MUSEUM OF TELEVISION & RADIO UNIVERSITY SATELLITE SEMINAR SERIES, THE: CREATING PRIME-TIME SITUATION COMEDY {LONG VERSION}
Summary
One in this series of seminars conducted by The Museum of Television & Radio. Moderated by Los Angeles Museum vice president and director Steven A. Bell and held in Los Angeles, this seminar features a panel discussion, with questions from various universities across the country via satellite. This seminar focuses on the prime-time situation comedy and the reasons that it is one of the most durable genres on television. Bell then introduces the following panelists: Larry David, writer and co-creator of "Seinfeld"; Peter Casey, executive producer and co-creator of "Frasier"; Diane English, executive producer and creator of "Murphy Brown"; Marcy Carsey, co-executive producer of "3rd Rock From the Sun," "Cosby," and "Cybill"; and Jerry Belson, producer, writer, and creator of "The Odd Couple" and "The Dick Van Dyke Show." (Panelist biographies immediately follow this summary.)
The panel members then introduce clips of their work from "The Odd Couple," "Roseanne," "Murphy Brown," "Frasier," and "Seinfeld." After the clips, the panelists discuss the following topics, among others: the reason sitcoms have become the dominant genre on television; whether the sitcom craze is cyclical; the way business decisions, such as syndication rights, are keeping sitcoms on the air and popular; the way they discover writers for their series; the evolution of the writing process into a group activity, rather than a task for one or two writers; and whether the competition between comedy series makes the writing easier.
The panel then takes questions from universities across the country -- including Emerson College, Boston University, Ball State University, University of Wisconsin, Towson University, University of Arizona, and Univeristy of Texas at El Paso, among many others, where students view the seminar live via satellite -- and discuss the following topics: qualities that network executives look for when a sitcom is pitched; whether the trend of transforming stand-up comedians into sitcom stars has reached its peak; whether certain sitcoms are purposely molded in a cinematic format; the major difference between contemporary sitcoms and those created in earlier decades; whether writing a scene with physical comedy is difficult; whether they prefer to write for new talent or established performers; the point when a comedy series has worn out its welcome; the inception of their respective sitcoms and the way they pitched their ideas to the networks; whether long-lasting sitcoms with top-notch content share any common elements; whether sitcoms have to be politically correct; the moment each panelist realized he or she had the talent to become a comedy writer; the input, if any at all, that stars of the sitcoms have in the writing; whether any subjects are still taboo; ideas for series that never made it on the air; whether a connection exists between certain shows and the political climate of the era; series that would be produced if there were no censors to worry about; and whether they have ever considered live telecasts of their shows.
Biographies Jerry Belson began his television career as a writing partner with Garry Marshall; together they turned out scripts for "The Lucy Show," "I Spy," and "The Dick Van Dyke Show." Later, Belson joined Marshall in producing the acclaimed television adaptation of Neil Simon's "The Odd Couple." Belson has recently worked with British actor/comedian Tracey Ullman, serving as executive producer for "The Tracey Ullman Show" and consulting producer for her latest series on HBO, "Tracey Takes On. . . " Mr. Belson has also worked on such programs as "Cheers," "Grand," "Cybill," and "The Naked Truth." He is the recipient of numerous Emmy, Writers Guild, and CableACE awards.
Marcy Carsey, cofounder of the Carsey-Werner Company with Tom Werner, broke into television as a production assistant for the "Tonight Show" when it was still based in New York. She joined the ABC network in 1974 as program executive in charge of comedy programming, later becoming senior vice president of prime-time series. For the Carsey-Werner Company, she coproduced three programs that swept the annual television rankings in the 1988Ð89 season, "The Cosby Show," "Roseanne," and "A Different World." With her production team, Ms. Carsey has been awarded an Emmy, the NAACP Image Award, the Humanitas Prize, and the George Foster Peabody Award, and was recently inducted into the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame. Currently running under the Carsey-Werner logo are "Cybill," "3rd Rock From the Sun," "Cosby," and "Men Behaving Badly."
Peter Casey, cocreator and coexecutive producer of the highly acclaimed "Frasier," began his career as a writer for "The Jeffersons," where he spent six years, eventually becoming a producer. In 1985, Mr. Casey and longtime partner David Lee produced the landmark comedy "Cheers;" and, along with fellow "Cheers" producer David Angell, they formed Grub Street Productions in 1989 where they created the popular comedies "Wings" and "Frasier." Mr. Casey has earned five Emmys, a Golden Globe Award, the Humanitas Prize, and a George Foster Peabody Award, and he and his partners were named Television Producers of the Year by the Producers Guild of America in 1995.
Larry David served as executive producer and writer for "Seinfeld" for seven years. Mr. David helped longtime friend and fellow stand-up comedian Jerry Seinfeld create the series's pilot in 1989 and was the inspiration for the character of Jerry's friend, George Costanza. For his work on "Seinfeld," Mr. David received two Emmy Awards, Best Comedy Series and Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series, two Writers Guild Awards, and a Golden Globe Award for Best Musical or Comedy Series. Previously, he served as a writer for and performer on ABC's sketch comedy series "Fridays" (1980-82) and writer for NBC's "Saturday Night Live" during the 1984-85 season.
Diane English, creator of the award-winning comedy "Murphy Brown," began her career at New York City's PBS affiliate, WNET/13, where she was story editor for the Theatre in America series and cowriter for public broadcasting's first television movie "The Lathe of Heaven." In 1985, Ms. English earned critical acclaim for her first situation comedy, "Foley Square," and in 1986 she served as executive producer and writer for "My Sister Sam" starring Pam Dawber. Her next creation, the groundbreaking "Murphy Brown," has received eighteen Emmy Awards, among them two for Outstanding Comedy Series. "Murphy Brown" also won a 1990 Golden Globe Award and a 1991 Peabody Award and was selected by Viewers for Quality Television as Best Quality Comedy. In 1981, Ms. English and her husband, Joel Shukovsky, formed their own production company which has been responsible for such comedies as "Love & War," "Double Rush," "Ink," and the upcoming CBS series "Lawyers."
Details
- NETWORK: Paley
- DATE: November 12, 1997 5:30 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:28:08
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:51083
- GENRE: Seminars
- SUBJECT HEADING: She Made It Collection (Marcy Carsey); She Made It Collection (Diane English)
- SERIES RUN: N/A
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Steven A. Bell … Moderator
- Jerry Belson … Panelist
- Marcy Carsey … Panelist
- Peter Casey … Panelist
- Larry David … Panelist
- Diane English … Panelist