On Conservatives and Confidence

I HAVEN'T WRITTEN a whole lot about the Canadian Federal Election as of yet. In my defense, I've been busy with my final episode of The Border, and like a lot of people, my politics cup has been full of late with the trashy oh-no-they-didn't twists and turns of the U.S. election. (Hey, at least I have a dog in that hunt.)

But there's another reason I haven't written too much, either. It's a growing malaise. A feeling that maybe it's time for some reaping and sowing here.

It started with the last of Jim Henshaw's patented "the solution, my friends, is to blow the whole damn thing up" essays. Now Jim plays the Charlton Heston Damn-you-all-to-hell role better than most, and Lord knows he plays it often. But there was something about his last cant that just gave me pause.

It's that fundamentally, there's not a lot I can find in there with which I disagree. Maybe it's the hangover from my feelings of disgust over how, in the usual Canadian way, Toronto handed over its film festival for a bit of approval. But last week, when a bunch of A-listers from Paul Gross to Karen Kain on down met at the Sutton Place to decry Arts Cuts, it struck me that the Canadian A-list, just as Jim thinks, is maybe part of the problem. We have a crusty top of the beam group here that always sees each other at the same things, talks to each other at the same events, says the same things, in the same way, and rarely if ever lets any light in.

The same day as that press conference or whatever it was, by way of contrast, I held (along with Alex) the 2nd Annual Writer Mafia do at a comfortable writer bar here in Toronto.

A producer acquaintance who shall remain nameless remarked to someone I know that amidst the raucousness and gambolery (and there was plenty of both) that there was a definite undercurrent -- a darkness and worry; a certain weariness about the prospect of fighting for an industry whose audience doesn't respect it (when it acknowledges it exists.) The constant demonizing by the Conservatives, which is so blithe that it knows no shame even at the front door, can't help but take a toll after a while. C10, Copyright, Trade Routes, CRTC, Prom Art, what do you mean I have to write another fucking letter? Jesus! Do the Oil Guys have to do this?

Probably not. They just wipe their tar sands hands on their bibs and tuck into that big old steak at the PM's table.

Yup. It's dark days in the Writer Mafia lair. Even that joky title mocks the truth. For the people in that bar trying to laugh and connect are the working middle class of this industry, the ones who don't meet and gab at the Sutton Place or the Giller Awards, the ones who can't call up their friends who used to babysit for the Chief Justice. What hope does the Mafia have against the Family Compact?

I've always been fascinated by McLuhan and Innis, and the fact that so many media theorists doing interesting work were Canadians. It's not surprising to me. This country observes like no other. But the problem with being an observer is that it doesn't necessarily convert to action. For a writer, many of whom sit on the sidelines and observe, that call to action comes by converting observation into art, or craft, or whatever.

But for many others, the conversion isn't made. So on the one hand, you get the same old people saying the same old things to each other in the same old tones of mock outrage, and then going to the same old cocktail parties.

On the other hand you have a disconnected culture, the culture of Timmy's and the Trailer Park Boys and Cherry and everybody who loves'em -- the culture of Canadian Music, which rocks so hard and which has a genuine broad based passion base in this country -- not able to translate to the most important popular cultural institution in the world. TV.

Our TV is colonized. That's it. It's done. We stand alone in Canada with not preferring our own shows. We'd rather scoop up whatever shit the U.S. serves up every fall. Other western nations get the best -- the CSI's that prove themselves after two seasons or so. We get every half assed 3 episode and out atrocity Hollywood can throw at the wall. And we lap it up. Colonized.

So yes, there are some big structural things that need to change, whoever's in power. But at the same time, the attitude of hostility toward the ars from the Conservative government is not made up. It is real. Yes, it's shot through with contradictions. Russel Smith managed to crystallize it in the Globe today:

When cornered, government spokespeople have consistently said two things: first, that the cuts are not punishment for leftist or obscure artists, that they are merely regrettable but necessary cost cuts. And second, that they are cuts to programs that produced undesirable art. Well, you can't have it both ways.

And yes, it denies economic reality. How much? Well take a look at this article in the Toronto Star.

If anyone doubts the importance of culture to our economy, simply look to the hard numbers. In its recently released report, entitled Valuing Culture: Measuring and Understanding Canada's Creative Economy, the Conference Board of Canada estimates the economic output of the cultural sector was $46 billion in 2007, which was 3.8 per cent of Canada's real GDP, with the value-added climbing to $84.6 billion including the indirect and induced impact.

For comparison, the value-added of Canada's entire retail industry was just under 6 per cent in 2007, as noted by Hill Strategies.

It is estimated that 1 million jobs are created by the cultural sector, representing 7.1 per cent of Canada's total employment in 2007. That workforce grew by 31 per cent over the past decade, according to Statistics Canada, compared to a 20 per cent growth in the total number of employed workers.

If Canada is able to offer world-class cities, with internationally renowned festivals, symphonies, opera houses, theatres, music, museums and galleries, we are off to a great start. We are vying with London, New York and Chicago for the best and brightest. Knowledge-workers are seeking attractive, creative places to live, work and play.

It's not just about finding a good job. As the Conference Board report puts it: "Clearly, a growing, dynamic culture sector is central to Canada's success as a creative, knowledge-based economy. The culture sector also serves as a magnet for skilled and creative people, as Canada becomes increasingly dependent on international migration to sustain the size of its national labour force."

More importantly though, and more important for those gamboling while Rome burns types at the Writer Mafia party last week, it comes down to this: a nation that does not venerate, celebrate, and embrace its own culture does not have a soul. And if you believe in the Rise of the Creative Class, then it doesn't have a future either.

To an artist, that's a hard thing to accept. Much harder than, say, packing it in and going somewhere else.

The mind that prioritizes art and culture isn't being elitist. It's not being frivolous. It is prioritizing the very creative class that holds the key to new industries and ways of thinking that are going to shape the 21st century.

Either you're in for that, or you're not.

So maybe you write a letter, or maybe you take a look at the WGC's election platform. Or maybe you press candidates at all candidates meetings.

Or maybe you don't care and you let the whole thing burn down.

Send me a postcard from that Canada. Because I sure as hell don't want to live in it.

The Note that Kills

MAYBE IT'S BECAUSE I'm in the middle of the second complete re-draft of an outline, and I've only seen the four feet around my computer for about two days, but I was thinking a lot about notes. From other writers, from network execs, from whoever might be reading.

There are notes that are good and bad, as we've heard before. The one truly excruciating, where is my .22 note that writers get is the truly evil "DB" (for "Do Better." Wow. Thanks Brainiac.)

