Netflix Tales Of The City Series...

[LoveNDino]

From here...

It sounds like it might be time to return to Barbary Lane.

 

 

TV Line is reporting that Netflix is currently developing a 10-episode “present-day continuation of Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City.” The site’s sources also confirm that the miniseries’ original cast members, Laura Linney and Olympia Dukakis, are slated to reprise their characters Mary Ann Singleton and Anna Madrigal, respectively, “with other Tales vets expected to join.”

 

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PBS

According to Variety author Michael Cunningham (The Hours) has written the first script for the series and Maupin is on board as executive producer with Alan Poul, who directed the first three Tales of the City miniseries, back behind the camera—though the revival does not yet have a series order from Netflix.

 

 

 

This is not the first time there has been talk of a Tales revival. When Maupin was on a book tour last year he dropped some hints about bringing the characters back to television:

 

 

“How great would it be if people found out Mary Ann Singleton and Anna Madrigal were soon headed back to 28 Barbary Lane, and they found out from gossip heard in the Castro bookstore?” Maupin revealed during a reading from his upcoming memoir, Logical Family.

 

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Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images

Tales of the City was first adapted to the screen as a 1993 PBS miniseries starring Linney and Dukakis. It was nominated for two Emmys and has since been heralded as one of the “top ten miniseries of all time” by Entertainment Weekly. Two follow ups were made: More Tales of the City (1998) on PBS and Further Tales of the City for Showtime in 2001.

 

Additional information about the upcoming sequel was posted on Maupin’s personal website:

 

“The series will be set in modern-day San Francisco, with 50-something Mary Ann Singleton returning to Barbary Lane,” as well as Michael Tolliver, who comes from “a difficult Christian family in Orlando.” Way before last week’s horrific events, Maupin had “already established 40 years ago that Michael’s parents were Florida orange growers, and his mother had joined the Anita Bryant crusade.”

 

http://imageslogotv-a.akamaihd.net//uri/mgid:file:http:shared:newnownext.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Tales-Of-The-City-Marcus-001-1455145392.jpg?quality=0.8&format=jpg&width=1800

PBS

Tales of the City was first published as a weekly serial in the San Francisco Chronicle in 1976, eventually being turned into books that followed the characters in real time for the next four decades. Maupin’s description of the new series sounds like the plot from Mary Ann in Autumn, the eighth novel in the series.

 

While you’re waiting for the revival to become a reality, be on the lookout for a new documentary about the author, The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin, making the film festival rounds this summer.

[LaffingBear]

Hoping. A little skeptical,.

 

Loved the first season of Tales. I happened to move to SF Bay the year it first aired - its always felt like part of my orientation.

 

But I was disappointed in the follow-up efforts. Including the casting.

 

Netflix tends to do work with good production efforts... so thats a good sign. Here's hoping.

[LoveNDino]

Hoping. A little skeptical,.

 

Loved the first season of Tales. I happened to move to SF Bay the year it first aired - its always felt like part of my orientation.

 

But I was disappointed in the follow-up efforts. Including the casting.

 

Netflix tends to do work with good production efforts... so thats a good sign. Here's hoping.

 

I did not like the fact that the original Mouse didn't want to be involved after the first series. I loved him a lot. I remember watching this when it first aired in Akron, OH, although I had read the books before. I was blown away.

 

Laura Linney can do no wrong.

[MscleLovr]

Laura Linney can do no wrong.

 

I agree wholeheartedly.

[LoveNDino]

So pumped up over this!

[samhexum]

I did not like the fact that the original Mouse didn't want to be involved after the first series. I loved him a lot.

 

Marcus D'Amico (born 4 December 1965) is a film, television and stage actor. D'Amico was born in Germany to an American father and a British mother, and was brought up in the United Kingdom.

 

D'Amico has stated a preference for stage acting and did not reprise the role of Michael "Mouse" Tolliver in the 1998 sequel, More Tales of the City. The role was recast with Paul Hopkins (who also appeared in the third installment, Further Tales of the City in 2001). According to the series' author, Armistead Maupin:

 

"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 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."

 

However, he has referred to his past work on the Tales of the City miniseries as "Exhausting, enlightening and challenging".

 

When asked about fears of typecasting after appearing in the stageplay Angels in America and in the Tales of the City TV series, D'Amico stated in 2003, "I did get typecast in gay roles but it now no longer worries me."

