The New York Times - November 5, 1985
Stephen Farber

The two-hour drama is about a young homosexual lawyer (played by Aidan Quinn) whose family is thrown into a crisis when he tells his parents (Gena Rowlands and Ben Gazzara) that he has acquired immune deficiency syndrome. Immediately following the broadcast, NBC News will present a half-hour special report on the disease with Tom Brokaw as host.

"We hope it will amplify some of the points raised in the movie," said Lloyd Siegel, executive producer of the special for NBC News. "We want to answer specific questions that people still have about AIDS - who is at risk, what progress is being made in the search for a cure, and the measures taken around the country to attempt to control the disease."

One of the questions to be discussed in the news special, Mr. Siegel said, is the action by some state and city governments to close places frequented by homosexual men, such as bath houses, to try to stop the spread of the disease. "That seems to be the area of strongest disagreement in regard to AIDS," Mr. Siegel said, "and we will debate that point."

Advance Screenings of Film

NBC has arranged three advance screenings of "An Early Frost." On Thursday at the Kennedy Center in Washington, there will be a screening that Dr. Rosalind Schram, NBC's director of community relations, described as being primarily for health care officials and researchers.

On Friday at NBC headquarters in Rockefeller Center, a screening for health and science reporters will be followed by a panel discussion with Dr. Steven Schultz, Deputy Commissioner of New York City's Department of Health; Dr. John Martin, associate research scientist at Columbia University's School of Public Health, and Dr. Susan Tross, attending psychologist at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

Friday evening in Los Angeles, another screening will be held for members of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. The producer of "An Early Frost," Perry Lafferty, said that screening had been requested by the television academy because there has been so much misinformation about AIDS within the motion picture industry.

In addition, according to Dr. Schram, NBC has distributed a viewer's guide to hundreds of hospitals, social agencies and AIDS-related organizations across the country. And Gena Rowlands has recorded a 30-second public-service announcement - with a toll-free telephone number that viewers can call - that will be offered to all of NBC's local affiliates. Dr. Schram described this public-service campaign as "analogous to what we did last year with 'The Burning Bed' to educate people about wife abuse."

Some activities to raise money for AIDS research are being organized independent of NBC. Glenn Kennedy, associate director of AIDS Project Los Angeles, has proposed that individuals or organizations hold gatherings on the night the program is broadcast at which each guest will be asked to donate at least $10 to a local AIDS organization. In Los Angeles, according to Mr. Kennedy, more than 100 of these gatherings have already been scheduled, and Bill Jones, director of development at the Gay Men's Health Crisis in New York, said a similar plan had drawn enthusiastic responses in Manhattan.

Mr. Kennedy said he rejected the idea of a large benefit screening in favor of the smaller, in-home gatherings. "My preference is smaller viewer groups," he said. "I'd like to encourage people to watch the show at home with friends. It's in keeping with the family emphasis of the film."

Other Programs on AIDS

Despite NBC's announcement that it would be making the first made-for-television movie about AIDS, "An Early Frost" will not be the first television program to deal with AIDS this season. The Showtime cable network's series "Brothers" showed an episode dealing with AIDS recently, and the CBS medical series "Trapper John, M.D.," broadcast an episode centering on AIDS last Sunday. In that episode, one of the regular characters in the series, the nurse played by Lorna Luft, was contacted by a former lover who revealed that he is bisexual and is suffering from AIDS.

Don Brinkley, the executive producer of "Trapper John, M.D.," said the episode had been in the planning stages for a long time.

"About two years ago we started thinking about doing an AIDS story," Mr. Brinkley said. "The problem we faced is that our show likes to give some reassurance, and with AIDS there was no reassurance to give. What we eventually came up with is that many AIDS victims lose their emotional support system and find themselves completely isolated. So in our story, our regulars band together to regenerate that support system. Lorna set out to bring back the victim's male lover, who had abandoned him on learing that he had AIDS."

Although the AIDS episode of "Trapper John, M.D." finished shooting only two weeks before it was broadcast, Mr. Brinkley denied it was rushed on the air ahead of "An Early Frost."

"At the time we first started talking about an AIDS story, we had no idea about the NBC film," he said. "And our episode was always scheduled for November."

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