Mario Lopez Is Playing Colonel Sanders in a Lifetime Mini-Movie A Recipe for Seduction

Here’s a thing made for the internet: Mario Lopez will be playing Colonel Sanders in A Recipe for Seduction, a “Lifetime Original Mini-Movie” / KFC ad that premieres this weekend. Yes, Kentucky Fried Chicken’s latest Colonel Sanders will be the sexiest one yet (sorry, Robocop), with the iconic glasses and tie falling upon Saved by the Bell’s A.C. Slater / TV’s go-to all-purpose host when Seacrest is too busy.

Mark your calendars because Lifetime and @KFC have partnered for a Lifetime Original Mini-Movie you don’t want to miss! “A Recipe For Seduction” starring @MarioLopezviva premieres Sunday at 12PM. pic.twitter.com/nZJ2PXUR6G

— Lifetime (@lifetimetv) December 7, 2020

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This kind of brand synergy between a channel known for cheesy melodramas and a fast food joint known for middling fried chicken was destined to bring social media attention to both, and yes, it worked. I’m pretty sure we’re the last website in the world to finally write about this thing. We would’ve hit it earlier but I had to wrestle with my own convictions—KFC died for me the day they discontinued their peerless potato wedges for cookie cutter french fries, and sending any promotion their way feels like a validation of their unconscionable menu decisions. In the end my strong sense of journalistic ethics won out—it’d simply be wrong to deprive Paste’s readers of news they’d be interested in because of my own personal beef with a chicken restaurant.

Lopez’s debut as the Colonel airs Sunday, Dec. 13, at Noon, on Lifetime. Get ready to shake in anticipation for the guaranteed “fingerlicking good” line. And hey, here’s the trailer.