[+ pitman]

Tales of the City was first adapted to the screen as a 1993 PBS miniseries starring Linney and Dukakis. It was nominated for two Emmys and has since been heralded as one of the “top ten miniseries of all time” by Entertainment Weekly. Two follow ups were made: More Tales of the City (1998) on PBS and Further Tales of the City for Showtime in 2001.

Only the original series aired on PBS. The 1998 and 2001 series were both on Showtime.

 

The Hollywood Reporter tells why the followups were not on PBS:

 

Despite record ratings and a Peabody Award, PBS dropped the show under pressure from a campaign led by Maupin's old boss, by then Senator Jesse Helms, who fulminated over the use of taxpayer dollars to fund what he branded as depravity. The 12-minute montage screened in the Senate stitched together just about every moment of sex, drugs, nudity and profanity from the first series; it looks amusingly mild in hindsight, compared to the far racier content that now gets aired even on basic cable. "We made a beautiful show about family, and everyone's right to search for love," says producer Alan Poul of the series, subsequent seasons of which aired on Showtime.

[MscleLovr]

I did not like the fact that the original Mouse didn't want to be involved after the first series. I loved him a lot.

 

I agree that as originally played by Marcus D’Amico, Mouse was adorable. The replacement actor never quite convinced me.

 

Despite the rumors, it is not true that Marcus D'Amico wasn't invited back because of issues surrounding his sexuality.

When asked about fears of typecasting after appearing in the stageplay Angels in America and in the Tales of the City TV series, D'Amico stated in 2003, "I did get typecast in gay roles....

 

I well recall the rumors at the time, circulating in London where Marcus D’Amico was living. They arose because there seemed to be a gap between his avowed heterosexuality and his checking out of attractive young men in central London alleged by various witnesses (including me, once) on various occasions.

Edited May 25, 2019 by MscleLovr

[LoveNDino]

Charlie Barnett, openly gay actor and formerly of Russian Doll, plays Mouse's new lover!!!!

[+ poolboy48220]

I watched the first two episodes last night and got a bit weepy. Old friends coming back.

[+ purplekow]

I binged the entire season. Hell the new Micheal is the Mouse that Roared. Hot hot hot dad bod and quite a few opportunities to see it. Poolboy if you got weepy at the first two shows, buy some Kleenex stock and be prepared for water works. The episode which is a flashback to the 60s was, for me, particularly heartrending. The last episode will have you wistful and weepy as well though one could argue for it being a bit too cartoonish in the first half of the episode.

 

I hope they bring it back for another season, as there is still a large reservoir of material.

Edited June 8, 2019 by purplekow

[LoveNDino]

Let’s not forget the Canuck stud Paul Gross. Glad to see that he’s grown into such a silver fox!

[Guest InthePines]

Let’s not forget the Canuck stud Paul Gross. Glad to see that he’s grown into such a silver fox!

He's aged beautifully.

[Guest InthePines]

I binged the entire season. Hell the new Micheal is the Mouse that Roared. Hot hot hot dad bod and quite a few opportunities to see it. Poolboy if you got weepy at the first two shows, buy some Kleenex stock and be prepared for water works. The episode which is a flashback to the 60s was, for me, particularly heartrending. The last episode will have you wistful and weepy as well though one could argue for it being a bit too cartoonish in the first half of the episode.

 

I hope they bring it back for another season, as there is still a large reservoir of material.

 

The new Michael, Murray Bartlett, I remember first seeing when he played the lady's shoe distributor who befriends Carrie in Sex and the City. He's in a film titled August, ( used to air on Netflix, I think now on Amazon), and was also in the HBO series Looking. He's hot in both.

[+ purplekow]

The new Michael, Murray Bartlett, I remember first seeing when he played the lady's shoe distributor who befriends Carrie in Sex and the City. He's in a film titled August, ( used to air on Netflix, I think now on Amazon), and was also in the HBO series Looking. He's hot in both.

Yes he played Dom in Looking the 40 something sex bomb who seemed to have it all, sex appeal and men tossing themselves at his feet but he always managed to screw it up with men he cared about. Great sex, terrible relationship.

[+ poolboy48220]

Can anyone help identify the actor who plays one of the bartenders at Body Politic? Blond hair with a bit of blue, and a great hairy chest. I'm not sure if he's had a spoken line yet, or even if his character has a name.

