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Post by I Love Melvin on Jul 4, 2023 13:15:33 GMT
 I've always been surprised how this television mini-series has evaporated from memory. It was a major achievement in Carol Burnett's career and yet it never seems to come up any time tribute is being paid to her. CBS gave it event status and originally aired it over five nights in 1986, though it was edited down for a later re-broadcast and a laugh track was added, a huge mistake in judgement. Apparently parts of the audience were expecting, or at least hoping for, the same kind of broad sketch comedy seen on her variety show, which was never the intention of the creators of Fresno, so CBS felt justified in "rescuing" it by adding the laughs later. It was a parody for sure, but done straight and totally in character, requiring a different kind of attention span than comedy based only on one-liners and sight gags. It featured some of the best comedic actors of the day, such as Charles Grodin, Dabney Coleman, and Teri Garr and was a frontal assault on the nighttime soap genre, particularly Falcon Crest. Instead of the family of winegrowers, Fresno featured Burnett as the matriarch of a raisin-growing clan centered in Fresno, the "raisin capital of the world". To save the family fortunes when a new experimental crop is ruined, her son (Grodin) strikes a deal with a toxic waste tycoon (Coleman) to allow him to dump on family land, which compromises their water source and that of their neighbor. Predictably, lopsided family dynamics are a big part of the comedy, particularly with the arrival of a mysterious shirtless stranger named Torch (Gregory Harrison). And the costuming for Burnett done by Bob Mackie perfectly walks the line in parodying the already over-the-top conventions of 1980's style, or at least the TV soap version of it. Apparently civic pride has led the city of Fresno to post it on YouTube, so a nearly 5-hour version can be seen there, thankfully without the laugh track. Does anyone else remember this as fondly as I do? |
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Post by topbilled on Jul 4, 2023 13:27:41 GMT
I remember CBS advertising the hell out of it (the first time)...it definitely was an event. They were trying to achieve epic miniseries status with it. Everyone was looking forward to it, but if I recall correctly, it underperformed-- which probably explains why someone at the network doctored it for the rebroadcast.
Personally I recall it as being not very funny...maybe that was 14 year old me, who expected something else. But as a huge fan of the primetime soap genre, I didn't think they told the stories in a very engaging way. It's one thing to spoof conventions of the genre, and spoof over-the-top fashions, but even if the story is slightly weird (like Mary Hartman) you still need to make the characters likable and engrossing so that the audience gets hooked.
But this miniseries was too busy mocking the soap format instead of investing in the characters, none of which were very likable or sympathetic. Dabney Coleman's character was particularly loathsome. And since it failed to be laugh out loud funny, it just really fell flat.
The worst character was the one played by Gregory Harrison. The gimmick of him never wearing a shirt was a gag that quickly grew old, and there was no dimension to him as a human being.
One scene I still remember was that one of the female characters was looking for her long-lost father, and her search led her to a big top circus. She looked over at a group of male performers and she said 'which one of you clowns is my father?' Or something like that. It was supposed to be fun and cheeky, but aside from a few inspired moments, it was an overlong television production that failed to connect with most viewers.
Also as you say, it seemed to closely mirror Falcon Crest (perhaps too closely) a show which was always full of pathos and high drama. I think if they had kept the basic idea but maybe set it on pineapple plantation in Hawaii, it would have seemed a little more original and less derivative. Like Mel Brooks, Carol Burnett's comedy often relied on re-appropriating the ideas of other writers, instead of adding in fresh new dynamics with the laughs.
I do agree that it should be mentioned in retrospectives of Carol Burnett's career, since it's a major project for her during that phase of her career. I think if Fresno had been the smash hit they all wanted, there would have been other comic miniseries...but it was an experiment that pretty much flopped and nobody really tried that again.
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Post by I Love Melvin on Jul 4, 2023 13:54:05 GMT
Yes, I should have prefaced the post with the fact that it wasn't considered a success at the time. And the fact that it was drawn out over such a period of time made it almost certain that there would be hiccups. Maybe two or three nights would have been better. I'm not sure that the goal was ever to be "laugh out loud funny"; I remember more chuckling in appreciation than actually laughing. As for Dabney Coleman, I think loathsome may be overstating his smarminess as the character, which was actually Coleman's stock in trade as an actor in most of his roles. Gregory Harrison's "Torch" character was probably supposed to be a take on Paul Newman's Ben Quick from The Long Hot Summer, a disruptor who comes out of nowhere, but I think you're right that his presence wasn't fully maximized. I know you're a huge fan of nighttime soaps, TB, and I never was, so I can see how that would give us separate vantage points in looking at Fresno. I appreciate your detailed response but, with all due respect, I stand by my fondness for it after all these years.
P.S. Just as an aside, the pineapple plantation was actually done in 1962's Diamond Head with Charleton Heston and George Chakiris.
