Getting that break into TV, to get paid for my writing, was not only a thrill but a privilege I have never taken for granted once in all these years. A staggering majority of my TV experiences have been good ones — hard work and laughter with bright people — with the normal ups and downs. An exception was my job as exec producer-head writer for Grace Under Fire. How difficult was it? It was, “I-don’t-care-how-much-they-pay-me-I-don’t-think-I-can-drive-through-that-damned-gate-one-more-day” difficult. You had to be there. Be glad you weren’t. When that series ended, I was ready to be done with TV for good. Then Tom Werner, my boss on Grace, asked if I would consider taking over Cosby [note: this was the CBS series that post-dated the legendary NBC Cosby Show.]
If Grace Under Fire was hell, working with Bill Cosby was heaven. Every good thing you’ve heard about Bill is true. He astonished me with his collaborative sense and his openness to comments and new ideas. He reminded me the job can be fun and that there’s joy in storytelling. He also renewed my faith in the lost courtesies of a business that has made its peace with rudeness.
What was your role on each of these shows: Cosby, Grace Under Fire, Parker Lewis Can’t Lose and Night Court? Were you writing the shows, producing or both? I ask because I realize that means I -- and others -- have probably seen your work without even knowing your name.
On all the shows you mention, I was a writer and a producer of one rank or other. Or maybe just a rank producer. See, in TV, the head writer is producer of the series. The vision for, and the consistency of, a show usually comes from its writing staff, led by the show runner. That’s what Rob Petrie would be called today.
I would author my own individual episodes, just as the other writers would, and then we’d gather to collaborate and polish. The show runner “holds the pencil,” which is to say, he or she is responsible for what gets shot. Conflicts arise in that process when stars exert power and I tried to dramatize that in The Trigger Episode when the druggy sitcom diva, Bonnie Quinn, killed scripts out of hand.
Which of those shows was your favorite to write for?
I was always in love with the show I was writing when I was writing it. The characters always mattered to me, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to write them well. But, I have to say Night Court was a ball. Parker Lewis was a pleasure in a different way because it was single camera, shot like a movie without a studio audience, and we all just had a blast. Clyde Phillips and Lon Diamond, who made the pilot, really set the table for a sensibility that people still remark about today. I loved the smartness of Dave’s World, and Cosby was, to borrow his phrase, wonderful. Guess I’m not narrowing the list, am I?
Article comments
1 - Scott Butki
I'm writing part two tonite