Man In The Mirror on Vh1

[CliffClavin]

Today, when one hears of Michael Jackson it is too often associated with weirdness - overdone plastic surgery, pet chimps, dangling babies, extravagant spending sprees and lurid accusations, supermarket newspaper speculation and charges of child molestation.

For decades one of the top sources for tabloid headlines, Michael Jackson's eccentricities and the public's seemingly endless fascination with him and everything about him have eclipsed the fact that two decades ago this son of a steelworker was unquestionably the biggest pop star of his time. Possessing an amazing ability to excite and mesmerize crowds with his talent, he was beloved by millions of adoring fans. Michael Jackson at the height of his musical career was as big as the Beatles and had as great an impact upon pop music and culture in the 80s as the British rock band did during the 60s. We have seen nothing like him since.

On September 13, 2004, Jackson's trial will begin as he faces charges of lewd acts on a young boy as well as child abduction, extortion and false imprisonment. Indicted by a Santa Barbara County grand jury in April, Jackson has pleaded innocent to all charges.

With so much focus on the Jackson's present situation, it is easy to forget the past. Who he was, the paths he chose, the impact he made on pop culture and what was behind the man who became so powerful an icon to generations of fans.

VH1, Blueprint Entertainment and Nomadic Pictures present Man In The Mirror: The Michael Jackson Story directed by Allan Moyle from a script by Claudia Salter. The film stars Flex Alexander as Michael Jackson. Also featured in the cast are Eugene Clark, Peter Onorati, Amy Sloan, Krista Rae, Fred Tucker and Patricia Idlette. The television movie is executive produced by Jon Katzman, John Morayniss and Joey Plager and produced by Mike Frislev and Chad Oakes.

(and yes it will cover The Jackson 5 to where he is now)

About Flex Alexander:
Flex Alexander was born and raised on the tough streets of the Bronx. For his first professional performance, he was paid $50 to breakdance at a Bar Mitzvah. Alexander loved to perform in front of an audience and decided to work as diligently as possible to become a performer. He became a dancer and choreographer with the rap trio sensation Salt N' Pepa. After appearing on such programs as the "Arsenio Hall Show" and touring with the group, Alexander became an assistant choreographer for the Warner Bros. Feature "New Jack City." He also continued to dance and choreograph with such recording stars as Queen Latifah, Toni Tony Tone, Heavy D and the Boys and Mary J. Blige, among others.

On television, Alexander appeared in the hit FOX series, "New York Undercover," and made his television debut on ABC's "Where I Live." He was also seen in both "Santa and Pete," which paired Alexander with James Earl Jones and Hume Cronyn, and the Stephen Bochco-produced drama, "Total Security." He also starred as Tyberious Walker on the UPN sitcom "Homeboys in Outer Space." Although "Homeboys" ran for only one season, Alexander proved that he could carry a sitcom with his charismatic personality and his irresistible good looks.

Alexander currently executive produces and stars in the hugely successful "One on One" for UPN. In the sitcom, he stars as a single parent whose life as a swinging sportscaster finds him having to play full-time dad to his 16 year-old daughter. His performance has earned him two NAACP Image Award nominations for lead actor in a comedy. In its second season, "One on One", was the number one rated show on UPN's Monday night primetime block as well as the number one show in African-American households.

Alexander is not foreign to the world of feature films. He recently wrapped the independent feature "Gas", produced by Ralph Farquhar and Claude Brooks. He co-starred in "Out Cold" for Spyglass Entertainment. Furthermore, he appeared opposite Harvey Keitel in the critically acclaimed "City of Industry," and co-starred with Marlon Wayans and Kadeem Hardison in Disney's "The Sixth Man. "

Besides television, movies and dance, Alexander also enjoyed a successful stand-up comedy career. He has performed everywhere from the Uptown Comedy Club (a notoriously challenging club in Manhattan) to Stand Up New York, The Improv, Laugh Factory, Showtime at the Apollo, The Comic Strip and numerous comedy clubs and universities around the country, before turning his attention to acting.

Alexander attended the esteemed High School of Art and Design, majoring in Architecture, and loves to draw in his spare time. He currently resides in Los Angeles with wife, R & B artist Shanice and their two children, daughter Imani and son Elijah.

[CliffClavin]

In the order they air:
right now:The Jacksons: American Dream
Michael Jackson's 30th Anniversary Special
Man In The Mirror

[tvje]

I saw the movie. It was terrible.

It should have started in the early 90's and not done anything on the Jackson 5 and Thriller years. Because in the first 10 minites they just fast foward through those years.

