Conference ljsrv1::tv_chatter

346.0. "TV movie: Op Center" by TOOK::MORRISON (Bob M. LKG1-3/A11 226-7570) Wed Mar 01 1995 05:21

  I was a little disappointed with this. I guess I was spoiled by "The Hunt for
Red October", which was top-notch. I liked the stuff about the stolen bombs and
the political intrigue, but the soap opera stuff was a major distraction. The
soap opera stuff also made the entire story less credible. Do people really
let themselves get distracted with this stuff when they are handling a world
crisis of this magnitude? I sure hope not.
  Another complaint I have is that according to TV Guide, Tom Clancy conceived
the plot but someone else actually wrote the book and script. But it is billed
as Clancy's story. I also feel that Clancy has "sold out" to Hollywood in the
sense that if he were writing a book to be later made into a movie, instead of
writing a movie that is also being made into a book on the side, I think he
would have focused on the "real" stuff and made a much better story. I suspect
that Hollywood pressured him into giving equal attention to the political/
military story and to the "soap opera" because they thought the soap would
bring higher ratings.