A yearly tradition...
For several years I've been talking about the "Lost" CHEERS scene. David and I wrote it for the 1983 Super Bowl Pre-game show to promote our fledgling series. They ran it just before game time and it was seen by 80,000,000 people. Nothing we've ever written before or since has been seen by that many eyeballs at one time. But the scene was never repeated. It never appeared on any DVD's. It just disappeared.
Until a couple of years ago.
Sportswriter supreme, Joe Resnick has taped every Super Bowl including that one. And since the scene aired so close to the game, it was on the tape. Thanks to friend of the blog, Howard Hoffman, he was able to digitize it and post it on YouTube. Here's the text of the scene.
So here it is. The Super Bowl is next.
8 comments :
Love it every time you post this. :)
Friday(?) question: I've seen reference to something called "Uncle Sam Malone," a 9-minute short produced by the "Cheers" team in 1983 that encouraged people to buy US bonds. Is this a real thing? Does it still exist? Who wrote it?
Super.
I gotta ask:
With the ever-increasing number of platforms and the shrinking size of network audiences, there must be tremendous pressure on those at the network helms to produce hits for their companies.
I remember you saying that Cheers started at the bottom and only after a period of time did the show get traction...and with you and so many other talented folks, the series soared and thrived for years.
Now, that being said: Why would the network management (and stockholders indirectly) endure the present system of "either a new show scores in the first twenty seconds or it's off the schedule" mentality?
It seems to this outsider that a more profitable course would be to give you and your professionally-accomplished peers freedom to succeed. No notes. No short-scheduling. No nothin' Just open the door and let the you pros do your work.
:)
-signed-
Pollyanna
Ben Kubelsky, a quick searh yielded the "Uncle Sam Malone" on Vimeo.
http://vimeo.com/35709277
It was written by Ralph Phillips... and I gotta say, it's a pretty dry and slow-paced effort. The laugh track is tepid at best -- and the actors are clearly reading off cue cards. Not sure where this would have played other than in lunch rooms at businesses and corporations all over America. Probably effective for what it aimed to do, but that doesn't make it any less painful to watch.
To this day when we get together to watch the Super Bowl, one of the guys will invariably say that he started his day with the "special Super Bowl mass." (Okay, so it's always me.)
Apparently, it used to be pretty common for network sitcoms to do those public service pitches for U.S. Savings Bonds. I have copies of them for other shows, such as "Father Knows Best," "Leave It to Beaver" and "The Dick Van Dyke Show." Latest one I have is from "Alice." Never knew there was a "Cheers" one. Didn't know they were still doing them that late.
Friday Question (or answer anytime): As a Woody Allen fan and critic do you have a reaction to Dylan Farrow's open letter to Woody Allen fans?
Whatever happened to "touts" on TV?
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