Sanford is first at the table (so to speak):
I was looking up something about the famous Chuckles episode. I found this clip of Ed Asner talking about how the show was short and they needed another scene to fill the time. As he explained there was so much laughter that it filled all the time they needed. Has anything like this happened with any of the shows you worked on?
The pilot of BIG WAVE DAVE’S. At Dress Rehearsal we were right on time. But we ended up ten minutes long due to the laugh spread. A good episode will typically spread two to five minutes.
On the one hand this laugh spread was GREAT. You can imagine how much fun it was on the set that night. EVERYTHING worked.
The trouble came when we had to edit the show down to time. Ultimately we had to reshoot some of it because to make the cuts we wanted the actors would bounce around the stage due to the way it was blocked.
Still, I will take those problems ANY day.
Next is Joe who has a question about the movie we wrote, VOLUNTEERS:
You said you couldn't be there for shooting because of "The Jewel of the Nile." In hindsight, do you wish you had been there, and do you think it would have made the movie better -- especially the scene where it was supposed to be played frenetically but was shot a lot slower?
Like all writers, I firmly believe our movie would have been better if we had been on set. Director Nicholas Meyer was a very collaborative mensch so I’m sure our suggestions would have been seriously considered. We would not have won every disagreement, but that’s the process. In the case of a couple of scenes, all we would have asked was to have them shot both ways. Then test audiences could decide.
And ultimately, even not being there, we liked way more than we didn’t.
From Matt Barnett:
What do you think of the pacing of today's sitcoms? They go at such a fast tempo that it's almost anxiety inducing. I first noticed this with "Cougar Town." I recently watched an episode of "The Goldbergs" and it ripped by at neck break speed. "Modern Family" is the same way. For me, it's almost too fast to enjoy.
It’s a matter of personal taste but sometimes I find current shows go at such a breakneck pace that the jokes don’t land. Give the audience a chance to appreciate and laugh at a joke.
A related complaint is that some shows try to jam in jokes every second. As a result you get a lot of half-baked jokes, the characters stop sounding like real human beings, good stuff gets lost, and the experience is exhausting.
I would rather take two minutes to set up a really big laugh rather than ten jokes in two minutes and none of them really score. But that’s me (i.e. old guy).
Jonathan Littlemore asks:
I'm a listener from over in the UK and I would love if you could do a episode on the Podcast discussing the different types of Comedy writing. Here in the UK our Sitcoms tend to be written by one person and not in the Group room style used in the States.
Was there ever a time in America when scripts were just written be one person or have they always just been done by a group?
Check out Episode 92 of HOLLYWOOD & LEVINE, Episode 92, “the History of Sitcoms.” You can access it here. I discuss the evolution from even before TV to current practices and why things evolved.
And finally, from Edward:
How did you receive feedback regarding your shows/movies back in the 1970's and 80's?
News clipping services that compiled all reviews and articles about your show, and we received a lot more viewer mail back then. Some of the viewers even signed their letters.
Travel safely this weekend.
from By Ken Levine
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