On February 15, 2009, a group of Beauty and the Beast fans gathered in a Yahoo! chat conference to participate in the talent show portion of Winterfest Online 2009.
Eleven people, armed with microphones, offered their voices to read prose, recite poetry, and sing acapella music for all who were listening.
What follows are the audio files recorded during this event, spanning several hours.
February 15th, 2009 by Ginger | No Comments »Song: “Patience” by George Michael
Episodes:
A Happy Life, Arabesque
Behind the Scenes:
I was randomly browsing for music in late 2008, when I came across this haunting and short piece by George Michael. Aside from the Vincent Wells Overture, this was the first time I had used instrumental music rather than a song with lyrics. It suggested a mood that would go very well with Beauty and the Beast, if I could just figure out what it was. I had this mental image of Vincent and Lisa, and Catherine and her father, all watching the same ballet, and decided to play with it. What resulted was a strange little video.
I added more links, posted old articles, and shared two unedited/unaltered clips from Beauty and the Beast, two exceptionally emotional segments that many fans count among their favorites.
YouTube has this new feature called Insight, that allows one to view data about which videos are most popular, and who’s watching. According to the information gathered through my youtube account:
Gender:
Neat, huh?
Lastly for now, if you have a presence on LJ, you can view updates to this site there.
November 5th, 2008 by Ginger | No Comments »By JOHN J. O’CONNOR
Published: September 25, 1987
(source)
DESCRIBED as a contemporary fable, the new weekly series ”Beauty and the Beast” opens – tonight at 10 on CBS – with the line ”Once upon a time, in the city of New York . . .” Loud groaning will no doubt be heard from legions of whimsy haters across the nation. But don’t change that dial. As far as premiere episodes are concerned, ”Beauty and the Beast” turns out to be the most fascinating show of the new season. Reverting to a classic ”transformation myth,” the story actually manages to touch on some unsettling contemporary realities. In prime-time entertainment, that is not just rare, it’s courageous.
Linda Hamilton plays the beauty, Catherine, a socialite lawyer who has access to the highest and most glamorous echelons of the city’s overachieving circles. Leaving a party, she is brutally attacked by strangers. Her face is badly slashed. Enter the beast, Vincent, portrayed by Ron Perlman. Finding the battered Catherine, he takes her to his subterranean home, a strange, hazy netherworld nestled in the more than 300 miles of tunnels that run beneath the city. Nursing Catherine back to health, Vincent falls in love. Catherine discovers that beneath his frightening appearance, Vincent may very well be the perfect man – courageous, compassionate, incredibly sensitive. ”Where am I?” she asks. ”Where no one can hurt you,” Vincent assures her.
Created, produced and written for Witt-Thomas Productions by Ron Koslow, the concept works splendidly. The production is ingenious, contrasting sharp, realistic shots of the city above with soft, otherworldly depictions of the ”forgotten place” below. And the details are worked out nicely. The deformed hero, who actually looks a bit like Bert Lahr’s Cowardly Lion from ”The Wizard of Oz,” is called Vincent because he was abandoned as an infant near St. Vincent’s Hospital. He was found by a man he calls Father (Roy Dotrice), a trained doctor who decided to become a recluse. Surrounded by an extensive library in his underground home, Father has given Vincent a classical education, firmly grounded in humanistic values. Below ground, Father and Vincent, along with thousands of the city’s other homeless, live simply and take care of one another. Remember: This is a fable. Little wonder that the slightly jaded and enormously bored Catherine is impressed. Who else but Vincent would suggest, as a form of therapy, reading her the last chapter of Dickens’s ”Great Expectations”?
In time, though, a somewhat reluctant Catherine is sent back to her own world of glitter and privilege. But instead of staying with her father’s powerful law firm, she decides to go to work for the district attorney, tracking down assorted criminals and thugs. When the story jumps to ”Eight Months Later,” Catherine is on the prosecution road and, for added insurance, taking grueling lessons in self-defense. Her first quest, of course, will be to find the hoodlums who attacked her for no apparent reason. At this point, admittedly, the hourlong ”Beauty and the Beast” begins to disintegrate into standard action adventure. No matter how well it’s done, the scenario is numbingly familiar.
But then, hovering in the shadows is Vincent, hopelessly smitten and fiercely protective. And, despite herself, Catherine is beginning to respond. And why not? ”I know what I am,” he tells her, ”your world is filled with frightened people and I remind them of what they’re most afraid of – their aloneness.” They become a team. Explains Vincent: ”I’m part of you, Catherine, just as you are part of me.” Now it is up to Mr. Koslow to make sure that they don’t become just another action variation along the lines of ”Remington Steele.” Ms. Hamilton, in addition to being beautiful, makes a smashingly irresistible heroine. And underneath his pounds of special makeup, Mr. Perlman has television’s most seductive voice of the season. The raw materials could not be more promising.
November 5th, 2008 by Ginger | 3 Comments »Review: Laurence Marcus & Stephen Hulse October 2000
(source)
One of the most unusual and charming fantasy romances ever to reach prime time US screens, Beauty and the Beast was a modern day gothic romance set against the often violent, always bustling backdrop of New York City.
