Elvis lives on in TV Land

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — At the risk of offending Elvis Presley fans, I was never one of you.

By the time I was a teenager, Elvis was a has-been and sort of a joke. When he performed two concerts in Binghamton, N.Y. — just minutes from my parents' house — in May 1977, some of my friends' parents were excited; my friends and I were not.

When he died on Aug. 16, 1977, my overwhelming thought was that the press coverage was massive overkill — that if then-President Carter had died, there would have been less coverage on TV and in the papers.

And, quite honestly, I think it's a little weird that fans and certain television networks are making so much out of the 30th anniversary of Elvis' death. It almost seems like a celebration. And wouldn't it be better to celebrate his Jan. 8 birthday than his Aug. 16 death day?

At any rate, TV Land is climaxing its 30th-anniversary Elvis Overkill ... er, um, Elvis Month on Thursday with a special edition of "Myths & Legends" at 11 p.m. that promises to separate fact from fiction by interviewing those who knew him best.

Except that Those Who Knew Him Best are still Those Who Protect His Image. Linda Thompson, an ex-girlfriend of The King's, said that "absolutely his life in its entirety should be represented." But only represented in the "right" way.

"When we love someone in our families, we like to remember them when they were at their peak," Thompson said. "So we sort of hold onto those images, I think, when you love someone."

And Jerry Schilling, Presley's former aide, producer, editor and press agent, explained why the Presley estate rarely makes footage of Elvis' final years available to documentarians.

"Well, you know, I think when you do a project or produce a project — which I've done a few on Elvis — you always want to present the artist at his best," he said. "In the last couple years of his life, he had a lot of physical problems and whatever. ... He did not look his best. You still utilize that (footage from his final years) in a project where you have his whole career. You utilize a little of it, but you don't want that to be the image of him for his 23-year career at his worst."

There's certainly nothing wrong with loving tributes. They are, no doubt, what Elvis fans really want to see.

Just be aware that you're watching loving tributes, not documentaries.