The other day, I posted here the utterly endearing ending of the movie All of Me with Steve Martin and Lily Tomlin joyously dancing 

When my friend Myles Berkowitz followed that up by sending me a clip from the movie Pennies from Heaven, I was reminded how many things Steve Martin danced in -- and all the more, how well he did so.  Rare for any actor, but incredibly uncommon for a comedian.  I suspect that when most people think of Steve Martin and dancing, it's likely his "Happy Feet" bit from his old stand-up act.  But all this isn't that.  This is serious (even if at times comic...) dancing.

Pennies From Heaven stands out on several levels.  Myles noted how incredibly gutsy Steve Martin was for what is basically going up against Fred Astaire.  (And that's not meant metaphorically, but literally -- watch the video, you'll see).  And it stands out, too, for absolutely terrific dancing.  But further, as I recall, the whole movie was gutsy for him since the character is such an awful guy.

Mainly, though, this with Bernadette Peters is actually, really good dancing.

​But it isn't just those two dances.  Because not only is there a third, but it's probably the most famous of his dances.  (And again, how odd to think of Steve Martin for his dancing.)  There's a good chance most of you have seen it – with Gilda Radner on Saturday Night Live, and is all the more impressive for it being live.

But if you haven't seen it, we add it below to his resume.  And it's so worth watching again.

Back in June, I wrote here about watching Old TV Westerns and seeing all the now-major actors, directors and writers.  Well, today we return to our spurs head back out to another tale from the “Old TV Western” front.
 
On the show Wanted: Dead or Alive, I checked a day ahead and they had an episode scheduled for Monday morning that looked like it might be fun, so I set the DVR.  It was about a reporter from the East who wanted to follow around Josh Randall (played by Steve McQueen) to be the subject of a story he was writing on bounty hunters, and the episode was titled, “The Twain Shall Meet.”  So, of course I figured it was about Mark Twain.  But unfortunately it wasn’t – odd title then, and I thought a missed opportunity.  (Earlier this year, Have Gun, Will Travel had an episode I watched where Paladin helps Phileas Fogg on his race to get back to England.  The end credits even gave credit to the Jules Verne novel.)
 
So, not being as interested, I watched most of the show, but fast-forwarded through a lot of it.  At one point, there was a scene in a bar that caught my interest, so I stopped to watch.  The reporter is talking to a young saloon girl who’s spinning a tall tale about herself for his article.  It ends up having an impact on the plot, but mainly her voice seemed sort of familiar, and then they cut to a close-up of her.  I kept peering close and then it hit me – it was a young Mary Tyler Moore.  (I later checked, she was 23-year-olds, a year before “The Dick Van Dyke Show.”)
 
And then all the better, when the end credits came around, it turned out that the episode was directed by Richard Donner.  For those not up on your film history, Donner directed such works as all four Lethal Weapon movies, the Bill Murray comedy Scrooged, Conspiracy Theory, Superman, The Goonies, and appropriately for today's whimsy, the feature-film version of Maverick, among many others.
 
Great fun.
 
And all the more fun, here is a clip of the 3-minute scene with Mary Tyler Moore.  The image runs a touch slow for some odd reason, but is totally watchable.

I'm a very big fan of the wonderfully odd series Newsradio that went on the air in 1995 and ran for four seasons.  They always seemed to be on the verge of being cancelled, but happily held on for a while.  It seemed like after a while they almost gave up playing it safe by caring if they would be renewed and got even more odd as the series went on, sometimes even throwing caution to the wind and going full-blown nuts.  (Like when they would do a "What if...?" episode, Have you ever wondered what if Newsradio took place on board the Titantic.  Or 500 years in the future on a space ship?  Those episodes were glorious.)

Happily, the Antenna TV channel has reruns every night at 11:30 PM here in Los Angeles.  (Oddly, I have a feeling that they back-to-back episodes starting at 11 PM -- the on-screen guide doesn't show that, but when I play back the recording I made, the very start seems to have the end "tag" from a preceding episode.  I'm recording it at 11 o'clock tonight to find out.)

The reason I mention this now, rather than wait a day to be sure, is that tonight (Tuesday) at 11:30 PM, Los Angeles time, they are running a very funny episode that I thought Jon Stewart fans might be interested in, since it features a rare and extended acting performance by him.  In the episode, Stewart shows up playing the twin brother of series regular Andy Dick.  Yes, really.  (Hey, I told you the series was odd.  But the storyline explains this and is all the funnier for it.)

If you don't know what channel Antenna TV is on in your area, just check this link here and enter your Zip code.  In my Los Angeles neighborhood it's Channel 1258 on Spectrum.

