Moonlight DVD thought... we are lucky!

[wpgrace]

So I debated whether to put this in the CF&G random thread or just put it here in the Moonlight section... anyway... here it is...

I am catching up on some back magazine reading and I just read an article from a New Orleans newspaper/mag weekly called Gambit... from back in November... (Told ya I was catching up.)... soo...

There is an article in it about an old tv series called Frank's Place, which had been set in New Orleans and was based upon a real life restaurant in which I had eaten years ago, called Chez Helene, in the old 7th ward... a black owned masterpiece of a neighborhood restaurant with the best food in the world. The series was a beautiful tv series... a "dramedy" they called it... that dealt with humor and poignancy with the issues of race and cast and food and music (if you know NOLA at all... these are allllll very important life issues). The eps were entertaining and funny and thought-provoking and brutally honest. It starred Tim Reid, who had been in WKRP. He played an educated black lawyer from out of town who suddenly finds himself the owner of this NOLA institution and a member of the interesting and complicated and intricate black community in the city. (Difficult dangerous and complicated in RL). The series aired in 1987.

It aired on CBS. It was critically acclaimed but didn't get the ratings CBS wanted. They moved it around alot which complicated the search for ratings. CBS didn't quite know how to market it... dealing with race AND cast as it did, it didn't fit any molds. It got a full first season... and had a devoted, rabid, hard core fan base. It was slated to have a second season. Scripts for season two were written, they got within about a week of filming season two... when at the last minute CBS cancelled it, without comment or explanation. Or communication with the cast.

Tim Reid went into an emotional tailspin and left Hollywood and did no acting work for a long time, gradually coming back into the profession a few years later... but still never moving back to LA... his soul was crushed. He totally had identified with his character, and of course lovely roles like that were still few and far between for black actors in the 80s and 90s.

The kicker in this article was, that a few years ago, Reid got a call from a friend. CBS had thrown the show OUT. In the trash. The masters... had been throw out into the trash. Tim's friend saw them in the bin and pulled them out and Tim now has them... in bad shape but he has them. But there has been no DVD for this wonderful show... and he is still working to try to get the eps released on DVD. But so far, no interest. And no luck.

If he ever succeeds, and you haven't seen this series, it was magnificent. I study race relations, and it the most honest thing I have ever seen. It is also truly funny, truly dramatic and poignant, and the food will make your mouth water and the music will make you move, clap and sing. But as for what this had to do with Moonlight?

We ended up lucky. Cause that coulda been us. And Alex.

[Lilly]

grace -- thank you for putting this up here. I think my heart broke a little as I was reading this. I never saw the show, although I do recall the name. From your description, it sounds like a true artistic gem. I do get that Hollywood is all about business, but to have that work -- and by extension, the people involved -- discarded like that is beyond callous.

Yeah, we were lucky. And it's good to put that into perspective.

[laurapesada]

That is a clear example of how mean and low people can be.
I guess we were kind of ucky ML belonged to SP & WB , instead to CBS or could had finished in the trash too.
I do hate mean people.
Thanks for the post.

[darlingcat]

Interesting! Thanks for bringing it up, Grace
I loved Frank's Place. I was still a fresh, foreign student at the time and found the show so refreshing, a real lesson in race relations in this country, which has been an interest of mine for years.
It was real, honest, made some folks uncomfortable but great television, ahead of its time maybe. I remember it only lasted for one season but did not know the ugly details behind its cancellation.
I guess, you can say we are lucky; we have the DVD and our Alex is back

[wpgrace]

Yeah, I didn't know the ugly behind-the-scenes biz either until I read this article... I remember being disappointed that it got cancelled... tho not Moonlight-disappointed. I only became certifiably insane last year ... but I was amazed it was cancelled.

And I ate at Chez Helene for the last time a year or two after the cancellation... I don't know when it closed, but I think it has. There were pics all over the walls from the series. And several of the "regulars" had appeared as extras in the show... they all had stories and were pleased to tell them if you asked.

I DO hope Tim Reid succeeds in getting it on DVD someday... it would hold up, even now. Truth, and excellent writing, always does.

[darlingcat]

Yeah, I didn't know the ugly behind-the-scenes biz either until I read this article... I remember being disappointed that it got cancelled... tho not Moonlight-disappointed. I only became certifiably insane last year ...

Yes, same here! I liked the show but didn't get heartbroken about the cancellation. And if you hadn't brought it up, it would have been forgotten. Moonlight is a different story

OFT, another show with a similar theme that I found very compelling was one on NBC with the Law and Order guy, Sam Watterson (sp?) It was called something like "A Walk Home" about a small town judge and his black housekeeper in the 50's. Fabulous, it lasted for a year but had a second chance with PBS.

[AggieVamp]

Grace -

I remember the series as well - can't remember if I actually watched it. Love Tim Reid - great actor. But since I am going to New Orleans next month for a 'fan' convention - I decided to do a search on Chez Helene & found a few things:

The chef who inspired the show passed away shortly after Katrina:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_q ... n15648247/

And after Chez Helene closed (seemingly due to a location in a very rough area of NOLA) he went to another restaurant:
http://www.bigeasy.com/new-orleans-rest ... eslie.html

and a little more info on the Chef & how he came to own the restaurant:
http://www.nolacuisine.com/2005/11/05/g ... in-leslie/

VERY interesting reading...

