Month: January 2017

Art In The Ordinary

Dunno about you, but this particular TVWriter™ minion is a sucker for the memories, anecdotes, and advice put out by just about any experienced writer of any medium. My interest increases considerably, however, when it’s from one of the all-time great TV writers.

One of those all time greats is Earl Pomerantz, “a regular person [who] thinks about things and then writes about them.” I was especially smitten by what he wrote last December:

by Earl Pomerantz

I just watched a terrific episode of Death Valley Days. read article

‘Longmire’ Proves Hard to Kill

by Doug Snauffer

As the TV landscape continues to diversify, it’s nice to know there’s still room for an old-fashioned show like Longmire — even though it’s survival has included a number of last-minute reprieves.

Based on the novels by best-selling author Craig Johnson, Longmire is best described as a modern-day Western. It’s protagonist, Sheriff Walt Longmire (Australian actor Robert Taylor), upholds the law in Absaroka County, Wyoming. Walt is a widower who lives in a small secluded cabin on the edge of the Big Horn Mountains. read article

The WGA Preps for the Next big Negotiation

What will it be? Peaceful negotiation or war? What will our champions at the Writers Guild of America (both West and East versions) be negotiating – or battling – for?

Find out where things stand via this open letter from the EGA:

read article

Larry Brody’s Poetry: ‘Kid Hollywood Returns To The Scene Of The Crime’

The real Mulholland Drive

by Larry Brody

NOTE FROM LB: 

After over two decades of taking – and giving – abuse as a television writer and producer, I left my Hollywood life behind and trekked (by SUV, of course) to the Southwest, tracking the magic I’d long believed in but never been part of. Thanks to the Navajo Dog, I found a path that was good and true. But sometimes a man needs a break, you know? The following happened during a short visit to – well, the title tells it all:

Kid Hollywood Returns To The Scene Of The Crime

Three of us drove up toward Mulholland that night, read article

A Trip to ‘Emerald City’ (POV #2)

EDITOR’S NOTE: Time now for the second perspective on Emerald City. Which do you agree with, #1 or this one, #2?

Characterization, Emerald City style. Right – it isn’t there!

by Robin Reed

It’s not that I object to a new take on L. Frank Baum’s Oz stories. I read Philip Jose Farmer’s “A Barnstormer in Oz.” I tried to read Gregory Maguire’s “Wicked” (and I just now learned that there are three more books) but Maguire managed to make a magical, enchanted land boring. I haven’t seen the musical based on his book. The original books are in public domain, so new versions are inevitable.

I was in college when I first saw “The Wizard of Oz” with Judy Garland in color. The change from black and white to color was wasted on me before that because I only saw it on black and white TVs. I have liked it ever since. I’m not a big musical lover, but the comedy and vaudeville shtick made me like it. read article