tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post1846803316233616473..comments2023-11-03T06:02:02.128-07:00Comments on By Ken Levine: Friday QuestionsBy Ken Levinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17305293821975250420noreply@blogger.comBlogger50125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-91186020287385039022021-11-16T21:48:30.302-08:002021-11-16T21:48:30.302-08:00I watched B Positive. Actually, I think the dialys...I watched B Positive. Actually, I think the dialysis patients were funny especially the sharp, tough lady who is gone now. The dentist, the nurse, and the football player are good. The guy who had the successful transplant--he pales when he's with other people. I wanted to see the fooball player/Gina relationship. The nursing home is not that intersting. It feels sad more than funny. Remember Vicki Lawrence on the recent "The Cool Kids"? That was a better, more fun version of retirement living. Not a "great" show, but good for laughs. I would rather watch that than B Positive. Saminoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-68034180695269467182021-11-16T17:12:19.696-08:002021-11-16T17:12:19.696-08:00Thanks Ken for answering my FQ! :)
Paul
aka PolyW...Thanks Ken for answering my FQ! :)<br /><br />Paul<br />aka PolyWoggPolyWogghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05239033481272527855noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-8532908124769856042021-11-16T12:18:13.415-08:002021-11-16T12:18:13.415-08:00Friday Question:Hi Ken, what is your opinion on (m...Friday Question:Hi Ken, what is your opinion on (mostly drama) shows that play a song over a montage of scenes , usually in the last few minutes of an episode, usually with very little or no dialogue (I don't know if there's a term for this)? I really don't like it, it seems like lazy writing and cheap emotional manipulation by the choice of song. I think of shows like Sons of Anarchy, Parenthood, House, the L Word, some of which used it way too much in my opinion, I'd rather get more dialogue than music (and I'm a musician).mrileynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-7102154377146676972021-11-16T08:48:20.024-08:002021-11-16T08:48:20.024-08:00Didn't mean to post anonymous do replying with...Didn't mean to post anonymous do replying with name included. :)Matt Davisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-74219666063183977722021-11-16T07:48:15.578-08:002021-11-16T07:48:15.578-08:00I'm late to the game so I am going back throug...I'm late to the game so I am going back through all the old podcasts (all great, by the way). I notice you discuss a lot of pilots that did not get picked up for a series for various reasons. Some of them, such as Characters, sound like they would be great and still relevant today. Is there anything that prevents these old pilots from being reconsidered now?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13790988393707014153noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-5593464850176886862021-11-14T17:13:34.501-08:002021-11-14T17:13:34.501-08:00What you can't see in the Hollywood Squares sh...What you can't see in the <i>Hollywood Squares</i> shot is there's a beat-up desk and a couple production staffers sitting there between the tic-tac-toe grid and the desks where Peter Marshall and the contestants sat. That's why you never saw a full shot of both (that and I'm not sure if cameras could handle that wide an angle). Subsequent versions of the show staged it differently so everything could be seen.<br /><br />For old-time game show fans, a pilot episode of <i>Tic Tac Dough</i> was shot in September for a possible return next fall, with Tom Bergeron as host and Harry Friedman (the previous executive producer of <i>Wheel of Fortune</i> and <i>Jeopardy!</i> before Mike Richards) at the helm.<br /><br />https://deadline.com/2021/09/tom-bergeron-tic-tac-dough-nbcuniversal-harry-friedman-1234840831/Curt Alliaumehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05875046706746482871noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-66568023389185203932021-11-14T10:23:14.832-08:002021-11-14T10:23:14.832-08:00My Friday Question - I had to babysit a bunch of k...My Friday Question - I had to babysit a bunch of kids (don't even ask) - we ended up watching "Clifford the Big Red Dog". It wasn't bad - they were into it. What kid's movie do you think hold's up?JShttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13376748020962332059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-15813830464758441902021-11-13T15:33:31.884-08:002021-11-13T15:33:31.884-08:00To ask your question -- No, I never tire of Christ...To ask your question -- No, I never tire of Christmas music. You just have to know how to avoid the crap. No Johnny Mathis, Mariah Carey, Wham or that Bubble guy.DwWashburnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03057278992504418291noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-78877758429371743942021-11-13T15:32:14.472-08:002021-11-13T15:32:14.472-08:00That's very interesting. I didn't know tha...That's very interesting. I didn't know that. Thank you, Liggie. (PS. Autocorrect is not a friend to your name.)Andrewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00466932184113943306noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-22387470757053937302021-11-13T14:36:49.438-08:002021-11-13T14:36:49.438-08:00My FQ involves streaming. Specifically, so many st...My FQ involves streaming. Specifically, so many streamers -- particularly the free ones -- pick up classic series for streaming, which I very much enjoy.