Karen

[wpgrace]

Thanks, Karen... he also tried to take Chez Helene into the French Quarter, very briefly. A second outpost of the original (while the original was still open) was opened up on the new riverfront in the Quarter... but the food there was NO where as good as at the original Chez Helene. I don't know who they had as chef at the branch office, but he wasn't any good. It clearly wasn't supervised by Austin Lesley and it was likely being managed by chain, just using the name...

And yes, Chez Helene was in a terrible neighborhood by the time I ever went there... whenever we would be done eating and call a cab to come get us, the manager would have us wait inside and have the cabbie come IN to call us from the bar... he didn't want his female customers roaming out on the street at night... too dangerous.

But the food was totally worth it... but then, aside from Moonlight and Alex... food is my other fixation.

[allegrita]

Thanks for sharing that, grace! I love Tim Reid and I remember Frank's Place very well. It really was a gem of a show. I had no idea how abysmally they were treated--this is a cold, harsh town.

But on a happy note--yeah, you're right. We're so lucky, and so is Alex.

[Josefismysire]

Thanks for sharing this, grace. I don't remember the show, but I do know Tim Reid and he is a terrific actor. It broke my heart to hear another great guy get shafted by the "business"...

You are right..we are lucky, I guess. The more I hear about the inner workings of Hollyweird, the more I'm glad I don't know anyone in show business. It's brutal.

[one.zebra]

I always considered it amazing that we got the DVD...We Got The DVD!!!!!

..CBS offered Alex a contract,
..they gave him a huge guest role in another sucessful program...even changed the way it usually goes by having the story be about his character and not the crew working to solve the crime!...
..They worked to find him a new show that we get to watch in the Fall....this is pretty unbelievable in TV land.

Yes, heartbroken and crushed like everyone else, Hubby helped me understand that it's Business, not personal to US.
You opperate your business sucessfully, or you disappear...this is what CBS does, it's sucessful and why they're at the top of the networks.
Just look at Michigan and the domestic auto industry..
(nobody would believe me 30 years ago that this is where they were headed..I saw the writing on the wall as a High School student, why didn't they?)....

CBS didn't personally screw the fanbase, the show's ratings were just not high enough for the network it was on and there was a lot of instability behind the scenes...showrunners, writers etc.

Moonlight lives on, (though not the way we wanted). It certainly lives on here with us!
It will be remembered as Alex's launching pad to bigger things.

The above story is heartbreaking, especially the actor's (completely understandable) reaction..
We know from Alex's notes to the fans how crushed he was...but CBS saw what we saw in Alex and he was able to pull himself together, take the opportunity he was offered and can be known for another great show...

I'm not 'actor centric' or 'Moonlight centric', I'm BOTH.

[jmc]

I never watched Frank's Place but I do remember the Waterston one ( I keep thinking Fly Away Home-I know that's wrong). I think Hollywood has also thrown away a lot of old films too. These people need archivists! The people who run the business for all their sense of self-importance have no clue as to historical value.

My particular hobbyhorse is a film called A Month in the Country starring Colin Firth, Kenneth Branagh(sp?) and Natasha Richardson. With that star-power, how can such a film not be available here? IMO the book is a classic and I only saw the movie once on a Canadian PBS station out of Toronto that didn't come in very well but I loved it. I'm such an Anglophile my friends make fun of me but it's a beautiful movie in the British countryside (from what I could see between the static & snow) about shellshocked WWI vets. Colin is repairing an ancient fresco in a country church and Kenneth is an archaeologist who sleeps in the trench he's excavating in a field.

I am really trying to be grateful for what we got with Moonlight. Really trying.

[librarian_7]

That was a show I watched, and liked--and it was a critical darling at the time, too. I seem to recall that it had a run of repeats on BET, but maybe I'm hallucinating.

It always seems to me that shows set outside New York or Los Angeles have a tough time of it. I know there are exceptions, but as a general rule, the networks seem most comfortable with things with familiar locations.

(And as a side note--we've been watching the weekly repeats of WKRP on WGN every Sunday. What a great, funny series!)

Lucky

[cassysj]

I loved Frank's Place. Unfortunately masters get lost or thrown away more often then you think. I think you're right Lucky, I think it was on BET for a while.

[wollstonecraft61]

That was a show I watched, and liked--and it was a critical darling at the time, too. I seem to recall that it had a run of repeats on BET, but maybe I'm hallucinating.

It always seems to me that shows set outside New York or Los Angeles have a tough time of it. I know there are exceptions, but as a general rule, the networks seem most comfortable with things with familiar locations.

(And as a side note--we've been watching the weekly repeats of WKRP on WGN every Sunday. What a great, funny series!)

Lucky

I agree, Lucky, WKRP, Taxi, Evening Shade, shows like these are gems. They were well-written, funny, they didn't patronize or treat the audience as if it were an embecile, and just delightful to watch as a family. Fortunately one of the best is still shown in this PC-world, All in the Family.