THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, August 22, 1994 TAG: 9408200073
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: By Larry Bonko, Television Writer
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
AND YOU THOUGHT you had seen the last of ``Brooklyn Bridge,'' the sentimental sitcom that was too good for network television. You haven't.
The largely autobiographical series from writer-producer Gary David Goldberg is back on the tube starting tonight.
And this time, the show will not be moved around like a token on a Monopoly board.
You can count on it.
``Brooklyn Bridge'' is to be telecast on Bravo Monday through Friday at 10 p.m. as part of the network's continuing series ``TV Too Good for TV.''
It follows ``Twin Peaks'' and ``Max Headroom,'' which certainly qualify as television too good for the networks.
All 35 episodes of ``Brooklyn Bridge'' will be seen without interruption on Bravo and in the order that Goldberg intended them to be seen.
Not only did CBS move the show around a lot - it had four different time slots - but the network brass also decided when certain episodes should be shown. On Bravo, Goldberg will have it his way.
``It's a very nice thing for us,'' Goldberg said about finding a home on Bravo, a channel that caters to the creative community in America and treats the visual arts with respect. Goldberg, speaking from Hollywood where he is producing a film, said that reviving ``Brooklyn Bridge'' for cable is not an impossible dream.
``The series is not yet dead,'' he said.
The problem in starting ``Brooklyn Bridge'' again would be reuniting the cast. Marion Ross, who won an Emmy nomination for her wonderful work as grandmother Sophie Goldberg, has commitments elsewhere. The youngsters in the original series, including Danny Gerard, are young no more. Gerard was 14 when the series began.
Revive ``Brooklyn Bridge'' with a new cast?
Maybe.
There are no ``lost'' episodes, said Goldberg.
CBS showed all 35 he produced. But chances are that because the series was moved so often - it never played for more than three weeks in the same time period - you missed one or more of the shows. Settle in to rediscover ``Brooklyn Bridge'' on Bravo.
It's the story of growing up Jewish in Brooklyn when the Dodgers were still playing baseball in that borough. Gerard as Alan brought Gary David Goldberg's youth to life. Alan lived under the same roof in Brooklyn with his parents and grandparents, and so did the series' creator.
``My dad worked in a post office. So did Alan's,'' said Goldberg.
Alan lost his heart to an Irish-Catholic girl. Goldberg married one.
His series is about penny candy, rooting for the Dodgers and sharing a milkshake (two straws) with your girlfriend. It is a warm, gentle, finely crafted show that came along when Congress was howling about too much violence on television. ``Brooklyn Bridge'' should have been embraced by viewers weary of violent images on TV in 1991, but it wasn't.
Perhaps it was too gentle, too fragile for the times, said Goldberg.
Dare I say it was too Jewish for middle America?
Not so, said Goldberg.
``I'd get mail from farmers in Iowa and people in the South and New England who said the family on `Brooklyn Bridge' was their family. They would say that Sophie was their grandmother. The people in the heartland identified with the series. Out audience consisted of 7 to 8 million people who were alienated from traditional network television and wanted something better.''
Trouble is, not enough of us really want something better.
If we did, ``Brooklyn Bridge,'' ``I'll Fly Away,'' ``Homefront'' and ``The Class of '96'' would still be in production. Instead, we have ``Married. . . With Children.'' Thank heaven for cable.
``Brooklyn Bridge'' is back, and that's something to rejoice about. by CNB