Saturday, August 08, 2009

Senator, could you say the line like this?

When I was directing LATELINE for NBC and telling Al Franken where to stand, how was I to know he was going to become a U.S. Senator? I mean, that's even better than getting another sitcom. Al was a complete delight to work with and I couldn't be more thrilled with his success. I know he'll make a fabulous senator.

Seeing him on TV (trading NBC for MSNBC) it brings back fond memories of November 1998 when I spent a month in New York directing LATELINE.

The show was filmed in Queens at the Kaufman-Astoria studios. Next door was SESAME STREET and it was not uncommon to see guys walking down the hall with Muppets on one hand and cigarettes in the other. I hung out one lunch break there with Big Bird and guest star, Peter Jennings.

We filmed on Tuesday nights and began rehearsing the next show the following day. In LA, after the show wrapped on Tuesday night, crews would strike the swing sets and start setting up the new ones. Not in New York. They would strike the sets on Wednesday when we were rehearsing. As inconvenient as this was I was told this was still far preferable to the all-night crews. I don’t even want to know why. But that meant in order to wheel out the big unwieldy set pieces they’d roll back the huge stage door that opened right out onto a city street. So anyone walking by could just stop and watch us rehearse. Also, since this was November, the open door permitted the first blast of winter to enter the studio. We all rehearsed in parkas.

There aren’t too many multi-camera shows filmed in New York. So there aren’t a lot of cameramen familiar with the form. Of our four cameramen, two primarily covered Mets games on Channel 9. If a character reached for a phone they zoomed in on his hand. I had to tell them, this was an actor not a shortstop.

But my favorite times were the studio/network runthroughs. These occurred after the third day of production. In order for execs back in LA to see the rehearsal a satellite hook up was employed. LATELINE was a behind-the-scenes look at late night news program a la NIGHTLINE so our main set was this huge honkin’ newsroom. The satellite feed was hooked up to one camera. This poor cameraman who looked like Don Knotts only more frightened, had to just follow the action the best he could. And of course he would miss lines, be fishing around looking for people, crash into desks, etc.

After one such ragged runthrough we got this network note: How come there are no close ups?

How do you even begin to answer that?

The DVD of LATELINE is available and worth checking out. Some very funny episodes. One in particular with Allison Janney and I’d like to think her performance was what first caught NBC’s attention. The next season she was cast in THE WEST WING. But on LATELINE she was hilarious! And thanks to that network note, there are quite a few close ups.

Hey, I wonder if Al can get me tickets to a Washington Nationals game? Nah. They're probably all sold out and even congressional pull won't help me in this case.

12 comments :

Steven said...

I'm 99% sure this is a repeat post. Still good though

Mel Ryane said...

He's good enough, he's smart enough and gosh darn it...we like him!

John said...

Of our four cameramen, two primarily covered Mets games on Channel 9. If a character reached for a phone they zoomed in on his hand. I had to tell them, this was an actor not a shortstop.

Given the Ch. 9 cameramen and Lateline's ratings, you probably could have boosted the Nielsens by closing the show with 10 minutes of Kiner's Korner.

Mike said...

I don't know which came first, but maybe you brought Alison Janey to the attention of Sam Mendes, too. She was great as the Colonel's wife in American Beauty right around that time.

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Anonymous said...

yeah, this blog is a partial rerun with some new added info about Al since he got elected. But what did you expect from a TV writer, most shows are in reruns right now anyways and it's his blog so he can rerun what he wants!

Anonymous said...

Believe me, if you call the Nationals office and ask what time the game starts, they'll ask "what time can you get here?"

Michael Green said...

Not only do I like him, but he got to be the face of a historic moment: Franken was presiding over the Senate for the vote on now-Justice Sonia Sotomayor, so he was seen announcing it.

No jokes. Republicans probably are amazed that he knows something about public policy.

Ben Scripps said...

The "Buddy Hackett" episode alone is worth the purchase price of the DVD.

Bob Claster said...

He may not be able to help with Nationals tickets, but it should be possible for you to see the Washington Generals.

Rory L. Aronsky said...

I loved this bit from his chief of staff Drew Littman in the New Yorker biography of his life/recap of his election article:

"“Also, he’s introduced himself to every security guy and maintenance worker. We did a walk-through of the swearing-in on Monday before the Senate opened. He stopped everyone who was pushing a cart, pushing a broom—shakes hands and introduces himself. Most senators just avert their eyes and walk as quickly as they can.”"

I want a senator like that.

Noel Larson said...

"Vote for me, Al Franken. You'll be glad you did"

Is my favorite bit from the Frankin/Davis SNL time.