Here's a clip with Andy Dick as 'Matthew" introducing some of the staff his twin brother (Stewart) who is visiting New York --

Back in 2015, I posted a video of a Hallmark Hall of Fame production that aired in 1964 of a one-hour, edited version of the musical The Fantasticks, the longest-running show in off-Broadway history.  The video was black-and-white, though the TV show had been done in color.  Very happily, it turns out that a color version of that production exists.  And we have it here!  It's missing a few "bookend" pieces from the initial airing, however the person who posted it edited in the missing material taken from the black-and-white recording (along with the commercials) to make it a full version.  And the sound quality is improved.

It leaps out.  The new video is thoroughly wonderful.  Here's what I wrote about the show and this TV production the first time around.


                                          A Fantastic Fantastcks


This is a bit of television and theatrical history.

Back in 1960, the musical The Fantasticks opened off-Broadway.  Written by the team of Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt, it ran for an astounding 42 years and 17,162 performances, finally closing in 2002.  (That closing has always been a bit of a question mark -- because only four years later, in 2006, the same producers re-opened the show and it has been playing since.)  

Starring in that original production is the role of El Gallo, the sort of narrator who participates in the story as a charmingly mysterious thief and roué -- and sings its iconic song, "Try t o Remember" -- was a young actor, Jerry Orbach.  He later, of course, went on to one of the most legendary Broadway careers, starring in Carnival, Promises, Promises, 42nd Street and more -- and then appeared in Woody Allen movies, did the voice of Lumiere in the animated film, Beauty and the Beast, and of course starred for ages in the series, Law & Order.

(A writer friend of mine, John Boni, had also played El Gallo in this off-Broadway production, during his acting days.  He later went on to write for such shows as The Electric Company, was head writer on Fernwood 2-Nite  --the Norman Lear-produced fake talk show -- and co-created with Mel Brooks the Robin Hood series, When Things Were Rotten.)

For many years, although The Fanstasticks was still running off-Broadway very successfully, but enough time had seemingly passed, Hollywood tried to make a feature film of the show, but kept coming up with hurdles, since the musical is so barebones and theatrical in its staging.  (The original off-Broadway set cost...$900!  This is in 1960 dollars, of course, though even taking inflation into consideration, that would only be about $8,000 today.  That would likely only cover doughnuts and coffee for a week now...)  A movie was finally made in 1995, but wasn't considered satisfying enough, and sat on the shelf for five years.  Eventually, a proper format was come up with, the movie was re-edited, and released in 2000.  It didn't have much acclaim, and had less success, though I thought the film was well-done, even if it was larger in scope than the small, focused story demanded.

But lost in all the attention on the movie was a bit of history

Very early into its 42-year run -- just four years in, back in 1964 -- The Fantasticks had done something unprecedented.  It was staged on television, for the Hallmark Hall of Fame. 

Other shows have subsequently done this, but it's usually come at the end of their run, generally even on the last night, not four years in during the height of its success.  Rather than stopping audiences from coming to see the show live, however, which is always the concern, it was a huge boost, bringing national attention, and ran for another 38 years.  Now, of course, the show might have kept running a long time, perhaps even as long, even without the TV production, but the larger point is that it certainly didn't hurt.  In fairness, the Sullivan Street Playhouse where it ran was tiny, so it didn't need much of a crowd to sell out -- and importantly, the TV production was just a cut-down hour-long version, so anyone who still wanted to see the show had to go to the theater.  But the TV production was none-the-less a big deal.

And here it is.

It's an absolutely wonderful cast.  No Jerry Orbach, alas -- he wasn't a big star then -- but in the role of El Gallo is Ricardo Montalban.  He acquits himself very well -- he doesn't have a strong singing voice, but handles that fine. (Montalban actually had previously appeared in a Broadway musical, Jamaica, that had a score by E.Y. Harburg and Harold Arlen, who wrote The Wizard of Oz, that had a successful run of 558 performances.)  As for the acting, though, not surprisingly he does an absolutely terrific job.  The only quibble is that he's bit too old for the role.  He's 44 here, and when Jerry Orbach created the part, he was 25.  It works, just isn't ideal.

And the other starring roles are even more of a treat.  

The two fathers were joyously played by Bert Lahr (another offbeat connection to The Wizard of Oz) and Stanley Holloway (just a few years past his legendary performance as Alfred P. Doolittle in My Fair Lady.)  Their two duet numbers in the production, for "Never Say No" and "Plant a Radish" are absolute highlights.

For the two ingenue roles, the young girl is played by Susan Watson (who a few years earlier had starred as the original Kim in the Broadway production of Bye Bye Birdie), and John Davidson, in the early stages of his career as a successful pop star.  And sometimes actor, including the last film Walt Disney produced, the musical The Happiest Millionaire.

