When we first told you about NBC’s plan to develop a series of TV movies based on the down-home life and even more down-home music of Dolly Parton, the first possibility that came to mind was a movie based on Parton’s autobiographical song “Coat Of Many Colors,” about a girl whose classmates laugh at her for her ragged, patchwork coat, but she doesn’t care because she’s going to grow up to write “Jolene” and “9 To 5.” (Also, something about love and the Bible.)
And that’s exactly what NBC is doing, the network announced today at an upfronts presentation that reportedly paused for a solid 15 minutes so NBC Entertainment chairman Bob Greenblatt could accompany Parton on the piano as she sang “Coat Of Many Colors” and “I Will Always Love You.” (That’s three times longer than The Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon was on the stage, according to Deadline’s live blog.) The excuse for the musical interlude—insofar as one was needed—was to introduce a TV movie based on the former song, which Parton calls her favorite she has ever written.
Beyond that premise, all we know is that the Parton-themed movies will feature music, but won’t be musicals, and that Parton may co-star in some of them. Parton also reportedly talked about “horny hillbillies” at the presentation and told advertisers in the audience to “Get that money out!,” which is about as down-home as it gets. The coat of many colors in question is currently on display in Chasing Rainbows, a museum devoted to Parton at her theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.