<br /><br />My question, however, is do the actors, directors, writers, etc., ever see royalties from this given that streaming didn't even exist when they signed their original contracts?<br /><br />Thanks, as always,<br /><br />JanetJanethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16136856533329478197noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-80816707392767481932021-11-13T10:09:02.581-08:002021-11-13T10:09:02.581-08:00Spike you are correct, I meant to type retool not ...Spike you are correct, I meant to type retool not reboot. <br />And yes I did see the actual reboot on spectrum, it wasnt bad but also wasnt great, certainly no laugh out loud moments and it was hard to get past how old they all look now.<br />The first few years, before the baby came, they had some great episodes.<br />My favorite was “our 15 minutes,” where Paul shot a short film in the apartment.cd1515https://www.blogger.com/profile/13442641020639066876noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-82290910383135933772021-11-13T08:43:15.065-08:002021-11-13T08:43:15.065-08:00Every time I catch it in reruns, I always wonder a...Every time I catch it in reruns, I always wonder about he backstory of how the “Our Finest Hour” episode of MASH came together. Did CBS order it? Who is David Lawrence and how did he become involved? How was using the interview as the driver decidedr? I’d love to read an “oral history” of this episode.Ben Bragghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11263241672813490195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-30978310061296856142021-11-13T00:12:15.820-08:002021-11-13T00:12:15.820-08:00My thoughts on "B Positive": I was disa...My thoughts on "B Positive": I was disappointed in its portrayal of dialysis, given that it is presumably based on the writer's personal experience. Dialysis isn't received in a quiet, pristine environment. You're in a large room that accommodates probably 50 people. It is not as pleasant as the series would have you believe. If they've taken a turn to explore an assisted living environment, I can only hope they take a page from the wonderful short-lived hospital series "Getting On" that aired on PBS based on a British format. It featured the fantastic Laurie Metcalf, as well as Alex Borstein. Metcalf should have won the Emmy that went (again) to Julia Louis-Dreyfus. I, for one, love Thomas Middleditch and find the talented Annaleigh Ashford's character beyond annoying. Lorimartiannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-16084409236548710112021-11-12T23:12:59.628-08:002021-11-12T23:12:59.628-08:00I think you're referring to developments durin...I think you're referring to developments during the show instead of a reboot. Actually there was a revival of the show a few years ago with 12 new episodes, focused on Jamie and Paul's adjustments when their daughter leaves for college. It's a pretty good watch overall, maybe too many empty-nester cliches, but fun to see them all again with some of the other characters like Ira, Lisa, and Mark.<br /><br />Anyway the first season of the original show wasn't great and Shelby was a terrible character/actor. Jamie quitting her job led to some fresh story arcs about her college experiences and eventually starting her own business. And I think the Mel Brooks episodes were wonderful and well integrated with the other characters, especially the hospital scenes where on his deathbed he asks Paul and Jamie to name their kid after his real name, Deuteronomy, and stages a musical number with the doctors and nurses. I'm curious what you think the "stated premise" of the show was and how it should have followed that. One of the joys of the series was how zany it was with a lot of physical comedy and stories that felt original and unlike other sitcoms. The "Pursona" episode was amazing. Clamenza!Spike de Beauvoirnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-88564464180304956542021-11-12T21:15:37.968-08:002021-11-12T21:15:37.968-08:00To Mike Bloodworth: Regardless of its setting, &qu...<b>To Mike Bloodworth:</b> Regardless of its setting, "It's About Time" was always feces-worthy. It's on many people's lists of the 10 worst-ever sitcoms, and deservedly so.