The Beauty And The Beast Series
Michael
Beauty and the Beast is an American fantasy drama television series that first aired on CBS from September 25, 1987 to August 4, 1990. Creator Ron Koslow's updated version of the fairy tale has a double focus: the relationship between Vincent (Ron Perlman), a mythic, noble man-beast, and Catherine (Linda Hamilton), a savvy Assistant District Attorney in New York City, and a secret utopian community of social outcasts living in a subterranean sanctuary. Through an empathic bond, Vincent senses Catherine's emotions, and becomes her guardian.[3]
The series follows the developing relationship between the characters and the division between New York and the hidden world beneath it. In a twist from the original tale, however, this "beast" does not transform into society's idea of beauty after gaining the love of Catherine. Rather, Vincent's inner beauty is allowed to remain the focus of who he is, and it is Catherine's life that transforms from her relationship to Vincent.
the beauty and the beast series
As the title indicates, the premise of the series is inspired by the fairy tale "Beauty and the Beast"; in particular, there is some connection to the Jean Cocteau's 1946 French film, La Belle et la Bte.
George R. R. Martin, who would later write the A Song of Ice and Fire book series which were later adapted into the acclaimed television series Game of Thrones, was a writer and producer on the show.
Catherine Chandler (played by Linda Hamilton) is abducted, beaten, slashed and left to die in Central Park because she was inadvertently mistaken for somebody else. She is rescued and cared for by Vincent (played by Ron Perlman) who has taken her to Father (played by Roy Dotrice), head of a hidden community of people dwelling in tunnels below the city of New York. Ten days later, Catherine returns to the surface with the promise of keeping Vincent's secret and the challenge to go on after her terrible attack. After completing her recovery, her life begins a serious transition: she takes self-defense lessons, leaves her comfortable job at her father's law firm and joins the Manhattan District Attorney's office as an assistant district attorney. Her first action involves her asking Carol Stabler about those men who attacked her, where she states that they were part of an illegal escort service run by Martin Belmont. When Catherine is attacked by Martin Belmont's men, she is saved by Vincent, who mauls the men.
During the course of the first season, the production team fashioned a blend of romance and crime drama, which used both Catherine's position as an ADA and her will to help Vincent and his world to place her in moments of physical danger that would bring the idealized romantic figure of Vincent to the surface world as her guardian angel.
During its second season, the series shifted its focus slightly to add more character development, as the central characters spent considerable time exploring their relationships with the inhabitants of the Tunnel World, where Catherine had finally been accepted as a friend and "Helper" (someone who assists the Tunnel community with what they need to survive and by keeping their secret). More people from the World Above turned up for emotional support and healing in the secure environment of the World Below.
Near the end of the season, however, in an effort to boost faltering ratings, the action orientation returned as a result of the misleadings of the recurrent villain Paracelsus (played by Tony Jay). In a cliffhanger final episode, Catherine is seen walking down a tunnel into a chamber, where Vincent is suffering from a violent madness.
When the series returned for its abbreviated third season late in 1989, Linda Hamilton had announced her decision to leave the series as she was pregnant at the time. It was a decision that, along with the network's desire to attract more male viewers, would have serious repercussions for the show's continued survival. In the resolution to the previous season's cliffhanger, Catherine rescued Vincent from his inner demons but was kidnapped by a man named Gabriel (played by Stephen McHattie),[6] 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. Catherine's boss and close friend Joe Maxwell (Jay Acovone) hired Diana Bennett (Jo Anderson), a criminal profiler with the police department, to track down Catherine's killer. Quite naturally, her investigation ultimately led her to the now darkly obsessed and grieving Vincent.
Although still popular with its dedicated fans, the darker, more resolutely violent aspects of the reworked concept, coupled with the fatal loss of the all-important central relationship between Catherine and Vincent, led to further declining ratings and, ultimately, cancellation.[7]
CBS DVD (distributed by Paramount) has released all three seasons of Beauty and the Beast on DVD in region 1. They also released Beauty and the Beast: The Complete Series, a 16-disc box set featuring all 56 episodes of the series.
