ABC ORIGINALS: OPRAH WINFREY PRESENTS: AMY & ISABELLE (TV)
Summary
This made-for-television production, based on Elizabeth Strout's novel, is about a lonely woman trying to come to terms with her past as she raises her alienated teenage daughter. As the program opens, Oprah Winfrey discusses why wanted to bring the story to television. The story begins in June 1971 with Isabelle Goodrow discussing the small town of Shirley Falls, Maine, and the overwhelming heat of the summer. Isabelle works as a secretary at the local mill, as does her gloomy daughter Amy. Returning home and eventually to bed, Amy notices a water stain on the ceiling. Flashing back five months earlier, Amy seems a somewhat happier girl as she first notices the leak. At school, the shy Amy gazes at her new math teacher, Peter Robertson. Meanwhile, co-workers Bev, Rosie, and Dottie discuss the uptight and widowed Isabelle, thinking she needs a "roll in the hay" with married boss Avery Clark. In class, Peter shows how math can be used in any vocation. Peter tries to get Amy to open up. Later, Amy wonders why pal Stacy spends her lunchtime with her before running off to see boyfriend Paul. That night, Isabelle attends a church committee meeting, at which she feels her ideas are barely tolerated. The next day in school, Peter compliments Amy. That afternoon, as the snow falls outside, Amy practices accepting future compliments. Back in the present, Isabelle feels awkward listening to her co-workers' sex talk. Bev wonders why Amy cut her long locks. Isabelle's reverie about how one can harm a child without even knowing it then returns her to the past. At a diner, Isabelle and Amy run into Stacy, making both of them uncomfortable. At church on Sunday, Isabelle and Amy wonder why Avery isn't in attendance. Isabelle can't keep Avery off her mind.
Later at school, Stacy talks about how much she hates her life but Amy dreams about living such an existence. Later in school, Peter finds Amy's book of Yeats on the floor and slips it into her bag in a suggestive manner. The next day, Amy keeps talking in class, intending to make Peter keep her after school. At detention, Amy refuses to do her homework and is soon crying. Peter consoles her as they discuss poetry. Meanwhile, Isabelle decides to start educating herself as she feels Amy is ashamed of her. She determines to read more books, starting with "Madame Bovary." The next day, Peter and Amy talk privately again after school and she claims to be glad they met. Peter asks if he may give her a ride home and she accepts. Before departing, Amy and Peter discuss Isabelle, followed by her giving him a kiss on the cheek. Back in the present, Amy tells Bev that she doesn't know what to say to people. Isabelle recalls how, after winter, she began to feel that their lives were on the verge of something large and new. Flashing back, Amy has become more talkative and interested in school, continuing to stay after class with Peter. Isabelle begins to feel longings, just like Madame Bovary. One day Stacy tearfully reveals that she broke up with Paul. Later that day, after her car ride home, Amy kisses Peter on the lips. Isabelle begins questioning Amy about Peter, revealing that she has heard that his wife just left him. The next day in school, Amy doesn't stick around after class.
Later that day, Amy gets a mysterious, obscene phone call. Then, Stacy calls to reveal she is pregnant. Isabelle talks with Avery about how she's trying to raise Amy. He tells Isabelle that Amy can replace Dottie when she has to take time off for an operation. Later, the women at work discuss the raising of children, with Isabelle thinking that values are disintegrating. She gets into an argument with Arlene after stating that "you reap what you sow." Meanwhile, Peter tells Amy that their kiss was a bad idea. Soon, as the hot summer begins, Amy and Peter drive off into the woods. Amy wonders if she will see him during the school vacation. Then, Peter asks Amy to strip and perform some sexual acts for him. During their liaison, Avery notices Peter's car parked on the private property and goes to check on things. Afterward, Avery goes to Isabelle, revealing his disturbing findings. Isabelle marches home to question her daughter. Amy yells at her mother for not understanding the world, stating that she instigated the affair. Isabelle subsequently goes to Peter's house to confront him. Isabelle claims she is not going to the police as she doesn't want Amy exposed to scandal; Peter says he will leave town. After speaking with Peter, Isabelle wonders if she truly knows her daughter. Isabelle furiously cuts off Amy's hair, leaving the girl devastated. Amy then begins her job at the mill, going to the bathroom to cry. Isabelle rues having once acted high and mighty in how she was raising Amy. Amy no longer wishes to talk to her mother. Meanwhile, Isabelle's co-workers mock Dottie's claim that she saw a UFO. After Avery says that Dottie's return to work will push out Amy, Isabelle hears from Amy that Stacy is pregnant. By August, Dottie is upset at being mocked. Bev and Isabelle console her upon finding out the real problem: Her husband has strayed.
One rainy night, Isabelle starts to appreciate aspects of her life, such as her friendship with Bev and Dottie. She even invites Avery and his wife for dessert at her house. Meanwhile, after telling her mother that Stacy had her baby and gave it up for adoption, Amy goes to a pay phone to locate Peter; when she does, he refuses to speak to her. Later, Paul gives Amy a ride but takes her to a remote area and tries to kiss her. She rebuffs him out of loyalty to Stacy. Meanwhile, Isabelle wonders why Avery has not shown for her dinner. When finding out that he forgot all about her offer, Isabelle flies into a rage and destroys the cake she made. Later, Paul and Amy find the body of a missing girl in the woods. The police bring the frightened Amy home. That night, Dottie's husband leaves her, and Isabelle offers to let Dottie stay with her. Isabelle reveals some truths about herself to Dottie and Bev -- that she was never married and got impregnated by her father's best friend, a married man, at age seventeen. Later, Isabelle thinks about how her friends still accepted her after finding out that she had been living a lie. She also makes a conscious effort to put Avery out of her mind. The next morning, Isabelle awakens to find Bev making pancakes. Amy is finally able to get out of bed and come downstairs. Isabelle and Amy's relationship improves after Amy is told about her father. As time goes on, Isabelle becomes more lenient in her dealings with Amy, even getting the girl's hair cut professionally. Soon, Isabelle gets an answer to a letter she wrote to Evelyn, the wife of the man with whom she had an affair. Evelyn says that her daughter, Catherine, wants to meet her half-sister, Amy. Amy discusses meeting her newfound relatives with Stacy. Finally, Isabelle drives Amy to see Evelyn, Catherine, and Catherine's new baby, realizing that Amy's horizons, and hopes for the future, are destined to expand. Includes commercials.
