Lifetime is the new black.

Ving Rhames has joined Whoopi Goldberg in the Lifetime original movie A Day Late and a Dollar Short, based on the New York Times bestseller by Terry McMillan. 

Rhames has signed up to play Whoopi’s husband in a story that follows the irascible matriarch Viola Price (Goldberg) who learns that her next asthma attack will likely kill her, and thus sets out to fix her broken family before she moves on to the next life. 

In this quest she has to contend with sibling rivalry, teen pregnancy and prescription drug addiction – and that’s just one of her four kids. There’s also a jailbird son to teach how to be a better father, a granddaughter in bigger trouble than her mother is willing to admit and an estranged husband to rescue from his scheming young girlfriend.  It’s the kind of meddling that the Price family hasn’t experienced from Viola in decades, and she won’t have an easy time bending her loved ones to her will.

The project reunites Goldberg with McMillan, having co-starred opposite Angela Basset in the film adaptation of McMillan’s novel How Stella Got Her Groove Back. 

In addition to starring in the film, Goldberg will also executive produce.

“Terry McMillan is one of America’s most beloved writers and A Day Late and a Dollar Short combines her signature emotional storytelling with the complex characters viewers identify with and love.  We are thrilled to be working again with Whoopi Goldberg, who will be emptying her enormous talents both in front of and behind the camera,” said Rob Sharenow, Executive Vice President, General Manager, of Lifetime.

Production on A Day Late and a Dollar Short will take place this summer for a 2014 premiere.

Produced by Ostar Productions, the film will be directed by Stephen Tolkin (Brothers & Sisters), from a script by Shernold Edwards (Haven).