But there's another kind of note (and here I want to stress that I'm not talking about my current outline or circumstances, merely that the process calls back all the evil notes of outlines past -- kind of how the smell of cooling tollhouse chocolate chip cookies makes one think of random gunplay, the smell of sulphur, burning chlorine in the nose and the salty taste of children's tears. Wait. What? Really? Wow, that day camp I went to as a kid sucked, dude. For reals.) that kind of powers them all in terms of determining if you have a good story or not.

First of all -- everyone is bad at reading outlines. If it was up to me, you wouldn't send em. Networks would approve a verbal pitch and then see an early draft. Outlines would be for internal use only. They're hard, because they're neither fish nor fowl. If a script is a blueprint for a finished TV show, then what the mighty F is an outline? A napkin? A notional approximation in prose of the final script? So, like, a scale model of the skyscraper built of spam rather than concrete and steel?

Yeah, not getting the aesthetics off that one, dude.

Anyway, in script, in life, in outline, clarity is important. You will often get notes asking for something to be made more clear. And nine times out of ten that's the right note.

But here's the thing...

There's clear, and then there's clear. Sometimes, the point of the scene is to get the audience to the point where you are confused. You don't know what's going on, necessarily. Or what you thought was happening, isn't. This is good. This confusion breeds curiosity. It might seem troubling on the page, but the question to ask is, "is it the kind of confusion that will cause someone to turn off the show, or keep watching to see what happens next?"

Too often, in this damnable tenth instance, clarity is the enemy of storytelling. I've seen outlines and scripts that were 'fixed' so that you always knew what was happening as you went along, where everything was totally clear and understandable...

...and the story was as boring as a dog's ass.

Remember -- clarity is great -- but only so far. Confusion that breeds curiosity equals momentum -- for the viewer to keep watching, and for you to keep spinning your story. When clarity is a threat to that, you need to defend your material, and push back, and say, "yes it's not clear, but it's the good kind of 'not clear.'"

Of course, sometimes that's hard to see in an outline.

Then again, what isn't?

Nice to See

THAT EVEN AS Rome burns, Scott Feschuck in Macleans manages to still be one funny mofo.

Specing Serially: The Easy Way

BECAUSE I'M SO very fancy, TMN, the pay broadcaster that runs most of the Showtime and HBO product up in my neck of the woods, sometimes sends me screeners of upcoming shows.

So it was this weekend that I screened the first episode of Season 3 of Dexter. I'll write more about the specifics of the show closer to the September 28 premiere date. (The short version is that I liked it a lot and think it really sets an interesting tone for the season.)

But that also lines up nicely for a persistent question that you always get about specs: specifically, in a show like a Dexter or Weeds or The Shield that's serialized quite heavily, how do you do a spec?

It's true that especially among cable shows, there's a great cohesion to individual seasons. Dexter Season 3 is going in a different direction than the two seasons before it, (and not just cause it has Jimmy Smits in it.)

The 13-a year order is a way that you can make this more doable -- it's hard to have a unifying theme over 22 without it being gimmicky (HOUSE got away with it last year with the "Survivor storyline" -- but even now the hints are being dropped that the big estrangement of Wilson and House isn't going to be something that runs a whole season. And it shouldn't. Where's the fun in that?)

But with Dexter, Sopranos, Six Feet Under, the nice thing about returning season after season was that it wasn' t the same old thing. Each season kind of had its own theme to it, separate and apart from the overall thematic area of the entire series.

(I don't think it's much of a spoiler to say that the theme running through Dexter is "change." Dexter has always been a fascinating coming-of-age story, and I have great hope for this season precisely because the slam-bang of the last two seasons is now all dealt with, and you're left with what is really juicy: a great character.)

So if you're looking to spec one of these shows, the answer's simple:

Write the first episode of a new season.

That way you can lay out themes that are true to the show, tell cohesive story that satisfies, maybe set up an intriguing cliffhanger at the end of the ep. You can show your mastery of the characters, but pick them up at a fresh point where you're not suffering under the burden of previous storylines.

It allows you to simply kick back and show how well you know the world.

Then all you have to do is be brilliant.

Ay, there's the rub.

In One Way This is Funny, and in Another, Really Not

...BUT BOY WILL it make a GREAT season premiere for This Hour Has 22 Minutes...

Security officials weren't laughing when CBC comedian Geri Hall stood up at a press conference in Halifax and began declaring her love for Conservative Leader Stephen Harper.

"Mr. Harper. I'm so sorry. I'll be so brief. I just represent the single female voter," the cast member with This Hour has 22 Minutes said.

Officials immediately grabbed her arm and hauled her out of the room, while Hall yelled, "Girls love a guy with a sense of humour and we could just have a little fun!

"Stephen Harper, I love you! I want to love you!"

As security officials brought her down the hallway, Hall told them she was only trying to ask Harper a few questions for an upcoming segment.

"They were really going to take me to the station, because they maybe didn't know who I was or maybe did know who I was, depends on how you want to believe it," Hall laughed, describing the ordeal in a later interview with CBC.

But instead of a jail cell, Hall was surprised with a brief one-on-one chat with Harper.

"OK, that was a bumpy start to the second part of our relationship," Hall joked, "but it was kind of sexy, too. Girl doesn't get arrested by a blue-eyed man very often."

To which Harper replied, "You like handcuffs?"

"Should I like handcuffs?" Hall responded, eyebrows raised.

Note to self: it's like Rick Mercer, only sexier! I love Geri Hall.

Can You Spot the Difference?

NAME THAT SPEAKER:

Why can't most Americans find the USA on a map?

"I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uh, some people out there in our nation don't have maps. And I believe that our education, like, such as in South Africa and the Iraq, everywhere, like such as, and I believe that they should, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., or should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future for our children."

Oh-kayyy. What about Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad?

"I believe that under the leadership of Ahmadinejad, nucular weapons in the hands of his government are extremely dangerous to everyone on this globe, yes. We have got to make sure these weapons of mass destruction, that nucular weapons are not given to those hands of Ahmadinejad, not that he would use them, but that he would allow terrorists to be able to use them. So we have got to put the pressure on Iran."

Wow. Thanks. Fantastic.

Could not. Write. This. Shit.

H/T to Joan Walsh

Enough With The Pig, Blowhards.

FOR THE PAST several weeks, through endless started conversations about whether the Michigan or Florida delegates would be seated, or what the meaning of Etruscan columns were or what exactly was meant by that flag pin or this fist bump, I have steadfastly said to my parents and to every other person I've engaged on Politics -- "I'm not talking about the bullshit."

So now we have two countries. Canada and the U.S.A. Both going to the Polls. Both with parties who have radically differing views about issues and the future direction of the country. Arguably, the U.S. election is probably more important to the world -- even to Canadians - though I'm pretty sure that most American friends will be jealous to know that the campaign here is about 32 days instead of 3 1/2 years. That's right! Suck it!

