tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post357828725867773524..comments2023-11-03T06:02:02.128-07:00Comments on By Ken Levine: Who really created BEWITCHED? By Ken Levinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17305293821975250420noreply@blogger.comBlogger54125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-21944232379889330422014-08-24T22:54:46.333-07:002014-08-24T22:54:46.333-07:00I was (still am) a huge fan of Nickelodeon's T...I was (still am) a huge fan of Nickelodeon's The Amanda Show. It would cool if Nick brought out a new version or rerunned the old one. I have a few episodes on tape I recored as a young teen. My 10 year old daughter thinks that The Amanda Show is dumb. But it is classic way cool 90s TV.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-80326091763787924792012-12-20T16:20:15.627-08:002012-12-20T16:20:15.627-08:00I got excited when I thought you were doing an AMA...I got excited when I thought you were doing an AMA (Ask Me Anything/Q&A) on Reddit. It was the other Ken.<br /><br />http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/156gvi/i_am_ken_levine_creative_director_of_bioshock_and/<br /><br />Would you ever consider doing one?John Pnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-69374885275935383572012-12-19T11:38:01.677-08:002012-12-19T11:38:01.677-08:00So they approved your show, and then dropped you u...So they approved your show, and then dropped you upon seeing My Name is Earl? Somehow I think you are exaggerating the level of enthusiasm for your show the first time around. My Name Is Earl appears to be a flop all around.MikeNnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-24894572199078671422012-12-18T17:28:43.350-08:002012-12-18T17:28:43.350-08:00Becky Asks... Here's my Friday Question. I'...Becky Asks... Here's my Friday Question. I've been watching The Dick Van Dyke show on Hulu lately. In several episodes Rob displays his pet allergy with extremely believable sneezing. Any idea how he was able to play that so consistently? If an actor on one of your shows had to play a quirk like that how would he or she handle it? Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10471226310720921344noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-11984835028385336072012-12-17T11:00:06.363-08:002012-12-17T11:00:06.363-08:00The Mentalist is a kind of dig at Medium, which be...<i>The Mentalist</i> is a kind of dig at <i>Medium</i>, which began airing afew years earlier.<br /><br /><i>Mentalist</i>'s lead character is named "Patrick Jane", which is an obvious poke at <i>Medium</i>'s star Patricia Arquette, who was married at that time to Thomas Jane.<br /><br />About <i>Captain Nice</i>:<br /><br /> In a couple of episodes, John Dehner played a character caled The Great Medulla, a wonderfully bogus nightclub mindreader who (I thought) deserved his own show.<br />That, or at least to be added to <i>Get Smart</i> as a recurring character.<br /><br />If all these shows about <i>faux</i> psychics come from anywhere ... well just say that Medulla dates back to 1967, so there.Mike Dorannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-52687441103343533022012-12-17T09:36:23.867-08:002012-12-17T09:36:23.867-08:00Re: Sam "Alone" and Norm -
You just sho...Re: Sam "Alone" and Norm - <br />You just shot my college media criticism professor's theories all to hell. And that was back when he was a lowly first-year associate prof. He's now the go-to guy on CNN, newspapers, etc whenever reporters need a quote about pop culture events' impacts on society.Tomnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-27706093711441901912012-12-17T02:08:43.016-08:002012-12-17T02:08:43.016-08:00"Paul Duca said...
Don't forget THE DOUBL...<i>"Paul Duca said...<br />Don't forget THE DOUBLE LIFE OF HENRY PHYFFE"</i><br /><br />Too late. Already forgotten.<br /><br />I remember enjoying but not admiring both <i>Captain Nice</i> and <i>Mr. Terrific</i>. William Daniels certainly elevated the former. I was in high school when they were on. I tired of <i>Batman</i> (except when Vincent Price or Tallulah Bankhead were on as guest villains) quite quickly.<br /><br /><i>"Anonymous said...<br />Didn't the guys (Robert Pirosh and Marc Connely) who wrote 'I Married a Witch' REALLY write 'Bewitched'?"</i><br /><br />I see that VP81955 set you straight on that, and shares my love of Thorne Smith. <i>I Married a Witch</i> was indeed based on that novel by Smith, one of my literary idols and role models, one of the great comedy novelists, paving the way for Patrick Dennis. (Though all of Thorne's novels involved fantasy premises while none of Dennis's did.) I don't ever recall laughing harder while reading a novel than I did at the fish-fight scene in <i>Nightlife of the Gods</i>. The movie of his <i>Turnabout</i> is very funny. The novel is <i><b>MUCH</b></i> funnier. Thorne's books set the standard I try to reach towards in my own work. (And his characters generally drink every bit as much as my Tallulah Morehead does.)<br /><br />And secondly, the premises were pretty vastly different. <i>Bewitched</i> was about an almost-normal marraige except the wife had magical powers. <i>I Married a Witch</i> was about a witch and her warlock father, executed for black magic, returning from the grave centuries later to seek revenge by marrying and making misarable the descendant of the man who executed them. It was part of Thorne's genius to take a horror premise HP Lovecraft would have liked and turning it into a screwball romantic comedy.