April 4th, 2005
FeatureMass Market, Smart Content, Smarter TV Writers
How does TV creator Tim Minear respond when people tell him that they don't watch television? "I run them over with my Mercedes," quoth the man himself. Minear and three other TV writer-producer-directors gathered on Saturday, March 19th at the AFI for a panel discussion entitled "Mass Market, Smart Content," showcasing just why people shouldn't be ashamed to watch TV.
 From left to right -- Cathy Seipp, Tim Minear, Pau Feig, Scott Kaufer, and Rob Long |
The title of this event alone was enough to attract the attentions of SMRT-TV. I mean it had the word "Smart" in it! How could we not go?! The fact that the panel of talented multi-hyphenates included some of our favorite TV people was just the gravy on the icing on the cake. In attendance were: Paul Feig, who created the much beloved Freaks and Geeks and wrote the book Kick Me: Adventures In Adolescence on which F&G was largely based; Scott Kaufer, a co-executive producer for Boston Legal and writer for Gilmore Girls; and former editor-in-chief for California magazine, Rob Long a co-executive producer and writer on Cheers and author of the book Conversations with My Agent. And of course, the aforementioned Tim Minear who wrote and produced for Angel, the tragically canceled Firefly, and the even quicker to be canceled Wonderfalls.
The moderator for the evening was media critic Cathy Seipp of the right-wing Independent Women's Forum. At fist glance, this seemed odd but for the most part politics stayed out of the conversation, unless, of course, you count studio politics. If anything, the evening was proof good television has the power to unite people from all walks of life. The theatre, for example, was filled to capacity with a fairly mixed crowd ranging from scruffy looking twenty-something hipsters to much older professionally attired industry types. The discussion remained light and informal throughout, and everyone seemed to have a genuinely good time. Minear, Feig, Long and Kaufer all played off each other like a seasoned improv team but this shouldn't have been a surprise, seeing as how these are all funny men who've worked on some of the best-written shows in recent television history.
The panel members were all very candid and refreshingly short on ego. There were no Crossfire-style shouting matches, everyone patiently waited to speak, even when they disagreed. After Rob Long finished an anecdote about how "For some reason male driven sit-coms syndicate, female driven sit-coms don't," Scott Kaufer dryly piped in "I still get royalty checks from Murphy Brown." All Long could do was shrug and politely concede the point.
Much of the evening's talk focused on the difficulty and absurdity of dealing with television networks. Everyone had stories to tell about some of the more ridiculous network notes they'd received. When discussing his new FOX show The Insider Tim Minear said, "We have faces being ripped off, children being gutted from stem to sternum, but what really bothered them [the FOX executives] was the smoking." Minear added that FOX also asked him to change a line of dialogue in which a serial killer used the word "retarded," afraid that audiences might be offended by the serial killer's use of the term. Scott Kauffer noted that at ABC (which airs Boston Legal) a no smoking clause is part of the standard boilerplate for all network notes. He also pointed out that almost every episode of Boston Legal ends with James Spader and William Shatner smoking and he has yet to hear anything about it. Rob Long concurred that the best way to get around the network censors is often to just go ahead and shoot the questionable material. "If you ask permission," said Long, "the answer is almost always no. If you just do it the answer is usually well, we wish you hadn't done that, but since you've already shot it€"
Paul Feig shared a different story, though, regarding an episode of Freaks and Geeks that tackled drug use among teens; when the writers first came up with the story, they placed a call to the network to give them a heads-up on the subject matter and to find out what Standards and Practices would allow on the air. The writers were surprised to discover that they could get away with far more than they'd imagined, and the network was thrilled to be kept in the loop. Not thrilled enough to order a second season, alas.
There was also a lot of talk about the ways in which new technology like the Internet and DVDs have changed television. Paul Feig pointed to Internet response as a reason why Freaks and Geeks lasted as long as it did but he also admitted that it was a double-edged sword. "You show the network these websites and you say look at all these people! They love the show! Then eventually they realize that this is only two hundred people and who gives shit about two hundred people? Seven million people watched Freaks and Geeks and it still wasn't enough." There was a unanimous consensus that DVD has been the best thing that's happened to TV in years, especially for beloved but short-lived shows. With at least one cancelled show each under their belts, this was something that the panelists all appreciated. Tim Minear joked that after Firefly and Wonderfalls, Friday nights on FOX is just where he advertises his latest 13-episode DVD set. He added, "DVD means that it [my show] doesn't get stuck in a basement somewhere with the Ark of the Covenant and that sled."
After the discussion, there was an amazing fruit and cheese spread. You can read a recap of that on SMRT-H'orsDoeuvres.com (still in development). Tim Minear's new show The Inside will hopefully be coming to FOX this fall on a night other than Friday. Regardless of its time slot we suggest you watch, lest you wish to be run down by Mr. Minear's finely tuned German automobile.
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