But anyway, I don't have the energy to worry about bullshit. Really I don't. Which is why I'm so fucking angry about the media coverage -- in both countries -- that I want to scream.

Luckily, even though Brioux already posted this, I don't have to punk out on my currently late-ish outline. I can just point you to the September 10th, 2008 monologue of newly minted American citizen Craig Ferguson.

It says all the shit needs saying.




And while we're at it, there's this one, too:

And The Whirlwind is in the Thorn Tree

Whoever is unjust, let him be unjust still.
Whoever is righteous, let him be righteous still.
Whoever is filthy, let him be filthy still.
Listen to the words long written down,
When the man comes around.

Translated from the Ratings-speak

MEDIAWEEK'S Marc Berman has the news that should surprise practically no one. In week two, 90210 was considerably less glitzy than its debut.

In other premiere news, Fringe on FOX -- after all the Internet hype did "good, but not great."

The other piece of info I gleaned from Berman -- a week two drop of 10 to 15 percent in the ratings is expected. 90210 dropped 28 percent. That's NOT good news. Not at all.

Looks like if the CW's gonna get saved, it's not going to be due to the kids from Beverly.

I'm getting my ass kicked by an outline, so feel free to speculate on either of these two shows, or the season to come, in the comments below. I have to agree with Diane (although I'm sure I'll be wrong somehow in the way I agree :) -- I'm just not excited about anything on TV this fall. And I have a feeling that my TV viewing's going to be off about 30-40% from last season. And way more sports, too.

Great. Next thing there'll be hair in my ears. Play nice. -- I'll be back when I can.

Guest Post: Pascoe on Writer/Director Symbiosis

OVER THE LAST few days, it being the Festival and all, I've been running into some of the same faces over and over. One of them is a delightful writer-director, Will Pascoe. Will's prepping to Direct something soon, and recently spent some time on set of The Border. I cajoled him a little bit when he told me how interesting a time he'd had, and suggested he write up a guest post for Dead Things On Sticks. Many promise, and so few deliver. But my man Pascoe is one of the good ones. So now, for a change, you can hear someone else go on about The Border on this blog -- and also give some much-deserved props to my colleague, Consulting Producer Sarah Dodd, and TV Alpha Director Ken "Boot in the Pants" Girotti. Over to you, Will. And to the rest of you promisey promisers, "oh sure, I'll write a guest post, sure, sure I will," alls I can say is, put your Pascoe where your mouth is...

Will Pascoe writes:

I’m not a fan of mosquitoes but the little bastards are certainly a fan of me. Recently I had a chance to shadow director Ken Girotti on an episode of The Border and by extension I somehow managed to accidentally shadow the episode’s writer, Sarah Dodd, as well.

As a writer who sometimes directs and a director who sometimes writes, I like seeing how others do it because I always observe something useful. In the past, I’ve seen directors who are afraid to talk to actors and I’ve seen directors who communicate through yelling obscenities. Not surprisingly, neither approach works well.

A lot of people whine about the lack of good Canadian drama, but when pressed they admit they haven’t watched The Border. Personally I think the show succeeds more often than not and makes for good, compelling action and drama, often equaling (if not surpassing) its better-funded American cousins. This episode will be no exception.

When I was on set, The Border was shooting on location, in Dundas, Ontario, which was passing for the BC-Idaho border (and passing quite nicely I thought). As I watched Ken skillfully block a sequence with his actors and crew, I was reminded of the scene from film Patton, where George C. Scott is directing traffic (post-D-day) at a muddy crossroads in France. Like Patton, Ken was on top of his game, in complete control and loving every moment of it. With other directors this is not always the case.

The shoot was approaching the end of a long, wet day. The skies were getting dark, we were losing the light, rain was coming down in buckets, and the big HMI lights were drawing mosquitoes by the thousands.

Everyone just wanted to get the hell out of Dodge.

The final scene that night was a simple phone call that would be intercut with another scene shot back in the studio the following week. It was a simple half-pager with one main actor and a couple of extras in the background. The scene was a standard conversation piece used to get across some expository information that the audience needed to know. It’s a scene we’ve all seen a thousand times. Most of us - even those who couldn’t care less about directing - could probably block that scene in our heads and shoot it quickly – it’s thatcommon on TV and in films. But what was for most people just a “talk scene” whose sole purpose was to get some info across, for Ken had taken on a deeper meaning. So he took just a little bit of extra time with it. He worked with the actor, set up his shots (and yes, he was going to cover it with a few angles) and essentially blocked out the wet weather and the swarming mosquitoes.

After, I asked him why he just didn’t bang it out (director-speak for just shooting the scene quickly and moving on) as everyone on set had expected him to do.

Ken said that he had found a little emotional moment in that scene that he wanted to hang his hat on. I can’t reveal the details for fear of spoiling the scene, but I don’t think anyone on set saw it. He told me what he was going for, and he was right.

It was that subtle.

Ken said that “if no one notices it, that’s fine. If someone does and they get it, then I’ve managed to add a little something extra to the scene.” Now, Sarah Dodd had written a complex and powerful script with all the good stuff – action, drama, tension, mystery and conflict - so Ken certainly had great material to play with, but like smart directors do, he added a little bit more, putting his own spin on it and in so doing, enhanced the writer’s original work.

Ken liked to say that Sarah’s script was “director proof”. On the way back to Toronto, I told Sarah about my conversation with Ken and about the other layer he had seen in her little phone call scene. To Sarah’s credit (and non-existent ego) she pointed out, “that was all Ken.” And more to the point - she was thrilled that Ken had found something to add to the scene. So while Sarah’s script might have been director proof, the director had found a way to add his little piece to it, much I think to the audience’s eventual benefit.

That lesson alone was worth the fifteen mosquito bites I took watching Sarah and Ken make it happen.

Thanks, Will. And I hear you on the mosquito thing. Put me on set and I swear I'm the Las Vegas of insects.

Well.

THAT WAS CERTAINLY something.

TV Worth Reading

TV WORTH WATCHING, David Bianculli's site, is always a good read -- but now it's just gotten better. Surf over there and check out the fall preview, now with spankin' brand new contributor, freelance and sometime CP TV scribe Bill Brioux, of TV Feeds My Family fame.

Meanwhile, an update to that story last week about the extremely confusing times for the new series Make or Break TV on TVTropolis. I got a nice note back from Larry Raskin, who passed along the following press release to clear up confusion. If you want to program those PVR's, here's your chance.

In case you missed the exciting series premiere of the new original series MAKE OR BREAK TV, you have the chance to catch it again! The premiere episode of this insightful, encyclopedic look at the process of television production, will air on Monday, September 8th at 9:00 pm ET/PT on TVtropolis.

Hear the back-story of various television series as told by the writers, actors, directors and studio executives that were involved in their development, trajectory and demise.