<br /><br /><i>"Matt Patton said...<br />Actually, I think THE MENTALIST is meant as a rip-off of CASTLE</i><br /><br />Both shows premiered the same season, same month. They are, I agree, nearly identical shows, but they came at the same time and neither can be a rip-off of the other one.<br /><br />I would enjoy <i>Elementary</i> a lot more (It's not a bad show) if they weren't pretendng that this guy is Sherlock Holmes. I am a huge, lifelong Sherlockian (Wanna see my pictures of myself stalking about the actual Dartmoor in my deerstalker? I'm a seriously strong Sherlockian), and that guy ain't no Sherlock Holmes. I could almost wish it ripped off Moffett's <i>Sherlock</i> more closely, because <i>Sherlock</i> gets the character right, <i>Elementary</i> does not. It's just a standard CBS formula show, fairly well-plotted, little different from several shows now on the air, but very little like the work of A.C.Doyle.D. McEwannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-69184789242704318932012-12-16T22:01:18.821-08:002012-12-16T22:01:18.821-08:00Actually, if ELEMENTARY rips off any show, it'...Actually, if ELEMENTARY rips off any show, it's MONK: OCD hero, long-suffering female sidekick, sympathetic police captain played by actor who usually plays villains...<br /><br />That may have been me who asked Daniels about CAPTAIN NICE at a 1776 Q&A several years ago. I did get him to concede (based on the audience's applause when I brought it up) that an unseen-for-40-years show that ran 13 weeks could still get a big hand couldn't be a total loss. He added that the only good thing about it (in his mind) is that it's where he met Buck Henry, who promptly cast him in THE GRADUATE.cadavranoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-76287665273852112872012-12-16T14:39:27.039-08:002012-12-16T14:39:27.039-08:00When a writer in television uses a pseudonym, do p...When a writer in television uses a pseudonym, do people usually address them by their real name or the pseudonym? Also, on contracts which name do they sign?The Comic Scholarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14360969009688090857noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-65104574031806234152012-12-16T11:28:58.719-08:002012-12-16T11:28:58.719-08:00When NBC bought your pilot and then killed the pro...When NBC bought your pilot and then killed the project, were you allowed to shop it to anyone else?Lou Hnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-34770765078977243512012-12-16T08:38:16.657-08:002012-12-16T08:38:16.657-08:00New Girl is pretty consistently #1 in Hulu's l...New Girl is pretty consistently #1 in Hulu's listing of "popular shows" with Mindy Project not too far behind. So I gotta ask if Hulu takes a little beak wetting from Fox to bump those shows up in that list.Howard Hoffmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05377628524697677407noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-77882766314554209672012-12-15T16:52:39.042-08:002012-12-15T16:52:39.042-08:00Thanks for the deeper dig, VP. I'm familiar wi...Thanks for the deeper dig, VP. I'm familiar with Thorne Smith but haven't read any of his works. Cap'n Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11783977137812876489noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-87400516493775701422012-12-15T15:34:40.486-08:002012-12-15T15:34:40.486-08:00Sometimes Ntworks don't even have to look for ...Sometimes Ntworks don't even have to look for copycat projects. They just look around the stuff that has been offered them and buy whatever is the most like that hit. I don't know if that was the situation wih Staley and Long's series about a couple of twentysomethings living i an appartment in New York together, but they did get shot done soon after that for being an 'obvious Friends rip-off'. You really should have Rob Long tell you the story. I seem to remember they were ordered to have a funny neighbour because a show with only a group of friens would never work and they caved in and did that and then were blamed for it or something like that.Ger Apeldoornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03633862833036214748noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-67469295578098015952012-12-15T15:06:23.655-08:002012-12-15T15:06:23.655-08:00Actually The Mentalist is a rip-off of (the superi...Actually The Mentalist is a rip-off of (the superior) Psych. In fact the Psych characters once joked about it.unkystannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-42663075492490278992012-12-15T14:55:07.496-08:002012-12-15T14:55:07.496-08:00Actually, I think THE MENTALIST is meant as a rip-...Actually, I think THE MENTALIST is meant as a rip-off of CASTLE (smirking amateur-sleuth hero teamed with grumpy female detective)--and both of them feel like a gender-switched rip-off of the Hildegarde Withers mysteries by Stuart Palmer (that led to some very amusing movies starring Edna Mae Oliver and James Gleason in the mid-1930's).<br /><br />As for ELEMENTARY, it's a rip-off of the BBC SHERLOCK series starring Benedict Cumberbatch. Amusingly, Johnny Lee Miller, who plays Holmes, appeared recently with Cumberbatch in a stage production of FRANKENSTEIN at the National Theater in England, where they switched the roles of monster and monster-maker. At some point, the Holmes/Watson teams really should make cameo appearances on each others shows . . .Matt Pattonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-15331291882336892802012-12-15T04:53:33.609-08:002012-12-15T04:53:33.609-08:00I'm SO glad I read through the comments before...