Netflix's upcoming series Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City has plucked two CBS Daytime alums for its cast. Guiding Light's Murray Bartlett (ex-Cyrus Foley) has signed on in a series regular role, while As the World Turns' Michael Park (ex-Jack Snyder) has landed a recurring role on the family drama.
Tales of the City originally aired as a mini-series back in 1994 and followed Mary Ann Singleton (Laura Linney), a young woman from Cleveland, Ohio, who visited San Francisco on vacation and impulsively decided to stay. The series saw her befriend her landlord, Anna Madrigal, an eccentric, marijuana grower, as well as a bisexual tenant named Mona Ramsey, a heterosexual lothario named Brian Hawkins, a sinister tenant named Norman Neal Williams, and a sweet gay man named Michael Tolliver who goes by the nickname Mouse.
Netflix's sequel to the original miniseries follows Mary Ann (reprised by Laura Linney), who returns home to San Francisco and is reunited with her daughter Shawna (Ellen Page) and ex-husband Brian (Paul Gross), twenty years after leaving them behind. Fleeing the midlife crisis that her picture-perfect Connecticut life created, Mary Ann returns home to her chosen family and will quickly be drawn back into the orbit of Anna Madrigal and the residents of 28 Barbary Lane.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Bartlett is set to play Mouse, while Park will play a character named Robert. Meanwhile, Olympia Dukakis will be reprising her role of Anna Madrigal, and Barbara Garrick, who played DeDe Halcyon Day in the original miniseries, will also return.
Armistead Maupin's book series, upon which Tales of the City is based, has long been hailed as a cultural touchstone for the LGBT community; the novels were among the first to address the AIDS crisis. The original six-part Tales miniseries debuted on PBS in January 1994, and it generated controversy in some regions for its depiction of LGBT relationships. Showtime ran the subsequent miniseries, 1998's More Tales of the City and 2001's Further Tales of the City.
Netflix's upcoming sequel to the Tales of the City saga is scheduled to debut in 2019. Production included major efforts to feature members of the LGBTQ community behind the camera.
"Happy to finally be able to talk about this groundbreaking triumph of a show!" tweeted Michael Park once news of his casting on the series broke.
Happy to finally be able to talk about this ground breaking triumph of a show. https://t.co/uXEcbnfBH9
- Michael Park (@park24hrs) October 16, 2018
Park was a longtime staple of the daytime sphere as ATWT's Jack Snyder, a role he played from 1997 to 2010. His subsequent credits include The Good Wife, House of Cards, Chicago P.D., and Mindhunter.
Australian actor Murray Bartlett got his start in soap operas with roles on his country's Home and Away and Neighbors. His first US soap role was All My Children's Julian Sinclair, which he played from 2002 to 2003. He later landed the role of GL con man Cyrus Foley, which he played from 2007 to 2009.
What do you think about Tales of the City bringing Bartlett and Park to its cast? What do you think of the premise of Netflix's sequel of the LGBT story? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.
