(Jan. 23, 2009) Hundreds of students, faculty and film enthusiasts gathered in the Cimarron Café at the Tivoli Jan. 22 to celebrate Monday’s premiere of Good Grief, the mini-series, on PBS. The series offers seven nights of comedy and drama showcasing unique Colorado talents. An original seven-episode, television miniseries shot entirely in the Tivoli on the Auraria campus during summer 2008, Good Grief was created by TV writing talent Craig Volk, assistant professor of Theatre, Film and Video Production at the University of Colorado Denver College of Arts & Media, and his UC Denver College of Arts & Media students.
The series is a co-production of UC Denver College of Arts and Media (CAM), Rocky Mountain PBS and dc dakota films, created to help target a new younger demographic (18-34 year olds) with a show that could air on multiple platforms—the internet, television and mobile phones. The cast, crew and musicians are local talent drawn from UC Denver’s arts and media students and area professionals—approximately 17 UC Denver faculty/staff and 40 UC Denver CAM students are involved as actors, extras, crew, writers and musicians. Denver community professionals totaled 46 actors, 25 crew and support professionals, and 30 musicians for more than 150 Colorado participants.
A wide variety of area musicians are showcased, including seven groups featured in music videos that conclude each episode. In all, a dozen musical groups/soloists are featured.
“We are thrilled to be collaborating with such strong musical talent from the Denver scene,” said Volk. “Then, when we needed additional music to score scenes, CAM Records was instrumental in locating groups featured on their releases.”
Good Grief is a family ‘dramedy’ that centers around the struggles of three Hispanic sisters who run a coffee shop on a university campus and their customers from the nearby student body and medical center. The sisters’ brother, who funds the shop, is in Iraq but due back at the end of the week. Each episode takes place during the half hour before closing time on seven consecutive nights leading up to the brother’s impending furlough.
The sisters are part of each episode and there are four other main characters—five of the seven leads are from UC Denver CAM and a third of the cast is composed of students. The rest are professionals from the Denver area. Grants covered the costs of producing the 173 scenes.
Good Grief debuts on Monday, Jan. 26 at 10 p.m. It will run every night at 10 p.m. from Jan. 26-30 then return for the final two episodes on Feb. 2 and 3.
Photos: At top, Craig Volk, CAM faculty member and Northern Exposure script writer, speaks with students about the birth of 'Good Grief.' At right, two of the sisters talk to Lovie Johnson's character (doctor of internal medicine) on screen while he discusses his role with reception goers.