Roger Owen Green is up first.
In 2020 fiction, do you address COVID, pretend it didn't happen, or what?
It depends on the show. If it’s set in present day and you’ve established yourself for several years I’d say you were almost obligated to address it. Some shows I’ve noticed have dealt with the economy going to shit and the struggles to stay afloat and keep their employees. Others have had characters contract the virus. But my heart goes out to those shows.
Unless it was absolutely necessary to set my show or movie or play in the pandemic I would avoid it like, well… the plague.
People don’t want to watch shows that remind them of COVID. NBC had that comedy about the pandemic and it died a quick and horrible death. I think there are numerous projects about “odd couples” forced to live together in lockdown. I’m super glad I don’t have one of them. It might’ve seemed like a good idea in April. Not now.
I have several plays I’m working on that I began before the pandemic. I’ve adjusted them all to be set either before or after 2020.
MellaBlue asks:
I was watching an old episode of Cheers the other night, and I was kind of struck by the rather prominent placing of a Budweiser bottle and a Coors bottle. I'd never really noticed "branding" before and I've watched every episode multiple times. So my question is.... was Cheers approached for product placement by liquor companies and did they accept? Or were these bottles just good props with no sort of deal struck with the companies?
Before we went into production, the Charles Brothers said to NBC that for the sake of authenticity we needed to mention specific brands of liquor. Otherwise, the whole atmosphere of the bar would ring false. They agreed to it so long as we didn’t overdo it.
Along those lines, we occasionally got away with showing brand names on bottles. But we did it sparingly. And no one approached us for product placement, nor did we ever take money for product placement.
I have to say, that the NBC Standards & Practices Department was very reasonable and we worked well with them throughout the run of the series. They understood that we were an adult show, but we were never looking to shock anyone or ruffle feathers simply to attract attention.
From “Ray’s Profile:”
On the cast list (for my Zoom reading of GUILTY PLEASURES) is Tony Pasquilini as "Etienne." Are credits like this (or, say, Jerry Mathers as The Beaver) negotiated or just added on a whim by the author?
Those are negotiated. It’s another way to elevate an actor’s credit. Only one or two people can receive top billing. But “and by” is a way of separating the actor from other cast members.
Credit and billing is a huge consideration. Where in the credits does your client appear? Is it a shared card? Is it the same size font as the star's? It’s often easier to negotiate the money than the credit.
Chris Thomson wonders:
Did you have private viewing parties for the final episodes of iconic shows you were on?
Like Mash, Cheers and Frasier etc?
For CHEERS we all went back to Boston and watched it at “Cheers.” That was very cool. It was private inside, but outside on Boston Common a giant Jumbotron board was set up and thousands more watched from there.
There was a private party for the MASH finale. It was in a screening room. I was working on CHEERS that night and was unable to attend.
But then MASH had a huge wrap party at a local restaurant and I got to hang out with former president Gerald Ford. That was only slightly surrealistic.
And finally, from another Chris — Chris G:
Was MASH exceptional in filming so quickly? Did the fact that the wardrobe was mostly uniforms and there were rarely new settings help keep production times that short?
I don’t think so. We allotted three days to film a half-hour episode. At the time that seemed to be the rule. And we generally had no problem delivering on that schedule. And in my limited experience at the time, I knew of no alternative. That’s just the way it was.
Happy holidays. Be safe. That’s more important than Christmas celebrations.
25 comments :
You joke of throwing one's calendar off - years back, I had a calendar with a typo (or an especially cruel joke). In, maybe, October, it went from the date of October 21 to October 23. Everything subsequent was in proper sequence, but, once you're off, you're off.
Happy Holidays, Ken, and "Here's to the New Year. May she be a damn sight better than the old one."
Pam, St. Louis
I was too young to drink during CHEERS' run so I didn't pay attention to beer and liquor brands. I did, however, learn about Guess, Dockers, and Pelle Pelle from the brand names shown prominently on the jackets and shirts Sam and other male cast members wore.
Don’t leave us hanging. What was former President Gerald Ford like?
Friday Question: In many movies and shows, I see a deliberate attempt to turn bottles just so that the labels never completely on display. Sometimes the pains the actors go to in manipulating the bottles are horribly obvious. Often, some brands are so recognizable, the bottles identity is clear with only a portion of it visible. In Delores Claiborne, they not only drank Scotch, but Black & White scotch was front and center. On Shameless, characters brazenly order Jameson Irish Whiskey. What are the rules for displaying or acknowledging a brand on screen, or the motivations for concealing the identity?
About having covid part of the show, IMOHO no one likes the current situation. So it will completely date the show (Murphy Brown re-runs anyone? Buehler? Buehler?).
The good doctor did a nice 2 episode arch about covid and how it affected them, was good to watch, they did a good job. Will I watch that again in re-runs? Probably not.
I foresee jokes in the future about someone not wearing a mask, or asking an ugly guy/gal to wear a mask and social distance. It will be funnier a year from now. I also predict a new saying, "Did he Trump it?" meaning to ignore facts and lie. "Isn't his face orange..."
Happy Safe Holly Daze to you Ken.
