New CBS Drama Takes "Sybil" Liberties

In 1976, Sally Field -- who, at the time, was all but dismissed as the cutie from TV's Gidget -- grabbed the brass ring by playing a series of distinctly different characters in the psychological miniseries Sybil, based on an actual case of what then was called multiple personality disorder. This weekend, 32 years later, CBS presents a new version... very, very quietly.

This telemovie, broadcast Saturday at 9 p.m. ET, stars Tammy Blanchard as Sybil, the young woman subject to blackouts, memory loss and other troubling behaviors. Her therapist, who slowly discovers and unravels the layers of alter egos buried within Sybil, is played by Jessica Lange. (In the original, Joanne Woodward played the part.)

Lange is, well, Jessica Lange. Blanchard already has triumphed on TV in one memorable docudrama -- as young Judy Garland in Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows. Sybil is a classic TV property, a recognizable title. So what is it doing being burned off in June, on a Saturday night, with very little fanfare, after sitting on the CBS shelf for more than a year?

One reason: It's not as good as the original, which was twice as long and at least twice as good. I'm sooo old, I was a TV critic when the original was televised by NBC in 1976, and remember it being easily one of the best offerings that year. Sally Field attacked that part like a pit bull and never let go, Woodward was fabulous, and most of the scenes outside the therapist's office were from Sybil's point of view, making them jarringly unsettling, confusing and dramatic. This new version does some of that, but not nearly enough.

The truth is, though, this new Sybil isn't bad. If you don't compare it with the original, it's rather compelling, and the scenes between Blanchard and Lange are quietly intense, like no-men-allowed versions of HBO's In Treatment.

So why the summer burial? Because CBS, a few seasons ago, decided to follow the lead of other broadcast networks and get out of the telemovie business. Once there was no regular place to schedule them, there was little reason to televise or promote them. Sybil -- which, at least, features impressive stars and an ambitious story -- isn't the sort of thing the big broadcast networks are interested in making any longer.

Which is why they're not likely to be big broadcast networks for too much longer...