TV History Tuesday: Hail Caesar!

One of the biggest hits in the earliest days of TV was Your Show of Shows. It starred Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca and aired on NBC from 1950-1954. This program was a 90 minute live show with no cue cards and no teleprompter. No improvising was allowed, they stuck to the script. The show had an impressive group of writers including Carl Reiner, Mel Brooks and Neil Simon. Reiner established an impressive career in entertainment, working as a writer/creator/director. He created the Dick Van Dyke show, and he directed many films, including The Jerk with Steve Martin and Oh God with George Burns. In his later shows, Sid Caesar hired more writing all-stars such as Woody Allen and Larry Gelbart (creator of MASH). From 1954-1957, Sid Caesar hosted a TV show called Caesar's Hour. In subsequent years he appeared with many TV legends including Jackie Gleason, Carol Burnett, Steve Allen, Lucille Ball and many others. He died in 2014 at the age of 91. He was truly one of the pioneers of television, and he influenced legions of comics for decades to come.

*Information from imdb.com.

Looking Back on Must See TV

These days there seems to be an overabundance of reality and crime dramas on TV. I miss the days of the sitcoms, like in the time of NBC's Must See TV programming. The peacock network thrived with shows like The Cosby Show, Family Ties, Cheers, Night Court, Frasier and more. The period of NBC's ratings dominance has been outlined in a book by their former head of entertainment, Warren Littlefield. The book is called "Top of the Rock-Inside the Rise and Fall of Must See TV".

Littlefield was portrayed in the show Seinfeld by the character actor Bob Balaban, who voiced the audio version of the book.

This book has many facts about the TV shows that we all grew to love on NBC. Here are a few of the interesting tidbits from the book.

Cheers started out slow, ratings-wise, in 1982, but grew into a cash cow for the network. John Lithgow was considered for the role of Frasier. That is hard to believe now since Kelsey Grammer is known for playing this character for 20 years, spanning 2 shows. During the taping of Cheers, the cast needed to have an intervention with Grammer to address his substance abuse issues.

When the show Seinfeld was being launched in 1989, Rosie O'Donnell and Megan Mullally tried out for the role of Elaine, which of course went to Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Seinfeld was unselfish on the show. He wanted his co-stars to shine. He was the co-creator of the show, along with Larry David, but he did not insist on all of the best lines for himself. At its peak, the network would charge $800,000 for a 30 second spot.

In 1992, Mad About You premiered on NBC. Paul Reiser had starred previously on the sitcom My Two Dads with Greg Evigan (BJ and the Bear). The lead female role of Jamie went to Helen Hunt, but Teri Hatcher and Valerie Bertinelli were also considered.

In 1994, Littlefield knew that NBC had to find a show to replace LA Law at 10 pm. He decided to put the show ER on the air, with the strong ensemble cast. This show would make stars out of George Clooney, Noah Wyle, Julianna Marguiles, and others. CBS went head-to-head against ER with their own medical drama, Chicago Hope. ER came out the winner, and would air on NBC for 15 years. Shooting a one hour medical drama was grueling for the cast and crew. Often they would work 14-17 hour days, covering 8-10 pages of script each day. The cast said that they had a hard time enjoying the ride since they were working all of the time.

Thursday night was like a money machine for NBC. The one night generated more revenue from advertising than all other 6 nights combined. All of this money enabled NBC to expand their reach into cable TV, with the launch of CNBC and MSNBC, as well as sports programming.

Under the leadership of Littlefield, the network launched the quirky comedy 3rd Rock from the Sun. John Lithgow starred in the show as the alien patriarch, Dick Solomon. Lithgow had worked in many films, including The World According to Garp, with Robin Williams. French Stewart, Jane Curtin, Kristin Johnston and Joseph Gordon Levitt were the co-stars of 3rd Rock.

Just Shoot Me became part of the Must See TV lineup, starring David Spade. This was created by Steven Levitan, who also developed the current ABC hit, Modern Family.

In 1998, Will and Grace became a hit for NBC. With a 30 minute sitcom, the cast only worked 3 hours per day. The writing was so strong that it was an easy project. Over a period of 8 years on the air, every episode was directed by James Burrows. He is known as the master sitcom director, with 10 primetime Emmy wins under his belt. He has directed the shows Taxi, Cheers, The Bob Newhart Show, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, NewsRadio, Mike and Molly and more. The book mentioned his impeccable comic instincts that make him a top notch director for TV. Will and Grace attracted 18-19 million viewers per week.

Friends director James Burrows knew that the show would be a hit even before it hit the air. He took the 6 members of the ensemble cast to Vegas for a weekend to gamble and have a good time. They flew on the NBC corporate jet. This was before anyone knew the cast, and he told them to enjoy their last moments of anonymity. How right he was.

Littlefield did not hold back in the book as far as his distaste for some of his fellow TV executives. He was especially harsh on Don Ohlmeyer, who fired him from his NBC position. He was also very critical of Jeff Zucker, who took over for Littlefield after his departure. He said that Zucker did not have a love for the medium of TV. He only cared about making money. Zucker cared about manipulating viewers, not nourishing them. He was ousted in 2011 when Comcast merged with NBC and cleaned house.

