10,000 hours of practice

 This is one of those posts that seems like it's about sports but it's more about life and has a funny payoff.  Non-sports fans are invited to give it a try. 

They say you need 10,000 hours of practice. I say that’s true – give or take 7,000 hours. It’s true in writing and certainly in learning how to do sports play-by-play. There is no substitute for experience. At least when you try to hone your craft as a writer you can do it inconspicuously. To learn play-by-play you need to go to a venue and announce the game. That means a recording device and talking out loud in a public setting. Not for the faint of heart. But you can’t learn it by just turning down the sound on your TV. You need your own eyes to scan the field and describe what you see.

I used to bring a tape recorder to the upper deck of Dodger Stadium and call games from the cheap seats. I figured, if someone was paying good money for a ticket they didn’t want some buffoon sitting next to them mangling play-by-play. But in the general admission section the seats were unreserved and if someone took issue with my announcing they could just sit somewhere else. Also, folks are so plastered up in that level they don’t even know you’re there. Forget that the players look like ants and the bullpens are in the next time zone. But that’s what I did for two years until I felt I was accomplished enough to send tapes to the minor leagues.

I also practiced basketball by going to Clippers games. Back then it was easy. No one came. I had entire sections to myself. I was running late one night and they held the game for me. Seriously, no one came.

But just because you don’t have a major league team in your town doesn’t mean you can’t learn your craft. There are probably college and high school games in your area. You can sit in the stands of a high school and call a baseball game (for you non-American readers – substitute cricket or rugby or whatever they play in your country).

My favorite story involves a young announcer (who went on to become a major league announcer) who decided to call a high school basketball game. He set up his equipment in the bleachers. It was a mid-week game and the stands were practically empty. The only problem was he didn’t know any of the players. So he decided that since this was just an exercise he called the teams the Lakers and the Celtics and assigned the players names of real NBA players. So one guy was Magic Johnson, another was James Worthy, another was Larry Bird… you get the idea. Pretty ingenious, wouldn’t you say?

So the game begins and he starts calling the action.

“Magic into the front court, right wing to Worthy, baseline to Cooper – turns, 10 footer… no good… rebound by Parrish, ahead to Johnson, left wing to McHale. He shoots a three-pointer…GOOD!”

Unfortunately, since the gym was so empty everybody could hear him. And by everybody I mean the players themselves. They found this incredibly unnerving. After about five minutes a time out was called. Both head coaches went to the scoring table and huddled with the officials. A moment later  the announcer was thrown out of the game.

I’m guessing the players were really rattled. Or maybe just annoyed with the assignments. “Hey, why can’t I be Magic Johnson? Why do I have to be A.C. Green?” “How come I’m on the Celtics? I want to be on the Lakers.”, etc.

So again, when you’re writing your spec in Starbucks, you can do it blissfully unnoticed. You don’t have to call out stage directions. You don’t have to say:

“Bald guy crosses to counter to add sugar, cute blonde orders double latte and fumbles for her credit card. On her sheepish expression, we:”

Yes, it takes 10,000 hours of practice. But the time spent being escorted out of arenas, stadiums, or coffee houses counts.   Best of luck! 

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DOWNTON ABBEY season 3 review

Okay, now that’s it been a few weeks since the DOWNTON ABBEY season finale I think I’ve given sufficient time for everyone who has recorded it to watch it. If not – SPOILER ALERT and WATCH THE DAMN THING ALREADY. This is especially true for you folks in the UK since it aired in your country months ago.

Anyway, these are my thoughts on the third season.  What are yours?

I’m a huge DOWNTON ABBEY fan but was very disappointed in season three.

It got off to a very rocky start with Shirley MacLaine appearing as Cora’s mother. She’s done some fine work in the past, but I had no idea what she was playing. I have the sense she didn’t either. Surely, she could have drawn from all her many past lives and landed on some legitimate character. She also wasn’t helped by the script. Julian Fellows saw fit to make her one-note – the boorish American who just preached change and modernization.  I resented that.  We have other layers, Julian. We square dance.  Shirley will be back next season, probably because prohibition is coming in the U.S.