Needless to say, the production quality here is quite dated, but to some degree that adds to the charm and innocence of the show's intentional simplicity.  It's highly worth watching the whole thing, but at the very least, if you don't want to put in the time, at the very least check out Montalban singing a shortened version of "Try to Remember" at the start of the show (the song is reprised and finished at the end) and then jump to the 17:30 mark to see Lahr and Holloway perform "Never Say No."  And then at 40:30, they sing "Plant a Radish."  Or jump through to watch all the songs,, it's an excellent score, with terrific songs like "They Were You," "Soon It's Gonna to Rain," "I Can See It," and "Much More."  And much more.

But hopefully you'll stick around for the whole thing.  It's a tremendous bit of history.  And in its own way -- yes -- fantastic..

I love watching old TV westerns.  In part, I like it because I love old TV westerns.  (Not all, I have my favorites, most notably Have Gun, Will Travel; Maverick, and Wanted: Dead or Alive.)  But also in part because old TV westerns tend to have a lot of young actors and filmmakers at the start of their careers.  That may be because so many westerns proliferated TV in the late-50s and early-60s, so if you were a young actor, writer or director, there was a massive playing field on which to get your break.

And sometimes you get to catch lightning in a bottle and overlap with a bit of film history, which is what this today is about.  But I'll get to that story in a moment, because even without it, even on the lower level, film history spills over and can be seen throughout so many of the episodes.

For instance --

Among the best shows for young actors it seems are Gunsmoke and Bonanza.  To a certain degree, that's because they were both on the air for so long that you're likely to cross paths with someone now-famous passing through. But they also had wide-ranging stories that lent themselves to supporting guests.  A few years back, for example, I wrote here about an episode of Gunsmoke where the small role of a gang's henchman was played by a young Harrison Ford.  Last month, an episode of the show had Richard Dreyfuss as a young man trying to get revenge. The next week, Bonanza featured a grown-up (but still-called) Ronny Howard a year before he broke out in feature films with American Graffiti   A few weeks ago, there was a joyous episode of Have Gun, Will Travel that guest-starred both Vincent Price and Broadway legend Patricia Morison (who famously starred in the original production of Kiss Me, Kate) as a husband-and-wife team who traveled the Wild West performing Shakespeare. Or seeing tough guy Charles Bronson as a rancher too shy to woo a woman.  Or Dan Blocker in the show right before he played 'Hoss' on Bonanza.  And fun to see James Coburn in Wanted: Dead or Alive opposite Steve McQueen, since a few years later they would star together in The Great Escape.  And Cloris Leachman, still active today but 60 years ago at just 34 as a vibrant, sweet wife who (spoiler alert) turns out to be the killer.

And we haven't even gotten to that lightning in a bottle overlap with film history yet.  That's still to come.  Bear with me.  We'll be there in just a moment.  Plus a bonus I think you'll love, for your patience.  But first there's all the behind-the-scenes talent that's such a remarkable part of this old TV western world and helps put everything all in perspective.

And in that "behind-the-scenes" world, I've found that Have Gun, Will Travel and Wanted: Dead or Alive are two of the best for writers and directors, perhaps because those two shows were among the best "adult westerns" along with Maverick, and so perhaps attracted that level of talent.  The only problem, as opposed to actors, is that in those days writers and directors weren't generally identified until the end, so you don't realize whose work you just saw until it's over, and you get your "Oh, my God, HE did that??!"

Have Gun, Will Travel in particular leaps out above the pack.  For instance, I saw an episode that was written by Sam Peckinpah, who later directed The Wild Bunch and Straw Dogs.  A particularly-major "Oh, my God" moment came after I watched a Have Gun episode and discovered in the end-credits that it was directed by the legendary Lewis Milestone -- who decades earlier directed the classic film All Quiet on the Western Front.  And The Front Page.  And Of Mice and Men.  Yet this wasn't a case of him picking up a job at the end of his career, because  even after having directed this TV show episode, he later directed the original Ocean’s 11 and also the remake of Mutiny on the Bounty with Marlon Brando.

There are others, too. Andrew V. McGlaglen, who directed 116 episodes of Have Gun, Will Travel, later moved on to direct such classic westerns as Shenandoah with James Stewart, and John Wayne films like McClintock! and  Chisum.  (By the way, his father Victor McGlaglen, who was one of Hollywood's great character actors, often working with John Ford and John Wayne, most notably in The Quiet Man and winning a Best Actor Oscar in The Informer, guest-starred in an episode directed by his son -- and was great.)  And Have Gun had many episodes written by Frank Pierson -- later president of the Writers Guild of America and co-writer of the great comedy western Cat Ballou.  And three episodes were written by Irving Wallace, who would go on to write the bestselling novels The Prize, The Chapman Report, The Word and others.

