March 28, 2024
Audio Features
Sokolsky on the Arts and Entertainment
A weekly program focusing on the arts and entertainment
Episode
The name is Rosie O’Donnell and as Arts and Entertainment Editor Bob Sokolsky notes, she has been “a singer, an actress, a talk show host and whatever that was she did for ‘The View’.”

But now she has a different project, a movie titled “America” and scheduled for Feb. 28 on the Lifetime cable network. O’Donnell is the film’s executive producer and shares screenplay writing credit with Joyce Eliason.

Based on the E.R. Frank novel, “America” attempts to call attention to the badly managed care of foster children in this country. It wraps that attempt into a story of a 17-year old boy who has been shunted from one inappropriate foster home to another. He eventually gains the attention of a concerned counselor, played by O’Donnell who tries to help him.

Sokolsky calls the film a well in intentioned work and praises the performances of O’Donnell and such other principals as Philip Johnson and Ruby Dee. However, he adds, the film itself is awkwardly edited and suffers from awkward dialogue.

On the other hand, he notes, “there is some comfort to be drawn from the fact that it has something important to say” and at least brings its message into the foreground.
Episode Date: February 13, 2009
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