Salute to TV writers: ‘The White Shadow’

Looks like my union will vote today to end the Hollywood writers’ strike. And soon a grateful nation will get what it has been craving... more episodes of “Two and a Half Men.”

I hope the deal worked out between the Writers Guild and the big studios will prove to be fruitful for the storytellers of today... and of the future.

Meanwhile, I will continue these little “salutes” because there’s more audio I want to share. And more I’d like to say about the art of good television writing.

“The White Shadow” was one of my favorite shows as a teenager. It was the first drama series that took place in a world that resembled my own.

My favorite episode was in the second season. Warren Coolidge (Byron Stewart) becomes an actor on a TV show called “Downtown High,” and he gets a swelled head. The story becomes a satire of show business and of the racial dynamics of Hollywood. It’s quite funny.

“Coolidge Goes Hollywood” was originally broadcast on March 18, 1980. It was written by John Falsey and Marc Rubin. (Falsey went on to co-create “St. Elsewhere” and “Northern Exposure.”)

Click here to stream a 2-minute clip from this episode on my Vox audio stash. On the set of “Downtown High,” Coolidge is asked by the white director (George Wyner... fabulous) to play a scene he’s not comfortable with.

Season Two of “The White Shadow” is available on DVD.

Salute to TV writers: ‘Saturday Night Live’

Writer and occasional performer Michael O’Donoghue was a dominant figure in the early years of “Saturday Night Live.” Before that, he’d been a contributor to National Lampoon, earning a reputation as a bent genius.

Consider this, from O’Donoghue’s hilarious prose piece titled “The Churchill Wit”:

“Shortly after Churchill had grown a moustache, he was accosted by a certain young lady whose political views were in direct opposition to his own. Fancying herself something of a wag, she exclaimed, ‘Mr. Churchill, I care for neither your politics nor your moustache.’

“Unabashed, the young statesman regarded her quietly for a moment, then wryly commented, ‘Suck my dick.’ ”

As a teenage fan of “SNL,” I was put off by the sadistic humor of O’Donoghue’s “Mr. Mike” character. (I know it was supposed to be off-putting, but still.)

As a grown man, I got to know Darius James, a fierce satirist in his own right (and one of America’s coolest Negroes). Darius was a friend of O’Donoghue’s, and respected him greatly. Check what Darius wrote about him in his book “That’s Blaxploitation!”

If you’ve read about the backstage history of “SNL,” then you have marveled at some of Michael O’Donoghue’s workplace shenanigans... like spray-painting the word “DANGER” on the wall in 1980.

God had the last laugh, though, striking O’Donoghue dead with a brain hemorrhage in 1994.

In honor of the man and his spirit, I’m streaming audio of a sketch that aired in April of 1977. It’s called “Mr. Mike Meets Uncle Remus.” (Garrett Morris played Uncle Remus, of course.) Click here to hear it.

This scene can be seen on the DVD set “Saturday Night Live: The Complete Second Season.”

Salute to TV writers: ‘NYPD Blue’

You know I had to slip one of my own scenes in here, right?

I wrote ten “NYPD Blue” scripts between 1995 and 1997. One of my favorites was a Season 3 episode titled “Head Case,” which begins with detectives Simone and Sipowicz at a gruesome crime scene: A middle-aged white man has been murdered in his apartment, with his decapitated head left in his lap.

The facts of the crime were drawn from a real-life case; Bill Clark told me about it. He even showed me the videotaped interrogation of the mentally ill murderer.

The interrogation scene I wrote for “Head Case” is one that I recall most fondly... for a peculiar reason. It’s seven pages long. “NYPD Blue” interrogation scenes usually topped out at three pages.

Earlier that season, boss David Milch had written a very long interrogation scene, and it worked like gangbusters. I wanted to see if I could stretch out like that.

I was also pleased to make use of some newspaper reporting from 1986. While covering Hands Across America for the Washington Times, I interviewed a homeless man who tried to convince me that he was God, and that he had unlocked the secrets of “omnipotent pyrotechnics.”

I never forgot this guy, especially the “omnipotent pyrotechnics” stuff. I had that interview on audiotape, and I drew from it.

