Age of Consent
Perhaps the lyrics should be changed to ''Bali, Oh My!'' Hollywood
is abuzz over ABC's plans to remake South Pacific — the WWII
musical about a young American nurse, Nellie Forbush, who falls
for an older French plantation owner — with 53-year-old Glenn
Close donning the red cross and 53-year-old Rade Sherbedgia
(Mission: Impossible 2) as her lover. (And, yes, Close will
croon Pacific's ingenue-esque lines like ''I'm as corny as Kansas
in August.'') ''If you analyze the lyrics,'' says one source
familiar with the project who's skeptical of Close's
participation, ''it's written for a naive young girl, not for a
sophisticated woman.'' But ABC's exec VP of movies, Susan Lyne,
isn't convinced that Nellie's gotta be girlish. ''Some people are
stuck on Mitzi Gaynor playing this naive, ditzy Nellie,'' Lyne
says, in reference to the 1958 movie. ''Most of our audience has
never seen South Pacific, or the movie version. We'll be
introducing it [to them] for the first time.'' Guess you're never
too old to wash that man right out of your hair.
New York Stories
Star power is not only driving the networks' lineups this fall,
it's also pushing the production community across the country.
New prime-time stars like Bette Midler (CBS' Bette), Gabriel
Byrne (ABC's Madigan Men), Christine Baranski (CBS' Welcome to
New York), and Oliver Platt (NBC's Deadline) — along with Darren
Star's The Street for Fox and David Letterman's NBC dramedy
Ed — will shoot in New York. Hey, didn't NBC once vow to avoid Big
Apple-based series? ''With shows like [newspaper drama] Deadline,
you don't have much choice,'' admits NBC's senior VP of drama
development Joann Alfano, adding that Ed is actually set in Ohio.
Musical Routes
Speaking of tune trends, word has it that NBC is also willing to
produce musicals — and we don't mean a choreographed sequel to The
'70s. In a departure from the old regime, sources say NBC exec VP
of movies Steve White is open to hearing pitches a la Annieand Cinderella, though it's doubtful the Peacock will become
prime time's Great White Way. ''Financially, it's hard,'' says one
producer. ''The only reason ABC can do it is because of Disney''
and its home video unit. Still, how about the cast of 3rd Rock
From the Sun in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying?
And So On...
What has Americans most intrigued about CBS' Big
Brother, a Real World-style series based on a European show that
debuts July 6? Unlike producers in the Netherlands (who worried
about the psychological fallout) and Germany (who panicked over
privacy issues), Americans seem most interested in the minicams
in the bathroom. ''This country is obsessed with nudity,'' says
exec producer Paul Romer. Fortunately, Brother isn't planning
commode-centric scenes; producers say the toilet cams are only
there to record private conversations. Score one for good taste.
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