<br /><br /><b>To Liggie:</b> If we're going to bring up senior-friendly sitcoms, don't forget "The Cool Kids" (Martin Mull is an always-welcome presence). It performed decently for Fox on Fridays in 2018-19, and likely would've received a second season had the network not signed a deal with the WWE for that night.Vincenthttps://carole-and-co.livejournal.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-35637924716906243982021-11-12T18:16:23.076-08:002021-11-12T18:16:23.076-08:00Question I had while watching MeTV's Veterans ...Question I had while watching MeTV's Veterans Day re-running of the "M*A*S*H" finale. The last installment was originally planned to be a 2-hour show, which got extended by another 30 minutes to incorporate the real fire that went through the exterior set. From any of your interactions with the writers from that episode, what exactly got added for that extra half hour? And what portions of the original 2 hours got folded into the sequence involving the bug-out location?<br /><br />Also wondering if you remember how long your original interview was for the Q&A clips that MeTV did for that. Seems like MeTV would have collected a lot of oral history from everyone who was involved with those interviews that hasn't ever been publicly shared. David G.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-87566897387773435032021-11-12T17:28:46.819-08:002021-11-12T17:28:46.819-08:00I really enjoyed this weeks Friday questions. Love...I really enjoyed this weeks Friday questions. Loved Parks and Rec, I didn't really notice the pivot though. I think another show that kept dragging on was Prison Break. Season one, they escaped. Now what. Ok, season two - another prison, just swap around who's incarcerated. I like the picture of the Hollywood squares set. I bet it was hot with all those lights. I agree - Jeopardy is the only real game show left. I think Ken Jennings is doing a great job.Brianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00760229533287495672noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-6468045779195787692021-11-12T15:58:56.781-08:002021-11-12T15:58:56.781-08:00Clair's A nous la liberte seems to have inspir...Clair's A nous la liberte seems to have inspired Chaplin's Modern Times. There was a lawsuit claiming infringement but both Clair and Chaplin tried to quell it. Chaplin claimed he never saw Clair's film and Clair was a great admirer of Chaplin and didn't want to take him down. It seems there may have been outside parties with their own unsavory interests that tried to press the lawsuit, which I think was finally settled out of court. In any case both films are brilliant. A nous la liberte is delightful with innovative early sound design. I love Clair's early work and he made a very successful transition to Hollywood though his films are somewhat underrated. Early Edition evokes Clair's It Happened Tomorrow.Spike de Beauvoirnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-86639376222717997942021-11-12T15:25:40.908-08:002021-11-12T15:25:40.908-08:00@Vincent
It's good that Annaleigh Ashford has...@Vincent<br /><br />It's good that Annaleigh Ashford has become the star of the show because it doesn't seem like her male co-lead (the guy from Silicon Valley) has the chops to pull off starring in a network sitcom. He is completely unlikable.<br /><br />It turns out that Ashford was born Annaleigh Swanson, but it isn't clear why she changed her name. Her husband's name is actually Tapper. Maybe she wanted to be like Don Adams and move up to the top of the call list #FunFactScarletNumbernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-36767072684053099052021-11-12T15:10:40.824-08:002021-11-12T15:10:40.824-08:00First, a Happy Disney+ Day to those who celebrate....First, a Happy Disney+ Day to those who celebrate.<br /><br />Second, I second Joel Keller's comment about "Cougar Town". That show became very enjoyable after it became about drinking wine with friends (and playing Penny Can). It also then struck me as an analogue for "Friends". The six main adult characters each had a corresponding character on "Friends"; they'd all just moved to Florida and it was easier to understand how they could afford their homes. Even the bar stood in for Central Perk.Charles Bryannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-82559320387026612272021-11-12T15:07:35.374-08:002021-11-12T15:07:35.374-08:00-- I've also seen the "Hollywood Squares&...