Unnecessary murders.

I like Lifetime movies. There! I've admitted it. I like their mysteries, their murders, their evil characters. I think they hire good directors, excellent art directors, very good actors—some familiar, some new faces to me. Rarely do I see a Lifetime movie that I think was poorly conceived or produced. On the other hand, most of them are not something you think about for weeks or want to add to your permanent collection. But Lifetime has every reason to be proud of their products. Except for one thing. Well, two things really. Far too many of their mystery scripts rely on killing a pet and/or the heroine's best friend. This gets pretty sickening, especially the pet part. If the innocent protagonist has an adorable dog or a soft and purry kitty like Lindsy Crouse's in Total Stranger you can be pretty sure the villain will have killed it in some hideous and vengeful way before the film's end. If she has a true-blue pal like the adorable best friend on Murder on the 13th Floor, you can bet this innocent will be killed by the heartless intruders who mistake her for the intended victim. These two- and four-legged victims are becoming a tiresome cliche in Lifetime movies. I would complain, but there seems to be no way to communicate with Lifetime. I wonder why. You would think a network like theirs would want to get feedback from their viewers. Apparently not. I wrote to PETA about the pets. Don't know what to do to save the lives of the best friends.

Note: It is now May 28th. I just saw another Lifetime Movie titled Unthinkable. Another very good film, but unfortunately, once again, they slaughtered a pet cat for absolutely no truly necessary reason. What is wrong with these writers?