I have been reading your blog for maybe 10 years and it seems like I know you better than I know some of my friends. Especially during the plague your column is like an island that I can come to for a moment every day and relax. Thanks for the unbelievable job of coming up with something to say 6 days a week.
I hope next year I will be able to get to one of your plays and say thanks in person. Maybe you can get your son to ask Tim Cook to let you use the Apple Theater up here in the Silly Cone Valley.
Regarding CHEERS I recall that Norm would be drinking a glass of beer. But on shows like Chicago Fire and others both men and women always drink out the bottle. I suspect that way they could have water in the bottle for all we know.
Friday Question: Everybody who shares your taste keeps raving about this new sit-com. The characters are interesting, the relationship-drama is riveting and there are laugh out loud-funny jokes in every scene. You watch the first episode on their recommendation and realise that this might rank up there with M.A.S.H., Cheers, Taxi or the Mary Tyler Moore Show. It is the best episode of television you've seen in years.
Here is my question: Do you binge the entire season over a weekend and really immerse yourself in your new love or do you watch one episode per week to give yourself time to digest, reflect and anticipate?
When I was old enough to wear suits, I was slightly bummed that I never found Botany 500 on the racks at Grodin's and The Emporium. The name appearing at the end of several TV shows indicated it was real class.
Grey's Anatomy has done a good job of incorporating COVID in a tasteful and effective way. There's a very good article about it here:
'Grey's Anatomy' Season 17 takes Covid TV storytelling to a new level
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/amp/ncna1247639
Come to think of it, maybe a pandemic storyline would have saved AfterMASH.
It's not been a successful season for multi-cams, and Covid hasn't helped matters. Ratings for Chuck Lorre's series -- none of which are addressing the pandemic -- are struggling, and even the return of Kevin Pollak as an afterlife Alvin (Bonnie's late lover, Christy's father) couldn't stop last Thursday's episode of "Mom" from hitting a new low. (On the other hand, its charming Lorre lead-in, the new "B Positive," received a five-episode addition from CBS, bringing its total to 13.) Ken, are you pessimistic about the future of multi-cams?
One intriguing way to handle it is what BLUE BLOODS is doing. They're simply setting it a couple of years in the future, after the pandemic is over. Smart move, as it keeps the episodes from dating. OTOH, Covid is front and center on ALL RISE, and I respect that as well.
II thought Will Forte’s ‘The Last Man on Earth’ was a winning if not upbeat comedy premise (mankind-destroying virus) and was a little surprised it was flat dropped by Fox, just like that. All it needed was a little major overhaul. Imagine if that series had actually worked. Or, what if it had later debuted, say Fall or mid-season of 2019?
How would the TV universe have treated that scenario, and how so if the show was a hit going into 2020? Would have gotten people’s attention.
There are many episodes of All in the Family where Edith mentions or alludes to brand names (my favorite: she's trying to think of the word "reincarnation" and can only come up with "powdered milk"), and on Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman brand names were mentioned all the time, but in both cases, I don't think anybody was paying producer Norman Lear to do that. It was just his way of satirizing our over-commercialized culture.
Along the same lines, I don't think Campbell Soup ever compensated Andy Warhol for all he did for them.
Even when I was a little kid I could tell when a product wasn't real. The fake, appears like labels weren't very convincing. I also couldn't understand why stage money wasn't more realistic looking. It always took me out of a scene. And of course, I've always wondered why in old movies and TV shows they would pour booze from a decanter instead of from a bottle. I always figured it was because they didn't want to show any brand names. Then I thought is there some real life advantage to serving liquor that way? I tried Googling it, but I couldn't find any suitable answer.
Lately I've noticed that some shows take, for example, a real can of soda, but change the label slightly. i.e. Blot out a letter, modify the logo, etc.
Getting back to the original question, I have no problem with product placement as long as it doesn't turn into a defacto commercial. The "Coke" scene in "Volunteers" being the exception.
M.B.
MB - some liquor is better for being decanted and allowed to breathe; also it looks more glamorous than labeled bottles. Today few people drink enough hard liquor to make it worth the effort, and even back then it would have been a bit much for the average household unless you were having people over. But back then movies sold glamour, that was part of their appeal. Still is.
The earliest "placement" I've ever seen was a Vitagraph short from around 1904; a portly gentleman is eating dinner, including pickles from a jar with the "Heinz Gherkins" label facing the camera.
I watch movies and Tv to escape my everyday life. I have no interest in seeing Covid enter the Marvel or Tarantino Universe. It's bad enough Owen Wilson will be in Marvel's Loki series. ;)
I just saw a meme for the MASH episode Tea and Empathym for which you were the story editor.
The meme says that Bernard Fox was a last minute replacement for another British actor and that she shot all of his scenes in one day and went to emcee an event that evening.
True, not or a bit of each? Bernard Fox was great in this regardless.
But remember you shouldn't store alcohol in lead crystal, as the lead will leach into the alcohol over time.
@Pam, St. Louis - I saw what you did there!
When Tim Curry did "Muppet Treasure Island" he said he got the credit "first among humans"
@Toby the Wonder Horse
He likes football, nachos, and beer
https://youtu.be/A0-AD3bFjF8
The stage money is fake looking because it was at one time illegal to photograph bills, as it might encourage counterfeiters.
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