Beauty and the Beast

I found this show by accident one Friday night and became hooked immediately. Here was an intelligent, well-acted program for adults. It was not sexually explicit, nor gratuitously violent. It had something most TV shows do not have: Romance.

Linda Hamilton and Ron Perlman were absolutely perfect together as the beautiful lawyer who lives above and Ron Perlman as the "hideous" beast whose curse is that he is ugly on the outside and who never gets a chance to reveal his inner beauty until he saves Catherine. Knowing how tormented he was because of his deformities was heart-breaking and yet he blossomed as he and Catherine found real love.

Normally, I would be pleased when an actress leaves a show to spend time with her son, as Miss Hamilton did. I'm all for women staying home to be with their children over spending time at a carer; at risk of being hopelessly old-fashioned, I believe women with children should stay home to care for them. However, in this case, it was one of her worst decisions because her marriage to the father of this child fizzled. She later had a child and then married James Cameron of "Titanic" fame, only to lose him to a star of that overblown ocean-going vehicle. She did have success with the Terminator movies but those were nothing but Schwarzenegger fests. Meanwhile B&B also suffered because they just couldn't find a woman to replace Catherine. Diana just didn't have it.

The fact that the show lasted 3 seasons (2 with Miss Hamilton) is a testament to its quality. Of course, we can't have quality on TV - there's not enough T&A, violence, or out and out stupidity (think Jessica Simpson here). But for the 3 years this show was on, it was a real Friday night Feast. And I do thank Mr. Perlman and Miss Hamilton for the years they gave us and I thank Mr. Perlman for the CD of music and poetry from the show. It's still heart-wrenchingly beautiful to listen to Vincent as he narrates works by Matthew Arnold, e.e. cummings and, of course, the King of all poetry, plays and prose, Mr. William Shakespeare.

It would be a miracle if CBS were to air a "reunion" movie but I think there will be a tropical heat wave in the South Pole before that happens. Too bad - it sure beats the stupidity of such shows as The Newlyweds, starring the aforementioned Jessica Simpson, or Reality TV, American Idol and the other slime that passes for decent television. Meanwhile, I'll be content with VHS copies of B&B or I'll wait patiently until the DVDs come out.

Corporate lawyer Catherine Chandler (Linda Hamilton) works for her father's big law firm. She's mistakenly kidnapped and brutally slashed in the face. She's dumped in the park left for dead. Vincent (Ron Perlman) rescues her and treats her in the underground world. His 'father' Jacob Wells (Roy Dotrice) objects. She returns to the above world and joins the NYDA office. She becomes a trusted helper to the residents of the underground world and feels connected to Vincent. Joe Maxwell (Jay Acovone) is a deputy D.A.

It's a new take on the old classic. Hamilton is a compelling heroine. She has enough femininity to be romantic but also enough power to fight. The show is a bit restricted in its structure. The central relationship has one mode and cannot be changed easily. I like in particular the Gothic nature of the show. It is melodramatic at times and the romanticism gets heavy. The balance between romanticism and action is not always easy. By the second season, the balance is off. Hamilton leaves after two seasons and the show loses its raison d'être.

Can't tell you exactly why this series caught the imaginations of so many; it probably differs for each person. But this was a winner of a show in a style I've not seen since. It was fantasy, true enough, but it addressed many contemporary issues with a skill seldom seen in TV. The love story was believable, the acting was outstanding, and the minor characters were generally engaging. This was a show for romantics, and for those who believe in the power of love--not just between lovers, but between family and friends, and those whose love spills over into actions. Good fought evil in the grimy real world as well as in fantastic battles against shadowy adversaries. And for those of us who like to pretend that the unknown really is just around the corner--this was our show. Requiescat in pace.

The brilliance of this series was its romance and its excellent early stories. We could entirely believe that this could happen in New York -- except that any New Yorker would tell you that there are people far stranger than Vincent walking the streets. We were never told how he came to be as he is, but it almost didn't matter. I don't think it was any accident that he had such a feline appearance.

This series was so badly misunderstood and mishandled by its parent network that I am not surprised it lasted only two seasons. Season 3 wasn't even the same program in my book. CBS seemed terribly upset with the fact that its audience was almost entirely female. Was that why the body count of season 3 was higher than in a Bruce Willis movie?

The worst mistake CBS ever made was to let Linda Hamilton leave after two seasons. Had the network been intelligent enough, they could have talked her into a third season, ending it with the fairytale ending -- she kisses Vincent for real (something CBS was VERY afraid of, but the fans would have loved) and have him turn into a human prince. That would have given it the magical ending it deserved.

Beauty and the Beast was the best show that I have ever watched. It took me away for one hour a week, to a fantasy place, and I never wanted to return. I fell in love with Catherine and Vincent the first time that I saw them, I always wished that I could be Catherine, even just for one second to hear that beautiful voice and to touch that beautiful face. I have every episode taped, and I watch it at least once a day,Catherine and Vincent are like an addiction to me, the more I see of them, the more i have to have them, I even have my four year old grandaughter hooked on B&B, you can,t say anything bad about Vincent and Catherine. To me, Beauty and the Beast will always be in my heart. I really hurt when they took it off the air. I really would like to see them do a re-make of the series, with the same characters. This is my true feelings about the series, Beauty and the Beast