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Tales of the City (1993 miniseries)

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Armistead Maupin's
Tales of the City
DVD cover
GenreDrama
Based onTales of the City
by Armistead Maupin
Screenplay byRichard Kramer
Directed byAlastair Reid
StarringOlympia Dukakis
Donald Moffat
Chloe Webb
Laura Linney
William Campbell
Paul Gross
Marcus D'Amico
Thomas Gibson
Barbara Garrick
Nina Foch
Stanley DeSantis
Theme music composerJohn Keane
Country of origin
  • United Kingdom
  • United States
Original languageEnglish
No. of episodes6
Production
ProducersAntony Root
Alan Poul
CinematographyWalt Lloyd
EditorDavid Gamble
Running time360 mins.
Production companies
Original release
NetworkChannel 4
Release
  • 28 September 1993 (1993-09-28) (UK)

Tales of the City (formally Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City) is a 1993 television miniseries based on the first of the Tales of the City series of novels by Armistead Maupin.

To date, the first three books have been adapted into television miniseries; the first, Tales of the City, was produced by the UK's Channel 4 and was first screened in the UK in 1993, then shown on PBS in the US in January 1994. Channel 4 eventually teamed up with the American cable network Showtime to produce the sequel, More Tales of the City, which premiered in the US and UK in 1998. The third installment of the series, Further Tales of the City, was produced by Showtime (without Channel 4) and was originally aired in the US on Showtime in May 2001.

A fourth installment, Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City, premiered on Netflix on June 7, 2019, with Laura Linney, Olympia Dukakis, Barbara Garrick and Paul Gross reprising their roles.[1]

Premise and release

Following the storyline in Maupin's first book, the first miniseries begins in the summer of 1976, following Mary Ann's decision to remain permanently in San Francisco following her vacation there and spans the next several months, concluding on New Year's Day 1977.

The miniseries premiered on Channel 4 in the UK on 28 September 1993, and was screened by PBS in the US in January 1994. Amid the controversy surrounding the homosexual themes, nudity, and illicit drug use in the miniseries, Tales of the City gave PBS its highest ratings ever for a dramatic programme. In deference to local standards, PBS gave stations the option of showing an edited version in which male and female body parts were obscured by pixelation. The original six-part miniseries was produced by Britain's Channel 4 Television Corporation in conjunction with San Francisco's PBS station KQED and PBS' American Playhouse. Despite the ratings success of Tales of the City, PBS bowed to threats of federal funding cuts and announced it would not participate in the television production of the sequel, More Tales of the City.

Cast and characters

Character Tales
of the City
1993 		More Tales
of the City
1998 		Further Tales
of the City
2001 		Tales
of the City
2019
Anna Madrigal Olympia Dukakis
Mary Ann Singleton Laura Linney
DeDe Halcyon Day Barbara Garrick
Dr. Jon Fielden/Fielding[2] William Campbell
Connie Bradshaw Parker Posey
Michael "Mouse" Tolliver Marcus D'Amico Paul Hopkins Murray Bartlett
Brian Hawkins Paul Gross Whip Hubley Paul Gross
Frannie Halcyon Nina Foch Diana Leblanc
D'orothea Wilson Cynda Williams Françoise Robertson
Mona Ramsey Chloe Webb Nina Siemaszko
Beauchamp Day Thomas Gibson
Prue Giroux Mary Kay Place Mary Kay Place
Edgar Halcyon Donald Moffat
Norman Neal Williams Stanley DeSantis
Charles Hillary Lord Paul Bartel
William Devereaux Hill Lance Loud
Richard Evan Hampton Bob Mackie
Archibald Anson Gidde Ian McKellen
Binky Gruen Meagen Fay
Candi Moretti Stephanie Faracy
Booter Manigault McLean Stevenson
Lionel Wong Phillip Moon
Chuck Lou Liberatore
Coppola Woman Janeane Garofolo
Motherly Waitress Mother Love
Father Guido Sarducci Don Novello
Mimi Fariña herself (cameo)
Ruby Miller Edie Adams
Bookstore Owner Rod Steiger
Karen Black herself (cameo)
Mona "Mother Mucca" Ramsey Jackie Burroughs
Betty Ramsey Swoosie Kurtz
Emma (Frannie's Maid) Jackie Richardson
Burke Andrew Colin Ferguson
Jack Lederer Edward Asner
Helena Parrish Domini Blythe
Mildred Sheila McCarthy
Birdsong Gregory Calpakis
Transplant Man Peter Colvey
Bluegrass Paul Phatisis
Cop Vince Sheffield
Nurse Thelma Gwen Tolbart
Luke Henry Czerny
Cage Tyler John Robinson
Bambi Kanetaka Sandra Oh
Father Paddy Starr Bruce McCulloch
Royal Reichenbach John McMartin
Willie Omiak Lea DeLaria
Ned Lockwood Ted Whittall
Shawna Hawkins Ellen Page
Ben Marshall Charlie Barnett
Jake Rodriguez Garcia
Margot Park May Hong
Claire Duncan Zosia Mamet
Wrenita Butler Michelle Buteau
Samuel Garland Victor Garber

