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Television
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PAGE CONTENTS: Television Production M*A*S*H TV Show Premiers Random Stuff About Sesame Street
Child Actors
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.
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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.
Child Actors
Back in the "Golden Age" of TV, situation comedies presented audiences
with the image of an ideal Middle Class America. In reality, however, many of the child actors in these "perfect"
TV families had less-than-perfect lives offscreen...
Father Knows Best:
Billy Gray (who
played the son, Bud) spent 45 days in jail on marijuana charges and later dropped out from society. He told TV Guide,
"I look back on the show and see it as a lie, a lie that was sold to the American people."
Lauren Chapin (who played the youngest daughter, Kathy) also had drug troubles. She became addicted to heroin and
speed, and did jail time for forging a check.
The Patty Duke Show:
From 1963-66, Duke starred
in the popular series, but gradually the stress of playing two roles - herself and her look-alike cousin - caught up with
her; she became depressed, anorexic and eventually an alcoholic and drug
addict.
The
Partridge Family:
After the show ended, Danny Bonaduce developed drug problems. By age 21,
he had squandered $350,000 in savings on his cocaine habit.
Susan Dey, who was 16 when the show began, later claimed to have suffered from severe
anxiety which resulted in anorexia and bulimia.
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet:
Fans
of Ricky Nelson were shocked when his autopsy revealed that he had been freebasing cocaine just prior to the plane crash that
killed him on Dec. 31, 1984 in DeKalb, Texas.
Family Affair:
In 1976, Annissa Jones, who played "Buffy" on the series, was found dead of an overdose after a party in Oceanside,
California. The coroner reported that Jones had "the largest combination of drugs in any cases I've encountered.
Copyright 2009 by NextEra Media. All rights reserved.
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