[Guest InthePines]

Can anyone help identify the actor who plays one of the bartenders at Body Politic? Blond hair with a bit of blue, and a great hairy chest. I'm not sure if he's had a spoken line yet, or even if his character has a name.

 

Sorry, no. I tried to find that put on a name on him, but no luck.

[Guest InthePines]

Not wanting to spoil anyone else's fun, but I've stalled on the fifth episode. Just too much of an abandonment from the original theme and disconnected story lines. At least Netflix delivered some original programing in honor of Gay Pride month and I'm sure Armistead received a hefty paycheck, (which he totally deserves), but there's an element of mystery to Barbary Lane that's lost in High Definition.

[+ Snbrd]

I watched the first episode. I begin with the premise that it can't be the same, too much has changed since the first series aired. However, it will have to be beyond awful for me to not stay with it. I cherish the memory of watching the original series and and talking about it with straight and gay friends.

[+ purplekow]

I watched the first episode. I begin with the premise that it can't be the same, too much has changed since the first series aired. However, it will have to be beyond awful for me to not stay with it. I cherish the memory of watching the original series and and talking about it with straight and gay friends.

Nothing is the same as it was then, but it as in life, it has a new and different interest with a melancholy shadow of things past. I mostly liked it.

[tyro]

Sorry I'm so late to the party (and haven't read the earlier posts) but I just discovered Flaco. Dayum.

T

[mike carey]

The latest Economist podcast has an interview with Armistead Maupin.

https://play.acast.com/s/theeconomistasks/468dedb0-0cd1-4108-89cb-5b6170f20b3a

[Guest InthePines]

Nothing is the same as it was then, but it as in life, it has a new and different interest with a melancholy shadow of things past. I mostly liked it.

 

But there existed one of the problems for me in that the previous series were told in fifteen year retrospectives, where this one plays out in modern day. Understandable considering the challenges currently facing the LBGTQ community, San Francisco and the political divide within the nation, but it also would have made the primary characters, (Mary Ann, Michael and Brian), in their late sixties and seventies.

 

I finished the series last night and the show has its moments, (the flashback episode to the sixties where we learn how Anna acquired Barbary Lane I found the best), but the principle issue I found was the writing itself. Previous series had two writers, (Armistead being one), where as Netflix credited ten, so lost was the intelligence and given way to predicable and titillating.

 

That said, enough complaining. It was worth it to watch Micah Stock as we get to see him in his two minute scene and at least Netflix contributed some original programing for Gay Pride month, which is something we haven't seen from HBO in five years.

[+ purplekow]

But there existed one of the problems for me in that the previous series were told in fifteen year retrospectives, where this one plays out in modern day. Understandable considering the challenges currently facing the LBGTQ community, San Francisco and the political divide within the nation, but it also would have made the primary characters, (Mary Ann, Michael and Brian), in their late sixties and seventies.

 

I finished the series last night and the show has its moments, (the flashback episode to the sixties where we learn how Anna acquired Barbary Lane I found the best), but the principle issue I found was the writing itself. Previous series had two writers, (Armistead being one), where as Netflix credited ten, so lost was the intelligence and given way to predicable and titillating.

 

That said, enough complaining. It was worth it to watch Micah Stock as we get to see him in his two minute scene and at least Netflix contributed some original programing for Gay Pride month, which is something we haven't seen from HBO in five years.

Yes that flashback episode was heartbreaking and revelatory. It was the best episode of the series and in the final episode when you see the young Anna in Grand Central Station, well a not so subtle foreshadow.

[+ purplekow]

But there existed one of the problems for me in that the previous series were told in fifteen year retrospectives, where this one plays out in modern day. Understandable considering the challenges currently facing the LBGTQ community, San Francisco and the political divide within the nation, but it also would have made the primary characters, (Mary Ann, Michael and Brian), in their late sixties and seventies.

 

I finished the series last night and the show has its moments, (the flashback episode to the sixties where we learn how Anna acquired Barbary Lane I found the best), but the principle issue I found was the writing itself. Previous series had two writers, (Armistead being one), where as Netflix credited ten, so lost was the intelligence and given way to predicable and titillating.

 

That said, enough complaining. It was worth it to watch Micah Stock as we get to see him in his two minute scene and at least Netflix contributed some original programing for Gay Pride month, which is something we haven't seen from HBO in five years.

If you enjoy Micah Stock you need to watch Bonding. Fun show and he brings a lot to what in other hands may have been a throwaway role.