TV Eye
If It Ain't Broke …
By Belinda Acosta, Fri., May 4, 2001
It's bad enough that NBC canceled Freaks and Geeks and Fox was too short-sighted to continue with American High. (Thank goodness the Fox Family Channel picked up the former and PBS the latter.) Aftershocks are still coming from the recent announcement that Buffy the Vampire Slayer is moving to UPN, a network no longer carried in Austin. And I'm not even going to air my gripes about big-screen remakes of old TV shows, because that's a column unto itself. No, what has snapped my bra strap this week is the announcement that a remake of Brian's Song will be presented as a Wonderful World of Disney presentation sometime in the near future.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the redux stars Sean Maher (The $treet), Mekhi Phifer (Shaft, O), Elise Neal (The Hughleys), Paula Cale (Providence), and Ben Gazzara. For those too young to remember the original 1971 TV movie, it's a drama based on the true-life friendship of Chicago Bears teammates Brian Piccolo (James Caan) and Gale Sayers (Billy Dee Williams). Piccolo was white; Sayers was black. This was a time when integration and racial harmony was a fresh and hopeful concept and before other, much weaker TV movies made the term "disease of the week" common parlance. In this case, the disease was lung cancer, which took the life of Brian Piccolo at 26. (Actually, it was testicular cancer that spread to his lungs).
The award-winning TV movie was written by William Blinn from the book by Gale Sayers (I Am Third) and earned a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award for best TV movie in 1972. And then, there is that stirring, somewhat maudlin but always hanky-inducing score by Michel Legrand. I'm sorry -- if you don't get choked up when you hear the "Brian's Song" theme, then you were either born under a rock or raised by chickens.
It's very rare that I say things just aren't as good as they used to be. But I'll make an exception. Brian's Song was the rare achievement. It had everything -- love, death, and a fatal disease, all set against the backdrop of the real American passion: professional football. And we all watched it on our television screens at home. It was a television event in the best sense of the word. And it made us cry. Not just 13-year-old girls like me, but brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers. Sometimes, you need to cry to remind yourself that you're connected to the world and affected by it.
So why am I fearing the worst about this remake? Because since the Seventies, we've become so jaded. We're so bitter and filled to the brim with vitriol. Stories about the human heart and spirit are handled either caustically or, worse, at a distance, as something foreign, quaint, and ultimately laughable. Although the "family-friendly" Disney is producing the remake, I can't help but dread that it will be a lighter, happier Brian's Song. I could be wrong. I've been wrong before. But there's a reason they haven't remade Gone With the Wind, To Kill a Mockingbird, Casablanca, or Citizen Kane. They got it right the first time. The same can be said of Brian's Song.
Touched by an Angel Network
Austinite and executive director of Girlstart Rachel Muir was a recent recipient of a $100,000 "Use Your Life" award presented by Oprah Winfrey on her talk show April 30. The award is given under the auspices of the Oprah Angel Network "to individuals across the country who are using their lives to improve the lives of others."
Launched as Smartgrrls in 1998, Girlstart was started by Muir at age 26 to help girls and young women realize their potential in technology, the sciences, and math. Muir said the gift will be used to expand ongoing Girlstart programs. The presentation on Oprah was much too short, so here's a photo of the happy award recipient. For more information on Girlstart, visit their Web site at: www.girlstart.org.
Vampire Seeks Home
"Wanted: A cool pub atmosphere with brews and those chicken wing things for a peckish vampire with chip implant to muck about and be seen on a television screen on Tuesday nights. Nackered Austin, without UPN. Bar owners contact SPIKE, large crowd assured!"
The above "ad" was e-mailed to me by Joseph Fotinos, local comedian, horror movie buff, and die-hard Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan as one remedy for Buffy fans who want to watch the show when it moves to UPN (this is assuming the writers and actors strike doesn't happen or the strike comes to a close well before the start of the fall season). Surely there's a local pub in town with a satellite dish and buffalo wings (Spike's favorite) that would play host to a motley crew of BtVS fans every Tuesday night.
Steve Martin, another reader, shared how he kept up with Star Trek: Voyager last year even though UPN pulled up stakes: "I started an e-circle for Austin Voyager fans and organized a group of people interested in viewing the show. One of the members had the satellite dish network set up at home. The dish programming included a UPN station from another town (Salt Lake City, Utah). One of our members recorded the show for us, and we met at my office to view the show in the conference room on a weekly basis."
On a chance visit to a local comic book store, I happened upon a flier encouraging BtVS fans to call Steve Carlston at the UPN to complain that UPN isn't carried in Austin. Curious, I called the number. After a 10-minute runaround, I was finally connected to Mr. Carlston, who turns out to be the executive vice-president of Affiliate Relations for UPN. After some mau-mauing, he explained to me that UPN was not the place for Austin residents to voice their complaints, but that viewers should contact Time Warner Cable and urge them to carry UPN. That doesn't help non-cable subscribers, but it's more productive than calling Mr. Carlston. Time Warner Customer Service can be reached at 485-5555.
E-mail Belinda Acosta at [email protected]
