LOS ANGELES: August 17th, 2004 - SHOWTIME will present the world premiere of "Beautiful Dreamer:<span> </span> Brian Wilson and The Story of <i>Smile</i>," a <span>feature-length</span> documentary chronicling the most famous unreleased album in music history, the legendary work of Beach Boys' co-founder and composer, arranger and producer Brian Wilson, it was announced today by Robert Greenblatt, President of Entertainment for Showtime Networks Inc.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span><br> Directed by award-winning writer David Leaf and produced by LSL <span>Productions</span> (David Leaf, Steve Ligerman and John Scheinfeld) in association with Richard Waltzer's Chautauqua Entertainment, the film will air on SHOWTIME on October 5^th at 9:00 PM (ET/PT) and features dozens of candid interviews, including an unprecedented one with Wilson himself, exclusive "behind-the-scenes" footage of this past winter's tour rehearsals and the first ever <i>Smile</i> concert taped in London this past February.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span><br> "<i>Smile</i> is among history's great unfinished works and this extraordinary documentary will explain why," said Greenblatt.  "Music fans, as well as the average viewer, will all be able to relate to the story of this remarkable record's birth, demise and triumphant return to life."</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span><br> "<i>Smile</i> is the most important piece of music that I ever composed, and I'm thrilled that Showtime feels so strongly about it that they are going to let me tell the story of <i>Smile</i> in this film,"<span> </span> said Wilson.<span> </span> "I hope that the music...and the movie...makes everybody Smile." </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><st1:City><st1:place><span>Wilson</span></st1:place></st1:City> <span>intended for <i>Smile</i> to be his magnum opus, in his own words:  "a teenage symphony to God."  The highly anticipated record was scheduled to be</span> <st1:City><st1:place><span>Wilson</span></st1:place></st1:City><span>'s follow-up to the Beach Boys' masterpiece <i>Pet Sounds</i>, considered by many to be the greatest album in the history of rock 'n' roll. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span><br> However, in 1967, <i>Smile</i> was abandoned after nearly a year of work when internal and external conflict and</span> <st1:City><st1:place><span>Wilson</span></st1:place></st1:City><span>'s growing depression caused him to bring recording sessions to a halt.  The news sent shock waves through the world of pop music, but the album's legend never stopped growing.  Despite its absence in any official form, finished or unfinished, <i>Smile</i> became the Holy Grail of pop aficionados around the world.<br> <br> <span>In May of 2003</span>,</span> <st1:City><st1:place><span>Wilson</span></st1:place></st1:City> <span>startled everybody when he announced that he would be performing <i>Smile</i> and then re-teamed with his original <i>Smile</i> collaborator, Van Dyke Parks, to complete the album.  Over 37 years after <i>Smile</i> was conceived,</span> <st1:City><st1:place><span>Wilson</span></st1:place></st1:City> <span>was finally ready to officially share the work in its entirety, and on</span> <st1:date Month="2" Day="20" Year="2004"><span>February 20, 2004</span></st1:date><span>,</span> <st1:City><st1:place><span>Wilson</span></st1:place></st1:City> <span>and his ten-piece band performed the entire long-lost album at</span> <st1:City><st1:place><span>London</span></st1:place></st1:City><span>'s Royal Festival Hall. One of the most eagerly anticipated events in pop music history, <i>Smile</i> was met with ecstatic response from fans and critics.<span> </span></span> <st1:City><st1:place><span><span>Wilson</span></span></st1:place></st1:City> <span>just finished a European tour,</span> <span>and he will debut <i>Smile</i> in</span> <st1:country-region><st1:place><span>America</span></st1:place></st1:country-region> <span>on a</span> <st1:country-region><st1:place><span>US</span></st1:place></st1:country-region> <span>tour beginning in September.  On September 28th, Nonesuch Records will release a brand-new studio recording of <i>Smile</i>, produced by</span> <st1:City><st1:place><span>Wilson</span></st1:place></st1:City><span>.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span><br> "Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and The Story of <i>Smile</i>," explores this lost masterpiece, from its conception, creation and near-completion, revealing the truth behind its shelving.  The film also reveals the behind-the-scenes drama as</span> <st1:City><st1:place><span>Wilson</span></st1:place></st1:City> <span>confronts the demons from his past, returns to the artist's garret and finally takes <i>Smile</i> into the concert hall.  The documentary features exclusive footage shot during the month-long rehearsals for the <i>Smile</i> tour as well as from the electric opening night concert.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span><br> The documentary is highlighted by exclusive interviews with the album's key participants, including Wilson, Lyricist Van Dyke Parks, studio musicians Carol Kaye and Hal Blaine, Brian's songwriting peers Burt Bacharach and Jimmy Webb and rock music legends Sir George Martin and Roger Daltrey.  Other interviews feature commentary from renowned musicians and artists who were influenced by</span> <st1:City><st1:place><span>Wilson</span></st1:place></st1:City><span>'s work, including Elvis Costello, Jeff Bridges, Rob Reiner.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span><br> The film will also contain rare archival material such as footage from</span> <st1:City><st1:place><span>Wilson</span></st1:place></st1:City><span>'s legendary performance of "Surf's Up" on Leonard Bernstein's 1967 American television special and the only known color photos from the <i>Smile</i> sessions.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span><br> Brian Wilson's life has been as full of artistic and commercial successes as it has of profound personal setbacks and professional frustrations. </span> <st1:City><st1:place><span>Wilson</span></st1:place></st1:City> <span>formed the Beach Boys with his two younger brothers, Dennis and Carl, their cousin Mike Love and friend Al Jardine.  