Celebrity

This miniseries had me by the throat from beginning to end. I see it is described as soapy and it may very well have been. I tend to like stories with a soapy Twists but the characters were compelling especially the one who became a preacher. I remember feeling as if I was learning something about human nature about the reality of who people really are. Also about how we never truly really k ow anyone else. I cant remember a lot of specifics at this point but I wish they would bring it back at some point. Since it's a three part series w males at its center Amazon might be the best platform? It's really more like Lifetime but like I said it's male centered. I'd also say Tubi since it does have full series it could easily have a three part movie. Anyway I'd love to see this again and see how my grown up self feels about it.

Three guys were involved in a rape when they were young. The crime is covered up, and the guys grow up and go their separate ways. One becomes a reporter who gets involved in a fight against the Ku Klux Klan. The second turns out to be a closeted gay man who hides his secret from his wife. The third hides his dirty deeds behind the facade of being a popular pastor. A court case that could destroy all three men brings them back together again. This mini-series was based on a popular trash novel that was out at the time.

Growing up in the age of Judith Krantz, Sidney Sheldon and Jackie Collins, I was in love with the blockbuster novel and the inevitable TV miniseries. Thomas Thompson's Celebrity was one of the most enthralling, as both novel and TV spectacular. It was a story that stayed with me forever.

Of course, one could say it is pure schlock, but this is A-Grade schlock, a big sprawling tale of three Texan boys caught in the trap of fame, told with unapologetic bravado.

TJ Luther (Beck) becomes a charismatic preacher at the bizarre City of Miracles. Mackenzie Crawford (Bottoms) becomes a beefcake movie star after a football injury. Kleber Cantrell (Masters) becomes, like Thomas Thompson himself, an award-winning journalist. The bonds of friendship are tested by fame, betrayal and violence.

Most pulpy and fabulous miniseries of the 80s focused on female protagonists - Sidney Sheldon was famous for his strong heroines, Jackie Collins has her set of Hollywood wives, actresses and mistresses, and Judith Krantz had her impossibly romantic female leads - so it was refreshing to see the multi-character blockbuster format populated with three male characters.

Writers would do well to delve into the elements that made it so successful: a central secret, a fascinating historical backdrop, a sensational murder trial and, of course, lashings of sex and scandal. For me, Thomas Thompson was a blue-collar Truman Capote, who told his stories with vigour and without pretension. It's still a damn good story.

I saw this miniseries years ago but it was only towards the end of this review that I realised I had seen it before.

3 young men grow up as friends and say goodbye to each other when they leave school, one becomes a famous actor, the other a renowned journalist, the third goes down the wrong path and eventually becomes an evangelist with a dark edge, a tragedy from their youth hangs like the sword of Damocles over their lives with fatal consequences 25 years later.

The story takes a very long time to tell the life of the 3 men, in this case more than 4 hours but I didn't really mind because I like it when a lot of time is taken to develop characters, so you really empathise with what the boys and later men experience.

as i recall, it was gripping enough to watch the two nights of it's broadcast. i remember the plot and story-line, but not much else. i'd like to get my hands on a copy on VHS, i doubt it's on DVD.if there's anyone out here who knows where it's available, i'd like to hear from you. it was the big thing in the mid-eighties, that being TV mini-series, such as The Sophisticated Gents, Cheifs, Backstairs at the White House, among a few. from the above comments, some didn't like it very much, but i found it compelling, i seem to think it began at the end, and was a backstair. i do want to see it again, so if any can help out, give me a yell.