On Aug. 30, 2002, Country Music Television started its three-part series "The 40 Greatest Women of Country Music," hosted by actor Billy Campbell. Dolly claimed the No. 4 spot, behind Patsy Cline, Tammy Wynette and Loretta Lynn, who placed one through three, respectively.
Dolly is interviewed throughout and several of her songs are highlighted, including "Here You Come Again" and "Dumb Blonde." The show also featured interviews with other artists like Emmylou Harris and Barbara Mandrell, who commented on Dolly’s illustrious career and contributions to country music.
According to CMT, the list was selected by hundreds of artists, music historians, music journalists, and music industry professionals who considered every aspect of what a great artist is, from her musically groundbreaking body of work to her overall contributions to the ever-changing world of country music. Country music historian Robert K. Oerman said of Dolly during the special,
"No one can touch her. No one can touch the hem of her dress as far as I'm concerned."
Dolly appeared on the Oct. 25 "Halloween Special" episode of the one-season CBS television show "Bette" starring Bette Midler and featuring Dolly as a character very similar to herself. In this episode, Bette grows jealous of Dolly as they film a Halloween special. Dolly and Bette sing several songs together during the show including a version of Dolly’s classic "Islands in the Stream."
Dolly starred as Leanna Taylor in her made-for-television movie, "Blue Valley Songbird" and worked behind the scenes as the film’s executive producer.
The movie aired on Lifetime in November of 1999. Leanna Taylor is a Nashville singer who uses her music to face her troubled upbringing. Dolly’s inspiration came from her song "Blue Valley Songbird" on her album "Hungry Again." Dolly said,
“As soon as I wrote the song, I had full intentions of making a movie from it… In my mind, I thought, 'This is like a screenplay.'”
Dolly took a hands-on approach to the project.
"I was very involved… And I promoted shooting the movie in Nashville from day one. I was thrilled that we could film it here… I felt it was very important to find Southern people to write this script… The writers we chose were both from the South, so they had an understanding of it."
While there is no official soundtrack, a number of the songs in the movie are available on Dolly’s album "Hungry Again."
Dolly make an appearance in the made-for-television film biopic "Get to the Heart - The Barbara Mandrell Story" which originally aired on CBS on, Sept. 28, 1997. The movie covers Barbara’s life from her early musical promise through stardom to her near-fatal car crash and recovery. The movie was based on Mandrell's autobiography, "Get to the Heart: My Story" published in 1990.
Dolly appeared in a special holiday episode of "The Magic School Bus," the animated children’s television show based on a series of children’s books and adapted by Scholastic Entertainment. The show premiered on Sept. 10, 1994, on PBS and helped kids, especially girls and minorities, get more interested in science. The series finished its run in 1997 but aired again on Fox, TLC, Fox Kids, Discovery Kids, Qubo, and NBC as recently as 2010.
Dolly voiced the character Katrina Eloise "Murph" Murphy, operator of Murph’s recycling plant and the cousin of Ms. Frizzle, one of the main characters voiced by Lily Tomlin. On a holiday episode that originally aired on Dec. 25, 1996, Murph taught the class the importance of recycling.
[su_vimeo url="https://vimeo.com/120158482"]
The Magic School Bus from Dolly Parton on Vimeo.
