Peter starts us off:
A rather random Friday Question from me:
What's your favorite food?
Hey, who said every question has to be comedy/TV/movie related?!
Probably lobster. And the Sashimi Napoleon the at the Hailiimaile General Store in Maui. Oh, and a Bob’s Big Boy.
From Poochie:
One of the main criticisms (from yourself and others) of Aaron Sorkin's Studio 60 was that the sketches for the in-house show were just plain not funny. Let's say Sorkin hired professional comedy writers to write those sketches and those sketches only. How would the writing credits go? Especially for someone as control conscious as Sorkin? Has any scripted show ever done anything like that (ie hired steady writers to work on a segment or two and never anything outside that)?
It’s not really Sorkin’s call, or any show runner’s. It’s the WGA and their credits manual. They would have to determine whether the sketch writer contributed enough to warrant shared credit. My guess is no because just punching up dialogue generally isn’t enough. But it depends on the specific script.
Michael asks:
I was thinking of "Comrades in Arms," where Hawkeye and Margaret end up together ... for a night. You were one of the story editors. Was there a big discussion of how that might change the arc of their entire relationship? Were there concerns about taking that step?
After that we weren’t allowed to have Hawkeye flirt in Hot Lips’ presence as Loretta felt that (as we predicted) their relationship had changed after having sex.
I thought the episodes was very artfully done and to this day I dislike them.
Brian Phillips closes it out.
I noticed on YouTube that there were not one, but THREE different versions of All in the Family's pilot episode. Jean Stapleton and Carroll O'Connor were the constants, but the Mikes, Glorias and Lionels changed.
Did you ever film complete pilots with different casts from the better-known versions? Is this still done to-day or are the runners-up weeded out at the table read?
I haven’t experienced that personally, although I have replaced certain actors during the production of a pilot, but wholesale changes? No.
It's rarely done.
However...
...for reasons I can’t even fathom, they keep trying to reboot THE MUNSTERS. I swear, this is a more vexing question than the meaning of life.
What’s your Friday Question? Leave it in the comments section. Thanks.
36 comments :
Is there not any such thing as an 'additional material by' credit that could be used in the circumstances described? Such as when a song has an 'additional lyric by'?
FrIday Question: Netflix, Hulu and Amazon are now becoming players in the original content market, just like the big three (then-four, then-five) in broadcast TV. Is pitching a comedy to them any different?
On running shows, have you heard that the "suits" give more or less notes then at their cable and broadcast counterparts?
The Hawkeye/Hot Lips hook up did pave the way for the great moment in the finale when their "goodbye" consisted of a long, extended kiss while BJ and Potter stood there awkwardly.
Thanks for answering my question, Ken!
...for reasons I can’t even fathom, they keep trying to reboot THE MUNSTERS. I swear, this is a more vexing question than the meaning of life.
THE MUNSTERS TODAY managed a three year run in syndication (1988-1991), which was a season longer than the original series ran. Okay, it stunk, but I guess running longer than the original counts for something.
Be grateful, Ken. If fate had been less kind to you, today you could be writing columns telling us about your favorite episodes you wrote for THE MUNSTERS TODAY and SMALL WONDER.
I don't understand trying to reboot old shows, particularly those from another era. Efforts have been to reboot BEWITCHED, but the problem they keep running into is that today it's just not acceptable to have Samantha giving up being a witch and trying to live as a mortal just to please Darrin. You can't have Darrin screaming about how he forbids the practice of witchcraft under his roof and jumping Samantha's case for being who and what she is. So how do you reboot the series and remain true to the original when the original's premise -- that Samantha chooses to give up her birthright and her heritage to please her mortal husband -- is no longer acceptable?
Is there not any such thing as an 'additional material by' credit that could be used in the circumstances described? Such as when a song has an 'additional lyric by'?
There's a 1966 episode of Lucille Ball's THE LUCY SHOW, titled "Lucy Flies to London," which has credits reading:
Written by Bob O'Brien
Special material by Madelyn Davis and Bob Carroll Jr.
The "special material" credit is because the script for much of the episode's climactic plane trip borrowed heavily from a sketch Davis and Carroll had written for Ball in 1962 for a guest appearance she made on an unsold pilot for pianist/comedian Victor Borge.