Each television series featured in MAKE OR BREAK TV has had an impact on the pop culture landscape - Max Headroom, EZ Streets, Blade: The Series, Quark, Lonesome Dove: The Outlaw Years and Grosse Pointe. MAKE OR BREAK TV features interviews with such award-winning actors as Eric McCormack, Kurtwood Smith and Joe Pantoliano, as well as candid commentary from some of television’s greatest players including Paul Haggis, Chris Carter, Darren Star and David Frankel.

MAKE OR BREAK TV will premiere Mondays at 9:00 pm with encore presentations on Thursdays at 6:00 pm and 8:00 pm and Sundays at 7:30 pm.

(NOTE: ALL TIMES ET/PT)

So there you go.

Buckets of Rain, Buckets of TIFF

AT THE ANNUAL Canadian Film Festival barbecue up at Windfields yesterday, there were many topics of discussion amid the pelting rain.

Some wondered if it was pathetic fallacy -- the clouds dump all over an event that's never been rained out just to add to the climate that faces the arts in Canada today.

Others, perhaps more practically, looked out at all the empty tables and chairs, sitting out drenched, and wondered, "did no one see the weather report? could no one pick up the phone and ask for more tents?"

Still others wondered, "who the hell was the guy with the flat tire less than a hundred yards from the entrance?" That'd be me. Let me just say this about that: Alex Epstein is not only a celebrated screenwriter -- he's also a bit of a handy man with a jack. That's right. Screenwriters changing tires. Who says we don't have practical skills.

The BBQ's always fun, although not much of a BBQ in the American, Friday Night Lights, "let's eat some barbecue" fashion. But there's something about swanning around in the outside that makes it a nice change from TIFF's usual parties.

In fact, that was another theme that seemed to emerge. Call it Bruce Kirkland's warriors -- but I detected a suspiciously high number of party goers who were declaring themselves conscientious objectors to this year's festival. Everyone had read that Kirkland article, it seems, and there was much lamenting about the good old days of The Festival of Festivals. I heard person after person tell me that they were taking a skip on the films this year -- that it had finally gotten to be too much trouble to "pay 20 bucks for a film you can see three weeks from now anyway, just for a glimpse at Brad Pitt. Because honey, you never really see him up close. Not anymore."

In past years I always had to fake my way through a few, "what have you seen that's good?" conversations (my box score for seeing films at the Festival over the last five years is: 0, 2, 1, 0, 0) but this year that was no problem whatsoever. Even the people who usually corner me on that kind of stuff seemed to have ... well ... opted out. Whatever can it mean?

Once the speeches ended (more on that in a minute) and the deluge downgraded to pour, some brave and hearty souls left the safe cower of the crowded tents. It's then you could have spotted much of the cast of The Border: James McGowan, Jonas Chernik, Graham Abbey, along with Battlestar Galactica's Grace Park, (currently filming a recurring run on The Border.) Power couple Carlo Rota and Nazneen Contractor (from Little Mosque and The Border, respectively) also tiptoed round the grounds. Thesp gone Creatrix Stephanie Morgenstern (Flashpoint) did the rounds with daughter Lucy. Ennis Esmer (Young People Fucking) and Katie Boland were also in evidence -- in fact, all the actors seemed to prove out the theorem that they slick water or something; they are just more water-resistant than the rest of us. While most sported variations on the drowned rat look, all the actors looked fabulous.

One of the louder complaints and grumbles seemed to be that in a year when the weather was not cooperating, how could the speeches be longer? Then once the word filtered down to the tents, the reason became clearer.

Despite losing a significant amount of Federal Funding over the last couple of weeks, the CFC announced a couple of new programs, thanks largely to benefits spending from Canwest and the Brian Linehan Charitable Foundation. (The Ontario Provincial Government also kicked in an extra $2.5 million for improvements to facilities.)

The new programs, set to start in 2009, are an Actors Lab, which will join the CFC's celebrated screenwriting, producing & directing and editing training programs. Smart. The CFC has relied on thesp talent donating their time for years. Now some of those connections made will include the people in front of the camera. After 20 years, this is a logical place for them to go. Up to eight actors will be selected for the program starting next year.

The one that writers should be really excited about though, was a Canada-UK script program, which will bring three Canadian and three UK writers together in a cross-cultural exchange -- the object of which is to forge TV projects that could lead to more Canada - UK coproduction. As described in the release:

The Canada – UK Script Incubation Program will provide six television drama writers, three from Canada and three from the UK, the unparalleled opportunity to be mentored by some of the leading Canadian and UK story consultants/writers working in television today. The program is based on an exchange model and will begin in 2009. Participants will take part in workshops, case studies, story and script meetings. The program will further develop their concepts, significantly enhance their knowledge of the co-production development processes, increase their ability to manage international co-production and strengthen their ability to effectively conceive, write and deliver projects for co-production. The goal is that the projects developed through this program would receive a television license or development deal.

The program is sponsored by Canwest, BBC, and BBC Worldwide. I'm really excited about this one.

Sounds like rain or no rain, the Film Centre's taking no prisoners and moving forward in the culture fight.

Maybe when that actor's lab is up and running, they can settle my rain question once and for all. You don't have to be cruel about it. Then again, I remember fondly the little shampoo bottle I got in my room last time I went to New York. The fine print said, "Tested on Actresses, Never on Animals."

Just saying.

Entourage & The Plan

BILL CARTER of the NYTimes does his usual fine work today in his profile of Mark Wahlberg and his Producing Partner Stephen Levinson. What strikes you reading it is not just a few judicious and interesting bon mots about the early development of the iconic Entourage, but also the meticulous deliberation invovled in Wahlberg's career development.

In July HBO announced that it was committing to a new pilot from Mr. Wahlberg and Mr. Levinson, whose management firm, Leverage, morphed into a production company in 2004. The series, “How to Make It in America,” will follow the efforts of two guys in their 20s trying to establish themselves in business with a start-up jeans company. A few weeks earlier Mr. Wahlberg and Mr. Levinson had also secured HBO’s commitment for one of the most high-profile projects on that network’s development slate: a drama set in the underworld of Atlantic City in the 1920s that Leverage is producing in partnership with Martin Scorsese, who is also expected to direct the pilot, written by the Emmy Award-winning “Sopranos” writer Terence Winter.

At the same time, “In Treatment,” a serialized therapy-session drama on HBO also produced by Mr. Wahlberg and Mr. Levinson, has been picked up for a second season. Several other projects in development at HBO, which has a first-look deal with the pair, include a comedy set in the world of hedge funds, created along with their “Entourage” partner Doug Ellin, and a nascent concept about a New York apartment building where rich men stash their mistresses. Two of their projects are in development at Fox: an adaptation of a telenovela from Colombia and a drama about Silicon Valley.

