The Michigan Daily - Wteja/ tU. - Thursday, September 21, 1995 - 5B
'Client': Grisham conquers books, movies, television and maybe world
I I
By Dean Bakopoulos
For Daily Arts
John Grisham is on a roll. If he writes
it, it sells. Summertime isn't summer-
time without dog-eared copies of
Grisham novels sticking out of beach
bags and back pockets. "The Firm,"
"The Pelican Brief' and "The Client"
began as best-selling books and were
soon turned into Hollywood blockbust-
ers. His last offering, "The Chamber,"
hits the silver screen soon. But this fall,
Grisham mania rises to an even higher
level.
As part of its new fall season, CBS
unveils its new series "The Client,"
based on Grisham's novel of the same
name. Finally, Grisham has won the
"triple crown" ofthe media, if you will.
Americans stay up late reading Grisham,
go to the theater to see Grisham, and
now they can gather around the televi-
sion and watch Grisham. (Now if only
he'll cut an album like the ever-humble
Robert James Waller, he'll be a true
Renaissance man.)
Why this fervor over Grisham? At
best, he is a gifted storyteller who takes
cliched and thinly-drawn characters and
plugs them into a formulaic, good vs.
bad legal thriller, and walks away with
cool millions. The books and the films
are entertaining, but nothing special,
nothing that should be propelling him
into the distinction of the most popular
writer of the 1990s. But Grisham is the
king of the "literary" landscape, and
CBS' Grisham-based TV show proves
just that. What does that say about
America's current tastes?
Rather simply, it seems that we like
the quickly accessible, the easily dis-
tracting, and the obviously formulaic.
Grisham's novels are easily acces-
sible and digested. They don't get too
complex, don't ask bitingly provoca-
tive questions, and don't cause the
reader to think about tangental issues.
That's proven by the rather easy pro-
cess of turning a 400-page Grisham
book into a two hour Hollywood flick,
and now into a weekly televison se-
ries.
That's the trend of American pop
culture, and for good or bad, it seems
the American reading public is gob-
bling up the books that read like a
television show. Self-help books like
"Men are From Mars, Women are From
Venus" are essentially the "Oprah
Winfrey Show" in hardcover. Glorified
romance novels like the shamefully
popular "Bridges of Madison County"
are simple combinations of nighttime
soaps, network Sunday Night Movies,
and Dionne Warwick's "Psychic
Friends" infomercials. There's a pat-
tern here.
Very simply, it means it's time to
make the Great Books appeal to Nielsen
families, just like Grisham does with
his novels. Apparently, some television
industry insiders have heeded the mes-
sage and are planning to incorporate
classic texts into the young fall season.
Some potential hits include the follow-
ing:
"Crime and Punishment." Follow-
ing the lead of the immensely popular
sexy-cop show genre, the FOX network
offers this steamy adaptation of Fyodor
Dostoyevsky's psychological master-
piece. With Mel Gibson starring as
Raskolinikov, this show promises to
give "NYPD Blue" a run for its money,
with frequent gratuitous bum shots
thrown in during sweeps week.
"Don Quixote de la Mancha."
"Beverly Hills 90210" refugee Luke
Perry plays Cervantes' foolish knight
and co-star Jason Priestley, his loyal
companion Sancho Panza, in a weekly
adventure series. Each week, the duo
searches the world on an idealistic quest
to find a role in which they won't have
to portray people half their age.
"Remains of the Day." This Kazuo
Ishiguro novel turned Merchant and
Ivory film turned NBC sitcom stars
Christopher Knight ("Mr. Belvedere")
and Charlotte Rae ("Facts of Life") in
the wacky adventures of two English
servants who find love after years of
emotional restraint.
"Dubliners." From the creators of
"Melrose Place," it's a sexy new drama
about the residents of a Dublin board-
ing house, loosely based on James
Joyce's masterful short story collection
of the same name. In the season pre-
miere, Gabriel Conroy (Grant Show)
discovers Michael Furey (Andrew
Shue) wasn't dead after all, only miss-
ing. Now Michael is back, and he's
after Mrs. Conroy (Courtney Thorne-
Smith).
"Return ofthe Native." Starring Will
Smith ("Fresh Prince of Bel-Air"), this
new series centers on a young man who
returns to the streets of Philadelphia
after spending several years in an up-
scale Los Angeles suburb. Bruce
Springsteen wrote the show's opening
theme.
"The Great Gatsby." In this
"Seinfeld" spin-off, lead actor Michael
Richards (Cosmo Kramer) tells the story
of his kind but mysterious neighbor,
Jerry Seinfeld, whose love for the past
makes him wish his television series
was still funny.
"Moby Dick." David Hasslehoff and
Pamela Anderson star in this drama
about two Califonia lifeguards who
leave their jobs to search the world for
an elusive white whale. As a crew they
bring along forty scantily clad women
with no prior sailing (or acting)
exprience.
It's refreshing to see the television
networks finally taking an interest in
educational programming, now isn't it?
John Grisham's "The Client" airs
Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on CBS.
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Susan Sarandon: "Ah ha! We have starred in the film version of "The Client!"
Tommy Lee Jones, "Hey, it ain't no 'Bridges of Madison County,' baby."
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