I was also bothered that there wasn’t one scene between Shirley’s character and her daughter, Cora.

And speaking of Cora, it pains me to say the one cast member of the show who clearly is awful is the one American. Elizabeth McGovern has one expression, like she just bit into an olive pit.

On the other hand, Hugh Bonneville (who plays Robert) is, as always, marvelous. The first two seasons he provided stability and humanity to the series. And this season he’s Inspector Clouseau, bungling through every situation. He’s an incompetent businessman, makes the wrong call that costs his daughter her life, always says the wrong thing, is intolerant, out of step, and a lousy cricket player. Please restore him to the elegant patriarch of the family and not have him morph into Archie Bunker in tails.

When the series began I wasn’t a Mary fan and now I love her. I realize she’s the “Michael” of this Corleone family.

As you know I was devastated when Sybil died. But when Matthew bought it at the end of the season I was pissed. I certainly understand the reason for killing these people – the actors wanted out of the show. Or they questioned lines.   And Julian Fellows said in an interview that offing them was not his preference. But since they were both members of the Crawley family, he couldn’t justify them going away and never returning, especially since they both now had babies. If it had been actors who played help they could easily just get other jobs at UPSTAIRS DOWNSTAIRS and move away. But it’s a tougher buy with family members. He also said that he asked both Dan Stevens (Matthew) and Jessica Brown Findlay (Sybil) if they’d agree to come back for two or three? They both said no, they wanted a clean break. So off with their heads. 

Unlike in America, actors in England don’t sign on for more than three seasons of a series. In the colonies they can be signed from five to seven years. Both Dan and Jessica said they wanted to take advantage of their popularity to strike while the iron is hot. But here’s the thing: They are only hot BECAUSE of DOWNTON ABBEY. In many ways they owe their careers to that show. So it doesn’t seem an unreasonable request to give thanks to the people who believed in you and hired you and built this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for you by staying another season or two. And remember, they only film eight or nine a year. If you’re on a US hit drama you make 22-24. So what are we talking about? A three or four month commitment to make another season of DOWNTON ABBEY? You can’t still do your Broadway shows or movies? Watch. You’re going to see one of them in some awful TNT pilot or Katherine Heigl movie and say, “you left DOWNTON ABBEY for that?”

I also took issue with the way they killed Matthew. That whole two-hour finale was a snooze (nothing happened) with a ridiculous tacked on death scene. Hit by a truck? Really? That’s the best you could do? I had heard of Matthew’s imminent demise so my only question was how were they going to do it?  Drive-by shooting? A trip on the Hindenburg? Beaned by a cricket ball?  No.  The way they actually did it was routine and boring. If you’re going to do that, why not just a meteor fall on the poor bastard?

By the way, when Sybil died, the evil side of me wanted to see Mary put her arm around Edith and say, “Well, I guess you weren’t the unluckiest sister after all.”  Too soon???

Poor Edith just got the shit beaten out of her all year. Anytime she had even a shred of happiness it was yanked from her.  She's left at the alter by an older man with a gimp arm!  That's ten years of therapy right there.  But ultimately, if you project thirty years into the future I see Edith living in New York, a titan of the publishing world, and married to a young Marlon Brando while Mary is running a bed & breakfast. Robert sells the estate and moves to Germany, which proves to be just his latest poor decision, and Cora chokes on an olive pit.

I like the support staff the best. Evil Mrs. O’Brien (first name: Cruella).  She was a hoot as was conniving Thomas who is forever wrestling with his superiority complex, his inferiority complex, and his homosexuality. By the way, there are two characters named Tom – the sniveling servant and Sybil’s widower. With so many characters it’s not confusing enough that two have the same name? There are other great British names.  What about Ringo?   But I digress.