The production team has stacked up all this work in a relatively short amount of time (the first drafts of “Entourage” were written only five years ago), though becoming producers has always been the long-term goal. Mr. Levinson, who became Mr. Wahlberg’s manager 15 years ago and has steered his career and his expansion into the production side, said their strategy was “to start slow, take it step by step,” building the production company in increments.

“We waited a long time to do it,” Mr. Levinson said. “The plan was to not be involved in production until we felt like we had gotten to a good place in Mark’s acting career.”

Fans of “Entourage” are likely to recognize the mechanics of the partnership between star and manager: The hands-on work of finding the projects, making the deals, organizing the budgets and other details falls to Mr. Levinson, while Mr. Wahlberg acts in films but is also called on to step in at the last minute to seal deals. “We look at him as the hard-throwing reliever,” Mr. Levinson said. “At some point in a deal we’ll jokingly say, ‘Let’s bring in the lefty.’ ”

If you're a writer looking to jam a foot in the door, this may all seem up in the air. But it's not. It's something you really do have to be thinking about right from the start. What will your brand be, who will you strive to work with, when is it right to take a job and when is it right to say now. Ultimately, what is your goal, and what is your plan for getting there? It's not all arrogance or false bravado to actually attempt to have a plan.

Now, getting through the Film Festival Barbecue at the CFC in the rain (first time I ever remember it raining) that's gonna be another story... Hmmm.

My TIFF Tiff ... Said Better Than I Ever Could

IN 1988, WHILE a University Student, I volunteered for the Toronto Festival of Festivals. I got to see a bunch of cool films on volunteer passes, including Roger & Me. The fest was great -- low key and Toronto.

The people across Canada who point to Toronto and deride the city's arrogance, or whatever the complaint is -- have always missed the point. Toronto is a little brother with a little brother's desire, always, always to impress; and that desperation is about as attractive in cities as it is in people.

So it is that, in classic Toronto fashion, we have traded away our Film Fest for 30 pieces of silver and a two-week, annual glance from Hollywood. Not as important as Cannes, not as significant artistically as Sundance, the Toronto International Film Festival -- for all its many worthwhile initiatives, has betrayed itself and the city that called it home. And that's why it puts me in a bad mood.

Of course, Sun critic Bruce Kirkland says it better than me. Read it and ... well, take it. That's we do, right? Roll over...and...take it!

Yay, us!

from Film Critic Calls TIFF A Farce:

TORONTO - The Toronto International Film Festival is no longer the people's film festival. Co-founder Dusty Cohl would be appalled. His widow, Joan Cohl, is certainly unhappy about this breach of trust.

Dusty, the gruff yet big-hearted conscience of the festival for its first 32 years, would have railed against turning it into an elitist corporate spectacle, as it has now become.

He would have hated the annoying new policy of increasing ticket prices and letting donors go to the head of the line, while heartland people -- cinephiles, working stiffs, the common folk who are the lifeblood of the event -- are treated as rudely as dozens were on opening night, and as thousands have been in the distribution of tickets for the entire festival.

But Dusty is not here to analyze, complain and set things right. He died Jan. 11. So we have to speak up for him.

Opening night was bittersweet. Before the usual speeches, before the shameless shill for more donors to fund the festival's risky new home at the "Bell Lightbox," before an eloquent Paul Gross introduced his stirring First World War epic Passchendaele, there was a filmed tribute to Dusty Cohl.

But, once the emotional stuff was out of the way, Handling and Michele Maheux, his COO and executive director, went to work shilling for more sponsors to pony up for Bell Lightbox. It is under construction as part of a larger commercial development at King and John Streets. The festival is $49 million short of its current $196-million budgetary goal.

It seemed crass, desperate. The festival has an edifice complex.

How else to explain why Toronto has lost its status as the most democratic major festival in the world?

Give the Toronto film festival back to the people.

The full article's way better.

And Just To Be Clear, I'm Not Talking About That Town in NFLD, Either.

A RATHER IRASCIBLE friend of the blog passed this along to me this morning, from the Ottawa Citizen.

Ottawa's CHRI came to a recent hearing of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission with 780 letters of support for a new FM station that would have played traditional Christian music, hymns and classical music targeting an older audience. Gatineau resident Fiston Kalambay Mutombo also attended the hearing to propose a French-language Christian station.

Only two broadcast slots were available and neither went to the Christian proposals. Instead, Astral Media Corp. got a spot at 99.7 on the dial, with just 77 letters of support for a soft adult music station aimed at older women.

Just a few weeks ago, the CRTC approved Northern Peaks, a porn cable channel based in Alberta, leaving many to wonder about its values as a government regulator.

"The approval of (Northern Peaks) was quite offensive," said Don Hutchison, director of law and public policy for the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada. "The CRTC has, for the past 15 years, sent a strong message they don't like Christian broadcasting, but they will allow it with heavy restrictions."

Ottawa listener David MacDonald, who used to have his own Christian radio program, is more blunt: "It's really getting tough to be a Christian in a country that was founded on Christian values.

"On Normandy Beach, what you see is a big cross ... you don't see a big dildo."

As said unnamed, I'm afraid of the Christian folk wag observed:

There's so much in this story that I really like...

1. It allows spokespeople for the Christian Right to say "Dildo".
2. It pits Evangelists against the CRTC, so -- like in a mob hit -- you don't really care who gets hurt.
3. Paragraph 3 exhibits how the CRTC really does show favoritism to an established broadcaster over somebody (make that anybody) else.

Yup. Though, I gotta say, I kind of see the crazy old Christers' point.

Culture wars anyone? Good thing we're having one of them elecmucations.

EDIT: I edited the article excerpt in such a way that it doesn't make sense. The commenter's point 3 above was that they favored Astral -- a big company, well established, ie: part of the elite.

Make Way for the Bloody Entourage

APPARENTLY IN TORONTO right now some sort of Film Festival is going on. Who knew?

Anyway. TMN/Movie Central viewers still getting over the end of summer mint Generation Kill can settle back into their excellent smug, "aren't we fancy because we pay for premium TeeVee?" feelings this weekend.

Entourage is back, and this time it's paired with one of the shows HBO hopes will resurrect its buzz-worthy status of long-ago times (c. 2004)

First, the boys of Entourage. It's not exactly a secret, or a bold stance to say that last year kind of left a lot of people cold. It finished strong with the Cannes episode, and the episode in the synagogue was quite possibly one of the best installments ever, but overall, Vince and the Boys weren't rocking it like they used to.

The shakeup that was coming was inevitable. In reality, unless Vince is challenged in some way, it's just not going to have the crackle you need.

