But thanks to all of you for reading it. I know by the comments that folks come, stay for awhile, then move on. Hopefully enough new people arrive to replace them. But thanks to everyone (even the ones who left but will never see this because they, well... left).
It's heartening (and a little odd) that people I don't know care about my opinion about anything. And also have affection for shows I worked on (and am very proud of) from years gone by.
For the ten year anniversary I had a party. This year I'll just finish the rest of the leftover Halloween candy.
I thought it might be fun to revisit my very first post. Here it is.
And in terms of an appropriate picture to mark this auspicious occasion, what better?
53 comments :
I thoroughly enjoy your work. Thank you for your efforts. They are appreciated
Happy Blogoversary Ken!
Congratulations and thank you for such interesting reading and insights from you and guest posters!
Happy anniversary! Love your blog, it's as close to the columnists of yore as we can get... Buchwald, Royko, et al.
Thanks for entertaining us for so many years. And the price is right!
Yours is the only blog I read. Also the only blog I even know of. I enjoy your honesty and of course the humor. The fact that you have slacked off to only 6 days a week is disappointing. What the hell am I supposed to read on Sundays? Just kidding. I cant believe you do this 6 times a week.
I wish you would do more snarky reviews. The Oscars, Emmy's, Grammys are all bullshit but your take is refreshing. I would appreciate your comments on the Westminster Dog Show. A Shih Tzu wins best in show??
Anyway, thanks for your work. I hope someday to make it to one of your plays and shake your hand. In a non-threatening, non-sexual, woke, me-too way of course.
Happy Anniversary, Ken! I re-read post number one---and even after 14 years, a lot of the Bay Area stuff still stands up. There's just more of it.
Thanks Ken. I feeling an unusual amount of affection for your work on your blog.
But that can't be right can it? I mean it's a positive emotion via the internet those don't exist do they?
Thank you.
Sean
Happy anniversary, and thank you for your sticktoitiveness. Then again, you stuck to it to become a comedy writer and director, then a baseball broadcaster? This part should be easy.
Mazel Tov to 14 years. I remember blogging was huge in the middle of the last decade, most people have burned out. I started mine on a lark and for some reason, I still have something to say. That was May of 2005. I learned of your blog through the Lee Goldberg link, then through your links, I learned of Lloyd Thaxton's blog. Thaxton and I became e-mail pals until his death.
I think the growth of Facebook and Twitter reduced the number of blogs, but I think the blog can reach a vast number of people who don't trust of don't wish to be part of those media platforms.
Congratulations, Ken! It must be tough to come up with something new every day, but I appreciate it. I found out about your blog from a mention in Mark Evanier's blog many years ago. Your writing is interesting and humorous even when discussing something I don't care about like baseball. I DO care about the broadcast stories!
I enjoyed reading your first blog entry. I sympathize with you leaving the big Stanford-UCLA football game too early. I do that at tennis tournaments when a match that I'm watching looks like a blow-out. Every now and then, I miss a fantastic comeback. Oops!
Happy 14th Ken! I always enjoy stopping by. Please don't stop!
Odd how some jokes that were funny then are no longer appropriate 14 years later (New Deli/Kumar), but the Jehovah's Witness joke still holds up!
Thanks for 14 years - looking forward to many more.
Thank you for your service. Having the curtains drawn back a little bit has always been exciting, though you probably experience along with us that you've already made the big reveal and are now showing us the nooks and crannies backstage. I subscribe to this blog in my reader and read pretty much everything you write, that isn't related to baseball (not American, just can't drum up the interest).
Over the years a lot of things have popped in and out of my reader, but you've been in it for more than a decade and I don't see you ever disappearing.
I actually found this blog by accident. I was googling to find out why Terry Farrell was dropped from BECKER. Since then it has been a great experience for me. Your insights and stories have been very informative and enjoyable and your advice on writing has been very helpful. And you've answered over a dozen of my questions! Thanks, Ken. BTW - My favorite posting was when your friend was ordered by his neighbor to put the Christmas decorations on his house back up!
Congrats and all the best to you! Your blog and SF writer John Scalzi's are the only ones I read, and they're always a high point of the day.
I started reading your blog in the summer of '05 because, for some reason, I thought it was a baseball blog. I got hooked and I'm still here. Hope you keep it going.
Thanks for the many, many laughs.
Kent
Way to go Ken. Keep it rolling.
You do great work and sometimes you're even funny...
Happy 14th anniversary. I comment much less than I used to, but that's because when I first came here ten years ago I was, um, unemployed (you'll recall it was the worst recession since the 1930s) and had more time to leave sometimes very extensive thoughts on your posts. Even if I can no longer do that I try to look in on you every day, and who knows, if there's another economic downturn, I might go back to leaving a comment every day.
