“George & Tammy” TV Series Finally Gets Trailer, Air Date
It’s finally happening, and sooner rather than later. It always seems like whenever there are rumors of movies or a television series about country legends, those rumors rarely materialize. This time, they’re coming to life, and more in-depth than originally envisioned.
The limited series George & Tammy: The Rise and Fall of Country Music’s King and Queen about the life and marriage of country legends Tammy Wynette and George Jones will premier on both Showtime and the Paramount Network on Sunday, December 4th at 9 MP Eastern. On Paramount, it will air right after a new episode of Yellowstone. Then subsequent episodes will continue to air Sundays at 9 PM on Showtime exclusively, though they’re expected to re-air eventually on either Paramount or their Paramount+ streaming service.
Starring Jessica Chastain as Tammy, and Michael Shannon as George, the limited series is based off of the 2013 book The Three of Us: Growing Up with Tammy and George written by the couple’s only child, performer Georgette Jones. “This is the real story of my actual parents and since neither are here with us anymore it’s even more special to us to tell their story,” Georgette Jones says.
Other cast members include Tammy Wynette’s final husband and manager George Richey (Steve Zahn), George Richey’s former wife Sheila Richey (Kelly McCormack), songwriter and George Jones collaborator Earl “Peanutt” Montgomery (Walton Goggins), Wynette’s second husband and collaborator Don Chapel (Pat Healy), record producer and songwriter Billy Sherrill (David Wilson Barnes), and makeup and hair artist Jan Smith (Katy Mixon).
George Jones and Tammy Wynette were married for six years between 1969 and 1975, but had a professional country music duet career for much longer. The relationship was both passionate and tempestuous, and will certainly make for quality drama, so much so that the creators decided to extend the project into a multi-part series from the original idea of a feature film. That drama comes to life in the trailer for the series that was just released (see below).
George & Tammy began shooting in Wilmington, North Carolina in 2021, and announced that Michael Shannon would be assuming the role of George Jones after the original actor Josh Brolin had to back out due to a scheduling conflict. Brolin is still connected to the project as an executive producer. David Hutkin and Bob Yari of 101 Studios are also executive producers for the series with Brolin. 101 is the same studio that produces Yellowstone. Abe Sylvia, who is best known for producing the popular Netflix series “Dead to Me” and Showtime series “Nurse Jackie,” is the creator and writer of the series. T Bone Burnett is handling the music.
In anticipation of some criticizing the sounds or singing of Jessica Chastain and Michael Shannon as George and Tammy, Georgette Jones said on Friday, “Not one person on this planet sounds just like Mom or Dad. They made the decision to have them sing because the most important part of a true story is being real and emotional in every moment. If anyone has ever watched people lipsync, it’s obvious that it’s difficult at best for the music to connect as well as be able to show an emotional performance … I’m hoping people will realize it’s the story that matters most since we already have the beautiful music they made separately and together…we already have that forever.”
November 4, 2022 @ 6:31 pm
Paramount+ has a showtime upgrade ($3.99 more a month). I bet you’ll need that upgrade to watch on Paramount+ after the first episode airs on regular Paramount after Yellowstone on December 4th. Aren’t we glad we unbundled? I liked it better when we had 1 bill for everything and not a million different platforms with +’s and upgrades.
November 5, 2022 @ 8:10 am
Ok grandpa. Go listen to your shortwave radio and catch a matinee down at the Bijou. The rest of us are fine with taking out a second mortgage to fund five different streaming services. Sheesh, spend it while you can!
November 5, 2022 @ 9:26 am
Tremendous
November 7, 2022 @ 9:08 am
I subscribe to two streaming services, and as a film buff, I also buy a lot of movies on Blu-ray (and a few, here and there, on 4K), so unless I can see this series on a free trial, or pay to see it for just its duration and then cancel easily, or buy it later on physical media, I’ll be missing it. I’d *really like* to see it, but no one can pay for all of the different streaming services out there. I have a pretty large physical media collection though, and I’d be happy to add a Blu-ray or 4K of this series to it, unless it somehow turns out that the series is terrible. It does look good from the trailer!
November 4, 2022 @ 7:18 pm
I miss cable TV. You know when pretty much every one could watch pretty much the same thing. I refuse to get 20 different streaming services just to watch 1 or 2 shows on each, no this looks OK, but I will just have to pass, the one streaming service I do like is tubi, you have to watch ads, but it least it is FREE, and uncensored.
