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Susan Granger's review of "MARRIAGE IN THE 20th CENTURY: IN SEARCH OF
THE HAPPY ENDING" on SHOWTIME TV

Six top Hollywood filmmakers take an entertaining and provocative look at the issues of the millennium in a new SHOWTIME series titled "In the 20th Century." Using archival material, interviews with experts, and newly-shot footage, these feature-length documentaries will air on a monthly basis, beginning Monday, June 14, at 10 P.M. with "Marriage in the 20th Century," hosted by director Garry Marshall, who has been married to the same woman for 36 years. In addition to his own family experience, he has often explored the topic in his work - from "The Lucy Show" and "Happy Days" to "Pretty Woman" and the upcoming "Runaway Bride." His favorite characters are often looking for love and hoping for a fairytale ending that comes with a marriage proposal and a ring. Using the set of "Runaway Bride" as a starting point, he embarks on a journey which reveals how marriage has changed throughout the century. Whether it's a civil ceremony presided over by a justice of the peace or a more colorful visit to a drive-up wedding chapel in Las Vegas, where the bride is given away by an Elvis impersonator, he reveals that the ways in which couples marry are as varied as the reasons they decide to take the leap. Marshall candidly delves into inter-racial and homosexual marriage, plus the once-taboo issue of divorce. I felt that this heartfelt homage to marriage was at least a half-hour too long, as Marshall repeatedly emphasizes that, despite the pitfalls, people will inevitably continue the search for a happy ending. If you miss Monday night's segment, it will be repeated on June 30 at 12:15 A.M.. Future episodes include Barry Levinson on "The Future," Robert Townsend on "Sex," Norman Jewison on "Comedy," Gregory Nava on "The American Dream," and Robert Zemeckis on "Smoking, Drinking, and Drugging." They all should be worth watching.

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