March 23, 2000
TV trends and the sound of Julie - THE COMMENTARY
By Joseph Planta
VANCOUVER -- In the last, oh say 6 months, the big trend in primetime television, has been game shows. The Reege and wanna-bes like Maury, Chuck and Dick have since faded, the renaissance has been built on the previous successes of people like Bob Barker, Alex Trebek, Pat Sajack and lately Ben Stein.
Television networks are not known for their originality. Once a network takes a risk and it pays off, I’ll bet you dollar to donuts that another network has it’s own variation. To prove: When Roseanne was a hit on ABC, NBC reacted and handed a stand-up comic named Jerry Seinfeld his own sitcom where he could rant about, nothing. When, Soap was pushing the sexual double entendre envelope, ABC pushed another sitcom named, Three’s Company. And remember what a racous that caused. When Friends proved friendly for NBC, FOX reacted with a pathetic copy called Partners and CBS with a show called Buddies. More? When CBS struck oil with Dallas, Aaron Spelling came up with an even campyer show named, Dynasty, which revolved around the oil industry of... Denver.
When George Clooney was still playing Dr. Doug Ross on ER, he demanded more variety to keep him on the show. He suggested to his producers that they start their fourth season with a live edition of ER. (Drew Carey did the same a season later on his own show.)
Since leaving ER, George has decided that acting live is the thing to do. This April, he and his ER pal Noah Wyle, as well as Richard Dreyfuss will team up to appear live on CBS to appear in a production of the Cold War drama, Failsafe. It’s a dramatisation of the events leading to Cuban Missile Crisis and it will be done live. If someone screws up, we see it. (But, with a talented bunch like these, of course they won’t.) If you’re old enough to remember, Playhouse 90 was a show on television in the 50’s that presented a live dramatic play for television every week. Since it’s gone by the wayside, it’s making a return, thanks in part to George Clooney.
After the throat surgery that wrecked her voice, Julie Andrews, now Dame Julie Andrews, has resorted to acting in non-singing parts. The voice that sang The Sound of Music, Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady and most recently, Victor and Victoria in Victor/Victoria, has since been silenced. Jules returned to public life, making appearances at benefits, and a timidly received performance with James Garner in a TV movie called One Special Night, that aired on CBS recently. Well, it was announced late last week that Dame Julie will appear in a live production of On Golden Pond.
The tale of an elderly couple making their last jaunt to their summer home, Henry Fonda’s last picture and one of Kate Hepburn’s finest (both won Oscars), On Golden Pond is a perfect role for Andrews. She’ll do it live, which is both feared and revered by actors, she’s following the example set by Clooney and this once-again revert to live TV. CBS is setting the way for this new trend, and you heard it here first.
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