Brian Piccolo was not as talented as some, but he was DETERMINED,
and he had HEART.He played Fullback for the Chicago Bears with 
Gayle Sayres, and died of Cancer in his prime. 

This is a remake of the 1971 made for TV version in which James Caan 
and Billy Dee Williams starred, and "remains one of the few movies that 
men can unabashedly cry over". Rated a three-hankie football movie." 

Reminds me of a combination of "Rudy" and "Bang the Drum Slowly". 

As always check Local Listings for Time.  
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DOES 'BRIAN'S SONG' REALLY NEED ANOTHER VERSE?

Television* ABC tweaks the three-hankie football classic about Brian 
Piccolo, adding fleshed out roles for wives and fresh sports sequences.

By Brian Lowry
Los Angeles Times
Staff Writer
December 1 2001

Sports radio remains pretty much without peer in the media world's 
overflowing yahoo department, an arena where the importance of loudly 
having an opinion far exceeds possessing actual knowledge. Still, it was 
hard not to nod along a few weeks ago listening as two of Fox Sports' 
resident Neanderthals voiced outrage over ABC's plans to remake 
"Brian's Song."

Amid the customary grunting the pair managed to make a point, however 
primitive, which has been echoed by more than a few critics--namely, 
that the idea of remaking "Brian's Song," the 1971 made-for-TV movie 
starring Billy Dee Williams and James Caan as real-life football comrades 
Gale Sayers and Brian Piccolo, smacks of sacrilege.

In hindsight, the original seems unsurpassable, a true three-hankie affair. 
Caan played the likable, gregarious Chicago Bears fullback who died of 
cancer at 26, with Williams as the shy, laconic superstar who grows 
to love him. Throw in the memorable Michel Legrand score, all that male 
bonding and dialogue like the stricken Piccolo feebly whispering, "It's 
fourth and eight, and they won't let me punt," and it remains one of the 
few movies men can unabashedly admit to crying over,... Of course, 
the whole idea of remaking movies raises various questions. 

A much-beloved title, after all, brings with it a certain built-in value, the 
sort of instant name-recognition that the marketing department doesn't 
have to spend millions selling.... 

Still, why bother with a character-driven piece like "Brian's Song?"... 

Producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron have done quite well for 
themselves remaking well-known properties, including ABC's musical 
revivals of "Cinderella" and "Annie," so they were hardly unprepared 
for such skepticism. In fact, when reached in London...--they began by 
mentioning a recent screening of the new "Brian's Song" for the current 
Chicago Bears and their families, who brought their own misgivings to 
the party and were, according to the producers, won over.

"The first thing that struck us was the original film was only 73 minutes 
long," Meron said. "There were huge chunks of the story that were left 
out because of the running time.... I don't think it's a remake. It's taking 
the same story and expanding on it and filling in the blanks."

Part of that includes fleshing out the roles of the wives--relegated to 
"stick figures" in the original, per Meron--giving more insight into Piccolo 
as a family man and retaining his widow, Joy, as a consultant.

The producers have also shot football game sequences instead of using 
videotape of the real Sayers in action, as the original did, and point out 
that the two co-stars, Mekhi Phifer and Sean Maher, are closer in age 
to their characters than Williams and Caan, who were 34 and 31, 
respectively, when the first movie premiered.

Perhaps foremost, however, is the idea that so much time has passed--
that many of those who fondly remember seeing "Brian's Song" as 
children or teenagers now have children of their own. And since the 
movie is being presented under the "Wonderful World of Disney" banner, 
the hope is those adults who remember watching the original with their 
parents will replicate that process, bringing a true "family audience" 
(as opposed to that term serving as code for "kid-friendly") to the project.

"There's a whole new generation, 30 years later, that has never seen 
'Brian's Song,'" Zadan said.

"If we were just doing a Xerox of the movie, if we weren't enhancing it, 
we would never have done it.... We've remade things where we thought 
we had something to add. If you can bring other values to it, there's no 
reason not to do a new version of it."

No reason except that the original holds up exceptionally well, and that 
some of us cavemen actually cling to the notion some things we hold 
dear shouldn't be recycled--that the first "Brian's Song" or "Psycho" 
were just fine, thank you, as they were.

Zadan and Meron maintain they can overcome the resistance even of 
such anachronisms if given the chance, but they do acknowledge a 
formidable line is running interference between their movie and part of 
its potential audience.

"We're up against memory," Meron said, "and that's very difficult to go 
up against."