The role of the psychotic killer (“Rodney Wellstone”) was difficult to cast. We auditioned a whole lot of young black actors, including Terrence Howard. I had written it with Roger Guenveur Smith in mind. But none of the L.A. actors rocked the audition... not even Mr. Smith.

You see, with a scene that damn long, it was crucial to find an actor who could drive it. Mount that dialogue and ride it to the finish line. Otherwise, the scene seemed endless; it didn’t work at all.

Our New York casting director found the right guy: Monti Sharp.

I’m streaming audio of that 7-minute scene. Click here to hear it. (Original air date: February 27, 1996.)

David Milch’s palmprints are all over the finished scene. (He decided to have the Assistant District Attorney videotape the interrogation. And he crazied up Rodney Wellstone a bit by having him vow “four years and seven months” of silence.) So I won’t pretend every word is mine.

But I am quite proud of lines like “I give you consciousness of self...”

By the way, since it’s all about me today, I’ll let you know: I co-wrote tonight’s episode of “The Wire” with David Simon. (I know, right? Super Bowl night. Maybe y’all can catch it on a rerun.) Don’t forget to check EbonyJet.com in a few days for DeAngelo Starnes’s episode analysis.

Salute to TV writers: ‘In Living Color’

I was a fan of “In Living Color” during its early years. But it’s fair to say that the show’s strength was its cast, not its writing.

(By contrast, “Saturday Night Live” and “SCTV” had writers to match their players, while “Fridays” was burdened with a second-rate cast plus weak writing.)

One of my favorite “In Living Color” sketches didn’t even come from the writing staff. “Black World” was written and performed by cast member T’Keyah “Crystal” Keymah.

I interviewed Crystal in 1991, and she acknowledged that “Black World” owes a debt to Gilda Radner, who did a similar little-girl sketch on “SNL.”

“I think Gilda Radner’s pieces are classics,” she told me.

“Black World,” on top of being an acting showcase, is a fine piece of character writing and social satire. It was one of Crystal’s audition pieces for “In Living Color.” And it’s the one that got her hired.

To hear “Black World” on my Vox audio stash, click here. It was originally broadcast on May 12, 1990.

Salute to TV writers: ‘The Richard Pryor Special?’

Yes, that question mark was part of the title. As if Mr. Pryor couldn’t believe it his own self.

I’m willing to bet that 99 out of every 100 black folks in their mid-40s remember watching that special. Especially Maya Angelou’s dramatic monologue (which puzzled me then). Or the pageant of black models posing to a recitation of Langston Hughes’s “Harlem Sweeties.”

Or the Idi Amin sketch.

I’m streaming audio of the Idi Amin sketch on my Vox blog. Click here to hear it. I don’t know for a fact who wrote it... but the bitter tang of it says Paul Mooney. (Note the strategic deployment of the N-word.)

By the way, Mooney and Richard Pryor earned their Writers Guild cards at the same time, after co-scripting an episode of “Sanford and Son.”

“The Richard Pryor Special?” aired on May 5, 1977. It’s available on DVD, packaged with the four episodes of “The Richard Pryor Show” that were broadcast in the fall of ’77 on NBC.

Salute to TV writers: ‘Taxi’

I deeply believe in the Eugenic Theory of Good Television. (Actually, I just thought of it yesterday. But it does make a lot of sense.)

Writers who come from great TV shows tend to create great shows of their own.

For instance, the creators of “Taxi” – James L. Brooks, Stan Daniels, David Davis and Ed. Weinberger – all worked on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” For “Taxi” they hired Glen and Les Charles, who later created “Cheers.”

And writers hired by the Charles brothers on “Cheers” – David Angell, Peter Casey and David Lee – went on to create “Frasier.”

What a wonderful comedy bloodline, spanning 34 years.

As part of my continuing celebration of TV writers, I’m streaming a little bit of a “Taxi” episode written by the Charles brothers and Barton Dean. This was Episode #8 of the first season, titled “Paper Marriage.” (Original air date: October 31, 1978.)

The plot concerns Latka (Andy Kaufman) marrying a hooker in order to avoid deportation. The wedding is performed by “Rev. Jim” (Christopher Lloyd). Rev. Jim would later become a main character, but this was his introduction.

Click here to hear it.

As always, I’m presenting audio (instead of video) so that we may focus on the words. Yes, Christopher Lloyd’s performance was terrific. But it all started with words on a page.

