In the '80s and '90s a lot of multi-camera shows all shot on Tuesday – both at
Paramount (where I was) and other studios like Gower-Sunset, Raleigh, and Ren-Mar –
the writing staffs and casts from these shows began stopping off at the
Columbia Bar & Grill for an after-filming drink. The C-BAG (as it
was known) was on the corner of Gower and Sunset. Now, sadly it's long gone. But there was a golden period where this was the Algonquin Table west. It was not unusual to be sitting with the show runner of FRASIER, creator of EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND, Ted Danson, Nathan Lane, the President of CBS, two producers from FRIENDS, director James Burrows, and Jennifer Aniston.
I’ve always believed that the best shows were the ones where the writers and actors worked together, not at odds. Being able to socialize with them once a week established a real trust. And their stories were always GREAT. Actor stories tend to be more colorful than writers’. Ours are usually horror stories, getting fucked over by networks or studios or spouses or doctors or American Express. Theirs are about hilarious anecdotes in the theater, filming mishaps, and who slept with who on what set. We would always try to steer the conversations in that direction.
The C-BAG was the place to go for juicy TV gossip and dish. If there was trouble on any set in town we learned about it. Anyone institutionalized, we knew it (usually because someone would ask, “Hey, where’s so-and-so tonight?”)
Interestingly, rarely were agents there. They were welcome. Anyone was welcome but Brett Butler. Agents were always present at the filmings. Why, I don’t know. They didn’t know either. There was nothing for them to do. They’d sit, bored to tears, and watch the monitors. I always found it ironic then when you needed agents you could never get them on the phone. And when you didn’t, there they all were at the ready in full-force. The only time I ever asked my agent for something he didn’t come through. Despite repeated pleas on my part he would not kill the network vice-president and his entire staff. So truly, what’s the point of even being there? But I’m guessing when the director yelled “That’s a wrap!” they bolted so fast they never knew everyone was invited to a post filming celebration.
Why did it end? The shows ended. And a new regime at Paramount placed far less value on writer/producers. The entire stable was either let go or encouraged to move on. But Tuesday nights for about a decade were magic. For any current showrunners, once we're all out of captivity and there are enough actual shows in production, find a C-BAG of your own. And let me know if you need a designated driver.
With production of TV shows at a standstill, were pilots already filmed? If not, and assuming this shelter-in-place isn't going away for another month or two, what are the networks planning to do for the fall season? Keep shows they were looking to cancel and replace them at mid-season?
ReplyDeleteI think I have head some Brett Butler stories. Do you have any. I don't suppose you could repeat any of the stories from the C-Bag.
ReplyDeleteAgree on the Brett Butler thing. Would love to hear you reminisce about that period with your thoughts from today. Podcast!
ReplyDeleteThis is both on point and off point, but it does relate to the problem of keeping people apart in the way that Ken laments. Here goes.
ReplyDeleteThere's a wonderful book, No Cheering in the Press Box, in which the great Chicago sportswriter Jerome Holtzman did oral histories of old-time sportswriters. One was Paul Gallico, who, before becoming a successful novelist, was sports editor of the New York Daily News. The publisher was Captain Joseph Patterson, and Gallico said two things that really stuck with me about leadership.
One was that he required the editors to ride the circulation trucks once a month. That would be at 4 a.m. They were to do this so they could see who bought the paper, so they knew who they were writing for.
The other was that he would occasionally take the editors to dinner and make sure they had a lot to drink. Then he'd say, "So what's going on at the paper?" He knew booze would be a truth serum, and they'd open up. And they would. And Patterson didn't mind criticism.
We could use more Pattersons. Including in the White House, come to think of it.
Sound# like the C-BAG (Or something like it) could be its own show, like if Cheers was about TVinstead of (mostly) sports
ReplyDeleteAh, the things I missed. From 1982 to 1989, except for 1985, I lived two blocks from Sunset & Gower, yet never went into the C-BAG. DOH!
