Why I'd watch over and over this TV-movie whenever I'd catch it in Hallmak about a decade ago is still a mystery to me up to now. The Temptations was never my favorite group. Sure, I liked some of its songs but they were never in my personal Top 40. Given a stack of CDs or VCDs, I'd grab those of the Jacksons or the Bee Gees/Andy Gibb over this Motown musical group any time. I wasn't even familiar with any of their cast of characters and their stories, as I was with John, Paul, George, and Ringo, for example.
But still I watched. Didn't matter whether I caught the movie at the beginning, middle or the end. Maybe because it was just a well-made TV movie of the rise and fall of one of the most popular bands in its era (the 1960s) who revolutionized the music industry then by catapulting one hit after another into the charts from an African-American group, unheard of at that time. Maybe it was the writing that deftly captured the evolution and later devolution of eager young singers who reached for their dreams only to crash and burn. Maybe it was the strong bond of friendship of the two founders that layered the emotional stampede in the film, giving it heart and soul.
I'd never had that kind of experience again - wherein I'd drop everything at the broadcast of a TV movie about a cast of characters that were not exactly known to me. In that sense, this TV movie of The Temptations is a first for me and, still, a mystery.
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