While most guys fantasize about sleeping with Mary or Sybil or the hot new young cousin, Rose, my fantasy is having a butler like Mr. Carson. I like the idea of someone being in a tizzy because my bobbleheads are not aligned perfectly.  The scene in the finale when he held the baby was a killer.

Daisy I just want to slap.

And I hated the whole Mr. Bates-in-prison storyline. He’s one of my favorite characters (how can you not love a man of honor, dignity, and rage?) and I want to see him at the McMansion. Seemed like a waste having him walk in a circle in the prison yard every week. Instead of slamming some jailbird bloke up against the wall, let’s see him stuff Thomas into a dumbwaiter.

My favorite character is still that old dowager herself, Maggie Smith as Granny. Has the best lines and has the best limp. Somehow I can’t see Lady Mary ever uttering droll remarks, and there won’t be a lot of witty badinage between Lady Edith and Brando (especially if he's been drinking).

The storylines seemed to wander this season. I thought it was waaaay too convenient that Robert’s investments go belly-up and he loses the family fortune but out of nowhere an acquaintance Matthew didn’t know dies and leaves him all this money. If they’re going to play it like that – when Sybil died why didn’t they just introduce Adele as the daughter Robert gave up at birth and now just happens to be in town for a golf junket?

I’m hoping season three was just a hiccup and season four rights the ship. It would be nice to see a little happiness in Downton Abbey. Oh, who am I kidding? Here’s what I really want – Lady Mary and Mr. Carson to hook up. Yeah! Now that would get me going to my phone and pledging PBS twenty dollars.

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Meet the creators of THE GOOD WIFE

 (I wanted to call this post "Inside The Good Wife" but that just seemed wrong.)

One of the many fine programs the WGA Foundation sponsors is their “Anatomy of a Script” series in which showrunners and screenwriters discuss in detail their shows/films. Moderated beautifully by Robin Schiff, each week the best scribes in the business discuss their craft. I attend these whenever I can.

Last Thursday’s session was particularly great. Michelle & Robert King, the creators/writers/showrunners of THE GOOD WIFE spoke. For my money, THE GOOD WIFE is the best drama on television – an even more remarkable feat because it’s on a major broadcast network and not a cable channel. They have to make 22 episodes every year as opposed to some shows that only make 13 or even 8 every year-and-a-half or two years.

There was a lot of juicy insider dish on the show, but I thought I’d share a few of the general writing principles and tips they shared. So even if you don’t watch THE GOOD WIFE or are less enamored by it than me, these are still some very valuable pointers.

They kept talking about something I always harp on – always be looking to do something that hasn’t been done. Avoid clichés. Avoid formulas. Find characters you haven’t seen before. Kalinda, the investigator, for example. They wanted her to be a person of mystery. It seems fresh that someone whose job it was to uncover information never revealed any about herself.  Fun spins on characters and relationships.

Along those same lines, the Kings try to start each episode with a montage or something unexpected. They’re always thinking: “what haven’t we seen before?” Not easy to achieve, especially in a legal procedural.  How many thousands of legal procedural episodes have you seen? On CBS in one year alone? Sometimes, they said, they will marry three different ideas to come up with a unique one. What they didn’t say but I will is that that approach is frustrating and hard and time consuming. But it can be the difference between being a good writer and a hack.

Example: How many times on lawyer shows have you seen the star handle a case that mirrors whatever personal problem they’re wrestling with? The Kings avoid that. They're too overused and too convenient. In reality, whatever case comes along you deal with regardless of your personal issues.

They advised young writers not to hold back. If you’re doing a pilot and you have some cool ideas but you want to save one of them for future episodes (should there be future episodes) – don’t. Cram all of your cool ideas in the script. Other cool ideas will come. And Robert suggested that by putting everything into the pilot script it will almost propel you to coming up with other cool ideas.

