PBS (Wed., May 9, 9 P.M. ET)
B-
Cleavon Little plays Nate Shaw, an 85-year-old Alabama sharecropper, in a one-man show for American Playhouse. His monologue, ranging over his family, rural life and the racial and economic oppression he faced, is adapted from Theodore Rosengarten's 1974 book of oral history. Despite the fact that Little got good notices as a senior citizen in I'm Not Rappaport on Broadway, he is never completely convincing as an old Southerner. Puttering around in a barnyard, weaving wicker baskets as he ruminates, Little relies on mannerisms that become labored over the course of two hours. But the anecdotes are rich in country wisdom and basic human dignity.
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