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Whose Forest
Is This? - On the episode "Whose Forest Is It?" on the
domestic family drama THIRTYSOMETHING/ABC/1987-91 aspiring artist,
Nancy Weston (Patricia Wettig), the wife of a Elliot Weston
(Timothy Busfield), a Philadelphia ad agency executive, works on
a fairy tale with her son, Ethan (Luke Rossi) as a means of
helping him cope through the separation and potential divorce of
his parents.
Throughout the day, Nancy tells the tale of a
monster (a horned Maurice Sendak like beast), Prince & Princess
Stupidhead, and a mystical forest maiden called "The Leaf Lady."
Nancy later suggests making "a little book out of some of these
drawings" that she drew while creating the story. The result was
a beautifully illustrated children's book that became part of a
continuing storyline on the show.
As Nancy and Ethan (who helped
co-write the book) collaborated on the words of the story the
following dialog was spoken:
"It's about a prince who goes into
the forest to save the kingdom from monsters (furry ones, not
slimy).....the monster had stolen the sun which the prince had
to recover......the prince went into the forest accompanied by
Princess Stupidhead (seen as Ethan's sister, Brittany played by
Jordana "Bink" Shapiro). The prince leaves the princess with the
Leaf Lady (seen as Melissa Steadman played by Melanie Mayron))
who gives the prince a sword and knights him......The prince has
been traveling in the forest when the beast rushes out and tries
to attack him....The prince isn't afraid of him and they make
friends and the prince fixes the monster's paw with a magic
Band-Aid."
At one point in the story, The Leaf Lady said "I hope
you find whoever's been stealing the sun because, frankly, I'm
getting a little bit tired of all this darkness!"
Later in the
series, Nancy is informed that their book will be published.
Along with that good news came the bomb shell that Nancy has
been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. The illustrations seen
throughout the book's creative process were created for the
series by artist Michael Hague.
Other books mentioned during the
life of the series included the "Aspects of Early English
Literate Poetry" and "Motiff Index of Early Icelandic Folk Tales",
and an article on Gilgamesh: the subtext - all written by
college Professor Gary Shepherd (played by Peter Horton); and a
novel called "The Girl with the Koolaid Soul" written by ad
executive Michael Steadman (played by Ken Olin).
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