Yesterday, a local progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) support group member noted that a new NBC show features a character with PSP. The show, “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist,” premiered last night. It’s great to have a bit of awareness about PSP.
Here’s a recent “Hollywood Reporter” article about this. An excerpt from the article is:
Austin Winsberg tells The Hollywood Reporter about the extremely personal origins of his high-concept series. … The series…follows Jane Levy’s Zoey, a San Francisco computer programmer who is suddenly able to see people expressing their innermost thoughts through musical numbers. It starts with strangers at a coffee shop…but also involves her friends, neighbors, co-workers and family members — including her father (Peter Gallagher, The O.C.), who is nearly comatose and suffering from the rare neurological disease progressive supranuclear palsy. Winsberg…began toying with the idea for what would become Zoey’s in the aftermath of his father’s death from the same disease Gallagher’s character has. It was a life-changing tragedy for the tight-knit family, and it took several years to process the grief and trauma stemming from that experience. “I started thinking about the different ways in which I could tell that story, and what is a way that can make it feel hopeful and optimistic rather than just sad and depressing?” [he said.] Eventually, he began thinking about how he didn’t know what was going on in his dad’s head during his illness — and the idea stemmed from there.
Read the full article here:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/zoeys-extraordinary-playlist-boss-turned-grief-joy-musical-series-1267457
How ‘Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist’ Creator Turned His Grief Into NBC’s Joyful Musical Dramedy
Hollywood Reporter
January 07, 2020 6:30am PT
by Jean Bentley
Robin
