FAMILY FEUD

Knots Landing legend Donna Mills steps into the evil grandmother role in V.C. Andrews’ Dawn

- JIM HALTERMAN

V.C. Andrews’ Dawn

SERIES PREMIERE

Saturday, July 8, 8/7c, Lifetime

DONNA MILLS’ MOST famous TV part is undoubtedly the manipulative Abby Fairgate Cunningham Ewing Sumner, whom she deliciously played for nine seasons (1980–89) on CBS’s primetime soap Knots Landing. But the actress says that even Abby might run and hide from powerful hotel owner Lillian Cutler in Lifetime’s limited series V.C. Andrews’ Dawn. “People say to me, ‘You’re used to playing the bad girl because you played Abby.’ And I say, ‘Lillian is way badder!’ ”

In the premiere, Lillian’s nastiness is unleashed on innocent teen Dawn Longchamp (Brec Bassinger,