FRIDAY QUESTION:
Hi, Ken
I am thinking about writing a sitcom for a particular star - kind of like Curb Your Enthusiasm in that the actor is playing a fictionalized version of himself. Would this be a good idea to help get an agent or get noticed, or do you have to have ties with the actor that you want to use?
Many thanks
I agree with Glenn about the MASH finale. I found it the funniest moment in the whole thing.
Ken, thanks for answering. Some have thought MASH "jumped the shark" with those episodes. I thought they WERE well done, and they also could have led in still another direction: Hawkeye pulls away, but Margaret quickly acts like they are together forever. Alan Alda once said he found it interesting that Hawkeye was so commitment-averse when he wasn't himself, and that might have been interesting to explore further, or more than it was.
I never liked the Margaret character after season five. She was shrill, constantly yelling, and never involved in a plotline that didn't seem awkward. I also heard (maybe from you in another interview -- can't recall right now) that even though Alan wrote the "Comrades in Arms" episode, it was at the insistence of Loretta Swit since she thought her character needed a boost. PS It's one of the few episodes that I immediately turn off when I see it in syndication.
I'll note that several roles were recast after the pilot of TRANSPARENT - Carrie Brownstein and Melora Hardin replaced the actors playing Syd and Tammy, respectively, and the trainer met in the park (not sure of the character's name so can't look up the actor's name) was also replaced. Not network, of course.
wg
If I slowly trickle away from commenting much, it will be because I am really, really sick of the stupid click on the cars/streetsigns/etc games. (Especially annoying that Google thinks pickup trucks are cars.)
Doug: switch the genders. The woman has a tricky career path to navigate because the startup company she works for is full of bro culture, and everything she does is intensely scrutinized. Having a warlock husband is not helpful. (Plus, she works for the kind of guys who if they knew would want him to make their company instantly successful, and she knows the downside of that.)
wg
Food-wise, I make my own pesto from scratch every Sunday morning, alternating between different types of pasta and gnocchi to put it on.
I used to buy pots of basil for $3.99 so I could add it five-minutes fresh to the mix, but the cheapskate in me is even more gratified to find that fifteen cents of seed and a little patience can provide the same amount. (And don't get me started on how well my sunflowers are doing).
My answer is sort of a ringer, since I developed a recipe customized to my own preferences, but I must admit my taste buds spend the week anticipating the sauce. And as a bonus, I listen to a Jack Benny radio show during the time it takes to prepare the dish. It's a nice way to begin the week.
NBC aired Bryan Fuller's Munsters pilot a few years ago as a Halloween special. I have to say I liked what I saw enough that I would have tuned in to see where he went with it. On the other hand, its failure meant Fuller was able to give us three seasons of HANNIBAL, so it worked out.
Doug said "today it's just not acceptable to have Samantha giving up being a witch and trying to live as a mortal just to please Darrin."
I think BEWITCHED could work today if Samantha were trying to act human for her own edification, maybe to feel closer to Darrin, and Darrin's chiding her when she fails could be seen as supporting her in her goals. I'm a little surprised it hasn't been tried.
Doug,
Mentioning Small Wonder made me laugh! I thought I was alone in remembering that crapola show. To quote Bill Murray's character in Scrooged: "Oh my gosh! Does that suck?!"
DOUG: I don't understand trying to reboot old shows, particularly those from another era. Efforts have been to reboot BEWITCHED, but the problem they keep running into is that today it's just not acceptable to have Samantha giving up being a witch and trying to live as a mortal just to please Darrin. You can't have Darrin screaming about how he forbids the practice of witchcraft under his roof and jumping Samantha's case for being who and what she is. So how do you reboot the series and remain true to the original when the original's premise -- that Samantha chooses to give up her birthright and her heritage to please her mortal husband -- is no longer acceptable?
SER: I thought BEWITCHED was an interesting -- though I'm sure unintentional -- commentary on interracial relationships or more aptly interfaith relationships. It's almost like the show took a TWILIGHT ZONE approach of addressing a sensitive topic through supernatural/fantasy means. After all, Samantha as a Jew vs Darren as a WASP and the assorted struggles with "assimilation" and the "outlandish" in-laws is not *that* unlike a series we might have seen premiering the same year BEWITCHED went off the air.