ReplyDeleteI love stories about these sorts of industry hangouts. Not to flood the comments with book recommendations, but lyricist Gene Lees has a great essay collection called MEET ME AT JIM & ANDY'S, about jazz musicians. Jim & Andy's was a bar on 48th Street in Manhattan, just downstairs from the original A & R recording studio, and it was a favorite drinking spot for jazz players for something like 15 years.
ReplyDeleteIt was a place where musicians could go to drink with one another, and to keep in touch with what was happening in the industry, but they could also get session work there. There was a speaker in one of the booths linked to A & R, and if a recording session was short a bass player, or tenor sax, or whatever, Phil Ramone could get on the hookup and ask if there was one in the bar looking for a gig. (What people who sat in that booth didn't always realize was that the sound hookup went both ways...)
Like C-BAG, Jim & Andy's is long gone. Gentrification at work. The last time I was in Manhattan I took a walk around the neighborhood to see what replaced it. It's now the Fox News building.
To MikeKPa: The only completed pilot I know of is "B Positive," a Chuck Lorre multi-cam about a male Connecticut prep school teacher who gets a kidney transplant from a blue-collar Westchester County, N.Y., woman -- and they bond. (I read the script at a site.) The 50 or so other pilots (in varied genres) never got that far.
ReplyDeleteFriday question: If social distancing continues for a prolonged period, or even if it doesn't, could it spell the end of multi-cam shows filmed before a studio audience? Having attended four of them over the years, I'd hate to see them discontinued. (Actors I know feel likewise; they feed on the energy found in that environment.)
In these difficult times, it was good to see a really great comedy today while channel surfing. In this comedy, there were hundreds of incredibly stupid and uneducated morons demanding the right to die from their own stupidity. The funniest visual gag in this comedy was seeing these hundreds of morons gathered together in close proximity to each other, thereby increasing the likelihood of them dying very soon. Funniest comedy I've seen in ages.
ReplyDeleteWhile working on Smallville (in just in a building just off the lot), our C-BAG was Dalt's, which was handily right across the street. Most Fridays the L.A. staff (including writers, assistants, editors) would gather for a few stiff ones, some brown food and some laughs. I still remember the ammonia smell from behind the bar. Not quite as pedigreed as the C-BAG crew, but a lot of fun...
ReplyDeleteMark, I just clicked on your profile to see if you're the same guy who wrote Timecop, and you are! I love that movie. Some people can be snobby about Jean Claude Van Damme, but that is such a fun flick. Ron Silver was a memorable villain. The peanut scene is legendary!
DeleteI've watched the film a ton of times. It always takes me back to the days when action movies were shot on film and had practical effects, like real explosions and not the hideous cgi explosions you get now. I think digital cinematography and cgi have killed the action film, but that's a debate for another day.
Jay Moriarty said...
ReplyDeleteHey, Ken. Happened to catch your blog on the C-BAG and it brought back memories. Cast & crew of Dear John used to hang there on Tuesday nights too. With One-Shot Hal Cooper directing, we were usually the first ones to arrive. Judd Hirsch could always be seen sipping a rose-colored drink in a champagne glass. Intrigued, one night I asked him what it was. Judd called it a "Kir Royale"--champagne with a touch of cassis or Chambord--and insisted I try one. Since then, whenever I happen to drink, I order a Kir Royale and flash on Tuesday nights at the C-BAG. Thanks for the memories.
P.S. - Just discovered your blogs and plan to sign up for emails.
FRIDAY QUESTION
ReplyDeleteI read somewhere that Jimmy Kimmel is currently paying staff out of his own pocket. Have you heard any stories from the sitcom realm where showrunners, network execs or actors stepped up to the plate?
The Columbia Bar and Grill was directly across the street from Columbia Square and I'd occasionally have lunch there, usually on the out side patio. KNX Radio hosted my retirement party there April 7, 2000. For some reason, The Columbia Bar and Grill was not one of my favorite restaurants (Scandia was).
ReplyDeleteThe CB&G was owned by a group of Show-Biz celebrates including Wayne Rogers who was a major investor.
ReplyDelete