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First FQ’s of the year. I've been doing this feature for ten years now. So I’ve answered about 2,000 of them. Let me answer yours. Just leave it in the comments section.

Doug G. starts us off:

How did you feel about the decision to kill off Henry Blake? I know you weren't on the writing staff yet but I wonder what you thought of it at the time and if your opinion changed or not after being on staff later on.

It was mind-blowing at the time because I didn’t expect it. I was watching that night and recall being completely gobsmacked. My first thought was “How could they do that?” But upon reflection, it was a brilliant move. This was a show about war and in a war there are casualties, including people we know and love.

But I believe it was the first time a series regular was killed off during an episode. (On the DANNY THOMAS SHOW they killed off his first wife between seasons, a la KEVIN CAN WAIT.) Now it’s the rare series that doesn’t kill off one of its main characters.

Final note on the Henry Blake killing: Thousands of people wrote to the show incensed. To their credit, showrunners Gene Reynolds and Larry Gelbart answered each one individually.

From Steve B.:

Which is more challenging as a showrunner: writing a pilot episode for a show, or writing episode 2?

Episode 2. You have to accomplish two things. You have to re-tell the pilot for all the viewers tuning in for the first time, and for those who did watch the pilot you have to give them enough of a new story to hold their interest.

Also, you generally have months to craft a pilot. You can’t devote that kind of time and effort to episode 2 because you also have episodes 3-13 to worry about.

Andy Ballow asks:

Ken, you mentioned in a recent podcast that Gene Hackman is one of your favorite actors. Can you talk about a couple of your favorite Gene Hackman films? My personal favorites are The French Connection, Mississippi Burning, and Unforgiven.

I would include all of those. Along with HOOSIERS, POWER, THE CONVERSATION, SUPERMAN (he is also an extremely funny comic actor), THE BIRDCAGE, YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, GET SHORTY, CRIMSON TIDE, THE FIRM, NO WAY OUT, NIGHT WAVES, and of course BONNIE & CLYDE. And I’m sure I’m leaving out five others.

It’s always fun to watch some show from the early ‘60s on one of those nostalgia channels and there are actors like Gene Hackman playing cops on the beat or waiters.

And finally, from Laura:

They have cut out a dialogue that referenced Kevin Spacey from "This is Us".

Friday Question - Have you ever had any of your dialogues cut at the last moment to avoid controversy?

Is such a last moment cut necessary? Or is it just too much "political correctness" that each and every thing related to someone needs to be "purged".

I seem to recall we had a joke in a CHEERS episode about someone who died just prior to airing. And we cut it so as not to appear insensitive.

One of my plays was in final rehearsal a couple of years ago. I had a whole run about Arnold Palmer and his drink. Three days before we were scheduled to open he died. So I threw out that section and wrote a completely new one. Unfortunately, these things happen.

from By Ken Levine http://ift.tt/2AwbBxa
Breaking News: Friday Questions - News Paper