They advised young writers to take a workmanlike approach. Write as much as you can, every day if possible. And don’t get too hung up on making everything perfect. That’s one of the beauties of television – you don’t have time to endlessly craft a script like you do in features. Actors are on the stage waiting. So you find yourself writing dialogue more out of impulse and emotion as opposed to chiseling each word.  (That was a mistake my partner and I made early in our career.  The end result: it drove us nuts and the writing was too careful.) 

When writing a procedural scene (i.e. discussion of the case de jour) there also has to be a character element to it. There’s some emotional undercurrent between the characters during the scene. It’s not CSI where characters just recite lab babble and forensic gobbledygook to each other.

The CBS hour-long format calls for five act breaks. The way the Kings construct a story is to determine what those act breaks are first and then work back from there. Side note: That’s how we break sitcom stories too.

Each scene should move the story forward. (If young writers feel the need to get a tattoo, that's what they should get -- each scene should move the story forward.   Then throw in a rose or skull or something.)

The best TV writers love TV. Watching television shows is not a burden, not homework, but something they genuinely enjoy doing.

Robert compared showrunning to playing Tetris. You’re jiggling shapes (i.e. show elements) to make straight lines. And a big key is the script. If the script is weak it will have a ripple effect. The production will be harder, the editing will be harder – again to use the Tetris analogy – a sub-par script is that shape you just can’t twist to get it to fit.

Networks are always looking to over-clarify. Robert believes viewers are very savvy and can handle a little ambiguity. Personally, I feel it’s so much more elegant to define characters by behavior than by saying who they are. In the GOOD WIFE pilot, Alicia’s (Julianna Marguleis) kids program her cellphone to play THE TWILIGHT ZONE theme whenever their annoying grandmother calls. Finding those little moments tell you volumes about characters in a much more ingenious way.

You have to love your characters. (Get that tattoo too.) As Michelle said, “Exploring what these characters might do, thinking about these characters – it’s fun.” I couldn’t agree more. That’s not saying they have to all be angels, but it’s my job as a writer to get the audience to love these characters as much as I do.

And here’s the awful truth and comforting thing about writing. You need to take chances. But… you never know. The Kings are so smart and have such a great command of their show. This year they presented a story arc involving Kalinda and her returning husband. The audience (myself included) hated it. It was wrong on so many levels. And yet, quite candidly, they admitted they never saw that coming. They weren’t thinking they were taking a big chance. They completely missed it. And if showrunners of that caliber can misfire, so can anybody. Also to their credit, they acknowledged and took steps to scale back the story even though it caused major logistical headaches. But the point is, if you take a shot at something and it doesn’t work, don’t get down on yourself. It happens to all of us, regardless of credits, awards, and nights being honored. It’s the price you pay for taking risks. But boy is it worth it.

The WGA series continues this Thursday. I keep waiting for their salute to BIG WAVE DAVE’S, but I guess they’re just saving that for when they really want to pack the joint.

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Sunday miscellaneous

Who does Nate Silver like for the next Pope?

The good and bad about Los Angeles: Yesterday it was 82 degrees. But you couldn’t drive north. A major freeway is under construction, most northbound lanes are closed for the weekend and surface street traffic on the Westside was completely snarled. A citizen’s group has snapped into action. To protest traffic delays they’re holding a rally, which will cause...more traffic delays.

NBC’s disastrous mid-season continues. For the first time ever, in February sweeps they finished fifth behind Telemundo. And yet WHITNEY is still on the schedule.

I did a blog post on how terrestrial radio plays too many commercials. Tim Conway Jr. on KFI, Los Angeles ripped me on the air for a half an hour, claiming that terrestrial radio is healthier and more popular than ever. This rant was broken up by a six-minute block of commercials. I noticed that Tim didn’t open the phone lines to hear what listeners thought.

Happy to see that Andre and Maria Jacquemetton have signed an overall deal to write and produce new shows for WB. Although they didn’t get much recognition, they’re terrific writers who contributed a lot to MAD MEN over the last six seasons.