Happy Anniversary. I am reading this as the coming attractions are running, and running,and running before the Tom Hanks-Mister Rogers movie. Which is appropriate since he told you that while growing up in the Bay Area he listened to you as 'Beaver Cleaver'. Maybe you'll review this movie soon.
Thank you, Ken, for allowing all to meet in this " internet 'Cheers' " of sorts - a friendly gathering place, where everybody knows your avatar.
Many happy years to come.
Just revisited your first post. Having grown up in Cupertino and graduated from Cal, I feel qualified to say you nailed the bay area experience.
I'm confused by your first post. I read as far as your trip to Frisco and was flummoxed when there was no mention of your visit to the Dallas Cowboys' training facility. Why else would you go to Frisco?
Congratulations, and thank you for the entertainment, Ken!
I think the main lesson I've taken from your blog Ken is, If Christopher Walken asks if I want to go on a boat the answer should be "No"
Happy anniversary, Ken! We still love what we're reading!!!
Your first post. My first leftovers of the week. Happy 14th and I continue to look forward to your blogs whenever you post them.
Congratulations on your anniversary, and thank you for all the time and effort you put into this blog. (I had a blog once, for four months, and was surprised at how much energy it took to keep going.) This is one of my favorite places on the Internet.
Once in awhile you ask your readers for suggestions about new content. Let me reiterate my desire that you write more posts about TV shows from the past. The types of reviews you've written for Seinfeld, Friends, The Golden Girls, etc., (along with all the shows you yourself have worked on), are really fun to read, and contain a lot of insights.
For example, what sitcoms are your guilty pleasures? What formerly popular shows do you detest? What are your favorite episodes from classic shows? And what are your favorite shows in other genres - detective shows, for example? If you're running out of content, just pick a random year, look at the shows that were popular, and let loose with your observations.
Just a recommendation from a loyal reader. I will never leave you, Ken.
I come here first even when I suspect it will be a rerun -- uh, classic (Thanksgiving travel tips, for instance). Congratulations on fourteen years and many more, please.
Congratulations from "kid brother" (or "kid sister") blog Carole & Co., born June 13, 2007; https://carole-and-co.livejournal.com/. I discovered your blog when I was interested in learning how the sitcom sausage was made, though since then I have shifted my creative interest from sitcoms (too old for the writers' room) to rom-com features (two completed, yet unsold, a third on the way; recently collaborated on a sports comedy script). My passion as a film historian also helps...I hope.
Like you, I'm also a baseball fanatic (go world champion Washington Nationals -- that still sounds weird to say!) and Top 40 devotee, though since my first visit to Los Angeles wasn't until June 1989, I missed the glory days of KHJ. Nevertheless, through your blog and many other sites, including Alison Martino's splendid Facebook site Vintage Los Angeles, I feel as if I've grown with Helms Olympic Bread and the last years of the Red and Yellow cars. (OK, neither you nor Alison go quite that far back.) To many more!
Congratulations! Your discipline (and stick-to-it-ivness) is remarkable, and we are grateful for the insights and entertainment you provide.
Congratulations on 14 years, Ken! I've been a daily visitor to the site for almost ten years, although this is the first time I've left a comment. I've been a fan of your work since I was a kid watching Cheers and MASH (my parents were huge fans of that show). The episodes you and David wrote were always my favourites. I started following the site because I was a playwright who wanted to move into television writing someday, so it's been fun to see you transition into playwriting. I ended up becoming a video game writer instead -- I live in Vancouver where there are a lot of game studios -- so I assume that's where you'll turn next. I just wanted to say thanks for the daily smile. I have enjoyed your insights into the TV industry and your approach to storytelling. I would wish you another 14 great years of blog-writing, but that seems kind of cruel.
Thanks for years of starting my day in a good mood; both from your happy posts and even more so from your rants.
Not sure how long I've been following but it was from a reference from Mark Evenier. I discovered him from his Mel Torme story, and for years I bookmarked him as "Mel Torme Guy' and you as "Mel Torme Guy's friend".
Thanks again for kickstarting my mornings.
I have a Friday question. Was the romance between Niles and Daphne on Frasier conceived at the inception of the series, or did the idea develop as the series evolved?
Damn, that was a LONG first blog!
I have absolutely no memory of what I was doing in 2,005. It must have been something. At least you have a record of your actions.
I'm a relative newcomer to your blog having started reading only a few years ago. But, now I'm hooked.
You've said that you try to write something every day even if it's just for the blog. Well the only writing I do these days is commenting on your blog.
Thanks for giving me a reason to get out of bed in the morning.
