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Television
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Television Production
M*A*S*H TV Show Premiers
Random Stuff About Sesame Street
Television Production
What follows is the standard procedure for shows on network
television in the United States.
Someone (called the show "creator") fabricates
an idea for a new television series. This consists of the concept, the characters, usually some crew, and sometimes
some big-name actors. They "pitch" it to the various television networks, hoping to find one that's interested. If a
network is interested, they will "order" a pilot (a prototype first episode of the series).
To create the
pilot, the structure and team of the whole series needs to be put together. If the network likes the pilot, they will "pick
up" the show for their next season (UK: series). Sometimes they'll save it for "midseason" or request re-writes
and further review (known in the industry as "Development Hell"). And other times they'll pass entirely, leaving the
show's creator forced to "shop it around"' to other networks. Many shows never make it past the pilot stage.
If the
show is picked up, a "run" of episodes is ordered. Usually only 13 episodes are ordered at first, although a series will typically
last for at least 22 episodes (the last nine episodes sometimes being known as the "back nine", borrowing a term from golf).
The
show hires a "stable" of writers, who usually work in parallel: the first writer works on the first episode, the second on
the second episode, and so forth. When all of the writers have been used, the assignment of episodes continues starting with
the first writer again. On other shows, however, the writers work as a team. Sometimes they will develop story ideas individually,
and pitch them to the show's creator, who then folds them together into a script and rewrites them.
The executive producer,
often the show's creator, is in charge of running the show. They pick crew and cast (subject to approval by the network),
approve and often write series plots, and sometimes write and direct major episodes. A whole host of other producers of various
names work under him or her, to make sure the show is always running smoothly.
Once the script for a show is written,
a director is found for the episodes. The director's job is to turn the words of the script into film. They decide how
scenes should be "staged" and where the cameras should be placed; they also often coach the actors, including any guest stars
who may be in the particular episode. On television shows, directors are often interchangeable, mainly serving the dictates
of the writer.
A director of photography takes care of making the show look good, doing things with lighting and so
on.
Finally, an editor cuts the various pieces of film together, adds the musical score, and assembles the completed
show.
The show is then turned over to the network, which sends it out to its affiliates, which air it in the specified
timeslot. If the Nielson Ratings are good, the show is kept alive as long as possible. If not, the show is usually cancelled.
The show's creators are then left to shop around remaining episodes, and the possibility of future episodes, to other networks.
On especially successful series, the producers sometimes call a halt to a series on their own like "The Cosby Show" and end
it with a concluding episode which sometimes is a big production called a series finale.
If the show is popular or
lucrative, and a number of episodes (usually 100 episodes or more) are made, it goes into syndication where broadcast
rights are then resold.
About and About.com are registered trademarks of
About, Inc. The About logo is a trademark of About, Inc. All rights reserved. This is the "GNU Free Documentation License"
reference article from the English Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.
"M*A*S*H" TV Show Premiers
by Jennifer Rosenberg
The first episode of the extremely popular TV series MASH aired
on CBS on September 17, 1972. The concept of the MASH storyline was thought up by Dr. Richard Hornberger. Under the
pseudonym "Richard Hooker," Dr. Hornberger wrote the book MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors (1968) which was based
on his own experiences as a surgeon in the Korean War. In 1970, the book was turned into a movie, also called MASH,
which was directed by Robert Altman and starred Donald Sutherland as "Hawkeye" Pierce and Elliot Gould as "Trapper John" McIntyre.
With nearly an entirely new cast, the same MASH characters from
the book and movie first appeared on television screens in 1972. This time, Alan Alda played "Hawkeye" Pierce and Wayne Rogers
played "Trapper John" McIntyre. Other memorable characters include Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan (Loretta Swit), Maxwell Q.
Klinger (Jamie Farr), B.J. Hunnicut (Mike Farrell), and Walter "Radar" O'Reilly (Gary Burghoff).
The general plot of MASH revolves around army doctors who are
stationed at the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) of the United States Army, located in the village of Uijeongbu
just north of Seoul in South Korea during the Korean War. Most of the episodes of the MASH television series ran for
half an hour and had multiple story lines, often with one being humorous and another being serious.
Although the real Korean War ran only three years (1950-1953), the MASH
series ran for eleven (1972-1983). After 250 episodes, "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen," the final MASH television show,
aired on February 28, 1983. On that night, 77 percent of American TV viewers watched the two-and-a-half-hour special, which
was the largest audience to ever watch a single episode of a television show.
©2007 About, Inc., A part of The New York Times Company. All rights
reserved.
Random Stuff About Sesame Street
Sesame Street premiered on November 10, 1969 on the National Educational
Television network. At of 2007, more than 4,000 episodes of the show have been produced in 36 seasons, which distinguishes
it as one of the longest-running shows in television history.
Takalani Sesame - In 2002, Sesame Workshop announced that an HIV-positive
character would be introduced to Takalani Sesame, the South African version of the show. Many conservatives and religious
groups wrongly presumed that the American version would be getting a "gay Muppet", but the HIV-positive character is only
present on this international version of the show. The character, Kami, contracted HIV from a blood transfusion as an infant.
Forgetful Jones (1979-1992) Was a cowboy with a memory problem, he rode
in the saddle with his darling, Clementine. Both characters were "retired" in 1992, when Richard Hunt died.
During the 1969–1970 season, Oscar the Grouch was orange.
Aloysius
Snuffleupagus's, Snuffy, birthday is August 19th.
Linda Bove - Neighborhood librarian and was one of the first deaf
actors in a recurring television role.
Tickle Me Elmo was the fastest selling
toy of the 1996 season.
In 1970, Ernie's "Rubber Duckie" song made #16 on the
Billboard Hot 100 chart.
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