Category: By Larry Brody

LB: “The New Republic” Gets Television All Wrong

…But the post below is still worth reading cuz arguing about this shit is always fun:

New republic on Showrunnersby Craig Fehrman

Our best TV shows may be more complex than ever, but our theory of their greatness has become utterly reductive: In this reputedly golden age of television, it all boils down to the showrunner, television’s own auteur.

According to this theory, the villain is a clueless suit, sending along absurd notes; the hero is the courageous iconoclast, ready to fight the tiniest battle. Here’s one example from the set of “Mad Men,” recounted in Alan Sepinwall’s recent book, The Revolution Was Televised: The Cops, Crooks, Slingers, and Slayers Who Changed TV Drama Forever: A costume designer presented the perfect button-up dress for a love scene to showrunner Matthew Weiner. “Unzipping is sexier,” he replied—and off she went to find a new dress. Everyone seems to thrill at these stories of micromanaging prowess. It’s why novelists are trying to write cable pilots; why The Hollywood Reporterpublishes its annual “Top 50 Power Showrunners”; and why, in 2010, no less an outlet than Cahiers du Cinéma—the French publication that popularized the original film version of auteur theory—put “Mad Men” on its cover. This narrative has been reinforced by long magazine profiles of David Chase (showrunner for “The Sopranos”), David Simon (“The Wire”), David Milch (“Deadwood”), Shonda Rimes(“Scandal”), Lena Dunham (“Girls”), Liz Meriwether (“New Girl”), and others. read article

LB: The TV Shows I Actually Watch

Glad You Asked Department 6/17/13

question_ditkoToday’s question comes from Lydia, who wants to know:

When you’re sitting back and chilling, what TV shows do you watch? Are you a fan of shows that are critical darlings, or do you secretly love the kind of genre stuff that most people won’t admit to getting into? For that matter, are you secretly a reality show fan? You can trust me with your secrets. I won’t be judgmental. Or not too much anyway.

I get asked questions like Lydia’s quite a bit – mostly when hanging out at my favorite coffee house (hey, it’s the Seattle area – everyone here’s got a favorite coffee house), so even though I know every reader is going to have a judgment about this (because every reader is, after all, human) here’s my reply: read article

LB: MAJOR CRIMES Has Returned and, Um, So Far So Good

MAJOR CRIMES

The Good:

  • It’s just like it was last season. Except that it isn’t.
  • G.W. Bailey’s Lt. Provenza steals the show.
  • Episode 1 was one of the few times I’ve ever enjoyed a Hollywood themed murder. Probably cuz the Big Deal Film Director Suspect here was sooo Michael Bay.
  • Robert Gossett’s Commander Tyler was back to being a major asshat.
  • Mary McDonnell’s Captain Rayder was as delightfully passive-aggressive as ever.

The Not So Good: read article

LB: Yevtushenko (the Band) on Kickstarter

yevtushenkothingie
Click the Pic to Go to Yevtushenko’s Kickstarter Page

Yes, it’s true. My favorite band of all time except for The Who (hey, I’m a child of My Generation, what can I say?) is alive and well and ambitious as hell. It’s not enough for them to rule Seattle, they want the whole world.

And why not? Who deserves it more than, erm, well…my little girl?

That’s right, Amber Shine, the female-fronter talked about in the image above, is indeed my daughter. No, I’m not mentioning this to explain why she rocks because that’s something her own beautiful self is about. I’m mentioning it so everyone will understand that when I say she rocks it’s because I know. Because her mother and I have heard every word and note of every song she and Yevtushenko have written/played/recorded. read article

LB: Where I Write – Oh, and Why

Glad You Asked Department 6/10/13

question_ditkoAbout a week and a half ago, the lovely and talented Peggy Bechko wrote a blog article that we picked up and re-posted here at TVWriter™ in which answered the oft-asked question, “Where do you write?”

Until I read that, I had no idea that readers/viewers/fans cared where writers did their writing. I mean, I’ve sure never cared where other people write, or eat, or sleep, or have sex, or satisfy any of their other basic needs in life.

And as soon as that reaction equating writing to the basic needs of life sprang into my consciousness I realized that of course I should care about where writers write, and I should share it too. Because if, like me, you’re one of those people for whom writing is an absolute necessity, a primal urge that can’t be contained, you need all the knowledge you can get about how to best, um, satisfy that urge. read article