I’ve embraced Lifetime Movie Network programming! The flick from yesterday starred Janine Turner and some Irish bloke. They meet in Venice and fall in love (despite all odds and him being kidnapped by Yugoslavian terrorists?!).

It was based on a romance novel by Barbara Taylor Bradford (which the title won’t let you forget) , so it was pretty heavy with the cheese. At the end, they all think the Irish guy is dead but alas, he escaped his captors and magically ended up in Ireland unscathed.