Ever since the ABC-TV movie-of-the-week, That Certain Summer, that dealt with gay subject matter almost 30 years ago, queer characters have been coming into people’s living rooms for a couple of hours at a time.
Some TV movies are better than others and unfortunately, What Makes A Family (One Ho/Barwood, premiering on Lifetime cable TV Jan. 22 at 8 p.m.) is not one of them.
Set in less than queer-friendly Florida, and based on the true story of a custody battle for a young girl between the surviving partner of a lesbian couple (Brooke Shields) and the parents (Anne Meara and Al Waxman) of the dead woman, this melodrama is almost too much to take.
Cherry Jones (who is a Tony-winning, openly lesbian actress) and Shields do a decent job of portraying the couple, who have a commitment ceremony and eventually agree to bring a child into the world. Sandy (Jones) is alternatively inseminated, and when she and Janine (Shields) break the news to Sandy’s parents Evelyn and Frank (Meara and Waxman), they appear to be happy for them. They were, after all, present in the church for Sandy and Janine’s holy union, which is more than can be said for Janine’s parents. Shortly after the birth of their daughter Heather (Jordy Benattar), Sandy is diagnosed with systemic lupus. Sandy dies when Heather is only a few years old. Suddenly, Evelyn and Franks aren’t so nice and accepting and become ruthless in their efforts to gain custody of their granddaughter on the grounds that they are her closest blood relatives. Janine suffers a nervous breakdown, and when she recovers enough to realize that she is Heather’s rightful parent/guardian she seeks the counsel of civil-rights lawyer Terry Harrison (played by the film’s co-producer Whoopi Goldberg).
The movie becomes more interesting as it develops into a courtroom drama, but by then it’s too late. We know what makes a family, and now we know what makes a below average made-for-cable movie. On a scale of 1 to 10: 4.5 (On Lifetime, Jan. 22.)