Robert Brauer starts us off:
We all remember Kevin McHale's two guest appearances on Cheers. Was there ever any attempt to get Larry Bird on the show? I'm envisioning a Cheers universe where French Lick is located right next to Hanover, and Larry and Woody could trade insider jokes about growing up Hoosier.
Yes. As a matter of fact Larry Bird had agreed to be on the show. So David Isaacs and I wrote the episode. It was called “Hot Rocks” from 1989 and in it Rebecca thinks he stole her diamond earrings.
Even before reading the script he then bowed out. I’ve never been a fan since that day. We got the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, William J. Crowe to play it instead. David and I did a rewrite to make the necessary changes and it proved to be a fun episode.
And by the way, Kevin McHale was a terrific comic actor. So good that we brought him back for a second episode.
Keith R.A. DeCandido is next.
You said, "When we went out to the ranch to film the exteriors we would get one day per episode," which prompted a question....
Intellectually, I knew that M*A*S*H wasn't filmed entirely on the ranch, even though it often felt like the entire show was filmed on location. So I'm curious. Obviously, the mess tent and the Swamp scenes were filmed on the ranch, because you could clearly see the rest of the compound from those two locations. Were any other "interior" sets on the ranch, or were the rest -- CO's office, clerk's office, pre-op, post-op, OR, tent interiors that weren't the Swamp, kitchen, etc. -- all interiors?
Ah, the magic of television. ALL interior scenes were shot on the sound stage, including the mess tent and Swamp. They recreated the camp on Stage 9 so you could see people walking in the background and familiar landmarks. But no interiors were shot on the ranch. The interior sets did not even exist beyond what you’d see in doorways.
From Steve Lanzi:
When you've worked in writers' rooms on various sitcoms, did you and the others ever enjoy music in there? Have a radio on in the background, maybe?
No. Never. Can’t think of a show that did.
However, when we were doing ALMOST PERFECT at Paramount our writers room was right across from the studio mill where they were constructing the sets. So it’s bad enough there were buzz saws and drills going constantly, but they used to listen to KRTH on a big boombox. KRTH was the oldies station and played maybe 20 records over and over again. So those blared all day long. We must’ve heard Pretty Woman 10,000 times.
You learn to ignore the distractions. Or you go off and kill somebody.
And finally, from Coram_Loci:
Do you personally know an actor who lost his self-identity and started to think he was the character he played (perhaps a character you created)?
It has not happened to me personally but I hear tell that a number of action heroes want so much to actually BE those characters that they sort of assume the persona.
And then there’s the story of McLean Stevenson, back when he played Dr. Henry Blake on MASH. He was driving home from Vegas one time and there was a car off to the side of the road. He pulled over to see if he could help and someone need medical attention. So he provided the first aid. Imagine looking up and there is Dr. Henry Blake from MASH.
And what’s your Friday Question?
from By Ken Levine
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