Celebrity (American TV series)

Celebrity is a television miniseries based on a novel by Thomas Thompson. It was broadcast from February 12 to February 14, 1984, on NBC.

Series overview
Celebrity is based on a 1983 novel by Thomas Thompson. The series was filmed in Texas, New York and Los Angeles and is altogether six and a half hours long. In Germany, the UK and North America the series is published on VHS. The series was shown in Spain, Brazil, Finland, Turkey and Canada.

Plot
During their days as high school students in Texas, three friends – T.J. Luther, Mack Crawford and Kleber Cantrell – are involved in a rape. While only one of the boys commits the crime, the others watch and do nothing. The victim dies, and the boys hide the body and promise each other to never speak of it again.

All three grow up to be very successful in their fields. 25 years later, Kleber is a world-famous journalist, Mack is a movie star, and Luther is a demagogic evangelist who runs a controversial church. When they meet up again, the meeting ends in tragedy. One of the friends is shot dead, the other one is critically wounded and the third one is the murderer.

Nominations
Primetime Emmy Awards
 * 1984: Outstanding Cinematography for a Limited Series or a Special (Philip H. Lathrop)

Edgar Allan Poe Awards:
 * 1985: Best Television Feature or Miniseries (William Hanley)

Critical reception
John J. Connor (The New York Times) mentions that the series has a strong cast. Furthermore, the series has a great script, which includes the major events during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, such as the Vietnam War or the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Tom Shales (The Deseret News) adds that the tale is very well plotted and "irresistible as a good rumor". According to Arthur Unger (Monitor) Celebrity is easy to watch and once started is difficult to stop.