Kendall Rivers leads off.
Been watching a lot of Cheers and Frasier lately and I'm curious about writing for Frasier Crane in both shows. Which version of the character did you and David enjoy writing for more?
We wrote him the same way in both series. I’ve told this story before (by now I've told every story before) but as FRASIER progressed his speech got more florid. David and I got an assignment and decided to write him the way we always had and figured they could just add the curlicues if they felt they needed to. When we turned in our script the shows creators said to the staff “This is Frasier. We’ve drifted away a little. Go back to this.”
But as a character, Frasier was certainly richer and more layered in his own series.
Brian Phillips queries:
Reading about the Dick Van Dyke Show, a show was in rehearsal and word got to the set, President Kennedy was shot. Carl Reiner stopped the show and sent everyone home.
Has there ever been a case where a show you were involved with stopped rehearsals?
Yes. David Isaacs and I had written an episode of BECKER that was in production when 9-11 happened.
As with THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW, everyone went home for a few days and the show was not shot in front of a studio audience. I believe it’s the only episode of BECKER not shot with an audience.
By the way, it’s the episode where Becker has to take an MRI. The episode is entitled "Get Me Out of Here" if you want to run to whatever platform it's on and watch it.
Matt asks:
What do you do when you write for a specific actor, but then the actor becomes unavailable?
We were watching COACH one night and it hit me that Hayden Fox sounds like, acts like, probably could've been played by Dabney Coleman rather than Craig T. Nelson. So I looked it up and sure enough, Barry Kemp wrote the part for Coleman. But when it came time to do the show, Coleman was already cast for BUFFALO BILL.
So as a writer or even Executive Producer (or both), what do you do when you write a part for an actor and that actor is no longer available? Do you go out and find a similar actor (as they did with Craig T. Nelson) or do you rewrite the part in a more general way to attract a wider range of actors?
You have two choices. Find another actor who you can slot in, or rewrite to fit the actor you do hire.
We were casting a pilot once and wrote a part for a specific actor in mind. He came in and read and pretty much read it exactly as we pictured it. When he left, David and I turned to each other and said, “I think we can get someone better.” And we did.
Finally, from Rappin' Rodney:
Ken, what's your take on shows/movies that have long, slow parts? When they linger on a scene or image for far too long without anything further in it that moves the plot forward. What is the writer/director trying to tell us? Is it just to add atmosphere? Is it ever just trying to pad screentime? I think what bugs me most about those parts is not just the slow scene itself, but the implication that as the viewer there's something wrong with me if I don't want to sit through it: that I'm some ADD-addled teen that can't appreciate "art." But if there's a chance that's true, what art am I missing?
For the most part I think it’s indulgent and pretentious. BREAKING BAD established that and it was fine and somewhat unique for the first few times. But I didn’t tune in to see the New Mexico desert. One or two quick establishing shots and I’m like “I’ve got it. Get to the story.”
That’s one of the reasons I can’t stand Terrance Malick movies. They’re just filled with long atmospheric beauty shots that mean nothing. It seems stupid to have to pay to be bored.
What’s your Friday Question?
from By Ken Levine
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