MellaBlue starts us off:
You've worked on a couple shows now with much-discussed but never seen characters -- Vera Peterson, Maris Crane. I'm wondering how and why that decision gets made. Is it a case of painting yourself into a corner in terms of description (who could ever look like Maris is described)? Is it just easier?
No. We do it to save money.
But seriously, it forces the audience to use their imagination and I bet what they picture in their heads is funnier than if we ever actually showed it.
And it saves money.
From Daniel:
I'm currently re-watching "Thirtysomething" (don't judge--it actually kinda holds up). The opening title sequence is a montage of shots from episodes in the series, and it has been the same since the second episode. I noticed that there are two shots in the title sequence from episode 10 (which I think aired after Christmas that year), which means that they put the title sequence together (and only started airing episodes) after they shot 10 episodes. Which makes me curious: How far in advance are episodes shot before a series airs? Is it normal to have almost three months of episodes in the can before the series airs?
I wasn’t on THIRTYSOMETHING so I can’t speak with any certainty.
No, shows are usually not that far ahead. But I don’t know the circumstances. They shoot out of order anyway.
Perhaps the producers wanted to get a certain guest star and his only availability was September. So even though the show didn’t start filming until late July, they did the Christmas episode early and just held it back.
On MASH we would film the episodes early on that required time at the Malibu Ranch. But once we went off Daylight Savings Time there was not enough light to justify a whole day’s worth of shooting.
So shows that didn’t require the ranch were held back. On the air we moved some shows up and held some shows back.
Brian asks:
What are some of the silliest, oddest or coincidental reasons that a line you and/or David Isaacs has needed to be changed?
I had a bunch of Arnold Palmer jokes in a play and two days before it opened he died. I had to scramble to write new material. Thanks, Arnie.
The really dumb network notes were from Standards & Practices. They could take almost any word and find it on their list of euphemisms for penis.
Of course, that was then. Now you’re allowed to SAY penis and every slang expression ever invented for it.
And finally, from Edward:
I never seem to hear you discuss certain comedies of the early to mid-1970s such as "Sanford and Son" "Chico and the Man" "Good Times" One Day at a Time" "Welcome Back Kotter" "Happy Days" "Laverne and Shirley" and "Mork and Mindy." Are there any stories with submitting a script for any of those shows?
We pitched LAVERNE & SHIRLEY, but there was another writer waiting to pitch after we got through. She was attractive and wore a see-through blouse. She got the assignment, we didn’t. I knew I should have worn my see-through blouse, especially in those days.
But in fairness, she and the producer we were all pitching to later got married. I’m sorry, I didn’t need a LAVERNE & SHIRLEY assignment that badly.
We tried to pitch WELCOME BACK KOTTER but they didn’t like our writing sample.
Would have loved to have pitched those other shows but never got the chance.
Those were the halcyon days when you could get freelance assignments, and one or two of those a year would mean you no longer had to clean the grease traps in McDonald’s.
What’s your Friday Question?
from By Ken Levine
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