So Season 5 of Entourage, based at least on the screening of the first two eps, pulls the reinvention card. Medillin, the 'dream project' of Vince that formed the backdrop of the last couple of seasons, is a DOA-flop. In the opening episode, you hear that it was hooted down at the screening in Cannes, and compared to The Hindenburg.

Johnny Drama is still doing well on his career upswing, thanks to his TV role. But Vince is down in Mexico, hiding out with a beard and having Sex on the Beach. Turtle's picking up the leavings.

The first ep is actually a little flat, because the mechanics are all tilted toward getting Vince home. But once that unfolds, it's really in Episode 2 where the show shows the promise of this season. Vince isn't the hot young thing -- and he might not be coming back. This is Gretchen Mol territory here. For once, Ari's best scene isn't a big funny -- it's a key, sobering scene where he shares with golf-partner Mark Wahlberg the notion that he might not be able to get Vince back on top.

A season of Entourage where Eric still has a lot to prove, and Vince is reading scripts. Interesting start. Hope they can continue with it -- because I'd really love to be able to root for Entourage again.

True Blood, on the other hand, is a show that I'm going to have to take some time to get used to. Based on the leaked pilot, I was unsure. Now, having seen Episode Two, I think it's bought my viewing for a few more weeks. Not to get too much into Jill Golick territory here, but one of the things that most struck me structurally about True Blood was that they seem to be resurrecting a very old TV trope that we haven't seen for a while -- both episodes 1 and 2 end on a big horror cliffhanger.

That's a smart gambit. I hope it continues.

As befits its Young Adult Novel provenance, True Blood takes a bit of gothic horror stuff, and mixes in the strong heroine and the uneasy humor. It's an odd mix...but there's something compelling about it, and the chemistry between the leads is good.

True Blood needs a bit of time to grow. Oh, but here's another thing about it that I found very interesting. They recast the role of the best friend. And for once, they went for somebody who was the better actress rather than the prettier actress.

It's almost enough to restore your faith in this business.

almost...

9021oh, oh, oh

THE Q Podcast of Tara Thorne and my latest Tube Team appearance, talking about 90210 and teen shows, is now up.We're on after Kardinal Offishall.


Listen to it here.

Off 2 A Great Start

FOR THE RECORD, CBC Radio 2, which rebranded starting the day after Labor Day to try and get some new listeners. (Read: anybody under the age of 60) is great. Like the great KCRW, I've found myself jotting down the names of bands to buy later.

Predictably, in the land we call Canada where all change is evil and must! be! resisted! there has been much clucking about the "loss" of Classical Music on the service.



I call Bullshit. It's on in midday -- when I mostly tune out.
But man, other times? It's the first time I've opted for regular radio over satellite or internet-- for music -- in about three years.

You can find out about the new CBC Radio 2 here.

In a World, that Will Never Be The Same

SLOW CLAP FOR THE GREAT DON LAFONTAINE, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. (I know, I know, I'm late on this. I have a job, people.)



The Man was 68. But that voice was about 6000 years old. Damn.

He's Crafty! Yes! Yes! Of Shows in Witness Protection, Tropes, and a Bit of Logrolling Besides

OKAY, SO I'M man enough to admit parts of an argument that don't necessarily line up with my view on stuff. Occasionally. And so it's with great chagrin and heavy heart, that I tell you that the streak is broken. For the first time in about a year or more, I read something in Playback that actually was new to me -- something I hadn't heard about.

Seems one of Canwest's rerun graveyard digichannels, TVTropolis, is dipping its toe into the waters of making stuff by running a show called Make or Break TV. It's not the widest appeal show I've ever heard of, but it's one that should be on the PVR of anybody working in the industry...

From the Playback Article on the show:

Make or Break TV, a 13-part, half-hour factual series, premieres Sept. 4 on TVtropolis. Each episode candidly chronicles the behind-the-scenes drama of a short-lived TV series, as told via interviews with the writers, actors, directors and studio execs involved, plus clips from the cancelled shows.

"This series isn't about how TV shows get made, so much as how difficult it is to keep a show on the air," explains director and story producer Larry Raskin (PSI Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal, Cold Squad). "I think the statistic is roughly 70% of shows in the U.S. network system die after their first season, so the odds are against you from the get-go."

The $100,000-per-episode series is financed by a licence fee, tax credits and producer investment. Post-production wrapped in June, and L.A.-based GRB Entertainment is distributing.

On the good side, they're going to delve into shows that were beloved but never caught on -- things like Max Headroom, Profit, The Lone Gunmen and EZ Streets.

This might seem like the most inside of inside baseball -- but it's actually kind of a savvy move for TVTropolis -- especially if they go on to secure the rights for some of these short lived shows. Bravo in the USA made a minor splash doing the same thing a few years back with their "Brilliant But Canceled" series. And a long, long time ago, Bravo! -- the Canadian version (you can tell because there's a ! at the end, you see) used to run Twin Peaks and other shows like The Prisoner and such under the moniker "Tv Too Good For TV."

The shows in this Make Believe Media (out of Vancouver) series aren't all going to be in that category -- they're doing Supertrain -- but the truth is that you always learn more from failure than from success. This is exactly the type of show that professionals at networks, or people trying to pitch shows like me, need to watch. The anecdotes about how it all goes horribly wrong are way more instructive in safe 22 minute chunks than having to live it, and trade in a year or two of your life.

Which brings me to the bad. I'm glad, Playback, I admit it, mea culpa, that you hipped me to this series, which apparently premieres September 4...although, hmmm, the Press release has it as...Monday September 7th at 9pm....or...not. Because, of course, Monday is actually September 8th. If we go to the release (from Channel Canada) -- it's not actually much help.

Make Or Break TV (13x30min) World Premiere
Mondays at 9pm ET beginning September 7
The TV business is a high stakes game of opportunity and chance. Getting a series on the air is a big deal -keeping it there is another thing. Each episode of Make Or Break TV features a show that had an impact on the pop culture landscape. With an insider’s take on the talent, wits, and timing that determine success or failure, Make Or Break TV is a humorous, insightful, fast-paced look at the process of television production. Includes commentary from well-known actors such as Eric McCormack, Kurtwood Smith, Richard Benjamin, Ken Olin and Joe Pantoliano.

Okay, so the show either premieres September 4, or Sept 7, or September 8, on TVTropolis.

Yes, I want to cry right now. Gosh, Goober, aint it great we make the TeeVee, heeyuk!

Of course, you can't find any mention of the original show on the TvTropolis website. Google news has no articles about it, and Canwest hasn't exactly pulled out the stops on the publicity.

So yesiree folks, here it is -- not a bad idea, a decent idea even for the station, and a perfect example of another original Canadian show in the TV Witness Protection Program. Yaaaaay! If Make or Break TV gets a season 2, maybe they should profile themselves.