On 11 November 2014, CBS Home Entertainment released a repackaged version of the complete series set which featured a lower price but did not include the bonus disc that was part of the original complete series set.[15]
An active fan community (self-titled "Helpers" or "the tunnel community") arose during the show's run, helping organize a petition drive to assure that there would be a third season.[21] They have published fanzines, fan fiction and collections of filk music[22] inspired by the show, and as of 2013 continue to hold various fan conventions around the world.
CBS Television Studios, which owns the rights to the series, developed a reboot for the series. It was executive produced by Ron Koslow, the creator of the original, along with the earlier show's producers, Paul Junger Witt and Tony Thomas. The reboot has been described as a "modern-day romantic love story with a procedural twist". In Canada, it aired on Showcase and the United States, aired on The CW.[23]
The television series starred New Zealand actor Jay Ryan as Vincent (the "beast") and Canadian actress Kristin Kreuk as Catherine (the "beauty").[24] The pilot was filmed in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in March 2012.
Beauty and the Beast is an American television series loosely based on the 1980s CBS series of the same name created by Sherri Cooper-Landsman and Jennifer Levin that premiered October 11, 2012 ran on The CW from October 11, 2012 to September 15, 2016, for a total of four seasons and 70 original episodes.
Beauty & the Beast has received negative reviews from critics. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 20% approval rating with an average rating of 3.2/10 based on 30 reviews for the first season. The website's consensus reads, " A thoroughly middling romantic fantasy series, Beauty and the Beast suffers from a silly premise, mediocre writing, and bland characterization." The series was given a 33 out of 100 score on Metacritic, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews from 19 critics. Kyle Anderson of Entertainment Weekly gave the pilot of Beauty & the Beast a C- grade, stating that it lacks the same charm that the 1980s drama had, and that 'The Beast' is more of a Hulk rather than an actual beast. David Wiegand of the San Francisco Chronicle called the series an "overheated, badly written, wretchedly acted and unconvincing drama, which makes mincemeat out of the traditional beauty and the beast fairy tale." Mary McNamara of Los Angeles Times also made similar observations but praised Nina Lisandrello who still remains as the only cast member in the show to ever receive a positive review. About Lisandrello, McNamara wrote "the only point of light is provided by Catherine's partner, Tess, who, as played with great common-sense appeal by Nina Lisandrello, clearly deserves to be on a better show." More mixed but slightly favorable reviews were provided by David Hinckley of the New York Daily News, who said the series was "such a natural it's downright devilish" and Neil Genzlinger of The New York Times, who stated the "girl-power themes will probably play well to the network's core audience."
The CW Television Network officially began developing the series in September 2011. The project was described as "a modern-day romantic love story with a procedural twist." The show is the first project that new president Mark Pedowitz developed when he joined the network.
Despite being a competent detective, Cat Chandler seems to need saving quite often by Vincent, which undercuts the show's "women are powerful" message. Vincent has been watching over Cat for years, which sends a discomfiting message that stalking is OK if it's true love.The plot hinges on a secret military plot, sending many negative messages about the armed forces.
Cat and her police colleagues are intrepid and hard-working, and the show boasts a racially diverse cast and women in leadership positions. But Cat is willing to use her position for revenge and overlook crimes, as when she calls security over to bust a male friend for having pot a few minutes after professing that she didn't care whether he did it in her presence.
Lots of gunplay, and the main character's mother is shot in the face a few minutes into the pilot. Guns are frequently brandished and fired, and deaths occur on screen, but there's almost no blood and little gore. The camera sometimes lingers on the sight of dead bodies, particularly if they're those of attractive young women. Cat is experienced at hand-to-hand combat and engages in many carefully choreographed battles with bad guys. Expect graphic descriptions of death and injuries, couched in technical terms.
Characters drink on screen, and scenes take place in bars. References to drugs, often connected with criminal investigations, though at one point Cat tells a friend that she doesn't mind if he smokes pot in front of her.
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