Michael starts us off.
If I recall some game show hosts in 60's and 70's were first disc jockeys in the Los Angeles area - is this something you ever tried to pursue?
No, but it’s something I would have loved to have done. It’s a much harder job than it looks and the great ones make it appear easy. So I can’t say for sure I wouldn’t suck. But I’m pretty quick-witted and can count so I might’ve pulled it off.
However, when I came back to LA after bouncing around the country as a Top 40 DJ, my sole focus was breaking in as a TV writer, so I never pursued it. Who knows? I could be Pat Sajak today.
MikeKPa wonders:
What do you think of the proposed baseball alignments around Cactus (Florida) and Grapefruit (Arizona) locales? Makes better sense than all games in Arizona (enjoy those 100-degree plus games),
If you want baseball this year there's going to have to be some alterations. The alternative is no baseball at all. I don't think the Cactus League/Grapefruit League idea is going to fly because players are not going to want to play in hot steaming Florida all summer and take three-hour bus rides to get to games.
Arizona makes much more sense if they go that route. Personally, I'd like to see baseball in some form. What that might be I have no idea. But I'd bet against the Cactus League/Grapefruit League realignment.
From kcross:
What is parking like at the studio? Is a special area allocated for each show? Do show-runners get names on their spaces? Are you given a parking pass to hang on your mirror to get past the guard, like we do in college?
It depends on the studio and how important you are. Shonda Rhimes is going to park right in front of her office with her name on the parking space regardless of the studio. I’ll be assigned a general lot somewhere.
Parking is usually at a premium, especially as movie studios have added office buildings and increased the number of employees. Many have erected large awful parking structures. The one at 20th is the worst.
Universal is more spread out so there’s a better chance your parking space will be near your office. On MASH we parked behind our office in the Western town set for Butch Cassidy. Those were the days.
Generally, employees park in big structures. The real nightmare is for visitors.
As for getting on the lot, most studios issue employee magnetic cards that allow them to enter, and all studios have separate entry lanes for visitors and employees.
I think the last time my name was stenciled onto my parking space was 1986.
Vincent wants to know:
I once asked you if you ever lied about being a professional - and Emmy-winning - comedy writer to avoid amateurs pitching story ideas to you. But what about when, like everybody, you are around someone who thinks he's funny but REALLY isn't (they are all over Facebook, BTW)? Have you ever been so irritated by the person's "jokes" that you reveal your true identity?
No. I just find an excuse to get away from the jerk. I never want to use my position as a way of belittling someone.
But more often if someone does know my background and tries to dazzle me with their terrible sense of humor I fake an awful headache and excuse myself (leaving him to wonder if the headache was caused by him).
And finally, from Charlie:
Why to the entertainment guilds allow closing credits in TV broadcasts to be run at breakneck speed and/or shrunk down to a small box? In either case the credits are unreadable on a TV set.
I wish I had a good answer for this but I don’t. It’s a deplorable insulting practice.
My guess is in the grand scheme of major thorny issues between the guilds and the studios/networks this is not one to go to war over. No one is going to strike over this issue. But like I said, it’s disgusting.
What’s your Friday Question?
from By Ken Levine
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