On View : 2035: A TV Oddity

Years before he created the cult romantic series “Beauty and the Beast,” writer-producer Ron Kos low had another creative idea.

That idea has blossomed into a seven-part tryout series premiering Wednesday on ABC, “My Life and Times.” It is a rarity on network TV--a half-hour drama.

Set in the year 2035, the program revolves around Ben Miller (played by Tom Irwin), an octogenarian living in a retirement home who recalls the pivotal moments in his life and times.

“My Life and Times” is the first series to be produced under the supervision of former ABC Entertainment President Brandon Stoddard. The first two episodes of the series were directed by feature film director Michael Apted (“Coal Miner’s Daughter,” “Gorillas in the Mist”).

“The idea for the series didn’t become fully formed until I finished ‘Beauty and the Beast’ (in 1990) and came (from CBS) to ABC and really committed myself to making it my next show,” Koslow said. “The idea of a new vantage point from which to look at our life and times was something that appealed to me. It seemed to hold a lot of possibilities.”

“I think it’s a very reassuring show,” Stoddard said. “It’s about a man who made it and survived and is living. The fact he is full of so much life and vigor says that everything is going to be OK (for everyone). You also get a peek into the future.”

Said Koslow: “I wanted to try and find a way to have lots of different writers with different sensibilities come to the show and make it their own. This is a show that anything interesting that ever happened to anyone (can become) a possible story. So it is a very story-driven show.”

“It’s different, fresh and risky,” Stoddard said. “I think it’s something that’s a little different for series TV. Unlike most series, which tend to be kind of a Xerox of the pilot, each episode is quite different. In a sense, each is a little movie.”

For example, the episodes include a comedy set around Ben’s wedding, a thriller set in New York during his days as a crime reporter and an episode about an economic collapse in 1998.

Koslow and Apted had worked together seven years ago on the feature film “First Born,” which Koslow wrote, and the two have since been looking for a project to do. Apted was directing the current Gene Hackman movie “Class Action” when he received the scripts for the first two episodes.

“I read this and said, ‘Oh, boy, this is something,’ ” Apted said. “I always kind of trumpeted the belief that it would be better if movie people worked in TV. It would make their work better and make TV better. Here was a chance to put my money where my mouth really was.”

Apted, who directed television for years in England before turning to movies, discovered American television is a producer’s medium. “Ron had an overall responsibility and overall concept. He had the whole series in his head. I mean he never tread on my toes. He is much more tactful for that, but the big picture is his. Whereas in a movie, it has to be yours. (With TV) you’re part of a rather grand plan, so that is slightly a bit unnerving.”

Koslow said it was not difficult to sell ABC on a 30-minute dramatic series, a concept that hasn’t been popular since television’s Golden Days.

“I wanted to experiment with the half hour,” he said. “After working in the hour form for three seasons, you realize that in many hour shows, even good hour shows, there’s only a half-hour of great stuff. The rest is moving people in and out of cars. I wanted to try and find a way to cut to that good stuff, the meaty half hour.”

He was backed up by Stoddard, who made his mark overseeing such landmark ABC programs as “Roots,” “The Winds of War” and “The Thorn Birds,” three of the most popular miniseries in TV history, and the television movies “The Day After” and “Something About Amelia.”

“It’s an interesting form,” Stoddard said. “When we first talked about this show, conceptually, we both thought the half-hour would be a better form. Ron was nervous. He had never written a half-hour before. I am excited about it. There is no waste in time. Every line has to count.”

Koslow said he moved from feature films to television because the small screen allows him to tackle subjects that features would not. “TV is very much an intimate close-up medium, and much of the power of TV comes in the interaction between two people and nothing more than that.

“In feature films, you have a page-and-a-half of dialogue and people start getting nervous, but in TV you can do a three-page dialogue scene without any trouble at all,” Koslow said. “I think that people who are interested in exploring character and relationships find that television is much more open in that respect.”

Stoddard is pleased the series is airing now rather than in the fall. “I think it’s a time when ABC has been very successful with putting on different kinds of shows,” he said. “ ‘The Wonder Years’ and ‘Twin Peaks’ came on during the second season. You can bring on something special like ‘My Life and Times’ and get some attention paid to the show.”

“It’s frightening to think that something as arbitrary as a time slot is your destiny,” Koslow said. “But TV has been such a great creative experience for me. The process has been so rewarding. In many ways, TV is about the work and the work gets done. I am very grateful.”

“My Life and Times” premieres Wednesday at 9:30 p.m. on ABC.