And perhaps that's why reboots of '60s "high concept" shows such as BEWITCHED or THE MUNSTERS don't work today because the subtext that made those shows compelling can now be actual text. And all you have left is the superficial (a vampire family moves into a suburban neighborhood!). Or there's too much winking at the audience regarding the subtext: So, in a 2017 BEWITCHED, Endora appear with a WITCHES LIVES MATTER tee-shirt and Darren would insist that "ALL WITCHES LIVES MATTER." The metaphors would be obvious as opposed to subtle like the 1960s BEWITCHED re: interracial/interfaith relationships.
Hollywood tends to not look beneath the superficial. After all, THE SIMPSONS has many of THE MUNSTERS tropes from Homer/Herman to Lisa/Marilyn. So your MUNSTERS reboot falls flat because there are so many popular series with the same formula. I recall an episode mid-run of MARRIED... WITH CHILDREN where Al calls his family "Morticia, Wednesday, Pugsley," which lampshaded how that series had become a modern day ADDAMS FAMILY.
DwWashburn:I never liked the Margaret character after season five. She was shrill, constantly yelling, and never involved in a plotline that didn't seem awkward. I also heard (maybe from you in another interview -- can't recall right now) that even though Alan wrote the "Comrades in Arms" episode, it was at the insistence of Loretta Swit since she thought her character needed a boost. PS It's one of the few episodes that I immediately turn off when I see it in syndication.
SER: It's a bit of a cliche but Margaret leaving to get married would have been an excellent last episode for*both* Margaret and Frank. Charles was a compelling, three-dimensional antagonist for the "dramedy" M*A*S*H became but Margaret never made the transition effectively for me. I think a new head nurse that Potter might have fully empowered as almost his "second in command" could have been interesting, as there was legitimate conflict potential.
I agree with you about Hawkeye and Margaret sleeping together. And I also felt the same way about Frasier sleeping with Roz on FRASIER.
A DVD review of "Studio 60" suggested that the sketches were *supposed* to be unfunny. Sorkin's point might have been that the characters were so busy with the business and backroom politics of putting on a sketch comedy show, they overlooked the quality of the actual sketches, the source of their employment. Just a thought.
Love MASH (sorry, the asterisk key is broken), but HAAAATED that episode. Just saw it again a few days ago on the Sundance channel marathon.
Houlihan was so shrill, then whiplashed to so goo-goo-eyed lovey-dovey, and both of them screaming at the bombs then into each other's lips was so "actor-y". A really off-note episode in an otherwise wonderful character-driven series.
I can't agree about Margaret. After Frank's departure she grew and changed through her marriage and divorce, her relationship with her demanding father, her attempt to "feminize" herself for Sgt. Scully, etc. We saw her loneliness because she couldn't let her guard down with the other nurses and still be their commanding officer. The only episode I couldn't believe was the one where she was investigated for Communist leanings, and the surgeons had to rescue her with a ridiculous stunt. She should have been allowed to solve that problem herself. The earlier character, "Hot Lips," is the one who annoys me, barking about military discipline and flirting with horny old generals.
The Studio 60 comment reminds me of a question I intended to ask when you talked about your improv-related pilot: Did you plan to have the actors do actual improv as their characters on the show, or were you planning to script sketches that sounded like improvisation?
One of the more peculiar recastings I can remember was on The A-Team. "Faceman" was played by Tim Dunigan in the two-hour movie that served as the pilot. Afterward the network agreed with the producers that he wasn't right, so he was replaced in the series by Dirk Benedict (the guy Stephen J. Cannell wanted all along). But apparently reshooting most of the pilot movie would have been too expensive, you just had to accept that Face looked completely different in the 2nd episode with no explanation.
Back then, networks rarely wanted those kinds of changes acknowledged, as opposed to later when all sorts of in-jokes were made about the recasting of Vivian on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, or the different Becky on Roseanne. On the new Amazon version of The Tick, they decided to make some minor changes to the superhero's costume after the pilot, and even THAT is commented upon within the show.
I have a pitch for a MUNSTERS reboot, if I can make the concept of U.S. President Herman Munster seem plausible.
Steve Bannon plays himself, in more ways than one.
My favorite food is a Thanksgiving dinner.
Steve Bannon plays himself, in more ways than one.
Ahhhhh, if it could only be a remake of The Addams Family. He could be cast as and renamed as Cousin shITT.