November 4, 2022 @ 8:21 pm
Translation: I’m cheap or don’t make good enough $
November 4, 2022 @ 9:33 pm
That’s a crappy remark & you know it.
Stop being an a**.
How about she knows what she is willing to spend her $ on.
November 5, 2022 @ 6:06 am
Thanks for sticking up for me, but I am a man, but thanks, it is nice to know someone with actual intelligence on this site. Have a great day, I do enjoy reading your posts.
November 5, 2022 @ 8:58 am
: D Apologies, & you’re welcome.
November 5, 2022 @ 9:03 am
You are a man?
Your ranting and whining sure is a good disguise.
November 5, 2022 @ 9:06 am
Folks, let’s move on. My goodness, can we not have one single article that doesn’t descend into name calling?
November 7, 2022 @ 7:13 am
leave it to CK to bring in the sexism.
November 5, 2022 @ 6:04 am
It is sad that stupid people who try to be funny , are really not, why don’t you just stick to loving your own wife/sister/cousin or what ever you inbred people are into these days, and leave me the hell alone, I am not bothering you troll, so piss off.
November 4, 2022 @ 7:20 pm
Casting for both of these roles don’t really hit the mark. Both very talented actors, but neither of them feel like the best choice for Tammy and George.
November 5, 2022 @ 6:40 am
I was thinking the same thing, especially Jessica Chastain, who has made a career starring in activist type roles. She’s about as far from being country as there is. Shannon is a great actor, but I think some lesser known actors may have served better here.
November 5, 2022 @ 7:02 am
What is an “activist type role?” This idea that a person has to be “country” certified by you to play a country role in film is so wildly outdated.
November 5, 2022 @ 7:33 am
Activist type roles, like starting in movies with political narratives. Femenist, anti 2nd amendment, ect.
First line from her Wiki page: Jessica Michelle Chastain is an American actress and film producer. Known for primarily starring in films with feminist themes.
November 5, 2022 @ 7:41 am
The job of an actor is to act. How they feel about politics, or what roles they’ve played in the past shouldn’t influence the role they’re playing in the present. Georgette Jones is also right about all the people saying, “Gee, they don’t look/sound exactly like George and Tammy. Well of course they don’t. With something like this, you’re always going to have to suspend disbelief. By getting an actress with a name people recognize, it will create attention for this series, which is the point. And hopefully, the series will draw attention to the legacy of George Jones and Tammy Wynette. That is why you have leads, and few if any of these projects book all unknown actors. Because then nobody wants to watch, and you don’t recoup your investment.
November 6, 2022 @ 5:22 am
Since you’re so well versed in her career discography, which performances of her are activist? What has she done in those roles to turn the attention away from the film and toward social issues?
Very interested to here this from a Jessica Chastain activism expert.
November 6, 2022 @ 7:01 am
I see you have stopped replies to the responses to my comments here Trigger, but I would like to clarify my own comments.
1. I am not attempting to judge Jessica Chastain or start a political argument here.
2. I responded to another commenter that stated that they thought it was a strange choice for the two lead roles. I agreed and pointed out that I thought that casting an actress who is widely known for her roles in movies that have political narratives, which is a fact verified by her Wiki page and other publications, was a curious choice for the role of one of country music’s biggest stars.
3. My point was not to say Jessica Chastain can’t or won’t do a fine job acting out the role, or that she shouldn’t be able to have roles other than what she’s done in the past. My point is to simply say that due to her being a well known actress with political ties, there will be difficulty for some to “suspend disbelief” with Chastain playing the role of another well known and loved music legend.
In short, I’m not trying to paint some political narrative of her or say she is undeserving of the role. I’m just commenting simply that I thought it was an odd choice for casting. Not a judgement of her or a prediction of success or failure. Just an observation. If someone want’s to make more of that observation than what it is, then they are putting more meaning into it than what was intended.
November 5, 2022 @ 8:38 am
Actors act.
There’s a great video of Richard Thomas discussing playing Hank Williams Jr. in The Hank Williams Jr, Story”–and the conversation that he had with Hank when Thomas called him up before the start of filiming to discuss making the movie.
Thomas recalls that Hank complained, “They told me they have this John Boy playing me. I aint’ no John Boy!”. But it only got better from there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzbN9Gbvbdw
November 4, 2022 @ 8:17 pm
#BoycottYellowstone
November 5, 2022 @ 7:31 pm
I kinda want to date you.
Yellowstone is SO bad.
