TV Reviews : True-to-Life Appeal of ‘Mother, Murderer’

Sunday’s guilty pleasure is “Wife, Mother, Murderer,” an ABC movie (9 p.m., Channels 7, 3, 10 and 42) with “Who’s the Boss?” star Judith Light as Alabama man-killer Marie Hilley.

Cheryl Ladd, Donna Mills and Jaclyn Smith have all had their shot at the networks’ current copycat theme of women criminals in recent days. But this real-life drama has one edge: You keep watching to see not only the bizarre tale’s conclusion but also how many wigs Light can wear in two hours.

Actually, Light turns in a highly watchable performance as money-hungry Hilley, so eager to put her impoverished roots behind her that she slowly poisoned her husband for his small insurance policy. When the money ran out, she tried the same on her teen-age daughter.

Caught, she jumped bail, assumed a new identity and remarried in New England. When things got hot there, she pretended to go off and die of an incurable disease, then came back as her fictional twin sister, to resume a relationship with the widower.

David Dukes has a fairly thankless role as the prosecutor determined to make Hilley pay for her crimes, but David Ogden Stiers is terrific as the kind but dim second husband, who is faithful even when the truth comes out. Kellie Overbey does a fine job portraying the daughter’s grief, fear and anger.

Still, it’s the story’s true-life origins that lend the plot’s twists, turns and inexplicable finale particular fascination. Neither Light nor David Eyre Jr.’s script, directed by Mel Damski, delve too deeply into what might have warped Hilley so lethally.