Production

Premium cable channel HBO acquired the rights to the first two Tales of the City books in 1982 in the hopes of turning them into a weekly sitcom. Pre-production began in the fall of that year with a pilot script by Richard Kramer. Kramer described the script as a "Mary Tyler Moore for the '80s". In the face of the rising AIDS epidemic and a changing social climate in the conservative Reagan era, HBO reportedly felt that the book's celebratory attitude toward homosexuality, casual sex and marijuana usage would not be deemed acceptable by the viewing public. The channel considered toning down the stories and making the series a period piece but ultimately decided to scrap the project.[3]

The rights to the first book were later picked up by the British network Channel 4 and US network PBS, who produced it jointly as a six-part series in 1993. It was first shown in the UK in 1993 and in the US in 1994. However, its airing on PBS was controversial, with political figures criticizing the network for airing an LGBT-oriented series, and the network backed out of co-producing or airing any follow-up installments.[4]

Reception

In 2005, Entertainment Weekly named Tales of the City one of the ten best miniseries on DVD.[5] Calling Linney the "breakout star," the article called the series "a time capsule that treats its characters with humor, respect, and a sexual frankness (there's some brief nudity) that was uncommon for PBS in 1993 and would be politically impossible there today."[5]

Sequels

Kevin Tierney, a Canadian producer of television films for Showtime with his firm Productions La Fete, later convinced the network to revive production of the series.[6] More Tales and Further Tales were produced in Montreal by Productions La Fete and directed by Pierre Gang, and aired in 1998 and 2001 respectively. Some of the cast of the sequel series remained constant, although other roles were cast or recast with Canadian actors.

Despite the changes in production companies, the same actors played four of the central characters throughout all three miniseries: Laura Linney played Mary Ann Singleton; Olympia Dukakis played the matriarch, Mrs Anna Madrigal; Barbara Garrick played DeDe Halcyon Day; and Billy Campbell (credited as "William Campbell") played Dr Jon Philip Fielding. In addition, Thomas Gibson reprised his Tales role as Beauchamp Day in More Tales and Mary Kay Place, who had a cameo as Prue Giroux in Tales, played that role as a major character in Further Tales. Parker Posey, who played Mary Ann's high school friend Connie Bradshaw in the first series, appears briefly in both the second and third instalments. In More Tales of the City, Paul Hopkins was cast in the role of Mouse, Whip Hubley played Brian, and Nina Siemaszko was Mona. Hopkins and Hubley returned for Further Tales of the City. Armistead Maupin himself made cameo appearances in all three miniseries.

Regarding the recasts of Brian, Mouse and Mona for the sequels, Maupin has said, "Paul Gross was committed to his own TV series, Due South. Chloe Webb had expressed enthusiasm about playing Mona again, but she backed out when the show's producers declined her request to be paid more than the rest of the cast (the show was operating under a 'favored nations agreement' that required leading cast members to be paid equally.) While everyone felt Chloe was important to Tales, she was not more important than Laura Linney, Thomas Gibson, Billy Campbell or Barbara Garrick. Despite the rumors, it is not true that Marcus D'Amico wasn't invited back because of issues surrounding his sexuality. The production team met with Marcus and he expressed 'ambivalence' about returning to the role of Mouse. The director felt it was important to find someone who would enthusiastically embrace the role."[7]

More Tales of the City (1998)

In More Tales of the City, Mona discovers her true heritage when she winds up in a brothel in Nevada, run by Mother Mucca (Jackie Burroughs); on a cruise to Mexico with a lovelorn Michael, Mary Ann falls in love with Burke, a man without a past; DeDe decides to have her babies, much to Beauchamp's chagrin, and meets D'orothea; and Brian begins a rooftop dalliance with a mysterious woman. Events in Tales of the City, like the disappearance of Norman Neal Williams, are resolved, and Mrs. Madrigal reveals her secret to her tenants.

