Given that they were sort of the ultimate made-for-TV couple, the fact that TV has come up with a movie about Sonny and Cher is no surprise. Nor is the fact that it's not a good movie.
But, given Sonny Bono's death last year and the fact that his widow, Congresswoman Mary Bono, is credited as an executive producer on the project, it is at least a bit of a surprise that "And the Beat Goes On: The Sonny & Cher Story" (8 p.m., Ch. 4) is utterly hilarious.
If you thought the old "Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour" was campy (which it was), wait until you see "And the Beat Goes On." Hoo-boy, this makes "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" look like a Merchant Ivory period drama.
Which is not to say that the ABC movie isn't worth watching. If you're looking for a laugh, this is often howlingly funny. It's not supposed to be, but that, in an odd way, makes it funnier still.
The chief clown in all of this is Jay Underwood, whose casting as Sonny Bono is, at best, curious. More realistically, it's ludicrous.
The man looks nothing like Bono. (In an interview with TV critics, even Underwood acknowledged that "that was the biggest joke." And the fake nose he wears doesn't help.) He sounds nothing like Bono. He acts nothing like Bono -- if what he does in this movie can actually be termed acting.
(Underwood was perfectly cast in that Disney movie "Not Quite Human" and its sequels -- as a robot.)
And his performance (or lack thereof) stands in stark contrast to a genuinely convincing turn by Renee Faia as Cher. She actually looks, acts and sounds a great deal like the woman she portrays. (And it doesn't hurt that the movie includes a very good voice double for Cher -- Kelly Van Hoose Smith.)
"And the Beat Goes On" concentrates on the couple's early years. It opens when Cher is still a teenager and she hooks up with the much-older, still-married Sonny and carries through their early struggles and eventual triumph as rock stars, their fall from grace, their reinvention as a slick lounge act and mega-stardom as TV stars.
("The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour" was the last variety show to finish in the top 10 in the ratings.)
The story is familiar, whether you're a fan of Sonny and Cher or not. But its execution is laughable.
Watching Underwood mug his way through "I Got You Babe" and "The Beat Goes On" is a scream. Faia fares better, but she still slips into Rich Little-esque imitation far too often.
"It's about people who love each other and how they grow together and grow apart," said executive producer Larry Thompson. "And it's about Americana and music during an era that we all have nostalgia (for) and loved."
(Thompson was Sonny and Cher's attorney when they were married, then represented Sonny during and after the divorce.)
Not surprisingly, the movie does not have the endorsement of Cher -- and Thompson said he didn't even try to involve her.
"Using Sonny's book and the estate of Sonny Bono and his widow, Congresswoman Mary Bono, we decided to tell the story from Sonny's point of view," he said. "All truthful, but from his point of view. And we did not seek her approval or involvement.
"She (Cher) certainly has been apprised and kept up with everything that we have been doing. I felt that if we got into a situation where we wanted her to approve every scene, we would have never got the movie made."
Which might have been a blessing for all involved.
Thompson went on to say that the movie is "very fair to Cher" and that he "hopes she likes it." Well, he probably shouldn't hold his breath.
The movie is very much told from Sonny's point of view. Not that he's portrayed as an angel, but the truth is toned down a lot.
Oh, we see him fooling around with another woman -- once. And the movie implies that, after that, he was an angel.
Not quite. And it completely ignores the fact that, by the time Cher finally filed for divorce, while she was carrying on with David Geffen, Sonny was living at the opposite end of their Bel Air mansion with another woman.
(That actual mansion is used as a location for big pieces of "And the Beat Goes On.")
Not that it isn't nice to see Sonny get some of the credit he richly deserves -- credit that Cher herself gives him for making them both stars.
"I think the general public had the one image of Sonny, and that was of the buffoon, the sidekick, the guy to laugh at," Underwood said. "And in reality, it was Sonny that was the driving force behind Sonny and Cher from the beginning. And I'll tell you, the one thing that I came to have . . . was the utmost respect for the man."
Then there's the music, which has both its good and bad points. There are songs in which the actors lip-sync to actual Sonny and Cher recordings. There are voice doubles who sing for the duo, and Kelly Van Hoose Smith does an excellent job mimicking Cher.
However, "sound-alike" singer Jess Harnell sounds nothing like Sonny -- if anything, he sounds worse.
And there are also scenes in the movie in which Faia and Underwood themselves are actually singing. (And, while Faia can carry a tune, Underwood sings far worse than either Sonny or Harnell.)
But how much sense does it make to have three different voices for each of the main characters in the movie? None.
"In one song, we start off with Jay and Renee's voice, that bleeds to Kelly and Jess' voices and then bleeds into the record," said a perversely proud Thompson.
"And the Beat Goes On" doesn't much follow the lives of Sonny and Cher after their divorce and ends in 1987 -- when the duo reunited on "Late Night with David Letterman." And that final scene pretty much sums up everything that's wrong (and funny) in the movie.
It's pure mimicry of the actual event, with Underwood and Tom Frykman (as Letterman) looking just ridiculous. (At least it's something that Dave may get some mileage out of on his late-night talk show.)
And it goes from laughable to maudlin, with a bit of footage of the actual Sonny Bono waxing philosophical on his failed solo variety show and Faia mouthing the words to Cher's eulogy for Sonny as we see footage of his grave.
Sonny deserved better than this. So do viewers.
But, if you're looking for a few laughs . . .