Happy fourteenth anniversary.
M.B.
Thanks Ken :)
I hope one day they allow me to visit your country and thank you in person and watch your play.
You left that game??? Reminds me of the Wazzu-UCLA game in Oct. Cougs up by 35 (I think), so I flipped over to another meaningless game. Checked back about 45 minutes later, just in time to see UCLA score the go ahead touchdown.
Good stuff, enjoyed reading it again. Thanks for the memories! Don't know how anyone could do this for 14 years. Even Chuck Lorre goes with "I've got nothing" once in a while.
Memoirist, Comic Novelist, Screen and TV Scenarist,
Stage and Television Director, Disc Jockey, Soldier, Actor,
Show Creator and Producer, Non-Union Fluffer, Essayist,
Sports Announcer and Commentator, Improviser,
Uncredited Gag Writer ............have ever so few
attempted so much? Today, and every day, we salute and
thank you for having brought us a lifetime of happiness.
The blog, I give another six months, tops.
Following your reasoning, since people come and go, you can take breaks and just repost older stuff once in awhile. You've done it before, please continue. Give you a break out the week. And allows new people some history. Except robots, they don't enjoy it. I'm not a robot.
Ah, Ken Levine. You have the prescription for the daily blues.
(stolen from Simpsons but I'm talking about one of the great Simpsons writers)
Wow! My blog started in Nov. 2005 too. Amazing to look back sometimes, see how things've changed or not changed. What's come and gone, whats stayed the same. Nobody reads it anymore but I still plug away. Keep it up Ken, love visiting every day! :)
The Beaver Endures
;>)
Happy Blogoversary, Ken. I don't post much (ok, almost never), but read it daily -- now that Deadspin has died, this is the only blog I make sure to visit each day. Thank you for the many hours of enjoyment and laughs, and here's to many more!!
Please keep it up. Your site is a highlight.
Ken - Congrats on the anniversary. Been there since very close to the beginning, and the blog is a nightly visit for me ever since. Much appreciation and hope it goes on for many years to come.
Bert
Happy Blogiversary, Ken! I am one of those people who came and stayed, rather than moving on. I've been reading (and enjoying) this blog for years and I look forward to every one of your posts. It's become a normal part of my day.
And thanks for what you wrote about "OK Boomer". I will confess it got under my skin when I first heard this comment being tossed around but after reading your perspective on it, I am not as bothered by it.
Hope you will stick around for awhile Ken. I'd miss you with my morning coffee.
I don't read many blogs anymore but this is a daily requirement. Congratulations on the anniversary and keep up the great worm=k.
Looks like my 1st comment here was in 07, so I've been a regular for at least that long.
http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/2007/04/tv-set.html?m=1
Happy 14th! Four more years and you'll be old enough to join Norm in a beer.
Ken, I am thankful that you have written this blog and that you continue to do so. Plus the podcast! I hope your Thanksgiving is a happy one. Best wishes to you and your family.
Don't have time for more, so the essentials: Congratulations, and thank you. As with so many others here, this blog has become a regular part of my day.
You should be probably be paying Mark Evanier royalties, based on the number of us that (I've noticed) found our way to your blog via his.
Yours is one of the few blogs I check daily.
The one thing I'd love to see on this blog that would make it truly great would be an announcement that CBS will be releasing "Almost Perfect" on DVD. Hell, CBS has, in recent months, released "Life with Lucy" and "Our Miss Brooks" on DVD. They can't do "Almost Perfect"?
Given that it's been out of circulation (and public conciousness) for so many years, I'm not surprised that "Almost Perfect" hasn't shown up on DVD, particularly since physical media sales have declined so much. Also, there weren't that many episodes produced, which I'm sure makes it a tough sell in syndication. Still, you'd think there might be a place for it on one of the streaming services. Maybe Paramount has forgotten they own it.
"Life with Lucy" is a crummy show. A friend and I watched a couple of episodes and it's no better than anyone remembers. The DVD will probably sell in acceptable numbers, though, just because Lucy retains a loyal fan base. My dad never liked "I Love Lucy" and its perennial status used to drive him to complain, "That damn show is never going to die." I think he was right. Both my kids watch "I Love Lucy" on CBS All Access and I've seen them both on the floor laughing. Not bad for a black-and-white series that's going on seventy years old.
It surprised me that "Our Miss Brooks" got a DVD release. Not that there's anything wrong with the show. It was before my time, but I caught it when it was running on MeTV a few years ago. It was reliably funny, with a good cast that knew how to get the most out of their material. At least until the last season, when ill-conceived changes in format and cast were forced on the series by CBS and it all just kind of fell apart. Network meddling is nothing new.
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