Abe Sylvia Kept Two Promises While Making ‘George & Tammy’

It’s fair to say that when Abe Sylvia gets an idea, there’s no turning back or giving up. His latest endeavor is the limited Showtime series George & Tammy which details the whirlwind love story of country legends George Jones and Tammy Wynette.

This gripping tale of the King and Queen of country music took Sylvia 11 years to make, and as he said in a recent interview, “This was my first project soup to nuts.” As a series creator, he wore many hats. “I’ve been the number two many times, but this is my baby.”

The six-episode series premiered on Sunday, December 4 and has already garnered its lead, Jessica Chastain, a Golden Globe nomination. The Oscar winner stars alongside Oscar nominee Michael Shannon and the chemistry between them is palpable.

The series is based on the novel by George and Tammy’s daughter, Georgette Jones, entitled “The Three of Us: Growing Up with Tammy and George.” The series debuted its first episode simultaneously on Showtime and Paramount Network, with the remaining episodes airing exclusively on Showtime. The finale will air on January 8.

Over the years, Sylvia has become close to the family, especially Georgette. “I’m fiercely protective of them and their story, and it is a story that deserves to be told. It was emotional and strangely, as deeply sad as it is, it’s an incredible life and love-affirming tale, and I think these types of stories are timeless. It’s Romeo and Juliet set in the world of country music.”

He told me that Georgette gave free rein with the scripts, but she did have two essential requests. “Primarily, she asked that we didn’t treat her mother as a tragic figure. Georgette was clear that her mother’s life was not a tragedy. Tammy had 20 No. 1 hit songs. That’s not a tragic life. For all the sad things she endured, she broke barriers with her music. She soldiered through some trying things and came out the other side of it as an iconic artist. Something happens in the mythologizing of women in history, and it was a really insightful thing that she said, and it changed the way we approached the character.”

There was one other thing Georgette requested which was that they not give anyone else credit for George’s sobriety. “There were a lot of people who claim credit for getting George clean, and there were people who had his back and picked him up and dusted him off a million times, but you can’t own another person’s sobriety. These things were very important to her, so we honored them.”

The series chronicles the complicated and passionate love story of this country music power couple and how their love inspired some of the most iconic songs of all time. There were also complications behind the scenes. The road from inception to premiere was uphill and took on many iterations.

Over the years, Sylvia became well known for his brilliant writing on hits like Liz Feldman’s Dead to Me (she credits him for the twisted season two cliffhanger) and the 2021 film The Eyes of Tammy Faye (also starring Chastain as Tammy Faye Bakker).

He explained how George & Tammy was initially set up as a feature. It jumped around to three studios with three different directors. “It was hard to get anything made, especially stories about problematic, complicated people. That work was happening on television, and we made that pivot. It also gave more breadth to the story, and I’m glad we did it.”

Though Sylvia believes his original film idea would’ve been great, he’s happy to have had six episodes to work with. He also feels there’s so much more to this story. “I could do a five-season version of this given the amount of material we have, but the six hours distill the story down to its most essential aspects. Many events and career milestones fell away from the narrative because it was about this third life that was created when George and Tammy sang together. It’s a love story about two people destined to make art together. Whether or not they were able to make things work out personally doesn’t change the fact that the music they made together is proof of an enduring love story.”

Tammy would be remembered as the “First Lady of Country Music” with hits such as “Stand by Your Man.” To this day, this song remains one of the most iconic and best-selling country singles by a female artist. George Jones’ song “He Stopped Loving Her Today” is still widely called the greatest country song of all time. With over 30 No. 1 country songs between them, including duets “We’re Gonna Hold On,” “Golden Ring,” and “Near You,” George and Tammy’s legacy, both musically and romantically, remains one of the greatest love stories ever told.

Sylvia always had Chastain in mind for the lead. She signed on in 2011. At the time, he was considering it as a Fox Searchlight feature. When it morphed into episodic, Chastain (a producer via her production company Freckle Films) recruited Shannon.

He got more top talent behind the project, including The White Lotus’ Steve Zahn as George Richey, Walton Goggins as Earl “Peanutt” Montgomery, and Kelly McCormack as Sheila Richey. And John Hillcoat (The Road, Lawless) directed, and executive produced.

There’s a bit of irony to this tale of making a television series. Sylvia admitted that he was initially researching another country music idea when a Google search changed everything. “I grew up in Oklahoma surrounded by country music, and my parents were huge music buffs and had all types of music playing in the house all the time,” he explained.

He was well aware of George Jones and Tammy Wynette and their wild love affair and iconic songs. As he was researching his other idea, a photo of the pair popped up. “It was just the most beautiful image of them. It hit me like a bolt of lightning that no one had done this story yet. I fell in love with George and Tammy that day and knew I had to tell their story.”