Kevin Kozoriz is up first with an interesting FQ:
If you were given the chance to write a spin off of any show, at any time period, which one would you spin off and what characters would you choose?
I know I’m going way back, but I would spin off Eddie Haskell from LEAVE IT TO BEAVER. That character would be soooo much fun to write.
Bryan Thomas wonders:
You talked about working with Jenna Elfman when you directed Dharma and Greg. How about Thomas Gibson? He has a bit of a rep now but how was he to work with?
He apparently got into physical skirmishes on CRIMINAL MINDS and was eventually replaced. But I have to say, for me, and seemingly everyone involved with DHARMA & GREG he was a dream to work with.
Totally professional, took direction well, polite with the crew, and delivered on show night.
But the folks on CRIMINAL MINDS saw a different guy.
So the question becomes which is the real Thomas Gibson? I don’t know. Just happy I got the good one.
James Marshall has a question about “Boys in the Bar,” a first year episode of CHEERS that my partner David Isaacs and I wrote.
What struggles did you face when writing sitcom episodes that addressed important social themes and how did you and David keep the balance between seriousness and humor in those episodes?
I’ll start by saying what we didn’t want to do – and that was deliver a heavy-handed message.
We tried to be true to the subject and use humor to make our points.
But I will say this: We were sensitive to peoples’ feelings, but today it’s gotten so ridiculous that you’re always walking on eggshells worried that you might possibly by chance offend somebody. I don’t think we could do “Boys in the Bar”, which dealt with homophobia. We won a GLAAD Award for it, but today there would probably be outrage.
I don't think we'd even attempt it in 2019.
I can’t write on eggshells. I don’t know who can.
And finally, from Kevin from VA:
Ken, You've sure had a varied career. Disc Jockey, Baseball Announcer, TV writer/director, and now Playwright. That being said, whose career of the following four people would you have picked to have had as your own? Howard Stern, Vin Scully, James L. Brooks, or Neil Simon.
This is just career, not personal lives. I wouldn’t want to trade personal lives with any of them. But for careers, it would be a tie between Vin Scully and Neil Simon. They're the two very best at what they did.
What’s your Friday Question?
from By Ken Levine
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