Scenes I'd like to see

Cellphones are a writers’ best friend and worst enemy. Now it’s so much easier for characters to contact other characters. If you want someone to know something you can convey it wherever he is. That’s the good news. The bad news is that people talking to each other on the phone is static and not very interesting to watch. And thanks to cellphones we do it more now than ever. In fact, it’s worse. People now communicate via texting. That’s...

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Our spec MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW

Yesterday I discussed the process David Isaacs and I employed to come up with the story for our MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW spec.  Too bad I didn't have the dream that I shared last week.  That was better than what we did come up with.  But in those days I was too busy dreaming about unattainable women.   This is the story what we arrived at:In the first scene we’re in the WJM newsroom. We establish that Murray is unhappy...

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Writing our first real script

Here’s another chapter on how David Isaacs and I began our ersatz career. In the last installment I explained how we wrote a pilot together despite neither of us having the faintest idea how to do that. You can read that post here. To the surprise of no one (even us) the pilot didn’t sell.But it did attract the attention of an agent at a very small firm. Okay, it was just her and a telephone. And okay, it attracted her attention because...

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Friday Questions

It’s Friday Question Day. I’m thinking of starting a restaurant -- TGIFridayQD. What do you think?Dana Gabbard gets us started:What should a newcomer look for in an agent? And what should raise alarm bells to avoid one?I’ll answer the second part first. It’s hard for new writers to be choosy. Getting any agent is not easy. But if the agent wants money from you up front, if the agent wants you to take off your clothes, if the agent says...

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My big announcement of the year!

I'm thrilled to announce that my new play, A OR B? will be part of the 2014-2015 subscription series of the Falcon Theatre in Burbank.  Owned by Garry Marshall, this is one of the nicest and most respected theatres in Southern California.   The whole season looks great actually.    And here's the blurb about my play:I have to say, this is a big step up for me as a playwright.  My first production was in a war zone in...

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At some point you've got to be a WRITER

A writer is hired to write a comedy pilot. He is paid a lot of money. More than a regular script. But pilots are much tougher. You have to establish the premise, introduce the characters, set the comic tone, lay in a good story, give an indication of where the series might be going, seamlessly work in all the network and studio notes, and be hilariously funny – all in 22 minutes. It’s not for the faint of heart. But like I said, pilot writers...

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My review of JERSEY BOYS

Broadway musicals are hard to adapt to the screen. They tend to be stylistic on the stage, but don’t translate to the realism of a motion picture. The biggest problem is that people in real life generally do not just break out into song. Rarely is there an orchestra nearby when you need one. To adapt a musical successfully it takes a director with a deft hand or Julie Andrews. However, I would think that one of the easiest musicals to film would...

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On the next: Levine Rant

TV’s equivalent of the Hatfields & McCoy’s is showrunners vs. network promo departments. It’s tough for the promo departments because showrunners are never happy. They all want more promos, they all want longer promos, they all want promos in top rated shows where their message might actually be seen. There are only so many promo slots and invariably somebody or everybody is going to be unhappy. For showrunners, it’s often maddening that...

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I had a bizarre dream last night

I was at some party and bumped into Allan Burns, one of the co-creators of THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW. It was the final year of the show (in my dream). I asked if David and I could write one of the last episodes. Our dream had always been to write a MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW. He was thrilled we wanted to do one. I guess in the altered world of my dream we had a track record (or I just have the world’s most inflated ego).Now we flash to the...

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Slipping inside jokes into shows

A reader’s question will sometimes spark an entire post and that’s the case today. Richard Y. wanted to know about inside references and jokes writers slip into shows. Did we do it on purpose? How often did we do it, etc.? He perceptively noticed that on an episode of WINGS, Steven Weber walks by a magazine rack that features an ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY with his likeness and real name on the cover.Obviously, I can’t speak for everyone but...

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Friday Questions

Some FRASIER related Friday questions lumped together this week. Ask your question in the comments section. I'll try to get to as many as I can. Thanks.From te:Some -- well, many -- of the references on Frasier are pretty arcane. Was the writing staff really all that familiar with the hoity-toity world; did you just grab from The New Yorker, or was one of the grips on call for the more obscure wine & cheese jokes?Some on the staff...

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"That's my name. Don't wear it out."

Yesterday we talked about “what?” (as opposed to “whatever”). Along similar lines, have you noticed that characters in television shows call each other by name waaaaay more than people do in real life? And I’m guilty of this myself. What I’m talking about specifically are conversations between two people. It’s common to use names during greetings. “Hey, Octavio, what’s going on?” “Eustacia, you’re looking hot”, etc. But once you get into...

