Don't let the title fool you: "Picnic" is no walk in the park.

The late William Inge won a Pulitzer Prize for his classic play that cloaks dark themes beneath a deceptively sunny veneer., not unlike his "Splendor in the Grass." This is conveyed again by the new CBS production of "Picnic".

Josh Brolin stars as Hal, a drifter who comes to a Kansas town to find his rich college friend, Alan (played by newcomer Ben Caswell.) The latter man is about to propose to Madge (Gretchen Mol), one of the town's most popular residents. Hal's arrival changes everything, since Madge takes and immediate shine to him and vice versa. That causes long-simmering resentments to come to the fore.

Directed by Ivan Passer, the drama also features Chad Morgan as Madge's sister, who develops feelings for Hall. Bonnie Bedelia appears as the siblings' mother and Mary Steenburgen and Jay O. Sanders portray another romantically involved couple. 

Brolin saw several live stagings of "Picnic" before he made the latest version in Austin, Texas, though he didn't watch the 1955 movie (in which William Holden and Cliff Robertson vied for Kim Novak) until afterward. "What I felt those productions missed," he says, "is the tragedy of the story. It's not really light Americana, because it's not just a sexy romance. It shows how the characters' masks slowly disintegrate and unveil the real people underneath."

That comes as no surprise to Brolin, since Inge was the author. "He had a tough, really heavy life," the actor reflects. "That came out in his plays, yet the productions have always been seen as sweetness and light. I think Ivan Passer and Czechoslovakian mentality helps to bring out the rest, because he left his country just as the Russians were arriving in tanks. He brings that )background) to 'Picnic', which is great. He seems to know chaos well."
So does Brolin, who tried to avoid it by pushing for certain performers to land "Picnic" jobs. 

"(The producers) didn't want to hire Ivan right away, because they felt his touch was too dark for this. It came down to my saying, 'If you want me to do it, he has to do it.' He's done pictures like 'Stalin' and 'Cutter's Way,' which are dark but amazingly filmed. Jay Sanders is someone I'd worked with, and I thought he'd be great in this. His scenes with Mary Steenburgen are sad, but also powerful. They're a real force together."

Brolin also has high praise for co-star Mol, a magazine-cover staple two years ago when she was the female lead in the movie "Rounders" (opposite Matt Damon). "I think the worst omen that can be put on any actors is to be the "It" person for a month or a year," Brolin reasons. "I knew the hype that had surrounded Gretchen, so I really appreciated her doing this. She got (little) money, and to me, that's a testament to the kind of actress she is becoming."

The television renaissance of classics such as "Picnic" and "Fail Safe" (starring George Clooney) is heartening to Brolin. "I think HBO should be credited with turning TV away from schmaltzy, cheesy material. The fact that they got into 'The Sopranos', 'Oz' and other shows of that nature has everybody else following their lead. Instead of pandering to the audience, they're embracing intelligent rendering of well-told stories."

That's the approach Brolin has tried to take himself, in alternating between independent features ("Flirting With Disaster", "Best Laid Plans") and major-studio productions including "The Hollow Man", which also stars Kevin Bacon and Elisabeth Shue. "I don't care what the budget is," he maintains. "What I care about is not getting bored. 'Picnic' was fresh for me because I hadn't done television in about 10 years.

"I had made a decision, because of the redundancy of TV back then, that I'd rather go broke and try to get back into film than continue what I was doing." Even at that time, Brolin ó who was a regular on the western "The Young Riders" ó sought unique projects, such as the stylish series "Private Eye." He says, "I got lucky with that one. When I first read for that, they didn't want me. It seems the parts I have to fight for are the ones I end up enjoying the most."

Additionally, Brolin has learned from the experiences of his father, television veteran James Brolin (Marcus Welby, M.D.," "Pensacola: Wings of Gold"). "He never really gave me any advice," Josh claims, "other than to tell me to stay humble. He said, 'You're representing the human race. Do it well.' That's a little too much to hear when you're 17 years old, but he's always been incredibly supportive of me. It was wonderful for me to watch him, because he's this calm, cool, very confident guy."