Category: By Larry Brody

Larry Brody: Is TV Art? Does It Matter?

’70s edginess. The way it was.

by Larry Brody

NOTE FROM LB: Every once in awhile something good – really, measurably good – comes out of something you’ve done and makes you realize, “Hey, life ain’t so bad after all. This excerpt from my long out of print nonfiction, nonclassic book, Turning Points in Television, is about one of those times actually, remarkably, miraculously, happening to me.

The year is 1980, and I’m standing in the lobby of the Mark Hopkins Hotel in San Francisco on a cloud-enshrouded Saturday night, having a little not-so-friendly discussion with the manager because I’ve come to the City on a whim only to find that there are no rooms at the Inn. Any Inn, including this one, where I’ve stayed a million times before.

I feel foolish as hell, so I hide it with anger and a voice loud enough to be heard across the Bay. Having grown from a Chicago kind of kid to a Hollywood kinda guy, I’m screaming my credits at the manager in the firm belief that they’ll cause him to cough up a place I can stay. read article

Larry Brody: Does Anyone Remember Uncle Miltie?

by Larry Brody

NOTE FROM LB: Last week’s paean to Howdy Doody was so much fun that I can’t resist a few words about the first adult show I ever saw on TV. (Um, for the record, “adult” back in 1948 “adult” didn’t mean what it means now, so don’t be expecting too much, okay?)

Television wasn’t always the cultural giant it became. read article

Larry Brody: Of Course TV is Childish. Here’s Why.

by Larry Brody

NOTE FROM LB: Another heartwarming tale, both personal and otherwise, from Turning Points in Television, the little history book that could’ve but didn’t. Enjoy!

Chicago. A blustery December day in 1948.

One year to the month after a People-and-Puppet Show that was renamed The Howdy Doody Show after its first week on the air, a four year old boy sat on the floor of his living room, looked up at the tiny (but oh, it seemed sooo big screen of his family’s TV set), and watched Clarabell the Clown sneak up on Bob Smith (who hadn’t yet become the legendary “Buffalo Bob”), and get ready to blast him–and anything or anyone else within range–with seltzer water. read article

Larry Brody: Showbiz, Adrenaline, and Testosterone Too

by Larry Brody

NOTE FROM LB: Once upon a time, I wrote a book called Turning Points in Television. It was supposed to be a legit history book, but I soon realized that the only things I felt comfortable writing about were those I could be absolutely sure were true – because they’d happened to me.

Fortunately, I had a wonderful editor who went along with my need to take a more or less phenomenological approach (great word, “phenomenological,” no?), and he gave me the green light to take that road. read article

Larry Brody’s 1st Episode of ‘Police Story’

by Larry Brody

Recently, while looking for elements to use in redesigning this site, I came across the following video on YouTube. None other than the first episode I ever wrote for the classic, multi-award winning NBC series Police Story.

I wrote the script for television’s only weekly police anthology series (different star cops every week with only the name of the police department, and the local bartender remaining the same, while I was freelancing back in the early 1970s. At that time drama shows didn’t have writers on staff. Not as writers anyway.

Story Editors, Story Consultants, even Executive Story Consultants, yes, and occasionally even Producers, but not as staff writers because that would have meant paying more than one or two writers per episode weekly minimums and, horror of horror, pension and health benefits per the WGA. read article