In the early and mid-1960s, the band rode an enormous wave of popularity, during which</span> <st1:City><st1:place><span>Wilson</span></st1:place></st1:City> <span>co-wrote, arranged and produced more than two dozen Top Forty hits and nine consecutive "gold" albums, earning the group a place in the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame and himself a spot in the Songwriters Hall of Fame.  Wilson also pioneered the use of the recording studio as an instrument in the creation of art, and with works such as <i>Pet Sounds</i> and "Good Vibrations," he changed the history of popular music.<br> <br> <i>Smile</i> was to be the next step, but when he put it aside,</span> <st1:City><st1:place><span>Wilson</span></st1:place></st1:City><span>'s prolific creative output began to slowly dwindle as depression, the pressures of the business and family fatalities (he's the only surviving</span> <st1:City><st1:place><span>Wilson</span></st1:place></st1:City><span>) eclipsed his life.   Though often tempered by tragedy, his gift for music has endured.  He has released three studio solo albums, including his acclaimed 1988 solo debut, <i>Imagination</i> (1998), and <i>Gettin' In Over My</i> Head (2004), which came out <span>this past June</span>.  Brian currently lives in</span> <st1:City><st1:place><span>Beverly Hills</span></st1:place></st1:City> <span>with his wife Melinda and their two daughters and son.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span><br> David Leaf is a Peabody and WGAW Award-winning television writer and producer/director best known for his work on acclaimed pop culture programs, music specials and retrospectives.  Among his producing credits are the Emmy-nominated "Billy Joel: In His Own Words" [A&amp;E], "The Songwriters Hall of Fame" [Bravo], "The Score" [Trio], "An-All Star Tribute To Brian Wilson" [TNT] and "You Can't Do That: The Making Of 'A Hard Day's Night'."  He has also written such event specials as "Farm Aid" [CMT], "Carnegie Hall Salutes The Jazz Masters" [PBS] and "The Kennedy Center Honors".  Among his record industry credits is The <i>Pet Sounds</i> Sessions box set, for which he received a Grammy Award nomination for "Best Historical Recording."</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span><br> <span>LSL Productions specializes in definitive biographies, retrospectives on the legends of music and comedy, and documentaries on history and science. Currently, LSL has a diverse slate of programming in production---a five-part series for Bravo ("The 100 Greatest Television Characters of All Time") and three documentaries (<span>including</span> a look at the landmark film "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb," and a profile of singer/songwriter Harry Nilsson).  Most recently, LSL produced <span>critically-acclaimed Jack Paar and Rosemary Clooney</span> retrospectives for PBS and a highly rated two-hour biography of Bette Midler for A&amp;E.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span><br> Richard Waltzer formed Chautauqua Entertainment in 1998.  He recently executive produced "Coast To Coast," directed by Paul Mazursky from the screenplay by Frederic Raphael, for Showtime.  He also executive produced, with Lawrence Schiller, the mini-series "Perfect Murder,</span> <st1:place><st1:PlaceName><span>Perfect</span></st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType><span>Town</span></st1:PlaceType></st1:place><span>" for CBS.  Previously, he was Executive Vice President of HBO Pictures, where he was responsible for the development and production of more than 40 films including Emmy Award winners, "Barbarians At the Gate," "And the Band Played On," "Truman," and "Indictment: The McMartin Case."  He began his career working with directors Orson Welles and Peter Bogdanovich and was a directing intern at the American Film Institute.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span><br> Showtime Networks has dramatically expanded its line-up of documentaries with the programming category "SHO EXPOSURE," offering viewers a new documentary program each month. The documentaries airing under the new umbrella title are a combination of original programs, theatrical releases and high-profile acquisitions, and are a response to growing consumer demand for entertaining fact-based programming. Other documentaries airing on SHOWTIME in 2004 include MAYOR OF SUNSET STRIP, the Oscar®-winning BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE, STANDING IN THE SHADOWS OF MOTOWN and STEP INTO LIQUID.</span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span> </span></p> <p class="MsoPlainText"><span>Showtime Networks Inc. (SNI), which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Viacom</span> <span>Inc., owns the premium television networks SHOWTIME®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ and FLIX®, as well as the multiplex channels SHOWTIME® TOO™, SHOWTIME® SHOWCASE, SHOWTIME EXTREME®, SHOWTIME BEYOND®, SHOWTIME NEXT®, SHOWTIME WOMEN®, SHOWTIME FAMILYZONE® and TMC xtra.  SNI also offers SHOWTIME HD®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL HD®, SHOWTIME ON DEMAND® and THE MOVIE CHANNEL ON DEMAND™. SNI operates and manages the premium television network SUNDANCE CHANNEL®, which is owned by SNI, Robert Redford and Universal Studios. All SNI feeds provide enhanced sound using Dolby Digital 5.1. SNI markets and distributes sports and entertainment events for exhibition to subscribers on a pay-per-view basis through SHOWTIME® PPV.   Additionally, the advertiser-supported television network SHOWTIME EXTREME® is available in</span> <st1:country-region><st1:place><span>Spain</span></st1:place></st1:country-region> <span>through a joint venture with</span> <st1:place><st1:PlaceName><span>Media</span></st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType><span>Park</span></st1:PlaceType></st1:place> <span>and the advertiser-supported television network SHOWTIME is available in</span> <st1:country-region><st1:place><span>Turkey</span></st1:place></st1:country-region> <span>through a joint venture with UK-based Zone Vision.