Further Tales of the City (2001)

In Further Tales of the City, Mary Ann has landed a job at a local TV station and finds a story that might make her a reporter; Frannie mourns the apparent loss of her daughter DeDe and grandchildren in the tragedy at Jonestown, until she makes a shocking discovery; Michael dates several men, including a cop, a cowboy, and a movie star; and Prue falls in a love with a mysterious stranger living in a shack in Golden Gate Park. In the miniseries, Mother Mucca visits and introduces Mrs. Madrigal to a handsome, older man, a story line that does not exist in the books but was added for television. There is also a new plot line for Connie Bradshaw which did not feature in the original novel.

Cage Tyler, the movie star with whom Michael has a brief fling, is based on Rock Hudson, who was a friend and lover of Maupin's.[8] In the novel, the character was not named, but was represented by underscores (e.g. ____ ____) wherever his name would have appeared.

Tales of the City (2019)

Main article: Tales of the City (2019 miniseries)

In June 2017, it was announced that Netflix was developing a revival of the series.[9][10] In April 2018, it was officially announced that Netflix had given the production a series order. The limited series will star Linney and Dukakis reprising their roles of Mary Ann Singleton and Anna Madrigal, respectively.[11][12][13][14] Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City premiered on Netflix on June 7, 2019.[15]

References

  1. ^ "Armistead Maupin's 'Tales Of the City' Premieres On Netflix, With Victor Garber, Molly Ringwald and More Surprises". SFist - San Francisco News, Restaurants, Events, & Sports. 8 June 2019. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
  2. ^ In the first miniseries, the character is named Jon Fielden. In the second and third miniseries his surname has reverted to Fielding, the name used in the novels.
  3. ^ Capsuto, Steven (2000). Alternate Channels: The Uncensored Story of Gay and Lesbian Images on Radio and Television. Ballantine Books. pp. 188–89. ISBN 0-345-41243-5.
  4. ^ "PBS nixes financing gay-themed series sequel". Toronto Star, April 11, 1994.
  5. ^ a b Susman, Gary (17 November 2005). "Mini Splendored Things". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 13 November 2011. Retrieved 12 October 2017. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; 13 November 2010 suggested (help)
  6. ^ "Beyond the kiss that shook TV: Tales of the City author breaks more ground with his latest stories of gay life". Ottawa Citizen, July 22, 2000.
  7. ^ "Oft Asked Questions". ArmisteadMaupin.com (Internet Archive). Archived from the original on 24 January 2007. Retrieved 24 January 2007.
  8. ^ Maupin, Armistead (24 June 1999). "'A friend rang me and said how could I do that to such a beautiful, beautiful man?': Armistead Maupin tells Patrick Gale how he took the rap for outing Rock Hudson". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
  9. ^ Littleton, Cynthia (28 June 2017). "Netflix Developing New Installment of Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City". Variety. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  10. ^ Petski, Denise (28 June 2017). "Netflix Developing Tales Of The City Revival With Laura Linney & Olympia Dukakis". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
  11. ^ Petski, Denise (24 April 2018). "Armistead Maupin's Tales Of The City Revival Gets Series Order At Netflix; Ellen Page Joins Cast". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
  12. ^ Ausiello, Michael (24 April 2018). "Tales of the City: Ellen Page Joins Netflix's 10-Episode Limited Series Revival as Laura Linney's Daughter". TVLine. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
  13. ^ Otterson, Joe (24 April 2018). "Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City Lands Series Order at Netflix". Variety. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
  14. ^ Goldberg, Lesley (24 April 2018). "Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City: Ellen Page Joins Laura Linney, Olympia Dukakis in Netflix Sequel". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
  15. ^ Pedersen, Erik (9 April 2019). "Tales of the City: Netflix Unveils Trailer & Premiere Date For Limited Series Based On Armistead Maupin Books". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
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