-- I've also seen the "Hollywood Squares" set reconstructed for sketch comedy, particularly "In Living Color" and a recent "SNL", which featured Anya Taylor-Joy as Baby Spice surrounded by now-cancelled celebrities (Bill Cosby, Jeff Dunham, Jared from Subway, etc.). <br /><br />-- I thought Chuck Lorre would've gone with a more somber note in "B Positive" Season 2. Perhaps the kidney transplant didn't take and Drew is still stuck in dialysis. Or, Drew dies during the surgery (giving them an excuse to fire Thomas Middleditch, who's a weak actor and has some serious sexual harassment accusations), leaving Gina to figure out what to do next. That said, the focus on the nursing home is a pleasant surprise. It gives Annaleigh Ashford a chance to shine outside Broadway, and it becomes probably the first senior-friendly sitcom since "The Golden Girls". But Jane Seymour is now playing a nursing home resident; am I really that old?<br /><br />-- @Andrew: Apparently YouTube is okay with users uploading TV or movie clips, as long as they don't monetize their channels. If all someone's channel featured was snippets of "Friends" highlights, they're OK. But if they were already producing my own topic-focused content (opinions on soccer, politics, cell phone models, etc.), accepting ad revenue and posting affiliate marketing links in the video descriptions, they wouldn't be allowed to post those "Friends" snippets. Liggienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-548385959137502562021-11-12T14:35:53.897-08:002021-11-12T14:35:53.897-08:00I couldn't agree more about game shows. I jus...I couldn't agree more about game shows. I just put on the new "You Bet Your Life." It has more neon than the Vegas strip and Jay Leno is no Groucho. The audience applauds and yells for everything. Even the duck is gone. Buttermilk Skyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07430011403223875192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-46735090485224648932021-11-12T14:28:09.710-08:002021-11-12T14:28:09.710-08:00https://www.nitrateville.com/viewtopic.php?t=16699...https://www.nitrateville.com/viewtopic.php?t=16699<br />As the above thread—with far too many dead links — illustrates,<br />Chaplin had many unheralded and uncredited story and gag writers,<br />including Milt Gross<br />One anecdote, from an “as told to” Zanuck Bio:<br /><br />“After about three months at Sennett's, Zanuck switched to Chaplin. Chuck Riesner, Chaplin's chief gagwriter, had heard about Zanuck and hired him. From the beginning he was Riesner's boy, and not Chaplin’s. ‘Chaplin took an instant dislike to me, I think, because of my youth more than anything else.’ The dislike, or at least disrespect, was reciprocal. As Zanuck describes writing gags for Chaplin: ‘We would sit around working up gags among ourselves. Riesner's job was to invent gags but not reveal them to Chaplin. He would place all the props and then let Chaplin ‘discover’ the gag. We’d sit in the background, holding our breath waiting for him to fall on it. If you made a suggestion— you're dead! He would always finally find the gag and damn near on every occasion he would bawl the hell out of us for not discovering it.’ “<br /><br />And the inspiration for Chaplin’s Modern Times factory/assembly line scenes,<br />and The Gold Rush’s dinner roll dance, may have originated with Roscoe Arbuckle and Rene Clair<br /><br /><br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RMAfsbfr4k<br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNN7bd3QHFE <br /><br /><br /><br /> <br />Fredhttps://www.nitrateville.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-55640094000832255092021-11-12T13:42:47.233-08:002021-11-12T13:42:47.233-08:00As always Ken, thank you for answering my question...As always Ken, thank you for answering my question. I sincerely appreciate it.<br /><br />In previous blogs I made known my intense dislike for "B-Positive." Retooled or not it's a show I just can't watch. To me it's a great example of Chuck Lorre's inevitable decline. <br /><br />In my opinion the biggest retool failure was with "It's About Time" when they moved the cavemen to the present day. The show went right into to feces receptacle after that. <br /><br />M.B. Mike Bloodworthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04755626259169126800noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-54185510255915158202021-11-12T13:40:24.798-08:002021-11-12T13:40:24.798-08:00Glad someone had something nice to say about "...Glad someone had something nice to say about "B Positive," as I've become a fan of the fabulous Annaleigh Ashford (a Tony Award winner who now sings its theme and has become the show's primary character). I too wondered where season two would go, and feared the worst when Annaleigh's free-spirited character Gina was willed millions by someone at the senior home she worked at. Would she quit her job, become a world traveler, what? No -- she bought the home and runs it, bringing in a slew of talented veteran actors to join Linda Lavin (whose two guest appearances on "Mom" ranked among the series' funniest episodes) in comprising its residents. "B Positive" now is second only to Chuck Lorre stablemate "Bob [Hearts] Abishola" as my current favorite sitcom.Vincenthttps://carole-and-co.livejournal.comnoreply@blogger.com