Created by Ron Koslow and executive produced by the award winning team of Paul Junger Witt and Tony Thomas, the series premiered on the CBS network in September 1987 and ran for three seasons until August 1990. The basic premise for the series was simple, but effective: Catherine Chandler (a pre Terminator, Linda Hamilton, was a young assistant District Attorney from a privileged background who had been brutally attacked by criminals and left to die in Central Park. It was there that she was found by Vincent, (noted stage and film character actor, Ron Perlman, enjoying a rare leading role), a powerful man-beast with the soul of a poet but the facial features of a lion, who lived in a strange, hidden world of caverns and tunnels deep beneath Manhattan Island. Vincent took badly injured Catherine to this underground haven and with the help of “Father”, the leader of the unsuspected community (British actor Roy Dotrice), he nursed her back to health. Later, following her full recovery, Catherine returned to her life on the surface world, but not before forming a mystical bond with her rescuer, who she had fallen in love with, despite his beastly outer appearance and the vast differences in their worlds. (Ron Perlman’s elaborate, wholly convincing beast make-up was created by Academy Award winning effects genius Rick Baker).
From this basic scenario, the production team fashioned an almost hypnotically compelling blend of romance and crime drama which used Catherine’s position as a DA to place her in moments of physical danger which would bring the idealized romantic figure of Vincent to the surface world as a dark and dangerous guardian angel.
During its second season the series shifted its focus slightly as the central characters spent considerable time with the inhabitants of the Tunnel World, where Catherine had now finally been accepted as a protector and friend. More people from the outside world turned up for emotional support and healing in the Tunnel World’s welcomingly secure environment, while with the added input of award winning fantasy novelist George R.R. Martin, the show began to explore and expand on its internal mythology. Deep in mourning following her father’s death, Catherine decided to abandon the upper world and move full-time to the Tunnel World, but eventually realised that despite her love for Vincent, her destiny belonged with the surface world. The season-ending three-parter closed with an emotionally distraught Vincent, who was the unwitting victim of stealthy manipulation by an unsuspected villain, fleeing into the depths with Catherine following.
When the series returned for its abbreviated third season late in 1989, Linda Hamilton had announced her decision to leave the series. A decision that would have serious repercussions for the show’s continued survival. In an exciting resolution to the previous season’s cliff-hanger, Catherine rescued Vincent from his inner demons but was kidnapped by Gabriel, (Stephen McHattie), the ruthless head of a huge criminal empire she had been investigating, which was trying to corrupt the D.A.’s office. She was killed, but not before giving birth to Vincent’s son, who was held hostage by the evil Gabriel.
It was at this point that the producers introduced a new female interest for the man-beast hoping to recreate the powerful chemistry that had existed from the outset between Hamilton and Perlman. Catherine’s boss and close friend, Joe Maxwell, (Jay Acavone) hired Diana Bennett, (Jo Anderson), a private investigator, to track down Catherine’s killer. And, quite naturally, her investigation ultimately led her to the shadowy, now darkly obsessed and grieving Vincent. Although still astonishingly popular with its dedicated group of core fans (comprising mostly of women), the darker, more resolutely violent aspects of the rework concept, coupled with the fatal loss of the all-important central relationship between Catherine and Vincent ultimately led to the series’ cancellation.
At it’s peak, Beauty and the Beast was an imaginative, sensitively written and wonderfully played modern day urban romantic fairly tale which deftly combined elements from disparate genres into a sweepingly exciting and thoughtful whole.
November 4th, 2008 by Ginger | 2 Comments »Published: January 6, 1990
(source)
CBS will cancel ”Beauty and the Beast” after its broadcast on Jan. 24.
The series, seen on Wednesdays at 8 P.M., attracted a core of loyal fans but failed to draw a broad audience.
After starting this season, its third, as a two-hour movie on Dec. 12, when it got a 13.3 rating (each rating point represents 921,000 homes with television) and a 21 percent share of the audience, the series averaged a 9.9 rating and a 16 share, and ranked 73 among 99 shows broadcast on CBS this year, the network said.
This season’s ”Beauty and the Beast” concerned the effort by Vincent, the leonine hero (Ron Perlman), to find his child and defeat the enemy that killed the baby’s mother.
A spokeswoman for the show said the story’s main conflicts would be resolved.
November 4th, 2008 by Ginger | No Comments »Ron Perlman’s voice, narrating:
This is where the wealthy and the powerful rule. It is her world… a world apart from mine. Her name… is Catherine. From the moment I saw her, she captured my heart with her beauty, her warmth, and her courage. I knew then, as I know now, she would change my life… forever.
Linda Hamilton’s voice, narrating:
He comes from a secret place, far below the city streets, hiding his face from strangers, safe from hate and harm. He brought me there to save my life… and now, wherever I go, he is with me, in spirit. For we have a bond stronger than friendship or love. And although we cannot be together, we will never, ever be apart.November 2nd, 2008 by Ginger | No Comments »