Monthly Archives: October 2011

Mark Thorson reminds me that I did not provide a link via which you could purchase the fine book by my former collaborator, Dennis Palumbo. Here is such a link.

And Jef Frankel reminds me that I did not link you to a recently-posted interview of me over on Comic Book Resources. Every year at the Comic-Con in San Diego, the fine folks behind that website rent (and I think, sleep on) a boat that's docked in the marina out behind the convention center. Then they lure unsuspecting interviewees out to the ship and this past con, I was among the shanghaied. Here, you can see CBR Exec Producer Jonah Weiland quizzing me…and I somehow kinda like the fact that in the grand tradition of TV talk shows, the guest's chair is much lower than the host's.

June Foray, the First Lady of Cartoon Voices, is being honored this year with the Comic-Con Icon Award. This is the award that in years past has gone to folks like Frank Miller, Neil Gaiman, George Lucas, Stan Lee and Ray Bradbury. June is being saluted for a lifetime of iconic vocal work, most notably as Rocky the Flying Squirrel (and most of the females in Jay Ward cartoons) and thousands of other roles in cartoons, commercials, film dubbing, comedy records and plenty of other places. She is still working (at age 94!) on The Looney Tunes Show and The Garfield Show. No one is more deserving.

Matter of fact, June received the honor last night at the taping of the Scream Awards at the Universal Amphitheater. The show airs Tuesday at 9 PM on Spike TV and I think also on VH1 with many reruns the rest of the month. Tune in and see June get the trophy in front of an audience that was probably all zombies and monsters.

When I broke into TV writing, it was in tandem with a clever gent named Dennis Palumbo. We were a team for a few years, then parted friends and went in separate directions. His involved writing movies and novels, and eventually also becoming a very successful psychotherapist specializing in the obstacles that confront performers and writers. I have never seen him in his new professional capacity but just having lunch with the guy, as I do not often enough, convinces me he's very good at what he does.

I don't know when it was recorded but Dennis did a 27 minute interview with Barry Kibrick for Mr. Kibrick's PBS series, Between the Lines. It and many other interviews are online at this website…and if you're a writer trying to get a better understanding of process and the many things that can stop you from writing, you will profit from watching this conversation. It's a little tricky to get to but it's worth it. Go to the page I just linked and scroll down until you find Episode 1133, the one featuring Dennis Palumbo. You'll be glad you did.

Authorities are searching for a man who has been dubbed "The Mr. Magoo Bandit," saying that he has committed at least nine and possibly as many as twelve daylight bank robberies in California. He got his colorful nickname because of his resemblance to the famous cartoon character. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation…

The "Mr. Magoo Bandit" is described by witnesses as a white male in his 40s, weighing about 200 lbs, with a medium build. He has short, dirty blond hair and wears prescription glasses.

As a longtime fan of Mr. Magoo and a person who was once hired to write an animated Mr. Magoo feature that was never made (a remake/parody of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, if you can believe such a thing), I would like to suggest a reason that the FBI has been so far unable to apprehend this criminal. It's because of the nickname.

The animated Mr. Magoo is not in his 40s, probably would not weigh anywhere near 200 lbs., does not have a medium build, does not have dirty blond hair (or any hair at all) and the whole premise of the cartoon is that he won't wear prescription glasses.

Other than all that, the resemblance is uncanny.

If any FBI agents are reading this site — and I find it hard to believe they don't, constantly — I'd like to suggest that you guys might do better if you started referring to your man as "The Old Drew Carey Bandit." True, you might wind up arresting Glenn Beck but that would also be a public service.

The Thursday evening event was hosted by journalist Pete Hammond who wrote about it here. Hammond did a good job with a difficult job, hustling (probably) too many guests on and off the stage.

Given his account and the fact that you can watch the whole thing online, I don't have a lot to add. The audience was most appreciative of the folks on stage…and, I suspect, pretty well informed. Mr. Reiner told the stories about how he got the idea for The Dick Van Dyke Show, how they cast Rose Marie, how she recommended Morey Amsterdam, how they found Mary Tyler Moore, etc. They're all good stories but I'll bet 90% of those in the house knew them, if not because they were all told by Carl at the Egyptian Theater event two weeks earlier than because he's told them on so many other occasions.

On the other hand, when you're covering a topic as vast as Carl Reiner's career, it's hard to get past the obvious, perhaps necessary questions to get to the uncommon ones. I couldn't help but think how many things Mr. Reiner has done in television that were not mentioned or were only mentioned in passing. (I don't think there was anything about The New Dick Van Dyke Show and just scant references to The Celebrity Game, Good Heavens and dozens of others.

And it probably didn't matter because this wasn't a history so much as a chance for a lot of people to just love Carl Reiner in a public place. That part came off without a hitch. Great evening.

So what is Professor Irwin Corey (age 97) doing these days? He's out panhandling on East 35th Street in Manhattan every day…but not because he needs or even keeps the money. Real all about it!.

I know you're all in suspense so let me put your minds at ease: Yes, Carolyn and I got into the Carl Reiner Tribute last evening at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. So did a lot of folks who had a very good time. A few advertised guests did not show. Mel Brooks is suffering from, Carl explained, a "chip" in his hip that is causing much pain. Rob Reiner has walking pneumonia. And Ann Morgan Guilbert was not present for reasons that went unexplained. On the other hand, Lily Tomlin (who had not been advertised) participated and there was another surprise guest at the end who some probably thought came close to making up for those absences.

Rather than explain what went on, I'm going to show you. We have here a video of what I believe is the entire event. It runs two hours and twenty minutes and it goes in and out of sync throughout but not so much as to ruin its watchability. A few of the clips that were shown in the theater, such as a montage of scenes from Reiner-directed movies, have been replaced with excerpts from other Academy interviews, presumably due to a rights problem. But otherwise, it's all there except, of course, you won't quite feel the sensation of fun and love that filled the room.

If you don't have time to watch the whole thing, you might enjoy a video that Steve Martin sent in to be shown at the event. It starts around 45 minutes in and got huge laughs, though the audience reaction is not heard on it during this video. You might also enjoy the section about The Dick Van Dyke Show which starts around an hour and 20 minutes in. But pretty much the entire thing is worth watching once things get started. I'll write more about it later today…

Here's a list of 25 Brand Names that people seem to think are generic names for a product. Another one not listed is Tabasco Sauce. I caused great angst and panic among the CBS Standards and Practices people a decade or two ago by informing them of this. They labored night and day to keep childrens programming free of references to company and product names…but they thought Tabasco Sauce was just another way of saying "hot sauce" and had allowed it many times, including on shows I worked on. When they found out it was the registered name of one particular brand of hot sauce, panic swept the network.