I'll Fly Away

This show was probably one of the best if not the best TV shows ever to be on television. It was not on the big commercial stations because they were probably too chicken to air it. But I will be always in love with the show and its characters. (Have never really cared for Sam Waterson since) but I have followed Regina Taylor constantly. What a very great talent she is in so many ways. Her soul just pours from her eyes and mouth no matter what role she plays. There may have been hypocrisy in "I'll Fly Away" as some viewers have commented, but I cannot believe that Regina Taylor lent herself to anything that wasn't great!

This was a sensitive, complex series about a family struggling with the complexities of life in a small Georgia town during the Civil Rights Movement. It was ably acted by the entire cast, beautifully written. Never cloying, always intelligent. Happily, after being shown on regular network television, it was repeated on PBS about a year later. A memorable, glowing work. The finale -- "Then and Now" was wonderful -- but you really should see the entire series to appreciate it fully.

I used to compare it to To Kill A Mockingbird, but realize now that was inappropriate, except in that it was set in the same kind of small town -- many years later -- as Harper Lee's masterpiece. And Forrest Bedford was no Atticus Finch. But nevertheless, I'll Fly Away did have that kind of timeless quality.

I absolutely loved I'll Fly Away but sometimes find myself thinking Im the only person who ever watched it. All my friends don't know or remember it. I think the relationships between blacks and whites were portrayed in a sensitive yet realistic way. Regina Taylor was brilliant!! I had forgotten her name unfortunately, so I opened up the I'll Fly Away page for information. I was surprised that her name did not even appear on the 1st page of the cast list! I don't understand why Regina Taylor's name is not first on the list. After all the film was mostly from her perspective and about her experiences! It looks to me she has been relegated to the bottom of the list for some weird reason, its not like the list is even in alphabetical order!

Respectfully, I disagree with the one comment posted so far.

My wife and I discovered this series when it was on PBS. As stated, we are amazed that something this good was originally on commercial TV. Is it totally unrealistic that a maid would ultimately be that outspoken, and that a Southern white lawyer could slowly have his eyes opened? Maybe. But I think the key is that everything developed slowly, over time. There were no unrealistically sudden conversions.

Among the other things that impressed us: There were no easy answers; every episode, it seems, almost painfully explored issues with complexity. If you want easy answers, this is not the series for you.

"To Kill a Mockingbird" was certainly a classic (although, as my 85 year-old father has observed, Gregory Peck played the same essential character in virtually every movie.) And it may be true that its characterization was true of the vast majority of even well-meaning southern whites. But I accept the possibility that, even in that time, at least one person of color "pushed the envelope". And that at least one Southern white of good heart found himself or herself slowly transformed.

If you can accept this, admire this series for its excellent performances and refusal to take the easy way out in any episode.

I long for this show to come out on DVD. It is still as I recall one of the very best shows on TV. What is the problem??? There is certainly a wide audience who want to own and see it again. It is timely because it is of an important time period in the US and now with the Martin Luther King Memorial being dedicated in DC is a perfect time to help this generation learn about what life was like for a segment of our population.

The cast, the actors, the dialog were all spot on encompassing family, work, community and country reactions to the questions raised by the Civil Rights Act.

If you don't believe me, just catch the numbers reading and seeing the movie The Help. I can't wait to own that on DVD as well as SOMEDAY "I'll Fly Away".