Sift through the drabness of “Common Ground” and you can find some good, rich nuggets.
By focusing on gay residents of an American small town over the last half of the 20th Century, this linked trilogy of stories (7 p.m. Saturday, Showtime) wants to present the sweep of gay life in this country.
The stories, by acclaimed gay playwrights Paula Vogel (“How I Learned to Drive”), Terrence McNally (“Love! Valour! Compassion!”) and Harvey Fierstein (“Torch Song Trilogy”), look at invisibility (1950s), coming out (1970s) and the approach toward the mainstream (present).
The topics are right, the treatments sensitive, and the cast of the depth and quality that these kinds of earnest, heart-in-the-right-place projects draw. There are exhortations to the gay community to stand together and to the rest of America to understand and accept, ideas that anybody with half a heart can support.
It will probably even win an award or two, or at least some nominations, in the coming year. Probably half of all awards are given for topic rather than treatment, and “Common Ground” covers a topic that is noble and near to the hearts of entertainment-industry voters.
So why is it all so bland?
It may be the nature of the format itself, which, with just over half an hour each, doesn’t really allow the stories to develop. The 1950s young woman (Brittany Murphy) drummed out of the Navy on suspicion of lesbianism in Vogel’s “A Friend of Dorothy” has just started to engage us when, suddenly, her story is over, the character left hanging on the brink of change. Similarly interrupted is the tale of the 1970s high school senior (Jonathan Taylor Thomas, “Home Improvement”) struggling with his sexuality as a popular teacher (Steven Weber) does the same.
It may be that the playwrights are working on autopilot here. The stories contain more familiar moments than they do twists or surprises, even down to the attempt at shock in McNally’s “Mr. Roberts,” when the taunting of the student turns physically ugly. It’s brutal and awful, yes, a dramatization of the toll coming out (and, in the teacher’s case, not coming out) can take, but it is not particularly enlightening.
And Fierstein populates his gay wedding in “Andy & Amos” with a number of stock characters, most notably the flamboyant wedding planner he plays, and a scientifically impossible moment involving an instant pregnancy. His piece works best of the three, however, and it is at its most stirring when it is most like a play. At its heart is a vital and poignant conversation between Ed Asner, as the gruff father who helped his military-veteran buddies plan a public protest of his son’s wedding, and James Le Gros, as the son who’s having cold feet as he realizes how normal he’s about to become.
The blandness of “Common Ground” is certainly in the tenuous linking device, a character played by Eric Stoltz (and a child actor) who puts up and takes down the flag on the town square and has little of interest to say about the events he witnesses.
The most fun here, really, is in trying to recognize the stars, who also include Beau Bridges, Margot Kidder, Dan Lauria, Jason Priestley, Mimi Rogers and Helen Shaver.
But overall, even if it doesn’t much recommend the movie, the fact that this tends toward dullness is a sign of progress. It suggests that homosexuality, in and of itself, has lost some of its impact as a narrative device, which in turn suggests that the idea of a non-majority sexual orientation is, as this hopeful work hints, slowly approaching normalcy.
And now . . . the medical news: Two of television’s great talents made health-related news while I was on vacation last week. David Letterman underwent heart-bypass surgery Jan. 14, while Michael J. Fox, who has Parkinson’s disease, announced Jan. 18 he would be leaving “Spin City” — and the grind of starring in and helping to run a sitcom — to win back some more time with his family.
It’s unfortunate timing for Letterman, whose CBS show has been gaining ground on NBC’s “Tonight Show” this season and had actually just won the week with the help of Hillary Clinton’s appearance. CBS says Letterman, a very fit 52-year-old who reportedly came through the surgery strong, will be out six to eight weeks, though “Late Show” staffers have suggested his return may come sooner than that, like during February sweeps.
It has already been suggested elsewhere, including in a smaller-paged Chicago paper, but let me second the idea that Letterman ought to revive the concept of the guest host, instead of just going with reruns during his absence. It was a great “Tonight Show” tradition during the Carson era, showcasing people like Letterman, Garry Shandling and, yes, Joan Rivers, and it could be a great one again. But for it to happen, people like Letterman and Leno need to OK it and decide that they are secure enough to risk letting someone else occupy the chair.
As for Fox, when he says he wants to spend more time with his family, believe it. He won’t pop up as, say, director of basketball operations for an NBA team in a city far from where he lives. “Spin City” has lost some edge over the last year or so, turning from smart into too often sex-obsessed and borderline tacky. But the show, which really shouldn’t try to continue without Fox, will still be missed, though not nearly as much as its star’s perfect timing and genuine grace.