Glen and Les Charles were twice nominated for writing Emmys for their work on “Taxi.” They finally got those trophies for an episode of “Cheers.”

Salute to TV writers: ‘SCTV’

I’ve been a fan of sketch comedy going back to “The Carol Burnett Show” and Flip Wilson.

And I’m grateful to have witnessed the dawn of a New Age for sketch comedy... thanks to “Saturday Night Live” and the Not Ready For Prime Time Players.

Key members of that troupe (Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Gilda Radner and Bill Murray) came out of the Second City improv companies in Chicago and Toronto.

Soon, some of their old Second City cousins got their own show: “SCTV.” (It blows my mind that Belushi had performed onstage with Joe Flaherty, and Aykroyd had done scenes with John Candy, Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara.)

As part of my continuing salute to television writers, I’m streaming audio of a 5-minute sketch from the second season of “SCTV” (1978). It’s a game-show parody called “High-Q,” and it was written by Catherine O’Hara. To this day, cast members consider this one of their funniest sketches.

Click here to hear it.

The scene is available on the DVD collection “SCTV: Volume 1, Network 90.”

Salute to TV writers: ‘Hill Street Blues’

Two shows made me want to write for television: “Hill Street Blues” and “St. Elsewhere.” I studied them talmudically, ever since my college days. I’ve got every episode on tape.

With those drama series, I also started paying attention to the writing credits. And I became aware that “Hill Street Blues” drew its storytellers from the wider world of letters: Novelist Robert Crais, movie writer Walon Green, literature professor John Romano, magazine journalists Robert Ward and David Black, newspapermen Christian Williams and Terry Curtis Fox...

In my mind, the “Hill Street” offices must’ve been like a literary salon, with people sitting around discussing nuances of language and narrative.

Came to find out, the “Hill Street” writing offices were chaotic. The scripts were always behind schedule. Sometimes it got so bad that a boss would gather all the writers and say, “Okay, you write Act One, you write Act Two, you write Act Three, you write Act Four.”

Speaking of chaos... the chaos of the modern American city was one of the great narrative themes of “Hill Street Blues.”

I’m streaming a 2-minute audio clip from the very first scene of the very first episode. This kind of “roll call” scene would become a hallmark of the show, even after the passing of Michael Conrad, who portrayed Sgt. Phil Esterhaus.

But listen to this first one. Study how, in just a couple of pages of dialogue, Steven Bochco and Michael Kozoll set a tone for the entire series, including its acidic sense of humor and its racial frankness.

Click here to hear it. As I said before, I’m streaming audio (not video) for a purpose: to put extra focus on the words. And on the writers who put them to paper.

This pilot episode – titled “Hill Street Station” – was originally broadcast on January 15, 1981. Bochco and Kozoll won an Emmy award for the script.

Salute to TV writers: ‘All in the Family’

Television writers went into the current strike knowing it could be a long one... knowing that the studio bosses won’t do a fair deal out of the goodness of their hearts.

But all the ups and downs and twists and turns between now and strike’s end are of diminishing interest to me.

What I’d rather do is celebrate TV writers. And remind the world of what we do... and why we deserve respect.

So, for as long as this strike continues, I’ll be shining a spotlight on some good TV writing. Starting with “All in the Family,” a brilliantly written show, a jewel of American pop culture.

I’m streaming a 4-minute audio clip from a Season 1 episode of “All in the Family.” To hear it, click here. I realize television is a visual medium, but I’m using audio for a reason: So we can focus on the words.

The clip I selected comes from Episode 8, titled “Lionel Moves Into the Neighborhood.” The credited writers are Don Nicholl and Bryan Joseph. This scene was included on an “All in the Family” LP released in the early ’70s. (Yes, my vinyl stacks are deep!)

I believe this is the first episode of the show written by Mr. Nicholl, who went on to bigger things. He and two other “All in the Family” writers – Michael Ross and Bernie West – co-wrote the pilot script for “Chico and the Man” (along with James Komack).

The partnership of “Nicholl Ross West” struck gold when it created “Three’s Company.” Don Nicholl also wrote the lyrics to the “Three’s Company” theme song. (Joe Raposo wrote the music.)

Hope y’all enjoy this flashback. And the ones to come.