>>I noticed on YouTube that there were not one, but THREE different versions of All in the Family's pilot episode.<<
Makes me want to watch all three and see whether Edith's comment, "It's nicer than when he called them coons" was in the other two. Jean Stapleton's deadpan delivery of that line still to this day makes me want to piss myself laughing.
@Stephen Robinson....spot on.
Last weekend MASH was on WGN all day and I tuned in after Hoolihan was married (MASH Olympics). The next few episodes had her character yelling/screaming so loud to the point where it was so distracting that I turned off the show. Too much yelling for me on a quiet Saturday afternoon!
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As an aside, I did not realize that one of the two actors that portrayed Donald Penobscott (Mike Henry) also played the dimwitted son of Sheriff Buford T. Justice (of Texas) in Smokey and the Bandit.
Friday Question
Ken, can you discuss the dynamic (politics) of writing on a top rated show where an actor (Alda) injected himself in a big way into writing and directing the show? It does not appear, based on the credits, that Cheers had that situation. How influential was the cast of Cheers compared to MASH in the writing/direction of the show?
After repeatedly watching "Cheers", suddenly noticed that James Burrows is listed as one of the creators (though he never wrote an episode). Would you happen to know why he got that credit, and why he's never got it on anything else?
One element of Hawkeye's character that never worked for me was that he was a mensch, against the war and the casualties and seemed to be a do-gooder and would be thoughtful of and help other people but was also, contrarily, a womaniser, infamous and well known for it at the 4077, and would basically do what he could to have a one night stand with either a nurse or a female visitor, it seemed contrary to his personality, in a couple of later episodes of MASH this was used against him. It seemed hypocritical for someone who was quite sanctimonious a lot of the time. It was like a leftover from the film.
PS I liked it when Houlihan screamed and shouted, and sometimes punched someone, I thought she was very entertaining. 'I'll have an Old-Fashioned, and hold the fruit!'
One element of Hawkeye's character that never worked for me was that he was a mensch, against the war and the casualties and seemed to be a do-gooder and would be thoughtful of and help other people but was also, contrarily, a womaniser, infamous and well known for it at the 4077, and would basically do what he could to have a one night stand with either a nurse or a female visitor, it seemed contrary to his personality, in a couple of later episodes of MASH this was used against him. It seemed hypocritical for someone who was quite sanctimonious a lot of the time. It was like a leftover from the film.
PS I liked it when Houlihan screamed and shouted, and sometimes punched someone, I thought she was very entertaining. 'I'll have an Old-Fashioned, and hold the fruit!'
One element of Hawkeye's character that never worked for me was that he was a mensch, against the war and the casualties and seemed to be a do-gooder and would be thoughtful of and help other people but was also, contrarily, a womaniser, infamous and well known for it at the 4077, and would basically do what he could to have a one night stand with either a nurse or a female visitor, it seemed contrary to his personality, in a couple of later episodes of MASH this was used against him. It seemed hypocritical for someone who was quite sanctimonious a lot of the time. It was like a leftover from the film.
PS I liked it when Houlihan screamed and shouted, and sometimes punched someone, I thought she was very entertaining. 'I'll have an Old-Fashioned, and hold the fruit!'
FRIDAY QUESTION:
Who did the paintings that Col. Potter "painted" in the last 3-4 seasons of MASH? Most are pretty good. Is it possibly Harry Morgan also had a second skill, as most actors do?
Apparently Mark McKinney was an unofficial sketch writer behind the scenes once he joined Studio 60 as a recurring character. Not coincidentally, that's when the sketch topics actually switched to material you'd actually see on a modern SNL type show, as opposed to sketches about Sorkin favourites like Gilbert & Sullivan and the Commedia dell'arte.
I recently saw the Cheers episode "The Mail Goes To Jail." In the episode Diane becomes stuck in the heating vents beneath the floor of the bar. I just assumed that there were no "real" vents and that a vent cover was simply added on top of the floor. However I was quite surprised when Ted Danson opened the vent and reached into a hole through the floor.
I know a sound stage extends high above what we see on camera for lights and rigging but I never gave much thought to what is beneath the sound stage. Is there a beneath to the sound stage like there is in the Theater for traps doors, etc.? And if not how was this effect achieved?
Thanks.
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