'Kate's Secret' on Amazon Prime
I'd forgotten how funny this was. Meredith Baxter Birney is Kate, a lawyer's wife with an adorable daughter, a beautiful house in Malibu, and a bad habit of throwing up everything she eats. Yes, it's [italic]Bulimia: The TV Movie[/italic].
Watch desperate Kate shoplift cookies and chocolate milk and scarf them down in the store before going out back and throwing up behind a dumpster — leaving her mother to wait in the car. Watch Kate knock platters of leftover party food onto the kitchen floor and wallow in the mess like a hog. Watch Meredith Baxter Birney put a ton of food into her mouth but not actually swallow it (the spit bucket on set must have been an abbatoir).
Ed Asner is the sympathetic doctor who explains to the audience what bulimia is about, Tracy Nelson is a top supermodel (hah!), and best of all, Shari Belafonte-Harper is Kate's best friend, a hip aerobics instructor who leads workouts to "Let It Whip."
| by Anonymous | reply 20 | June 15, 2024 7:20 AM
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I remember that movie. It was the first I had heard of bulimia.
| by Anonymous | reply 1 | June 13, 2024 7:29 PM
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Tracy Nelson as a top supermodel - OMG, whose brilliant casting choice was THAT!
| by Anonymous | reply 2 | June 13, 2024 7:37 PM
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R2, I assume she was cast because the character was supposed to be anorexic, because Tracy Nelson was/is always disturbingly thin.
| by Anonymous | reply 3 | June 13, 2024 7:41 PM
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This is one of my favorite camp TV movies - the scene where she's scarfing down a sheet cake on the kitchen floor is legendary
| by Anonymous | reply 4 | June 13, 2024 10:00 PM
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I’m 31 seconds in… what is happening with Meredith Baxter Birney’s accent?
| by Anonymous | reply 5 | June 13, 2024 10:23 PM
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Also (R5 here), I don’t remember Ben Masters being this hot.
| by Anonymous | reply 6 | June 13, 2024 10:24 PM
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I forgot — Mackenzie Phillips in a small role as an obsessive-compulsive member of Kate's bulimia therapy group.
| by Anonymous | reply 7 | June 13, 2024 10:48 PM
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Meredith must’ve made a telefilm about every woman-in-jeopardy trope in Hollywood.
| by Anonymous | reply 8 | June 13, 2024 11:49 PM
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They made us watch it in health science we all laughed at the drive thru scene
| by Anonymous | reply 9 | June 14, 2024 12:03 AM
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Amateur. People are filmed every day for social media eating more than that.
| by Anonymous | reply 10 | June 14, 2024 12:08 AM
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Meredith was and always will be the poor-man’s Elizabeth Montgomery.
| by Anonymous | reply 11 | June 15, 2024 12:06 AM
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You would have to have a heart of stone not to guffaw at the emotional climax when Meredith has a physical and mental breakdown and FALLS INTO A SALAD BAR.
She ends up on the floor amid the lettuce, muttering in a baby voice, "I'm a good girl, Daddy. I'm a GOOD girl."
You know after the scene wrapped some crew queen said, "Well, there's your Emmy reel, Meredith."
| by Anonymous | reply 12 | June 15, 2024 1:26 AM
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Then there's Family Sins, starring the late Kirstie Alley
| by Anonymous | reply 13 | June 15, 2024 1:29 AM
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OP, that film is hilarious! I think it was available through Tubi for awhile. They also have the 2-part Betty Broderick tv movie that Merideth did.
| by Anonymous | reply 14 | June 15, 2024 5:56 AM
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Tubi has lots of good stuff
| by Anonymous | reply 15 | June 15, 2024 6:10 AM
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Remember this one? Pretty balls of Ted Danson to agree to play this role.
| by Anonymous | reply 16 | June 15, 2024 6:14 AM
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The ending of that movie would never fly today. Their counselor recommends family reconciliation and Ted moves back in.
| by Anonymous | reply 17 | June 15, 2024 6:17 AM
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R17 that's fascinating to look back on. I was 14 when this aired and no one said a single word about the ending. It was not an issue. People accepted it. Today that is unimaginable. The people who were adults in 1984 are now either dead or elderly. The adults of today were either young or not yet born.
We really are a transformed society in many ways.
| by Anonymous | reply 18 | June 15, 2024 7:12 AM
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Yes, it's a good idea for a molested girl and her molester father to live together again. That's sure to be a recipe for healing!
| by Anonymous | reply 19 | June 15, 2024 7:15 AM
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I nipped that problem in the bud.
| by Anonymous | reply 20 | June 15, 2024 7:20 AM
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