The ‘Silver Surfer’ Cartoon Is the Secret Star of Marvel’s ’90s TV Line-Up

NOTE FROM LB: A TVWriter™ visitor just called my attention to this exceedingly generous review/reminiscence of one of the most meaningful shows of my career, the Silver Surfer Saturday morning cartoon show, and rather than just sit and grin about it, I thought it would be a good thing to share with the rest of you.

The only thing that could’ve made this 2018 article from io9 even better would have been if it had for God’s fucking sake included my name and those of the super talented collaborators I worked with to make this such an exciting series!!!

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The Importance of ‘The Brady Bunch’

Our man Herbie J Pilato has long been established as the go-to guy for all things having to do with classic TV. Not just for us TVWriter™ minions but for, well, any info-lovin’ fan of classic TV. As Rod Serling (speaking of classic TV) might say, “Case in point….”

Remembering “The Brady Bunch” on its 50th Anniversary
by Michael Coate

“The Brady Bunch is ’comfort TV’ to the highest degree.” — Classic TV historian Herbie J Pilato

The Digital Bits and History, Legacy & Showmanship are pleased to present this retrospective commemorating the golden anniversary of the premiere of The Brady Bunch, the classic family sitcom which originally ran on ABC from 1969 to 1974 and starred Florence Henderson as Carol/Mom, Robert Reed as Mike/Dad and Ann B. Davis as housekeeper Alice. read article

WGAW October 2019 Calendar

Here’s what going on, socially and professionally,  at the Writers Guild of America West this month:

September 2019

Events listed are current at time of publication. Dates and details are subject to change during the month. read article

Larry Brody: Live! From Paradise! #65 – “A Few Words from the Not So Rich and Strange”

THE USUAL NOTE FROM LB: From the summer of 2002 to  the spring of 2010, Gwen the Beautiful and I were the proud and often exhausted owners of a beautiful Ozarks property we called Cloud Creek Ranch.

In many ways, the ranch was paradise. But it was a paradise with a price that started going up before we even knew it existed. Here’s another Monday musing about our adventure and the lessons we learned.

Oh, and if y’all detect any irony, please believe me when I say it comes straight from the universe and not your kindly Uncle Larry B. read article

The Death of the All-Male Writers Room & What It Means

LB’S NOTE: For the past few years, it has seemed to me that most of the changes in our culture have been negative ones. (Gee, where could I have gotten that idea?) But here’s a positive change that I’m sure will make the culture of storytelling the world over better than it’s been since, oh, let’s say the Renaissance.

by Radhika Seth

On 18 June, ITV made headlines when it announced it would no longer commission shows by all-male writers. Saskia Schuster, ITV’s head of comedy and founder of the gender equality initiative Comedy 50:50, hoped the move would create more opportunities for women in an industry and genre that has long been dominated by men. What she didn’t expect was a backlash: op-eds condemning box-ticking quotas, viewers applauding shows that wouldn’t exist without all-male writing teams (Peep Show, Dad’s Army, Blackadder) and critics on Twitter labelling her a militantly feminist member of the #GalQaeda.

“The focus was never on banning male teams,” Schuster tells Vogue. “The goal is inclusivity. The current number of female writers in comedy is woefully low and before I started Comedy 50:50, I was being pitched very few scripts by women.” Determined to change the culture, she rewrote her contracts, asking comedy shows to aim for equal representation and scripted commissions to demonstrate their best endeavours to include female voices. She also created a database of more than 500 women writers to help producers find new collaborators. read article