Vietnam series has won awards, nominations

Press, 11 September 1989, Page 19

Vietnam series has won awards, nominations

"China Beach” (tonight at 8.30 on Two), which is about to begin its third series in the United States, has picked up numerous awards and nominations for its treatment of the American women's contribution to the Vietnam War.

Created by the awardwinning screenwriter, John Sacret Young, and the “Newsweek” magazine editor-in-chief, William Broyles, jun., “China Beach” won the 1989 People’s Choice Award as Favourite New Drama Series and also collected this year’s prestigious Humanitas Prize for one of its episodes.

The series was voted Best Quality Drama Series in 1989 by American viewers.

The production team for the series about the Vietnam heroines boasts an award-winning line-up of talented writers and producers. John Sacret Young was presented with the prestigious Christopher Award for his Oscar-nominated motion picture, Testament.”

Young serves as cocreator and executive producer of “China Beach” and his writing for the show has been billed as “a solid example of how good American TV can be,” by “Daily Variety” magazine. According to the Hollywood “Reporter,” Young’s writing is

fierce and formidable, to the point and not around it. The supervising producer, Georgia Jeffries, is also a writer for the show, and immediately prior to joining "China Beach” worked as a producer on the Emmy-winning series, “Cagney and Lacey.” For this Jeffries received a double 1987 Emmy nomination for her writing and producing.

She won the Writers’ Guild Award for one of her scripts for the cop show, and another episode about teenage sexuality and family responsibility won her another top American writing honour. Mimi Leder, another of the five writers and producers of the series, was the first woman cinematographer accepted to study at the prestigious American Film Institute.

After this history-mak-ing start in the film industry, Leder began a sixyear stint as script supervisor on the critically acclaimed series “Hill Street Blues.” Following this she produced and directed a short film, “Short Order Dreams,” which impressed the producers of the hit series “L.A. Law” so much that they invited her to direct an episode of their series. Since then, Leder has worked on other top rating programmes including “A Year in the Life” and “Bronx Zoo.”