The book mentioned how much the broadcast TV landscape has changed over the past 15 years. Everything is fractured, with so much competition from cable and the internet. American Idol gets one third the audience of The Cosby Show and it is a smash. A challenge for TV executives is the fact that so many people are not watching shows live. Many are watching on a DVR, skipping through the commercials. Broadcast networks teamed up with their former cable adversaries, with ABC merging with Disney and ESPN.

This book is an excellent read for those who want to know about the inner workings of a successful TV network at its peak.

* Some material from imdb.com.

The Comically Absurd Martin Short

One of my favorite SNL cast members was Martin Short (1984-1985). I loved his over-the-top crazy characters like Jackie Rogers Jr., Nathan Thurm and Ed Grimley. Previous to SNL he was a cast member on SCTV (1981-1984) along with comedy greats like John Candy, Eugene Levy, Rick Moranis, Catherine O'Hara and more. In 1994, he starred in a short lived comedy show, The Martin Short Show. This program featured appearances by Jan Hooks (SNL), Steve Martin, Andrea Martin and Casey Kasem. He appeared in the films Father of the Bride 1 and 2, Three Amigos, Mars Attacks! and more.

From 2001-2003, he had a show on Comedy Central called Primetime Glick. In the show he played a clueless Hollywood celebrity interviewer who would ask insane questions. Jiminy Glick (shown in photo above), was an overweight oaf with an odd voice and he had comically large glasses. He often knew very little about his guests. He seemed obsessed with old Hollywood. One of his shows had him reenacting the death of Sal Mineo (Rebel without a Cause) with puppets. His musical director on Primetime Glick was Michael McKean (Laverne and Shirley, Spinal Tap). He was named Adrian Van Voorhees and he played the harp. On You Tube you can find clips of his interviews with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Cheri Oteri, Goldie Hawn, Regis Philbin, Tom Hanks, Mel Brooks, Ray Romano, and more. Here is an interview with film icon Steven Spielberg.

In recent years, Short has become a regular guest on David Letterman's show. He has known Dave's bandleader and fellow Canadian, Paul Shaffer, for decades. Short will usually begin his appearance on Dave's show by screaming to the audience "Thanks for remembering!" Currently Short is touring venues around the country with his old friend Steve Martin.

*Some information from www.imdb.com.

Life Itself: The Story of Roger Ebert

I recently watched the film "Life Itself" based on the memoirs of Roger Ebert. It tells the story of an amazing man with a stellar intellect when it came to viewing films and writing about them. How many film critics can you name? Chances are, not many. Ebert was admired for the way he could write about film in a language that everyone could understand. He was a Pulitzer Prize winner, a rare honor for a film critic. He wrote 15 books and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. A good review from Ebert could make or break a film.

He was the film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times. His rival critic was Gene Siskel for the Chicago Tribune. The two teamed up to co-host a film criticism show, Siskel and Ebert. They had a rocky relationship, combative and competitive, but nonetheless admired the intellect of one another. Cancer took the life of Siskel (brain cancer) and later Ebert (thyroid and salivary gland cancer that led to the removal of his jaw).

"Life Itself" is hard to watch at times, since it shows Ebert struggling to live his life with a sense of normality after having his jaw removed and losing the ability to speak and eat. He also had trouble walking, after the cancer led to injuries that limited his mobility. But, Roger could still "speak" through Twitter and his website where he could post blogs and film reviews.

Ebert did not marry until the age of 50, and his wife Chaz provided much needed support for Roger, especially late in his life. He died in 2013 at the age of 70. This film is a must see for those who are fans of film, or the writings of Ebert. It shows a life well lived, with passion and resilience.

*Some information from www.imdb.com

Steve Martin: A Wild and Crazy Guy

I recently finished the book by Steve Martin called "Born Standing Up". He is an excellent writer and a deep thinker.

Early in his career he honed his performing skills at Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm. He has never been a traditional stand up comic. He mixes absurd humor with magic, juggling, making balloon animals and playing the banjo when he performs. In the 1960s and 1970s he made appearances on daytime talk shows hosted by Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas, Dinah Shore and more. He became a writer on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Show. A fellow writer on that groundbreaking show was Rob Reiner. Later Steve would work with Rob's father, Carl Reiner, who directed The Jerk. Steve enjoyed being a comedy writer but had a desire to be a performer. He moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico at age 28 and he wanted to escape the crazy environment of Los Angeles. He began to tour the nation extensively and he battled loneliness and dealt with panic attacks. By the mid 1970s he had appeared on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show many times but was still not satisfied with his career.

In 1976 his big break came when Lorne Michaels asked him to host Saturday Night Live. Steve jumped at the chance since he saw the show as being on the cutting edge of comedy, just like his material. He enjoyed working with the cast, including Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Jane Curtin, Bill Murray and more. He released 2 albums and both were enormous hits, the first selling over 1 million copies, and the second one sold more than 2 million. From 1979-1981 he was booked solid to perform in the biggest venues in America. He was at the peak of his career, but was unhappy since he was isolated and alone. The success he had desired had a negative side effect, the loss of privacy. Like most people, Martin craved the approval of his parents. His mother was very proud of his accomplishments. His dad, on the other hand, had one comment after seeing his film The Jerk. He said "He's no Charlie Chaplin". By the early 1980s he was done with standup. He transitioned into films since he grew tired of the traveling.

The book ended too abruptly but it is a good summary of Steve's early career. Maybe he will do a sequel, covering his film career.