Roderick Allmanson leads off.
I hear a lot of show creators talk about writing improv into their scripts - not Curb Your Enthusiasm style, but just leaving spots blank and counting on actors to come up with something funny in the moment. What is the utility of improv vs. scripted reactions and how common is that?
Well, first of all you need expert improvisers. If you had Robin Williams or Fred Willard (pictured above) you could be reasonably assured that the material they came with up would be usable. And there are certainly others who are also incredibly gifted in that area. I love improv. I’m still in a weekly improv workshop. I should be much better at it than I am after all these years.
But I find, for the most part, when you allow improv it results in very uneven scripts. There’s filler, there’s dead spots, there’s repetition. There may be moments of inspired hilarity, but there may also be subpar episodes.
It’s that way in live improv shows, but the audience cuts the performers some slack because they know it’s off the cuff. Not so on a semi-scripted fully produced TV show.
Personally, I prefer the quality control of a terrific writing staff crafting every line for the best comic actors available (some brilliant comic actors can’t improvise), producing a series like FRASIER.
But that’s me. I’m… a seasoned veteran.
Brian asks:
You talked about family sitcoms and that got me wondering what brought about the period of "Rural Sitcoms". I enjoyed and still think "Beverly Hillbillies", was a pretty good show, but I didn't much care for "Green Acres" or "Petticoat Junction”.
BEVERLY HILLBILLIES was a breakout hit. Its creator, Paul Henning took advantage and created other similar shows that also caught on. It was just CBS playing the hot hand the same way they’ve done more recently with Chuck Lorre.
Rural sitcoms ran into trouble when demographics and research began to emerge. Yes, they had large numbers but CBS determines they weren’t the right audience. There was more money to be made with upscale urban comedies, and in a bold move CBS swept them all out replacing them with shows like THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW and ALL IN THE FAMILY.
It was a programming move that paid off handsomely.
And finally, from Kendall Rivers:
Regarding the character of Frank Burns. How did you go about writing for such a let's face it pretty one dimensional character while making him still interesting and funny enough to still get laughs despite being so unlikable?
I only wrote three episodes with Frank Burns, and I have to say it was great fun to write such a cartoonish character. We tried to portray him as being somewhat pathetic to make him more sympathetic. But to be honest, we were basing his likability on laughs. If he was really funny we felt that might take the curse of the character.
Still, when he left we saw it as an opportunity to fill that spot with someone smarter and more formidable. Boy, did we get lucky with David Ogden Stiers.
What’s your Friday Question?
from By Ken Levine
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