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Post by topbilled on Jul 4, 2023 14:09:40 GMT
Yes, I should have prefaced the post with the fact that it wasn't considered a success at the time. And the fact that it was drawn out over such a period of time made it almost certain that there would be hiccups. Maybe two or three nights would have been better. I'm not sure that the goal was ever to be "laugh out loud funny"; I remember more chuckling in appreciation than actually laughing. As for Dabney Coleman, I think loathsome may be overstating his smarminess as the character, which was actually Coleman's stock in trade as an actor in most of his roles. Gregory Harrison's "Torch" character was probably supposed to be a take on Paul Newman's Ben Quick from The Long Hot Summer, a disruptor who comes out of nowhere, but I think you're right that his presence wasn't fully maximized. I know you're a huge fan of nighttime soaps, TB, and I never was, so I can see how that would give us separate vantage points in looking at Fresno. I appreciate your detailed response but, with all due respect, I stand by my fondness for it after all these years. P.S. Just as an aside, the pineapple plantation was actually done in 1962's Diamond Head with Charleton Heston and George Chakiris.
It all just felt kind of hollow, an exercise in vanity...like hey look at us, we have a big budget and we can make fun of the primetime soaps...instead of actually crafting a story that despite the cheeky aspects, the audience could invest in and savor. It had to function on two levels, the pathos-driven drama and the all-knowing satire, for it to work. Since Burnett has done dramatic roles, I think she was capable of giving it both the comedic and dramatic aspects, but the script really let her down along with the rest of the cast, and as you say, they dragged it out over too many nights.
Ironically, Gregory Harrison would have a major role in the final 1989-90 season of Falcon Crest playing a businessman inspired by Donald Trump.
I am glad you have fondness for Fresno. I am quite fond of Amerika another overlong TV miniseries from the 1980s that had a gimmicky premise. Amerika has its faults and its detractors, but I do marvel at how grand television could be during that grand decade. Don't you? |
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Post by I Love Melvin on Jul 4, 2023 14:25:37 GMT
Yes, I should have prefaced the post with the fact that it wasn't considered a success at the time. And the fact that it was drawn out over such a period of time made it almost certain that there would be hiccups. Maybe two or three nights would have been better. I'm not sure that the goal was ever to be "laugh out loud funny"; I remember more chuckling in appreciation than actually laughing. As for Dabney Coleman, I think loathsome may be overstating his smarminess as the character, which was actually Coleman's stock in trade as an actor in most of his roles. Gregory Harrison's "Torch" character was probably supposed to be a take on Paul Newman's Ben Quick from The Long Hot Summer, a disruptor who comes out of nowhere, but I think you're right that his presence wasn't fully maximized. I know you're a huge fan of nighttime soaps, TB, and I never was, so I can see how that would give us separate vantage points in looking at Fresno. I appreciate your detailed response but, with all due respect, I stand by my fondness for it after all these years. P.S. Just as an aside, the pineapple plantation was actually done in 1962's Diamond Head with Charleton Heston and George Chakiris.
It all just felt kind of hollow, an exercise in vanity...like hey look at us, we have a big budget and we can make fun of the primetime soaps...instead of actually crafting a story that despite the cheeky aspects, the audience could invest in and savor. It had to function on two levels, the pathos-driven drama and the all-knowing satire, for it to work. Since Burnett has done dramatic roles, I think she was capable of giving it both the comedic and dramatic aspects, but the script really let her down along with the rest of the cast, and as you say, they dragged it out over too many nights.
Ironically, Gregory Harrison would have a major role in the final 1989-90 season of Falcon Crest playing a businessman inspired by Donald Trump.
I am glad you have fondness for Fresno. I am quite fond of Amerika another overlong TV miniseries from the 1980s that had a gimmicky premise. Amerika has its faults and its detractors, but I do marvel at how grand television could be during that grand decade. Don't you?I just meant Diamond Head as an afterthought, not as a critical comment on your idea, so no offense intended. Yes, I absolutely have fond memories of some of the projects network television took on in that pre-cable era. Networks were basically competing only with each other and were willing to pull out all the stops in some cases, especially during "ratings season". I spent some of the 1970's living without a television, so I was happy to be back in the fold by the 80's. I especially remember SCTV, which specialized in the kind of parodies which Fresno aspired to be. |
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Post by sepiatone on Jul 4, 2023 16:13:28 GMT
Wow. I don't recall ever hearing of this mini series, let alone ever seeing any of it. But this is talking so long ago and maybe did hear of it, but the title: FRESNO Probably didn't hold much interest for a lifelong midwesterner, so I likely passed. And BTW, IMHO the '80's wasn't really all that great a decade especially for TV and music. Movies fared very well however.
Sepiatone
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