Movies - The Temptations

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	Movies - The Temptations

The Temptations was a four-hour television miniseries broadcast in two-hour halves on NBC, based upon the history of one of Motown's longest-lived acts, The Temptations. Executive produced by former Motown executive Suzanne De Passe, produced by Otis Williams and Temptations manager Shelley Berger, and based upon Williams' Temptations autobiography, the miniseries was originally broadcast on November 1 and November 2, 1998. Allan Arkush was the miniseries' director.

Overview

The miniseries stars Charles Malik Whitfield as Otis Williams, Leon as David Ruffin, D.B. Woodside as Melvin Franklin, Terron Brooks as Eddie Kendricks, and Christian Payton as Paul Williams. Also featured were Charles Ley as Dennis Edwards, J. August Richards as Richard Street, Obba Babatunde as Berry Gordy, Vanessa Bell Calloway as Johnnie Mae Matthews and Mel Jackson as Norman Whitfield.

As the miniseries was based upon Otis Williams' book, it comes from his perspective: the focus of the story tended to be on Williams and his best friend Melvin Franklin, with David Ruffin and Eddie Kendricks seen as antagonists for much of the second half. Nevertheless, the miniseries gave a general overview of both the history of the group and that of Motown, and, thanks to De Passe's connection, the film was able to use authentic props and locations--including the actual Hitsville U.S.A. studio/headquarters--in the film.

A number of liberties were taken with factual events for dramatization purposes. For example, in the film, Melvin Franklin apparently dies in the kitchen of his mother's house. In reality, he died in the hospital after a long bout with diabetes and other diseases. As Franklin's death was still fresh in the minds of the miniseries' creators (he died in 1995), it was decided that the miniseries would not present Franklin's death as it actually occured.

The miniseries was a ratings success, and Arkush won a 1998 Emmy award for Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries or a Movie. The miniseries has been subsequently rerun on the VH-1 cable television network and released to VHS and DVD.

Otis Williams' ex-wife Josephine, Melvin Franklin's mother Rose Franklin, and, on David Ruffin's behalf, the Ruffin family, filed suit against Williams, Motown, De Passe Entertainment, Hallmark Entertainment, and NBC for use of their likenesses in the film, defamation of character, and emotional distress because of the inaccurate depictions of events. They also alleged that the miniseries mis-portrayed them and/or their relatives and twisted facts. The judges ruled in favor of the defendants, and the ruling was upheld when the plaintiffs appealed in 2001.

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Movies - The Temptations

Overview

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