Jennifer Lawrence’s sweaty clothes from SILVER LINING PLAYBOOK sold for about $1500 at a recent auction. Imagine what Monica’s dress would bring in.

Networks are currently casting their pilots for the upcoming season. Almost without exception they’re hiring actors coming off recent shows. So in other words, this pilot season is going to look exactly like last pilot season except the actors will be wearing different costumes.

Warner Brothers is the NBC of movie studios this year. GANGSTER SQUAD, BEAUTIFUL CREATURES, and now JACK THE GIANT SLAYER have all bombed spectacularly. Time to release HANGOVER III even if it’s not finished.

But at least in the summer Warner Brothers has the new Superman movie. NBC has AMERICA’S GOT TALENT.

So now we learn Taco Bell uses horse meat? It doesn't help.

THE WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC has begun! And if you find that exciting, tickets are now on sale for next year’s NFL Pro Bowl.

If you watch THE AMERICANS, who do you root for?

And finally, I’d love to see the inventor of this go on THE SHARK TANK:

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When your girlfriend's father HATES you

From time to time I've been featuring excerpts from my book about growing up in the San Fernando Valley -- THE ME GENERATION... BY ME (available here.. PLEASE BUY IT). One prompted a comment from fellow classmate Alexis along with a request:

contrary to what you remember, I remember thinking you were cute, funny, and...well, cute and funny will have to suffice.

You should relate the "Helene" story...

I'll settle for cute and funny. Here's the "Helene" story.  Remember names have been changed to protect me from physical abuse.

My actual dating life wasn’t much to speak of. I thought there was some promise with Helene Papadakis but that didn’t turn out swimmingly. A good start though. I took her to see “Thunderball” and then Bob’s Big Boy. She let me put my arm around her during the underwater fight sequence. She ate a French fry off my plate (always a sign of intimacy). And at her front door – the BIG moment – she let me kiss her goodnight. It was not a big kiss mind you. And lips only. But it wasn’t the handshake and “I had a really fun time, thank you” and the subtle door slam.

I was so confident I called her for a second date on Monday. Usually I needed at least three weeknights to get up the courage. She accepted and all was right with the world.

But on date #2 I met her father. These are always awkward encounters. They look at you like you’re going to knock up their daughter, get her hooked on heroin, and coerce her into joining a cult. We are always assuring them that we’re really nice young men, we wouldn’t dream of touching their daughter (much less do any of the things we fantasize about while masturbating nightly to them), and we all want to be astronauts. Still, I sensed a hatred that went beyond mere suspicion and apprehension. I started getting the vibe of Jew Hater.

Helene and I were hitting it off though, so I chose to rationalize that he wasn’t anti-Semitic, he just preferred suitors of any other religion in the world. On date #3 I drove her home (arriving safely before the midnight curfew), kissed her goodnight, got back into my 1960 Comet, turned on the ignition… and the car wouldn’t start. Shit. Probably a dead battery but maybe I had flooded the engine. So I waited five minutes, tried again, and still nothing. I went back to the house, tapped lightly on Helene’s bedroom window, and told her I needed to use the phone to call the Auto Club. She let me in but by now was wearing a bathrobe. Nothing sheer, just a big comfy terrycloth robe. I called the AAA and we sat in the kitchen waiting for the tow truck. About five minutes later her dad entered the room and almost had a seizure. There was his daughter in a state of disrobe (even though she WAS wearing a robe) with this…this… red sea pedestrian!! I hastily explained why I was there, trying desperately not to use any Yiddish expressions. Finally, I said, “My battery is dead” and he snarled, “It better be!”

With that he dashed out to the car and told me to start it up. I turned the key just praying it wouldn’t start. Thankfully, it didn’t. He stomped off to the garage and returned a moment later with jumper cables. In short order he got my engine to turn over.

