This is one of those TV movies I hesitate to admit I tuned into, as it seems a bit voyeuristic, peeping at the painful experiences of other people for entertainment. However, this tawdry fact based tale proved quite engrossing, I must say.
It chronicles the true story of a competent & really quite likable physician, Dr. Norman Grayson, who juggles, yes, three wives. Of course trying to divide his time between the three of them, keep the personal & social whirl sorted out, deal with the financial mix ups, and prevent each from learning about the other two...all prove something of a challenge for the good doctor. Two of the wives live in the same community, and Grayson fakes hospital emergencies so he can spend time with both of them in one night! He copes when there's only two wives (only?), but marrying the third complicates and stresses his life just a little too much.
Beau Bridges portrays Norman Grayson, and he's such an affable actor that it proved difficult not to be a tad sympathetic toward this selfish polygamist who deceives in the worst possible way everyone he claims to love. (I'm sure had I been one of the wives, my sympathy would have been quite limited!) Kathleen Lloyd plays his first wife, Lillian, the mother of his three adult children. Joanna Kerns is businesswoman wife, Katy, the daughter of Grayson's physician colleague & friend. Pam Dawber (one of my favourites from Mork and Mindy days) is the newcomer wife, Robyn, the first one sharp enough to suspect that something's not quite right here.
Of course what's amazing is that this is all a true story. As one reviewer cleverly worded it, truth is definitely stranger than fiction!
