Albert Giesbrecht starts us off:
Ken! I didn't know you directed Dharma & Greg! Was Jenna Elfman as nice and friendly, as Dharma was on the show?
Absolutely. I first knew Jenna from our mid-90’s show, ALMOST PERFECT. I think we gave her one of her first jobs. She guested as an daffy secretary and was hilarious. You could tell right away that she was special.
And she fit in right away. After the filming we all went out to a karaoke bar. Jenna joined us. I was thrilled that her career took off. She’s as nice as she is talented, and I would work with her again in a second.
From Bill in Toronto:
Ken, from any of your careers, can you give an example or two of times anyone on the production really rose to the challenge and performed in a standout way you’d like to recognize here?
Yes. Frankie Bellina, our propmaster on CHEERS. You have no idea what a difficult assignment he had. Think of all the glasses on all the tables. And the bowls. And from scene to scene they changed and all had to match. How he kept it all straight I will never know.
Plus, CHEERS was filmed in front of a live audience. It’s not like he had a half-hour between scenes. He was a dervish.
Also, I want to heap praise on Larina Adamson. She was our line producer on two series and three pilots. Without a doubt the best in the business. She was a magician. Any stupid thing we wanted she made happen… and within budget.
So often you will ask your line producer for something and they’ll tell you it can’t be done or there’s no money in the budget for it. Not Larina. I think she was part Genie.
These are just two of many many spectacular crew members I had the honor of working with.
Curt Alliaume asks:
Who are some of your favorite baseball announcers now working?
I’ll just stick to radio for this round.
Jon Miller & Dave Flemming from the Giants. Ted Leitner of the Padres. Eric Nadel of the Rangers. Tom Hamilton of the Indians. National Treasure Bob Uecker of the Brew Crew, Pat Hughes of the Cubs, Howie Rose & Josh Lewin of the Mets, Andy Freed & Dave Wills of the Rays, Marty Brenneman of the Reds, Jim Powell of the Braves, Steve Physioc, Ryan Lefebvre, and Steve Stewart of the Royals, and I’m sure I’m leaving someone out.
And finally, from Jahn Ghalt:
When you do reshoots that are from last week's show, are they in front of an audience?
If so, do you do them before the scheduled show? Do you let the audience "in" on the circumstance?
Most of the time they’re not in front of the audience. They’ll be filmed either the day before during camera blocking or after the audience has been released.
Sometimes though, if it’s a long scene, or a scene we felt would really benefit by having an audience we will have the warm-up person set up the situation.
But a lot will depend on actual show to be filmed that week. If it’s complicated and we know will be a long night we won't subject a tired audience to another scene. However, if it’s a simple show that should take only a couple of hours to film we may sneak in that additional scene.
I’m in New York to see my one-act play, THE HOOK UP being performed as part of ANDTheatre’s Annual 10-minute Play Festival at Theatre 54. I will be attending tonight and tomorrow night’s performance. If you’re around, swing by and say hello. Here’s info. Thanks.
from By Ken Levine
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