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"What" writing partners argue over

Readers always ask if my partner, David Isaacs and I have fights when we’re writing. Sure, but the trick is to never make the fights personal. We can have a heated argument over a story point and then just go to lunch and discuss baseball. If we disagree on a joke pitch we’ve found it’s way easier to just toss it out, come up with something new, not waste a half hour on the argument, and result in someone being unhappy. That said, we have had...

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My tribute to Tony Gwynn

I usually try to make my blog lighthearted (or on rare occasions, informative). But every so often someone will pass away who I had great affection for and I will write about that. Usually I like those tributes to be few and far between. This is the first time I’ve done two back-to-back. Casey Kasem yesterday and Tony Gwynn today. I hope you’ll indulge me, but I just couldn’t let their passings pass. I knew Tony Gwynn well. We were together...

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A tribute to Casey Kasem

Sorry to hear that Casey Kasem passed away yesterday. He was 82. His last few months have been a circus with his kids and stepmother, Jean Kasem fighting over his care. I don’t have any insight into that whole mess. I never knew his kids and this seemed very out of character for the Jean Kasem I’ve known for years (she played Lo-retta on CHEERS). I did know Casey but not well. We traveled in the same radio circles and he always came to tapings...

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Letter from Stanley Kubrick

This has been going around but worth sharing here.  Stanley Kubrick was, of course, the esteemed director of such movies as DR. STRANGELOVE, PATHS OF GLORY, A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, and 2001: A SPACY ODYSSEY.   James Aubrey, at the time, was running MGM.  I can't vouch for its authenticity but who knows?  It's hilarious. ...

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Happy Father's Day

On this Father’s Day (the most sacred holiday of the year) I’d like to wish a happy one to my dad, who also happens to be my hero, mentor, and best friend. I love you, Dad.  I'm in therapy for other reasons.  Here are some pithy Father’s Day quotes:“To be a successful father… there’s one absolute rule: when you have a kid, don’t look at it for the first two years.” -- Ernest Hemingway“A man knows when he is growing old because he begins...

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Karen also sang jingles

Here's a rarity -- Karen Carpenter sang a jingle for KFRC, San Francisco. This was a package KFRC used in the mid '70s. This is kind of like getting Picasso to draw your restaurant's menu cov...

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A salute to Karen Carpenter

Last Monday I was ranting about all the needless belting on the Tonys awards.   The current trend of overly emo power ballads is tiresome and no longer packs a real punch.In contrast...The '70s gave us the Carpenters.  Their music has been largely disregarded as "pop" and "schmaltz" but Karen Carpenter had an extraordinary voice.  Here are some of her songs with her vocal track singled out.  Just the drums and bass are heard.   But what a rich, pure, soulful voice.  No vocal gymnastics, no ear-splitting final...

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Friday Questions

Without further adieu, here are this week’s Friday Questions. What’s yours?Desperado leads off with:Back in the day when TV series used to have elaborate opening titles, who decided how these would look (i.e. clips of actors shown with names superimposed, vs. establishing scenes as was the case on M*A*S*H)? The director, producer, or was it outsourced?Same question for the closing credits. Who decided if there would be just a static image (Cheers),...

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Bill Kurtis responds to my blog readers

In the comments section of today's earlier post, a number of people brought up Bill Kurtis, who in addition to being a superb newscaster, has also done some very funny acting turns.  Bill himself has responded.  Here's what he said:Interesting. I'm 73, 30 years with CBS, 20 years producing series for A & E, CNBC, etc. And now picking up 'straight' roles. I remember William Friedken, the director telling someone, "Don't Act. Relax...

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Always hire the actor

This is sort of a follow-up to an earlier post.There’s an old expression that goes something like this: The difference between a comic and a comic actor is that the comic says funny things and the comic actor says things funny.Not to take anything away from comics – stand up is truly an art and if you think it’s easy just telling jokes sign up for an open mic night one time; your next stop will be jumping off a bridge -- but there’s a big difference...

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What killed our show: Follow up

Yesterday’s post on what killed our TV series sparked a lot of conversation in the comments section. So I thought I’d follow up on some things. Reader Elf asked:Was there ever any justification given for the network demand that Kevin be dropped? Did they not like his performance? Did they have research that showed he scared small children? Did he sleep with one of the network executive's wives?The reason given (and I say that because who really...

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