In other news, Friend o'the Sticks Caroline sent the following tasty tidbit along:

If you're looking to get edumacated in the kind of storytelling TV delivers at its best and worst...maybe you could nerd out for awhile on the TVTropes Index.

Mmm. Tropes.

Last, but never least, I'm thrilled to see that UberTeeVeeGrompenDirektor Ken Girotti is feeling the love on The Border. We dig the Girotti, aussi.


I've just cost you a half hour in your day. Bwah hah hah hah hah.

9021hey

BIG DAY TODAY -- read throughs, production meetings...

So no update today. But if you want, tune in CBC Radio's Q tomorrow to hear my thoughts on the new 90210 and teen TeeVee in general.

Won't that be gnarly?

Day Labo(u)rer

I'VE BEEN LUCKY enough in my lifetime to have belonged to three Labor organizations who protected my rights as a worker.

When I was a part-time instructor at Ryerson University, I was a member of the Canadian Union of Public Employees. The poor pay and high workload involved in instructing writing (you have to read a lot and you can't exactly give multiple choice tests) plus the fact that my writing career heated up a bit made it impossible for me to continue -- at least for now. But I still miss teaching, and the day to day contact it gave me with young and fresh thinking.

An academic institution is obviously a place of special trust, and there are many issues that could become quite serious if not dealt with in a timely manner. I never had need of my union there, but I was glad that they were working on my behalf. And even better was the fact that the steward, Don Elder, had been MY instructor in Television Production way back in the day.

While I worked at CityTv, until I left the union to become a Producer at the Space Channel, it was NABET, and later the Communications, Energy and Power workers who protected my rights.

That union was one I grumbled about while I was in it. Like a lot of people at CityTv, I was single and didn't have any kids, and every year we paid for the kids' Christmas Party (which only a grinch would sninch at) -- but there was also this family picnic that was, like, lame if you were one of the army of young people that kept that place going.

But though the union at Citytv didn't do much for me personally, I was very glad it was there. Because Citytv had a reputation for working their charges very hard and paying them poo-level wages. During my time at City, there was tremendous growth in the company -- and I heard many stories of the bad old days before the union. You simply couldn't believe what people made there. It was outrageous.

Later, even with the Union, there were managers at CHUM who, shall we say, proved themselves to be less than progressive. Nowhere was this more evident than when layoffs started. Inevitably, they would target a few individuals for firing not because of lack of skill, but because Citytv still had a bit of a high school environment. I know a couple of people for whom the "bumping" phenomenon actually saved a job that otherwise would have disappeared because of a whim or a personal score being settled.

When the restructuring of the stations at 299 Queen West, post sale to CTV went down, I knew several more people who were packaged out in as humane a manner as possible. In a non-union shop, this simply wouldn't have happened.

Now, of course, I am active in my third union, the Writers Guild of Canada. I became active in the WGC (I'm a Central Region representative on the National Council) because I had directly seen how the WGC had fought for me over the last few years.

In the last year, I've been the beneficiary of the last negotiated contract, which concerned New Media rights. I was paid quite fairly to write (along with my colleagues) interactive segments for The Border.

I was also involved in a credit arbitration, and sought advice on a show where I had accepted less than favorable terms. I didn't ultimately prevail in that, but the patient explanation from the staff member allowed me to take the lesson, and know how to never find myself in that position again.

Then there's the fact that I have health benefits again. Good ones.

And I'm forgetting the biggest one -- a grievance procedure that, settled in my favor, netted me a good six or seven thousand dollars I never thought I was going to see, ever.

That's why I became more involved. After fuzzy notions of how unions helped workers, I got to see up close in my own life how the organization benefited me directly. That's a slightly different take on how I usually talk about the WGC here. In most cases, there I'm talking about the organization's efforts to protect the collective rights of Canadian Screenwriters. Believe me...that side of it is even more impressive up close.

So on this Labor Day I think it's appropriate to thank the people who make me able to do what I do.

That brings me again to Maureen Parker, Exec Director of the Writers Guild of Canada, and her staff. They really do toil day in and day out trying to improve the lot of the Canadian Screenwriter, and I owe them a debt.

My agent is a guy named Glenn Cockburn at Meridian Artists. He's a friend and a sounding board, a clear-headed strategian and an advocate when I need him to be. He's pragmatic when I need him to be. He's a neurosis-killing machine when I need him to be that, too. Glenn is helped ably by his fellow agent Andrea Glenn (no relation...I know, I know, I just think that's funny.) In the last year, I've also gotten good advice from Lesley Grant when she was at Meridian, (she's since moved on) and the able phone stylings of two Chrisses -- Pare and Pozzebon.

Right now, as I finish up a second season on The Border, I'm helped with story problems and structure nightmares by my fellow writers -- Sarah Dodd, Greg Nelson, Janet MacLean, and David Barlow, who can look at your outline and fix the hole in it with a speed and fleetfooted-ness that I aspire to. James Battiston is our story department coordinator. Oh I kid him about being hapless sometimes, but the truth is that he's very often almost adequate. And the stuff that he does, if he didn't, we'd have to do. And TV writers don't need any other reason to stop work.

There are others in the Production Office who keep the machine of The Border moving - Alison Waxman, Geoff Ewart, Graham Scholes, Jennifer Chovancek, Matt Code, the scarily efficient Alex House, and PM Maribeth Daley who keeps my cheques coming, which is, like, awesome.

And finally, I guess the other two people I have the most to thank when it comes to seeing the right side of Labor is my mom, Anita, and my Dad, Denis.

I remember when my mom went back to work. I was about ten or eleven, and I think, shamefully now, that I wasn't so keen on the idea. I got over that, though. Over the years, my mom worked first in a real estate office, keeping that place humming -- and then she became the administrator, and later the Executive Director, of a small Charity that helped make the lives of Toronto Seniors better.

I watched through the years as my mom went from being a nervous speaker to the person the United Way would reliably call upon to knock 'em dead in speech situations. I watched my mom craft letters, plan events, troubleshoot and solve all manner of problems. She also didn't let people get away with bullshit, and clashed with her board of directors or with people encroaching on the needs of her seniors, when that's what needed doing. She fought always for the people she was trying to serve.

She also took too much of the job home with her and was a relentless perfectionist, so at least I know who gets the blame for that delightful little trait.

My Dad did many things through the years that were right, and foresighted in the raising of his kids. But one of the greatest, for me anyway, was one that I didn't even realize at the time.

When I was little, my Dad managed bottling plants for Pepsi, and later, Seven Up. He showed me two sides of the coin that would forever shape my view of Labor.

First, in Florida and then in Canada, there were a few times when my Dad took me to work. He showed me around the plant. He'd greet all the workers with a smile or a joke, and they'd joke back with him. It didn't matter what they did, whether their job was top tier or bottom of the assembly line. My dad had a moment for each. When he asked how things were going, he meant it. A couple guys actually brought up stuff that wasn't working right, and I remember my dad nodding and saying, "Don't worry, we'll fix that."