I politely thanked him very much and then he leaned into me and said, “Your fucking car is blocking my driveway.”

O-kay...

That was the last time I ever went out with Helene.

Now flash-forward two years.  I'm a student at UCLA.

I also took “Abnormal Psychology,” which proved helpful years later in dealing with actors. One of the assignments was to do some inappropriate behavior in public and study everyone’s reaction. This seemed stupid to me. You knew what their reaction was going to be. Based on the behavior, either anger or discomfort. So I figured, if I’m going to do this pointless exercise I might as well have a little fun with it.

So I put on a jacket and tie, grabbed my trusty broken briefcase, and set out once again to sell Amway products.

Except, this time at 11:00 at night.

Knowing that homeowners would be furious, I figured why go door-to-door and disturb them? I didn’t have to repeat this behavior twenty times. I really only had to do it once. So I got in my car, headed to one house in particular, marched up to the front door, and at about 11:30 rang the bell.

Helene’s anti-Semite dad answered the door and was practically apoplectic when he saw me. I launched right into my pitch. “Hi, there, Mr. P. Sorry to bother you so late but I’m trying to make as much money as I can. I really love money. And I have two other jobs, because like I said – I really love money. So could I show you some miracle products that…?”

I think that’s as far as I got. He literally chased me off the property. Mission and assignment accomplished.

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In memory of Bonnie Franklin...

So sorry to hear of the passing of Bonnie Franklin. She was 69. In the mid ‘70s thru mid ‘80s she was the mom on ONE DAY AT A TIME. I had the pleasure of working with her on ALMOST PERFECT in the ‘90s and we remained friends. She also did a screenplay reading for me.

For whatever reason ONE DAY AT A TIME has fallen between the syndication cracks. You don’t see the reruns very often. And it’s a shame because you’re missing a terrific comic actress. What Mary Tyler Moore did for single women in the ‘70s, Bonnie did for single moms. Her character handled the struggles of single parenting with grace and humor.

Especially humor. That was an era in which many sitcoms had very dramatic premises. And dealt with tough social issues. The comedy had to really come from character. Lines were funny because the actor delivering them had just the right attitude, just the right light touch. Bonnie was the best. Her timing, delivery, and comic sense was impeccable. And she brought such warmth and strength to the part that you didn’t just laugh, you cared. If you were a teenage girl during the years of ONE DAY AT A TIME you wanted Bonnie Franklin to be your mom, even if you loved your real mom.

I got the chance to direct her in an episode of ALMOST PERFECT and marveled at how much extra she brought to her role and how effortless she made it seem. She was the consummate professional. A writer and a director's dream. 

She also sang, danced, was nominated for a Tony, appeared in movies, plays, and was very active in educational programs and local theater companies. She will be greatly missed.

I hope some cable channel does a ONE DAY AT A TIME marathon. Bonnie Franklin deserves a hallowed spot in television history. She already has one in my heart.

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Creator/deserters

Ready for some Friday Questions? 

Gazzoo starts us off:

For decades I’ve been convinced that the first two episodes of the seventh season of M*A*S*H were meant to be run in reverse order, can you confirm this? “Peace On Us” should have been the premiere…the opening scenes imply BJ is actually growing his moustache at that time, not to mention that the big storyline seems more fit for a season opener. In the episode that actually did air first, ”Commander Pierce”, BJ already has his moustache and is wearing the dyed red shirt that he didn’t make until “Peace On Us”. Do you recall anything about this and why the eps were flipped?

You’re very observant. Yes, PEACE ON US was supposed to be our season premiere. David and I wrote the episode. Ronny Graham wrote COMMANDER PIERCE. But after looking at the finished product we along with executive producer. Burt Metcalfe determined that Ronny’s show was better so we kicked off the year with that. There was that slight continuity problem, but we felt it was worth it. Ronny’s script was terrific.   We made the right decision.

