To avoid NBC giving away a big surprise in an episode of FRASIER that Ken co-write, they slipped it in at the last minute and NBC aired it sight unseen. The peacock was not pleased. Also, hear about the time Ken got thrown off THE DATING GAME, the CHEERS episode he co-wrote wound up in a Playboy Magazine expose, and you’ll meet the most bizarre radio personality you will ever hear.
8 comments :
You make several breaks an episode "Back with more after this". Is the program being broadcast on commercial radio or is it being packaged for future commercial sale?
I fell down an internet hole researching everything I could about Pete "Mad Daddy" Myers. The seminal rockabilly/punk band The Cramps even recorded a song in his honor. Don't you think his life would make a great screenplay? And don't you think with your background, you might be the perfect person to write it?
Also, as a former radio DJ turned comedian turned writer, I am LOVING the podcast and retroactively the blog.
Your great Switching Tapes at the Last Minute story about Frasier reminded me of one of the great master control FUBARs of all time at NBC. Here's a clip from 1978 when a tape operator accidentally played Part 3 of a mini-series that was supposed to be on Part 2. Staff announcer Howard Reig has to deliver the embarrassing news.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ktmt9UrPPsE
So Barris didn't have an obscenity laces tirade when you wear thrown off the Dating Game.
Um ... Dating Game, you emphasize you were 16. They let you on tv as a minor? With the contestants being young adults? Particularly the girls possibly choosing you who would then be on a "date" with a 16 year old???
If you had gotten selected, how would you have handled Hawaii?
Enjoying the podcast - unfortunately, I've got to wait until your crack techno team puts it into Android land for me to "like" it. Soon I hope.
TV networks didn't always pull promos from the final version. I remember watching TV in the 70s and early 80s, when promos from filmed dramas would be faded and scratchy, which was strange because they were supposed to be brand new. Later I found out about "work prints," and how editors would make hasty positive prints off of negatives, not properly setting the color, and, well, splicing up and working on the print. The work print would then be handed to a negative cutter who would carefully cut the camera negative from which the final print would be made. Except in the case of Muppet Babies, in which the network simply aired the work print. Hey, it's only for kids, and they don't care, right?
Post a Comment