Later in the office, he explained different people to me and what they did and then he told me the most important thing: nobody is better than you, and you are better than nobody. People may work for you, but everybody plays their role, and you're making a mistake if you don't respect and understand their role.

My Dad was involved in several Labor negotiations in his time, and he said you had to approach them the same way.

Later, when I was a difficult teenager, my dad got me a job in the plant. Four days a week, ten hours a day, I'd wash the syrup tanks as they cycled through from various accounts. The water was hot and scalding, the lye that was used made your eyes burn. It was loud. The guy I worked with was an older Eastern European gent. I don't remember his name now. He did the job day in and day out without complaint. I lasted about four weeks.

We live at a difficult time for work, for Labor. Somewhere along the line in the last twenty years, a compact has been broken. All the studies show that employee productivity in the United States is on the rise, but companies that once upon a time felt a loyalty to their workforce only listen to shareholders. And sometimes, not even them. CEO compensation packages are obscene, and never have I seen a management force that's less connected to the workers they supervise.

Union membership is at a historic low in the USA, and in Canada it's not much better. I know that there are tons of people who'll have bad stories about unions, too, and I don't deny that. Any entrenched power structure is going to have problems.

But on the whole, there's a breakdown in things like service. There's a compact between employer and employee that seems frayed. The excesses of Enron -- which sparked such outrage -- seem now like just the prelude. There's more of that coming if we let it.

And somewhere in America, there are Wal Mart workers being intimidated and told how to vote this fall.

I'm not telling you to march, or to sing Solidarity Forever, or to pick up a torch or a brick. But maybe, on this late summer Labor Day, I'm just suggesting that you take a moment to reflect on the people who enable the fruits of your labor.

"Work is the seasoning of existence," Henri Amiel wrote.

Would that were true, now and forever.

Thanks to everyone who's enabled me to have this great job.

You Get Chuckles!

WELL THAT TOOK forever, but it looks like we're finally going to get the last three -- and the funniest -- seasons of The Mary Tyler Moore show on DVD.

Frustrated “Mary” fans found one another, communicating on Web sites like Television Without Pity and sitcomsonline.com, and trading information and rumors via review posts on amazon.com. One of them even found Mr. Feldstein’s number and called him. “It was a conversation like you’d expect from a fan of ‘Mary Tyler Moore,’ ” he said. “Very polite. But he wanted to understand the perceived injustice and talk about how it could be remedied.”

That remedy turned out to be the combination of a marketplace that started to settle down, the persistent interest of fans (“There are financial realities, but feedback is absolutely a factor,” Mr. Feldstein said) and a bit of divine intervention from Oprah Winfrey. Ms. Winfrey, who began her on-air career at a local news station in Nashville during the initial run of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” has often spoken of Ms. Moore’s portrayal of a woman in the workplace as inspirational. This May she devoted an hour of her show to a reunion of the entire surviving original cast, complete with a replica of the WJM set. During the show Ms. Winfrey wept with joy.

Fox got the message and has now committed to releasing all three remaining seasons, covering episodes from the fall of 1974 to the spring of 1977. They were significant years for the series. With the departures of Valerie Harper (as Rhoda, Mary’s best friend) and Cloris Leachman (as Phyllis, her not-best friend and landlady) for their own spinoffs, “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” which had always split its attention between Mary’s home life and the office, moved its focus to WJM. In its later years the show became television’s first great workplace sitcom, with an expanded role for Betty White as Sue Ann Nivens, “Happy Homemaker” and all-purpose frenemy, and an understated but unmistakable nod toward Mary’s growing assertiveness and feminism.

All three of the final seasons won Emmys for outstanding comedy series — a prize it had never previously taken — and in each of those years the series also won the Emmy for writing. Besides “Chuckles Bites the Dust,” the honored episodes were “Mary Richards Goes to Jail” (a rare if gentle foray into Norman Lear-style topicality in which Mary landed behind bars for refusing to reveal a source) and for the show’s final episode, which still stands as the high-water mark for how to wrap up a sitcom in style.

You don't have to be Weinman to appreciate that news! Chuckles lives forever in Elephant-shucking induced infamy!

I Heart Kelly Taylor

OKAY, SO THE MUCH-HYPED 90210 "don't call it a sequel" show premieres on 9.02 -- but admit it, weren't you feeling just a little nostalgic for the old show? Come on. Just a little?

So, apparently, was the New York Times.

DARREN STAR I was 27, and I was approached by Fox. They were interested in doing a show set in high school in Beverly Hills and had already arranged for Aaron Spelling to produce it. So I went and pitched. ... The one show I really liked was “Thirtysomething.” The issues were so small and particular to that group, and I wanted teenagers to examine their own navels, in a sense. It would be their point of view, like the John Hughes movies that were very popular at the time, like “Breakfast Club.”

CHARLES ROSIN I looked at the pilot, and I fell asleep. It really didn’t seem like something I was interested in doing. But Darren and I, and the staff at that time, talked a lot about making a show that was as true as it could be for the teenage experience, and I signed on.

STAR It was the first TV show I had done, so every casting session was a big deal for me. I specifically remember Jennie Garth. She just lit up the room when she came in and read. Shannen [Doherty] was terrific and also came with, of all of the actors, a little bit of a résumé.

We weren’t the only high school show being made that year, and we kept thinking we were losing all the quote good actors to the other high school shows.

JENNIE GARTH I heard a rumor that Aaron Spelling was going to be doing a show, and I thought, “Oh my God, if I could work with Aaron Spelling, that would be the best thing ever.” I went in and met with Aaron and read in his giant office with the shaggy carpet, and there were cigarettes sitting out on the table for anyone that wanted them. I was very impressed by that. I was like: “Wow, you can smoke in here? That’s crazy.”

I remember I was walking away from the building, and he opened the window and said something like, “Good job, kid!”

For me I was like: “Are you sure? Because I’m nobody.”

That's not true, babe. You were the best high school bitch EVAH, till they declawed you. Oh Kelly Taylor, we could have been so happy together.

Fatuous Gasbag Gets Knuckles Slapped

WELL, THIS IS SOMETHING, at least:

Regulators have slapped Shaw Communications Inc. [SJR.B-T] with one of their strictest penalties possible, short of revoking its licence, by placing Canada's second-largest cable company on probation for flouting federal rules.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission took the unusual step Thursday of only renewing Shaw's operating licences for two years, well short of the standard seven-year term most companies are afforded, following recent clashes with the cable operator.

The CRTC can't level fines like the FCC can, so this is about all they can do.

Don't you feel better? Have a good weekend.