<i>I'm SO glad I read through the comments before I mentioned "I Married A Witch"; I always thought "Bewitched" was loosely based on it. But I said to myself, "Self, you KNOW that VP81955 is gonna be ON IT and lay down the Old Hollywood knowledge". And I was right. :)</i><br /><br />Jeez, I never realized I carried that kind of presence here. I'll try to use it wisely. :)VP81955https://www.blogger.com/profile/11792390726196611188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-7001470431510986132012-12-15T04:43:07.657-08:002012-12-15T04:43:07.657-08:00I'm SO glad I read through the comments before...I'm SO glad I read through the comments before I mentioned "I Married A Witch"; I always thought "Bewitched" was loosely based on it. But I said to myself, "Self, you KNOW that VP81955 is gonna be ON IT and lay down the Old Hollywood knowledge". And I was right. :)<br /><br />Cheers, thanks a lot,<br /><br />StormStormnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-54951748601965225782012-12-15T00:46:15.055-08:002012-12-15T00:46:15.055-08:00I'll tell you who created "Bewitched.&quo...I'll tell you who created "Bewitched." The Winklevoss twins.Waynenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-36652626992906235002012-12-14T21:59:24.477-08:002012-12-14T21:59:24.477-08:00Kudos to @unkystan for 'Raising Hope'. Whi...Kudos to @unkystan for 'Raising Hope'. While I don't keep up enough to know whether it's actually not getting any love from Fox, it really *is* the quirkiest, strangest, best sitcom on TV -- AND definitely not a knockoff of 'My Name Is Earl'. Two entirely different personalities from the same creator, except I can't imagine what Greg Garcia would come up with in the same vein after 'Hope" has it's run. But whatever it was, he'd give, say, Judd Apatow a run for his money, methinks.ScottyBnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-42131285235819074062012-12-14T21:46:06.490-08:002012-12-14T21:46:06.490-08:00Great insight, as usual, regarding knockoffs. Even...Great insight, as usual, regarding knockoffs. Even today, I wonder how interesting a series might be if it was pitched to be everything the flavor of the day wasn't, in a way that everyone in viewer-land would immediately get that it was going against the other program's grain. <br /><br />It would be our little joke that we were all in on, and we'd all get the joke, and it would be good. How awesomely cool would that be?ScottyBnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-15380115132226099082012-12-14T21:10:12.296-08:002012-12-14T21:10:12.296-08:00Perhaps Ken could post next Friday's answers a...Perhaps Ken could post next Friday's answers a day early.<br />The normal post time is 2pm GMT and I'm concerned that those of us living East of the Atlantic will not be around to read them.Mikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06248182899977033579noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-8073756260979468362012-12-14T20:19:48.707-08:002012-12-14T20:19:48.707-08:00"Bewitched" should credit Rene Clair, wh...<i>"Bewitched" should credit Rene Clair, whose 1942 movie "I Married a Witch," with Fredric March and Veronica Lake, set the premise in motion.</i><br /><br />And "I Married A Witch" was derived from "The Passionate Witch," the last novel written by Thorne Smith, master author of ribald fantasy (he wrote "Topper," "Topper Takes A Trip," "Night Life Of The Gods" and many other gems, most of which were adapted in films and later TV series). His books are a bit dated by current standards, especially given their frequent hoary ethnic stereotypes, but once you get past that, they still amuse.<br /><br />Copycat concept programming continued into the 1990s. After the success of the first season of "Sabrina, The Teenage Witch" in 1996-97, ABC decided to go virtually all fantasy for TGIF the following year, resulting in a lackluster bloc of short-lived teen fantasy sitcoms that lacked the charm of "STTW." (And "Sabrina" lost much of that charm, too; showrunner Nell Scovell left after the first season, and the series became more formulaic and less interesting.)VP81955https://www.blogger.com/profile/11792390726196611188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-82736442695581795562012-12-14T17:33:30.952-08:002012-12-14T17:33:30.952-08:00Bewitched should credit Rene Claire, whose 1942 mo...Bewitched should credit Rene Claire, whose 1942 movie I Married a Witch, with Fredric March and Veronica Lake, set the premise in motion.Cap'n Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11783977137812876489noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-64681266230306248122012-12-14T16:45:41.238-08:002012-12-14T16:45:41.238-08:00Right now it seems the wildest, funniest and most ...Right now it seems the wildest, funniest and most original comedy is "Raising Hope". Three years in but no love from FOX. Hate "Mindy" (can't understand a thing she says) Thoughts?unkystannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-2356005478755803202012-12-14T16:19:52.272-08:002012-12-14T16:19:52.272-08:00Sol Saks also wrote a wise and charming book about...Sol Saks also wrote a wise and charming book about comedy writing, called (appropriately enough) "Funny Business." Mark Murphyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07463881222804863326noreply@blogger.com