The story behind "David's Mother," a startlingly good CBS made-for-TV movie premiering this weekend that will undoubtedly be an Emmy contender, began with a call to playwright Bob Randall in his New York apartment.
It ended with Randall writing a play about a divorced mother who obsessively devotes her life to taking care of her son, David, who is autistic. David spends his day staring at the television, watching videos, not comprehending, but screaming and thrashing when his favorite videos end.Randall, an award-winning writer for the situation comedy "Kate & Allie" for five years, says that "David's Mother" is somewhat autobiographical. He was quite ill as a child, and his mother had to care for him.
The film adaptation, which will air at 8 p.m. Sunday (Ch. 5), stars Kirstie Alley ("Cheers") in her best performance to date, as Sally Goodson, a working mother whose devotion to David is such that she has alienated her friends and family, and possibly threatened whatever ability David has to develop.
Several years ago, Randall was working on "Kate & Allie" when a friend called to ask to borrow his New York apartment for the weekend while he was out of town.
He agreed, but was surprised she brought her son, David, with her.
"I was upset because I collect antiques. So I had to, in front of her, put certain things away because he would be very likely to break them.
"It was very embarrassing to have to do this in front of her ... embarrassing for both of us. So I was driving to my house, and I was getting angrier, thinking all she had to do was ASK me. I would have agreed, but I could have put everything away without her standing there. And it wouldn't have embarrassed us.
"My house is two hours out of the city, so for the first hour I was just angry with her. The second hour, I said, `Well, I can't be mad at a friend.' So I proceeded to do what I always do, which is try to see it through her eyes.
"So for the second hour, I sort of imagined her life with this kid by herself. By the time I got to the house, I was having tremendous feelings about this.
"I was remembering my own childhood. When I was a kid, I was closeted with my mother for years because I had polio and diphtheria. So I knew that I had to write this: the martyr mother, which my mother was, and my friend is. This is really a movie about me and my mother."
It sounds cold and unfeeling to call Sally, Alley's character, a "martyr mother," but it's appropriate. Sally's husband (Chris Sarandon) has left, because Sally demanded that their life revolve around caring for David. Older daughter Susan has also left. Sally has only one real friend: her sister, Bea (Stockard Channing), although even she, at times, can barely stand it. Fine, Sally figures: She doesn't expect anyone else to understand.
While all this is certainly dark, it is often hilarious, as Randall's deft script and a stunning performance by Alley flesh out her character. David, played as a child by Steve Ivany, who is autistic, and as a teen-ager by Michael Goorjian of "Life Goes On," is completely unresponsive, but Sally keeps up a nonstop banter with herself that is frequently biting and cynical, but disarmingly clever.
"If my candor approaches rudeness, you'll have to forgive me," Sally says.
It does, and you will.