I know it has been 10 years since this show aired, but now that I'm registered at IMDb I felt it necessary for my FIRST comment to go to the one show that has forever been stuck in my mind as having been ruined - Follow The River. I, like Mari-36, read the book in my teen years (my mother's copy as well) loved the book so immensely. When the movie aired on television, I was dumb-founded that anything could be so contrived. Especially when the book (even though itself was only based on the true story of Mary Ingles) layed everything out on the table. The screenplay was molly-coddled for all of the sensitive people out there in tele-world and it would have to be considering it is public television, aired during family hours. Would public television, in 1995, be able to show a gray-haired Mary in nothing but her "bare" essentials? It REALLY should have been made into a 3hr movie for the true movie buffs out there (preferably directed by James Cameron). That way, the people involved with writing the script wouldn't have to mamby-pamby around. It's possible that THEY even wanted to give it a broader scope, but considering the audience is a must when you write for t.v.
My advice - skip the show, read the novel.... twice. :)
My advice - skip the show, read the novel.... twice. :)