Details
- NETWORK: ABC
- DATE: March 4, 2001 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 2:00:57
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:64224
- GENRE: Drama
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama; Literature - Adaptations; Mothers and daughters; Sexual abuse
- SERIES RUN: ABC - TV, 2001
- COMMERCIALS:
- TV - Commercials - "Atlantis: The Lost Empire" motion picture
- TV - Commercials - "Cotton: The Fabric of Our Lives"
- TV - Commercials - "Meet the Parents" home video
- TV - Commercials - AT&T wireless calling plans
- TV - Commercials - Advantage flea prevention
- TV - Commercials - Aflac insurance
- TV - Commercials - BMW automobiles
- TV - Commercials - Burger King restaurants
- TV - Commercials - Cadillac automobiles
- TV - Commercials - California Department of Consumer Affairs
- TV - Commercials - Council for Biotechnology Information
- TV - Commercials - Dove soap
- TV - Commercials - EAS diet aid products
- TV - Commercials - GMC automobiles
- TV - Commercials - General Mills Harmony cereal
- TV - Commercials - Healthy Choice frozen meals
- TV - Commercials - Lipton Sizzle & Stir meals
- TV - Commercials - MasterCard credit cards
- TV - Commercials - McDonald's restaurants
- TV - Commercials - Mother's Taffy cookies
- TV - Commercials - Oldsmobile automobiles
- TV - Commercials - Philip Morris for youth smoking prevention
- TV - Commercials - Pontiac automobiles
- TV - Commercials - Roc anti-wrinkle cream
- TV - Commercials - Roche weight loss information
- TV - Commercials - Royal Caribbean cruise lines
- TV - Commercials - Saturn automobiles
- TV - Commercials - Sav-on drug stores
- TV - Commercials - Sears stores
- TV - Commercials - Sprint callling plans
- TV - Commercials - Stanley Steemer carpet cleaners
- TV - Commercials - Talbots stores
- TV - Commercials - Target stores
- TV - Commercials - The Steel Alliance
- TV - Commercials - Toyota automobiles
- TV - Commercials - Tylenol pain relief
- TV - Commercials - Wisk detergent tablets
- TV - Commercials - Xenical weight-loss medication
- TV - Promos - "73rd Annual Academy Awards"
- TV - Promos - "Adrienne Alpert: One on One"
- TV - Promos - "Dharma & Greg"
- TV - Promos - "Eyewitness News"
- TV - Promos - "Gideon's Crossing"
- TV - Promos - "Good Morning America"
- TV - Promos - "Land of the Mammoth"
- TV - Promos - "My Wife & Kids"
- TV - Promos - "Once and Again"
- TV - Promos - "One Fine Day"
- TV - Promos - "Oprah"
- TV - Promos - "Port Charles: Time in a Bottle"
- TV - Promos - "Profiler"
- TV - Promos - "Rodgers and Hammersteins' South Pacific"
- TV - Promos - "The Geena Davis Show"
- TV - Promos - "The Job"
- TV - Promos - "The Practice"
- TV - Promos - "What About Joan"
- TV - Promos - "Who Wants to be a Millionaire: Mega Millionaire"
CREDITS
- Oprah Winfrey … Executive Producer
- Kate Forte … Executive Producer
- Doro Bachrach … Producer
- Lloyd Kramer … Director, Writer
- Joyce Eliason … Writer
- Elizabeth Strout … Based on the novel by
- Ernest Troost … Music by
- Elisabeth Shue … Cast, Isabelle Goodrow
- Hanna Hall … Cast, Amy Goodrow
- Martin Donovan … Cast, Peter Robertson
- Conchata Ferrell … Cast, Bev
- Viola Davis … Cast, Dottie
- Marylouise Burke … Cast, Arlene
- Amy Wright … Cast, Rosie
- Ann Dowd … Cast, Lenora
- Stephi Lineburg … Cast, Stacy
- Barbara Garrick … Cast, Barbara Rawley
- Caroline Kava … Cast, Anne Clark
- James Rebhorn … Cast, Avery Clark
- Matt Lutz … Cast, Paul
- Aubrey Dollar … Cast, Karen
- Danielle Durso … Cast, Elsie
- Brett Kelley … Cast, Flip Rawley
- Ashton Lunceford … Cast, Julie McGinn
- Karen Kirschenbauer … Cast, Maggie Dunlap
- Dave Cohen … Cast, TV Newsman
- David Silverthorn … Cast, Bookstore Owner
- Chrissy Lucas … Cast, Young Isabelle
- Terry Serpico … Cast, Jake Cunningham
- Peter Jurasik … Cast, Ed Gaines
- Lucia Forte … Cast, Hairdresser
- Helen Baldwin … Cast, Isabelle's Mother
- Joyce Bowden … Cast, Evelyn Cunningham
- Sherrell Murphy-Ramos … Cast, Mabel
- William Butler Yeats