Chris asks:

Dan Harmon said he wanted nothing to do with Community after getting fired, yet he still gets an executive consultant credit, just as NBC promised. How does that work, can you get that credit (and the money for it) without having anything to do with the show?

Yep. It’s not uncommon. Usually that contingency is written into the contract. Sam Simon has a credit on THE SIMPSONS and hasn’t been involved with the show for years. Personally, I think his contribution was so enormous in those early years that he deserves the recognition.  Another example is WONDER YEARS. Neal Marlens and Carol Black received credit throughout the series run but left early on.

I always joke that the best gig a TV writer can have is “creator/deserter.”

Phil Nicols has this question:

I just saw some FRASIERS where Kelsey Grammer was the director. I wondered how an actor can direct multi-camera shoots when, presumably, they're too busy in front of the camera.

(I can understand it better for single-camera, as someone like Alan Alda on MASH isn't going to be in every shot, but multi-camera looks more difficult.)

Generally when an actor directs an episode it’s one where he’s light in the show. For multi-camera shows the actor/director really has to rely on his first assistant director and camera coordinator to monitor the performances and cameras.

Lots of actor/directors of multi-camera shows are not adept at camera blocking and thus let the camera coordinator handle camera assignments. It is a very technical and somewhat confusing process that takes time and practice to master.

Kelsey, I will say, has taken the time to study camera blocking and does assign his own cameras.

There was one actor/director I worked with (who will remain nameless) who was a great cast member, adored by his fellow actors. But when he would direct an episode he became a complete hard-ass. I suspect the pressure of the job would get to him, but boy, it was a real Jekyll & Hyde situation.  Then, the next week, when he was just a cast member, he was back to being Mr. Nice Guy.

Tim wonders:

I was watching Newsradio, and then for some reason, I wanted to watch some Frasier. And I noticed that aside from the little opening jingle and the ending theme, that Frasier had no musical soundtrack. I also noticed that the show had no exterior establishing shots. Newsradio, on the other hand, had both.

So was there a specific reason why Frasier didn't use any of those conventions or trappings?

Yes. Because every other show did and they wanted to be distinctive. Interestingly, now networks demand that all shows have truncated open titles and themes. But FRASIER was one of the first. The networks reason for this was to avoid tune-out. I disagree with that philosophy but that’s a whole ‘nother discussion.


Ed queries:

Have you ever watched a re-run of a show you wrote or contributed to and thought there was no way it could have been better? Like it was the perfect show or as perfect as it was going to get?

Well, certainly not PEACE ON US. Seriously though, no. Even in my favorite episodes there are always a few lines I’d like another whack at. That said, there are episodes I am very proud of and my tinkering would be minor.

Of course, there are other episodes I don’t particularly like for whatever reason and generally don’t re-watch them. If I’m channel surfing and come upon one I generally keep going. There must be something fun on the Hitler Channel. 

And finally, from Micah:

Do you think shows would be better if they had longer-term commitments going in -- or after say a year? Seems like you'd be able to break story arcs, character development, etc, if you could plan further out. Or does the deadline pressure help create the best shows because they HAVE to do their best or face cancellation?

It would be lovely to have an entire year going in. But realistically, that’s not feasible. What if your show tanks the first week or two (see: any NBC mid-season show this year)? No way is the network going to air twenty more episodes. And who can blame them?

However, there are two new interesting models. The 10-90 platform a few shows like Charlie Sheen’s ANGER MANAGEMENT has. If after ten episodes the network wants to renew the show they have to pick up 90 more episodes.  That's the case with ANGER MANAGEMENT.  FX is now on the hook for 100 episodes total. 

And NETFLIX orders thirteen episodes of original series like HOUSE OF CARDS and the upcoming return of ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT. They then offer all thirteen episodes at once. It makes it difficult to do story arcs since the viewer is free to watch the series in any order he wants, but how nice to know you get to make all the episodes ordered.

What’s your question? Leave it in the comments section. Thanks, guys!

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