Blast from the past

A&E series 'The Jacksons: A Family Dynasty' documents life without Michael

at 18:25 on December 2, 2009, EDT.
By Frazier Moore, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS


In this Sept. 2009 publicity image released by A&E, the Jackson brothers, from left, Jackie, Marlon, Tito and Jermaine, from the A&E original series, "The Jacksons: A Family Dynasty," are shown. The six-hour series premieres at 9 p.m. EST, Sunday, Dec. 13, on A&E. (THE ASSOCIATED PRESS/A&E, Kwaku Alson)


NEW YORK - As the old saying goes, "If you like this kind of thing, you'll like this."

Mirroring too many other celeb-reality shows that come pledging a personal glimpse at their subjects, "The Jacksons: A Family Dynasty" is stagey, self-conscious and, most of all, self-serving on the part of its participants.

But if you're a fan of Michael Jackson (always offstage but seldom out of mind), or even the observable members of the Jackson 5 - Marlon, Tito, Jackie and Jermaine - you might enjoy this time spent with them.

The six-hour A&E series premieres at 9 p.m. EST, Sunday, Dec. 13, with back-to-back episodes. The high point of those first two hours comes when Jermaine Jackson cries.

Tearfully, he recalls the dark days of 1976, when the rest of the group leaped to CBS Records while only he stayed behind at Motown, being loyal, he says, "to where we started."

"Do you know what it is to be alone? Just to be alone?" says Jermaine, choking up. "I'm out in the streets and kids are saying, 'We don't want your autograph, 'cause you're the one that broke the group up."'

"When you came back to the group, it was one of the best, favourable memories of my life," says Tito as the foursome shares hugs all around.

It's hard to believe this is really the first time Jermaine has ever expressed his hurt from that rift with his brothers, as he claims. And it's hard to overlook the fact that, during this scene of high emotion, all of them seem carefully arranged on their sectional sofa for maximum visual effect.

Even so, there's something real going on here. It's a nice break from all the canned, rote stuff.

The premise of the miniseries (at least when filming started last January) seems to centre on the Jackson 5, including Michael, reuniting for their 40th anniversary.

The other four brothers start planning a tour and a new album - "the best album we ever made!" Jackie crows.

They exchange lots of stock dialogue like, "I think we owe it to the fans" and, "We're family. We'll be the Jackson 5 till the day we die."

They make self-pitying remarks about the way the media abuse them, for example, "Your fans will be there for you. You have that marriage with them from day one. It's the media that tries to come between that."

That darn marriage-wrecking media!

They also get on each other's nerves. In the studio last May, Jermaine records a vocal track, then heads off to lunch. Jackie decides it's unacceptable and erases it.

"You won't believe what happened in the studio today," Jermaine tells his wife back at home. "I did these vocals, I was very excited about them, and the next thing I know, they were erased."

The first hour (which includes a sentimental, staged-for-TV journey to their childhood home in Gary, Ind.) ends with the news of Michael's death in late June.

Even before his shocking death, it's hard to discern from the miniseries what Michael thought about his brothers' plans for the reunion. His involvement is apparently assumed. But he is only seen in archival footage and heard singing on the soundtrack.

And he's regularly mentioned.

"Your brother was the biggest artist in the world," the Jacksons' attorney, Virgil Roberts, tells them in the second episode, a month after Michael has died. "It's put a special spotlight on you. You're the living legacy."

As Roberts speaks, the Jacksons' album and tour seem to still be in the picture, at least for the sake of justifying this miniseries.

But Jermaine isn't in the image (and his commitment to the group is called into question) when he misses the official photo shoot. He later tells his brothers he had an eye infection.

Some reunion. And four more episodes to fill.

-

On the Net: http://www.aetv.com


©The Canadian Press, 2009

bboy87 said:

Michael had a court deposition in 1984-85. Do you know what it pertained to?

ViintageJunkiie said:

An unknown songwriter named Fred Sanford sued Michael, saying he stole The Girl Is Mine from him

here's some scans

http://sitekreator.com/th.../mjj3.html

Part 7? MAKE IT STOP!!!!!

NOOOOO.....

sorry but how about this idea.....the mj fans can move on over to the mj website and post their stuff there?

seriously

or maybe they all need to be slapped



just playing

now, on with the latest Jackson news, videos and pictures bcuz lord knows that nothing pays tribute more to his life than an everlasting thread on the internet that nobody reads
[Edited 12/3/09 5:14am]

Pfft, Who needs a new Jacksons TV show when there is a perfectly good enough one from the Seventies?

http://mjhideout.com/foru...orada.html

that brothers are gonna be on regis and kelly this morning

mimi07 said:

i saw a clip of them on the Today show. Interesting interview, Marlon is still hurting, Jackie all red-eyed.

I can totally see a new Jacksons album coming, Michael's vocals from the vault, modern producers on Triumph/Victory era unused songs. Just wait and see.

japanrocks said:

Obviously, you´re one of the "nobodies" that read and contrubute to these threads.

Marrk said:

Muchas gracias!

I can´t wait to put my hands on this!!

dag said:

i know

Dec 2 2009 2:26 PM EST

R. Kelly Talks About His In-Concert Michael Jackson Tribute
'Michael Jackson is one of the biggest reasons R. Kelly is in the game right now,' Kells says of honoring MJ.
By Shaheem Reid


R. Kelly concludes his recent Ladies Make Some Noise Tour this weekend and said the trek has been a blessing.

"It was a thrill. I hadn't been on the road in, like, two or three years, expressing myself live," he told MTV News recently. Kelly also said the most exciting part of the tour is hearing the screams, seeing his fans and feeling the unity.

One of the highlights of the concert is Kelly's tribute to the late Michael Jackson.

