Many people said that this time around, it was much darker and downright dreary. Yes, it was darker, but the times were darker, too. Yes, AIDS was starting to rear its very ugly head (with an even uglier president freshly elected who practically promoted AIDS as something beneficial to the population at large...but I digress). But other things were happening, too.For instance, Mary Ann Singleton started to discover love in her own backyard. She's also found a hot story, that she holds (to good effect) onto, waiting to spring it upon the public, even if her GSR's (now called "Q" ratings) are miserable. Through a series of only-can- written-by-Armistead-Maupin twists and turns, she and her new-again friend DeDe Halcyon-Day go through a wrenching comedy of errors. That's not to say that Michael Mouse and Mrs. Madrigal don't have their own series of twists and turns to go through, which of course, only makes them grow even further as characters in the series, but this time around, they play second banana to Mary Ann.In the end, perhaps things turn out glib, but remember that this is merely a continuation in a long chain of stories. It's not meant to be the climax of the series. It is meant as entertainment, and that's precisely what it accomplishes: what can be more fun than a chase leading to the very borders of the Cold War, a kidnapping (not what you think!), and a gun- wielding born-again Christian blowing someone away! Altogether, a faithful rendition of the third installment of the Tales of the City saga.Let's hope Showtime (or HBO or someone in Canada...they've got such better programming!) makes the last three books into the well-depicted realities that Channel 4 and Showtime have already accomplished.

This third installment of "Tales" takes place four years after the original and continues following the story of Mary Ann Singleton (Linney) and the gang at 28 Barbary Lane into the Reagan era. The plot goes a little haywire with too much time spent on Jim Jones, Mary Ann trying to advance in her career, and other much sillier points. The series also suffers from too much focus on Garrick's DeDe Halcyon Day. The character, as she appears in the third movie, is not particularly sympathetic and her motivations are not well explained. Again, this series really is worth seeing because of Linney, she knows her character very well by now and does a great job. Campbell really only has about 15 minutes of screen time in this one and Dukakis is good, but her character is getting tiresome. Certainly watchable, but not up to the caliber of either of the first two installments.

Another enjoyable installment, from Mr Maupin, about normal fun people who do find themselves tangled in many webs.For anyone to whom the pacing seems a bit odd. Please remember that this was originally written for a newspaper. Each installment had to move quickly and leave the reader interested. It's good to see that Showtime has remained true to the articles (which were turned into books) again.

Being a huge fan of Mr. Maupin's previous two series as well as the books, I knew there was no need to worry about being disappointed...once again the "Gang" delivers...Pierre Gang, that is; he also directed "More Tales" a few years back and returns to helm this installment as well. The primary cast is back, however, noticeably absent is Mona Ramsey, who's gone off to Seattle, presumably to find herself. Laura Linney once again dives in displaying "further" sides (not to mention views) of Mary Ann. In fact, that can pretty much be said about every character this time around. Everyone gets to explore sides of themselves that before went untouched. And that's as it should be, considering "Further" picks up four years after "More" as opposed to the few month gap between the first two series. It's 1981 and the feel of the seventies is dwindling, making room for the "me" decade to come. For this writer, one of the coolest aspects was the return of Mary Kay Place to the role of Prue Giroux, which she originated in a mere couple of scenes in the first "Tales" back in '92. This time around she is a main character with some very real problems, most of which center around a peculiar man named Luke, whom she finds living in the park. Luke, as played by Henry Czerny, is the character you will be hard pressed to forget. Olympia, as always, gives just the right balance necessary to keep everyone else in line. Bruce McCulloch (Kids in the Hall) is a riot as Father Paddy. Joel Grey shows up in a role that (if one didn't know better) seems tailor-made. Barbara Garrick goes round three with a new and improved DeDe; she gets my vote as the most underrated character and actress of the saga. Armistead Maupin has always said that his primary influence when writing is Alfred Hitchcock - as you view, you'll see why he says that. As usual, the stories and characters overlap one another, going seemingly unnoticed by the participants. Maupin himself gives perhaps his most clever Hitchcockian cameo yet (big laugh).My only complaint is that the we're treated to less screentime with this series. It's about a third shorter than the previous two. As I haven't read the book in some time, I don't know what had to be sacrificed to make this possible. One of the great strengths of the first two series was the near seamless adaptations of the books upon which they were based. Was it a budgetary decision? Or just simple storytelling? It does indeed move faster than the last series. In any case, some "Tales" are better than no "Tales". Let's hope they do the next three as well.