America has spent days remembering Dolly Parton.
But for millions of people who grew up with her songs, movies, television appearances and unmistakable laugh, the goodbye isn’t over yet.
CBS is preparing another special tribute to the country legend — and this one may feel especially personal.
Remembering Dolly: A Rhinestone Life will air Sunday, August 30 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CBS, with streaming availability on Paramount+.
Hosted by Entertainment Tonight co-hosts Kevin Frazier and Nischelle Turner, the hour-long special will reach deep into more than four decades of memories.
And that includes something longtime Dolly fans may especially want to see.
The program will take viewers all the way back to Dolly’s first Entertainment Tonight interview in 1982 and follow her remarkable journey through what CBS describes as her final conversation with the program.
For fans who watched Dolly become one of America’s most beloved entertainers, those old interviews could bring back an extraordinary number of memories.
This won’t only be about the music.
The special is expected to explore the stories behind the songs, Dolly’s Hollywood career and the larger-than-life rhinestone image that became unmistakably hers.
It will also look back at the deeply private love story behind the public superstar.
Dolly and Carl Dean were married for nearly 60 years, yet Carl spent most of those decades away from the spotlight.
Their relationship remained one of the most enduring — and private — marriages in entertainment until Carl’s death in 2025.
CBS says the program will also revisit Dolly’s special relationship with her goddaughter Miley Cyrus and the enormous philanthropic legacy she created away from the stage.
New tributes from Dionne Warwick, Melissa Etheridge, Diane Warren, Debbie Allen and Jennifer Nettles are also part of the program.
But perhaps the most emotional moment won’t come from another celebrity at all.
It will come from Dolly herself.
At the conclusion of the special, viewers will hear Dolly explain how she hoped people would remember her.
After decades of hit records, movies, awards, rhinestones and sold-out performances, her wish was remarkably simple.
“I just want to be remembered as a good-hearted person.”
For generations of Americans who felt as though Dolly had been part of their lives, that may be the moment that stays with them.
Because this special isn’t simply another collection of famous performances.
It’s a journey from the young woman America was still getting to know in 1982 to the icon millions eventually came to love.
And on Sunday night, fans will get one more chance to sit down together, hear that familiar Tennessee voice and remember why Dolly Parton meant so much to so many.