"Michael Jackson being gone is like our breath, our musical breath, being taken away," Kelly says in his videotaped message. "But I'm not gonna let him die."

Then home-movie footage of Jackson and director Brett Ratner dancing in a vehicle to the sounds of Kells' "Ignition" appears on the screen. R. told us that the King of Pop wanted a song like it of his very own.

"Michael told me one day, he said, 'I wanna know if you can write a song like "Ignition" for me — I love that song,' " Kelly explained. "I was like, 'Mike, man, "Ignition" is not a "Thriller," but much like "Thriller," those type of songs will probably never happen [again]. It'll never happen again. I'm sorry.' "

But Kelly was extremely humbled when he saw Jackson dancing to "Ignition" and felt compelled to put the footage in his show.

"I cried the first time I saw him on YouTube, and I couldn't believe he was in the backseat of the car. He was jamming [to my song]," he said. "You can tell he was into it. He was feeling it. It was like, 'Wow, he's doing my music. He's singing to my music.' It was unbelievable. I knew I made it when I saw that. You can sing songs forever. I've written a lot of songs, and they went around the world. I've won all types of awards, but let me tell y'all something — nothing, nothing told me, I didn't know I made it until I saw Michael Jackson in the back of that car performing and dancing to my song 'Ignition.' That's when it became official. I've been in the game 20 years, but that's when it became official to me that Kells is here, baby, for real."

The video homage to Jackson segues into a montage of Michael's performances and videos. Kelly sings, "Don't say goodbye to me/ There is no need to/ Don't say goodbye to me, because I'm still with you/ Don't say goodbye to me, don't shed a tear/ Because I'm still here/ Go light a candle and say a prayer/ Scream out victory, 'cause love is still there."

"I do dedicate a segment of the show to Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson is one of the biggest reasons R. Kelly is in the game right now. It's amazing," he explained.

Kelly sped up his wardrobe change so that he could watch the video every night from backstage.

"It made me feel like he was still alive," Kelly smiled. "It made me feel like I still have the chance to go to the level that Michael took it to. It brings me back to what real music is and how it touches and pierces the soul. That's what my mission is."

R. Kelly's Untitled is in stores now.

http://www.mtv.com/news/a...ly_r.jhtml

in other news Prince,Paris and Blanket are on Barbara Walters 10 most fascinating people's list for 2009.....

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...nt-gossip/

Walters scores Jackson kids interview ... sort of
Barbara Walters’ “Most Fascinating People” special doesn’t air until Dec. 9, but the subjects of her annual show are slowly being announced. Among them: Lady Gaga, South Carolina First Lady Jenny Sanford, and perhaps the most fascinating thus far, Michael Jackson’s kids Paris, Prince and Blanket.

Because the family has so fiercely protected the kids’ privacy, the idea of them appearing for an interview was compelling. But don’t get too excited: according to several sources familiar with the level of access granted to Walters, she didn’t actually get the kids on camera for a fresh interview. Instead, older footage will run. “The kids have been doing best as they possibly can,” said one family friend. “Rebbie (Michael’s sister) has been taking great care of them. One thing the family is mostly in agreement about is that the kids’ privacy should be as protected as possible.”

mookie said:

yet it seems like we see these kids more often than we ever saw them when mj was alive, which means its likely the paps are being tipped off. latoya's right there to peddle tidbits about them to the tabs. not to mention allowing this ghoul walters who had nothing but contempt for their father access via her special, however 'limited'.

yeah, that's some scary, fierce protection of their privacy.

ROYAL BRUNEI 96 IS COMING!!!







[Edited 12/3/09 18:34pm]
[Edited 12/3/09 18:38pm]
[Edited 12/3/09 18:38pm]

kibbles said:

Remember when Michael was still here and people were bitching about the kids wearing scarves and saying he was doing wrong by them?

Now look, they're constantly being hounded by the photographers, people have been making fake Myspace, Facebook, and Twitter pages, and we see grown ass adults making fansites for them.....

Ironic?

rsggamer said:

is this legit or bootleg
[Edited 12/3/09 19:41pm]

mimi07 said:

An italian group of fans are fundraising in order to buy the original master copy of Royal Brunei 96. The group will have enough to purchase the concert within the next couple of weeks and once they have the tape it will be uploaded for all fans to see. Remember this will be in true HQ quality.

rsggamer said:

It won't be uploaded at MJJC, that's for sure

Michael Jackson Composed Soundtrack For Sonic 3 - Confirmed
December 3, 2009


Some pretty amazing news to deliver to you now, as it has been confirmed that none other than Michael Jackson, the legend himself - composed the music soundtrack to Sonic 3, putting years of speculation on the internet to rest.

As reported from VG247, Brad Buxer, the composer who was actually credited for the music in Sonic 3, confirmed that he and Michael Jackson worked together on the soundtrack for the game.

It turns out that MJ’s name wasn’t credited for the music, due to the fact that Jackson wasn’t satisfied with the end product and ‘didn’t want to be associated with a product that devalued his music‘.

Another theory is that Sega quickly ended partnership with Jackson, as the soundtrack was completed round about the same time that the child abuse scandals surfaced, so thats another thing to consider.

If you ask me, the soundtrack for Sonic 3 is a great piece of work, so I definitely have even more respect for MJ after this. The video below explains all of this much better than I have. Make sure you watch it and then leave us a comment with your thoughts. Note the obvious similarities with ‘Jam’ and ‘Stranger in Moscow’.




http://www.product-review...confirmed/

bboy87 said:

Ewww, I didn't know it was grown folks that did those sites for the kids.

Identity said:

That's crazy

Cinnie said:

Hasn't this been confirmed for years that he worked on the music?