Tonight is a time for both joy and sadness.
The series finale of the fabulous series "I'll Fly Away" (8 p.m., Ch. 7) will provoke both emotions.And while there's reason to celebrate not only this final show but the fact that all 39 episodes of the NBC series will be repeated on PBS, there's also reason to mourn the fact that high-quality drama like this didn't succeed on a commercial network.
For those of you who missed "I'll Fly Away" the first time around, this is the sort of show it's easy to fall in love with. Not only are the writing, directing and performances outstanding, but there's more here than just a story. There's always something to think about.
Set in the late '50s/early '60s South, it's the tale of a black woman, Lilly Harper, (Regina Taylor), who goes to work for a rather reluctant activist lawyer, Forrest Bedford (Sam Waterston). The stories play out against a backdrop of the civil rights movement - Lilly's calm, dignified, low-key battle for equality; Forrest's knowledge that things must change but his reluctance to lose the South he loves.
Not that this is a documentary. The stories include racially charged issues, but they also revolve around Forrest's three children - teenagers Nathan (Jeremy London) and Francie (Ashlee Levitch) and 6-year-old John Morgan (John Aaron Bennett) - as well as Lilly's father (Bill Cobbs) and young daughter.
Tonight's TV-movie finale, titled "Then and Now," opens in the now - 1993, to be exact. Lilly, now 63, is visited by her 13-year-old grandson. And she recounts the civil rights movement through an incident in her own life - the incident that forced her to leave the Bedford family behind.
The movie then flashes back to 1962, when the young nephew of Lilly's friend (Emmy-winner Mary Alice), visiting the South from Detroit, offends a white woman by greeting her with "Hey, baby." Soon, the boy is kidnapped and murdered by a pair of white men.
(The story is loosely based on the fate of Emmett Till, a Chicago teen who suffered the same fate while visiting Mississippi in 1954.)
The only witness to the abduction is Lilly's father, and if he comes forward he will put not only himself but also his entire family in danger.
There's also a subplot in which Nathan (played by Jeremy London's twin brother, Jason) finally opens his eyes to the bigotry of his childhood friend, Paul Slocum (Peter Simmons).
As good as it is, "Then and Now" is not "I'll Fly Away's" finest moment. It's considerably less subtle - more preachy - than the series ever was.
While that's certainly forgivable, first-time viewers shouldn't be turned off by that. Give those other 39 episodes a chance.
"Then and Now" is, in many ways, a postcard to the series' devoted fans - almost a love letter.
In a final sequence also set in 1993, Lilly returns to visit Bryland for the first time in three decades. After stopping by her old home, she visits the now-elderly Forrest, and learns what has become of his three children.
(If your eyes remain dry during this scene, you're stronger than I am.)
But it's easy to cry, for, barring those reruns, this really is the end for "I'll Fly Away." It's like losing a close, dear friend.
KUED will rebroadcast the two-hour finale of "I'll Fly Away" on Friday at 8 p.m. Beginning a week from Friday - Oct. 22 - Ch. 7 will begin airing repeats of the series' original 39 episodes.