Jim S has a question based on a recent podcast with casting director Sheila Guthrie (if you haven’t listened you’re missing out on two great episodes).
You talked about getting the right actor, which got me thinking.
When you can't cast a part do you ever think it's because you can't just find the right actor, or do ever think if you can't cast a part maybe it's because the writing just isn't there yet?
Mostly it’s that we haven’t found the right actor. There was even a pilot we once had at CBS that we pulled because we couldn’t find the right two actors and didn’t want to just settle.
When the right actor reads you see the potential, even if that means rewriting to better take advantage of his gifts.
But I will say this, after hearing fifty actors trounce my material I do start to wonder what we found funny about it in the first place. The answer there is to just trust it.
From Markus:
Wasn't M*A*S*H shot in 4:3 fit for the TV sets of the time, and showing it in 16:9 cuts significant portions off of the image (which is at least as awful als colorized black/white originals...)? Or is this some sort of deluxe remastered version using original widescreen film?
MASH was filmed on 35 mm film so yes, they could go back to the negative cut and remaster it, which apparently they did.
On the air the show never looked as good to me. But that’s because I always screened the finished product in a theater on the big screen where the color and everything else was glorious (like my credit).
Jim S wonders:
How do you write when something huge in the news happened? I remember reading the book about the Dick Van Dyke Show and one of the stories Rose Marie told was having to do their show less than a week after Kennedy was shot.
The machine roles on, and schedules must be met. How does one do that in the face of a Kennedy-death type event?
An episode of BECKER that David Isaacs and I wrote was in production the day of 9-11. In fact, it was scheduled to shoot before a live studio audience that night. Obviously the filming was cancelled. The decision was made to shoot the show later in the week but without an audience.
The short answer is you just have to adjust. The relative importance of delivering a half-hour of television is minuscule compared to the magnitude of the world event.
And finally, from Doug G.:
What are your 3 or 5 best sitcoms ever that you never worked on in any capacity. Much like a lot of your readers, you were strictly a viewer of these sitcoms.
I’ll pick five although there are more.
1. THE HONEYMOONERS
2. THE BILKO SHOW
3. THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW
4. THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW
5. SEINFELD
What’s your Friday Question?
from By Ken Levine
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