November 4, 2022 @ 8:23 pm
I’ll watch Walton Goggins in any role. That is going to be awesome!
November 4, 2022 @ 9:45 pm
This actually looks like it is going to be good.
November 4, 2022 @ 10:34 pm
Hmm…looks great, I think they do a good job imitating George & Tammy’s vocal with their singing, they ain’t no worser than what Joaquin Phoenix did as Johnny Cash. I wonder how their former spouses feel about this being made? They’re quite a few country couples in history like Johnny & June, Tim & Faith, but there is just something about George & Tammy their voices go together beautifully they will always be The King & Queen of Country Music.
November 10, 2022 @ 6:31 pm
“ain’t no worser”? Good lord
November 5, 2022 @ 4:21 am
I don’t believe a story, told by someone who has a personal interest in how she and her family will be portrayed, will be even 50% accurate.
November 5, 2022 @ 9:04 am
What is your avatar?
November 5, 2022 @ 2:46 pm
A portrait of my dream candidate for 2024.
November 5, 2022 @ 7:33 pm
I hope Honky runs for president! He would make a great leader.
November 5, 2022 @ 7:33 pm
Franco?
Seriously?
Sohrab Amari, is that you?
November 5, 2022 @ 8:07 pm
Seriously.
November 6, 2022 @ 11:49 am
I’m a practicing Catholic Christian, and Sohrab Amari’s worldview scares me. The whole “integralist” argumentation, period, scares me, to be honest, but that’s a pretty “inside Catholic baseball” conversation that, to my eternal gratefulness, doesn’t really get too much traction in most of the everyday, offline, world in the U.S.
November 6, 2022 @ 7:26 am
I’m totally shocked that you’re a fan of a violent, fascist backing, right wing dictator. That seems so out of character for you, Honky.
November 5, 2022 @ 8:06 am
Looks good. Like others have mentioned, Not sure how the two leads will do as George and Tammy, but I’ll watch pretty much anything Steve Zahn is in.
November 5, 2022 @ 9:45 am
He always slays! Mix in Walton Goggins and you know it’s going to be awesome!
November 5, 2022 @ 5:12 pm
Michael Shannon is one of my very favorite actors, especially in suspense/thriller/horror films (the man can do “unnerving and menacing” so well!), but I have to admit, I never imagined him playing George Jones. With his acting chops though, maybe he can pull it off. However, I already pay for two streaming services and don’t want to add another one, with a possible upgrade, just to be able to watch this. If it’s released on Blu-ray or DVD, I’ll happily buy it. Hope it’s good!
November 5, 2022 @ 7:29 pm
Two legit heavyweight actors in the leads, anyway.
I bet it’s good.
November 6, 2022 @ 11:33 am
Hmmm, after watching the trailer, which does look good, maybe I’ll get the free trial of Showtime, if I can *just* to be able to watch this, and then cancel, after it’s finished. Both the leads really seem like they’re going to be good here. I’m not nearly as familiar with Jessica Chastain’s work as I am with Michael Shannon’s, but the from the trailer, it doesn’t look like either George or Tammy is going to be portrayed in a way that would play into silly, far-too-simplistic ideologies of either “all heterosexual men are heartless, patriarchal dominators” or “all heterosexual women are evil, heartless, wenches out to mess up men.” With certain movie trends being what they are now (and have been for some time), I will admit that I was a bit worried that this series would utterly demonize George, and portray Tammy in absolutely nothing but the most angelic, Saintly light. I know Tammy went through a great amount of pain with George, and I’m certainly not defending *any* of his clearly terrible behavior in their marriage, but we are all human, and flawed, and we all have our good and bad points, and I just want *both* George and Tammy to be portrayed as genuine human beings here, and *not* as positive or negative archetypes for one, or another, ideology. To me, this is not so much a matter of one political “side” or another, but rather, a matter of the integrity of art. With all of this said, after watching the trailer, my concerns are mostly gone now, and I’m seriously looking forward to seeing this!
On a side Michael Shannon note: if there are any fans of his acting here who *really* like him in horror-oriented roles, as I do, you might be interested to hear that in 2023, a 4K disc will *finally* be released featuring one of his scariest roles, as the male lead in 2006’s “Bug,” directed by William Friedkin of “The Exorcist” and “French Connection” fame. “Bug” is one of the most haunting. memorable, and truly frightening, psychological horror movies I’ve ever seen, and Shannon is incredible in it. It’s definitely not a movie for people who don’t want to watch emotionally heavy films though.