It marks the revival of the only slightly less beloved movie that paired Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn, winning her the last of her record four acting Oscars and winning him his first, five months before his death in 1982. You won't see Plummer's daughter, Amanda, tonight, the way Jane Fonda played the movie daughter role. Glenne Headley takes the job this time. And On Golden Pond will be produced live. Today, it's a big deal.
Some people tune in solely to see if anything goes wrong.
Anderson asked, speaking like a true TV guy. But actually, he isn't a true TV guy. He started out in the New York theater, where he mounted the first production of On Golden Pond in 1978. The uplifting, if sometimes cloying, family story has mesmerized theater audiences worldwide for more than 20 years, but it needs embellishment and exclamation points for the TV crowd.