Bracing myself for comments from irate readers

Here are this week’s Friday questions – a light diversion as you obsess over who will win an Oscar this Sunday. As always, I’ll be reviewing them Monday morning. But for now…

Up first is Kaan:

Have you ever (or writers you know) had problems with actors because of different political believes?

Like maybe there was a scene that promoted liberal values and an actor didn't like it because he or she was a conservative? And vice versa, of course.

No problems personally. The cast on MASH was decidedly liberal (duh) and the point of view of the show reflected that. Alan Alda, in particular. But a few years ago on WEST WING he played a conservative Republican presidential candidate with such conviction that I’d probably vote for him.

Update: great comment from reader Tim Dunleavy --

When Alan Alda was doing "West Wing," he said that people repeatedly asked him "How could you, of all people, play a Republican?" His response: "You know, nobody asked me that question when I played a murderer."

Kelsey Grammer is a Conservative but Frasier never was.

I know there are people who resent Patricia Heaton for her views and although I don’t share them I loved working with her and am her biggest fan. I say this knowing I will now get fifty angry comments from people who hate Patty (and by association -- me). Bring ‘em on, I still would work with her again in a second.


You can call me Owl asks:

We talk about a show working or not working. Do you feel that when something works or doesn't work, one can always, by dissection, find the things that make it work or not work?

Or is there some intangible layer to "works" and "doesn't work" where even something that seems like it should work because every piece of it works, somehow, as a whole, doesn't work, for no reason that anyone can pinpoint?

That's a great question.  Unfortunately, there is no way to accurately dissect why something works or doesn't. Often you can but not always. Two examples:

The famous “Chuckles Bites the Dust” episode of THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW. At the dress rehearsal it absolutely bombed. They didn’t get a single laugh from the crew – and they are usually excellent indicators of how audiences will respond. The brain trust here were James L. Brooks, Allan Burns, David Lloyd, Stan Daniels, Ed. Weinberger, and Bob Ellison. These were and are the titans of television comedy.

None of these heavyweights could figure out what was wrong. Jim Brooks addressed the cast, apologized, and said, “Just do the best you can. We’ll try to write new stuff later and see if we can salvage it, but for now we’re at a complete loss.” They did and you know the rest. "Chuckles" is maybe the single greatest episode of half-hour comedy. I was in the audience that night and I’ve got to say – I don’t know what the hell that crew was looking at. From the first minute that show was magic.

Example number two: the play ODD COUPLE. At the table reading and all the tryout performances the play worked like a charm… until the last fifteen minutes. And then suddenly the uproarious laughter just died. This time you had Neil Simon and director Mike Nichols trying to solve the problem. For weeks they wrestled with it. You figure if anyone can figure it out it’s one of them. Still. Nothing.

Finally, a Boston theater critic mentioned that he missed the Pigeon sisters. Simon & Nichols realized “that’s it!” They were written into the last scene and the play took off like a rocket.

But you just never know. You like to think you do but you don’t.


And finally, from Brooke McMaster:

I wanted to ask about series bibles. With every pitch, do you have to submit a fully completed bible or does this folder of notes start to grow once the show is picked up? Obviously, you would have basic notes on characters, settings etc but I am unsure if this is needed for a pitch.

In most cases, a show bible starts to grow only when the series goes into production. A writers assistant or story editor is assigned to keep it up. And depending on the show, they can be very detailed or not. On MASH we had a page-long description of each episode.

I say “most cases” because some of these dramas that have overall arcs probably need a bible before they start. I would assume ONCE UPON A TIME had a good sense of where they were taking the storyline long before they started shooting.

I imagine the bible for LOST is thicker than the Manhattan White Pages.

What’s your question? Leave it in the comments section in between all the irate Patty Heaton missives. Thank you.

Tomorrow:  Getting you ready for the Oscars -- what people in the audience at the Academy Awards are REALLY saying and thinking.