Episode 60: And the Band Played On, the Story of the Early Days of the AIDS Crisis

It’s been a minute since we’ve reminded our audience that Ronald Reagan is trash; there’s no better illustration of the hell he unleashed on America in one of our most mean-spirited decades by pretending that AIDS didn’t exist, or deriding it among his cabinet with giggle fits. 

You know who’s not trash? The many scientists and activists who are featured in this groundbreaking 1993 TV movie, And the Band Played On, based on Randy Shilt’s groundbreaking nonfiction chronicle of the early days of the AIDS epidemic (except the Patient Zero business, and we’ll get to that). 

At the wrap-up of Pride Month, Rena and Sara discuss the heroic efforts of Aaron Spelling (yes, that Aaron Spelling) to get this film made, the mini-masterpiece performances by Richard Gere, Swoosie Kurtz, and Steve Martin, how Charles Martin Smith is always the hero you want, the 1990s as the golden age of sex ed in the public school system, and the lost art of shaming. 

And the Band Played On is directed by Roger Spottiswoode and stars Ian McKellan as Bill Kraus, Matthew Modine as Dr. Don Francis, Glenne Headley as Dr. Mary Guinan, Richard Gere as the Choreographer, Saul Rubenek as Dr. James Curran, Richard Masur  as Dr. William Darrow, Alan Alda as Dr. Robert Gallow, Lily Tomlin as Dr. Selma Dritz, Charles Martin Smith as Dr. Harold Jaffe, Patrick Bachau as Dr. Luc Montagnier, B.D. Wong as Kico Govantes, Richard Jenkins as Dr. Marcus Conant, Tchéky Karyo as Dr. Willy Rozenbaum, Donal Logue as Bobbi Campbell, with Steve Martin, Swoosie Kurtz, Anjelica Houston, Phil Collins, and Stephen Spinella. 

Sources used in the episode include…

And the Band Played On by Randy Shilts

This amazing interview with Aaron Spelling: https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/aaron-spelling?clip=54430  

Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it.

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