In the beginning, Joe Jackson saying no one would buy one glove before the Victory tour does not make sense, because by that time, the glove was already a hot selling item. And Michael not wanting to do the Pepsi commercial, because he does not want to sell out his fans is BS. This is the same guy that sold Beatles songs for use in Nike Ads. He is just as guilty of any celebirty of selling out. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

They did not announce the Lisa Marie marrage during the O.J. chase. And there so many other mistakes, I can post all night.

And they just skipped everything that happened in late 2003, when Michael was arrested.

[Jrnygrl]

I agree with tvje. This was so horrible, I was laughing through the whole thing. To begin with Flex as Michael Jackson, unbelieveble. His acting was so bad, like I said I laughed through the whole thing.

Really what was the purpose of making this?????

[vashti1999]

Originally posted by tvje
I saw the movie. It was terrible.

That's pretty much what I was expecting going in. It's rare when you get a quality unauthorized movie about a real figure. Not getting permission to use Michael's real music on top of everything else, no one should have expected any real quality from this. I only half paid attention to it while surfing online when it was on, I recorded it to watch at a later date. But yes, from what I saw, it looked pretty bad, and that's what I expected.

[I am Him]

I thought it was pretty good. Granted you would need to already know alot about Michael Jackson to understand it.

[tvje]

I hope they do a better job with the Rick James movie. God rest his soul.

[musicradio77]

I recorded that movie on my DVD-R and it was great. I love to watch "Man in the Mirror". It was great.

[isiahthomas]

TVJE u are absolutely right. This movie had so many holes in it. Michael Jackson has always had masks over his kids faces so u can't see what they look like & they showed his kids last night without masks on their faces. Plus when his skin was light, how come his hands weren't light in the movie? I also don't recall Michael & Lisa Marie gettin married during the OJ Simpson fiasco. The woman who played Lisa Marie looks better than the real Lisa Marie. Remember when Flex & the woman who played Lisa Marie were about to go to bed together & she told Flex that she wanted to make love to him? He said he believes in having sex when he got married LOL. Then he presented her with a engagement ring & they started kissing. U know the real Michael Jackson wouldn't have kissed her like that hahahahahahahahahahahaha. The dude who played Joe Jackson was somethin else. He acted just like Joe would've acted. Why was there only 4 Jackson brothers on stage with Flex in his concert scenes? He named Randy, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon but he didn't say Jackie. I was like where is Jackie at. How come Tito & Jermaine didn't have guitars in the concert scenes? This movie was wack. I didn't know The Jacksons An American Dream came on yesterday.

[Mr. Stefani]

They did not announce the Lisa Marie marrage during the O.J. chase. And there so many other mistakes, I can post all night.

1- Lisa Marie never lived @ Neverland.
2- Lisa Marie's children were not at the wedding.
3- LMP's children were a lot younger, and not the same age. Riley is 3 years older than Ben.
4- that bitch playing LMP was hella ugly and should be shot.

[tvje]

Also the Janet Jackson character only appeared during the 1980s in the movie. She looked like Janet Jackson looked during "Janet" and "Velvet Rope" era. She should have had short hair and looked like Janet when she was on "Diff'rent Strokes" and "Fame."

[Dean Winchester]

is it me or did Joe Jackson look like George Foreman with hair?

Katherine was always thinner than that, I thought.

Janet didn't look like Janet.

"Diana Ross" looked more like Janet than the actress playing Janet.

"Ziggy" was supposed to be Frank Dileo, who MJ parted ways with around the end of the Bad era (early 1989)... in here, he didn't part ways with him until well after Dangerous came out.

"Debbie Rowe" was a little too pretty, thin and not quite butch enough.

the actress who played Liz Taylor looks more like Nathan Lane dressed in drag in the movie The Birdcage than she looked like Liz.

on this, MJ still had dark skin through the Lisa Marie era... if I recall, it was during the Dangerous era where he "went white" (you can just see how much lighter he was in the Remember The Time video than from even Black Or White)

the boy pressing charges this time around was presented as a white boy... if I recall, wasn't he Hispanic on the Living With Michael Jackson special?

Flex didn't resemble MJ in the slighest until the last 30 minutes.

all in all... bad but good, better than the Madonna tv movie from the 90's, but no Martha Inc.

[CliffClavin]

The Jackson's All American Dream movie from 1992 was pretty good though.

[I am Him]

The Thriller Album sold 40 million copies, not 25.

[Dean Winchester]

Originally posted by I am Him
The Thriller Album sold 40 million copies, not 25.

well, the 25 (actually 26 now) is from the US alone... the rest is from worldwide sales