Which finally brings us to a bit of Hollywood history with The Virginian.

I never particularly watched The Virginian growing up – in fact, I’m not sure if I ever did – but I saw a promo the other week that they would be doing a “Cast Favorites Week,” where still-surviving cast members would pick an episode and then do brief commentaries during the ad breaks.  I loved the idea, so I figured it would be fun to check one out.  I scrolled through the plot "loglines" for that week, saw one that seemed the most interesting, and set my DVR.

Boy, howdy, did I luck out.
 
The episode I picked by total chance, the first I'd ever seen, was called “Mountain of the Sun,” and the show's main star James Drury did the commentary, dressed in cowboy gear.  (I note "main star," since one of the show's other stars in the first four seasons before he left was Lee J. Cobb, the original 'Willy Loman' on Broadway in Arthur Miller's play, Death of a Salesman.)  The particular show, "Mountain of the Sun," was fairly enjoyable – episodes of The Virginian were 90 minutes, so they could be a bit more substantive than other westerns.  The plot concerned Drury's character helping three ladies travel across dangerous, desert land to their destination.  He did a very good job.  As for the three actresses, I didn’t know one of them, though I did know character actress Jeannette Nolan.  But it was the lead actress of the three who stood out.  She was really excellent, it was clear how wonderful she was.  And absolutely beautiful.  To my complete surprise, i was –  Dolores Hart! 

Now, to some people reading this, they may be falling off their chairs at the moment.  To others more uncertain, let me explain.  Dolores Hart was a beautiful, talented young actress who at the height of her growing career in 1963 suddenly quit Hollywood and became a Benedictine nun.  She had made her movie debut in Loving You, in which she always said that her kiss with Elvis Presley was so popular, "it lasted 15 seconds on screen and 40 years."  She also starred in Come Fly With Me, Where the Boys Are, Francis of Assisi and more, in fact she was so busy she made 10 movies in five years.  And even got a Tony nomination for Best Featured Actress in the Broadway play, The Pleasure of His Company. She acted opposite such leading men as  Montgomery Clift, Stephen Boyd, George Hamilton, Robert Wagner and Presley.  And then, at the age of 25, her movie stardom growing, engaged to be married to a young man she'd been dating for five years -- she gave it all up.  But it worked out properly for her.  She is still to this day at that same Regina Laudis abbey, now the Mother Prioress there at age 81.  She is also still a voting member of the Motion Picture Academy, something she remains proud of.  In fact, only a few years ago in 2012, after almost a half-century, she made another movie of sorts -- HBO did a documentary on her, God is the Bigger Elvis, which got an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary Short.  I saw it at a screening, and it's terrific.  And she comes across like a joy.

But the thing is, Dolores Hart simply being in that episode of The Virginian, even while at the height of her movie career, while fascinating, wasn’t the only remarkable thing about the episode or what weaved it with Hollywood history, that was just a case of wonderful casting. Perspective is everything, though, and the "Mountain of the Sun" episode -- from Season One, episode 28 -- is overloaded with perspective. 

For starters, during his commentary as part of "Cast Favorites Week," star James Drury was just raving about how wonderful Hart was.  Glowingly, on pretty much every level.  And then he mentioned something that transformed this from just "an episode" of a TV show -- he said that this was the very last filmed project she did!  In fact, he said that only four days after they completed it, that’s when she drove to the abbey and entered.  (To be fair, I have no idea if his memory of dates is totally accurate, though for all I know it is -- but checking the iMDB does show it to indeed be her last project.)
 
Almost more fascinating, given what was to happen four days after completing production, is the full plot of the story – the three women are missionaries!  They’re headed to a dangerous enclave of especially-vicious Indians to set up their mission there, which The Virginian (acting as their guide) keeps trying to impress on them how brutal the tribe is and hoping to get the ladies return, as does everyone they come in contact with, including the commander of a military garrison in Mexico.  But the three women, and especially Cathy, the role played by Hart, are determined to fulfill the promise made to God.  The story was loaded with dialogue that made you sit up in context.  Two of them particularly leaped out – She tells The Virginian, “I’m not scared of death.  Just scared of living without a purpose.”  And  later, when confronted yet again with how dangerous the mission is, she explains, “That’s why we made a covenant with the Lord, never to turn back.”
 
Adding even more dramatic context between this episode and her real life, where she had been engaged and had only recently called it off, is that a romance develops in the story between James Drury and Hart, and she fights with herself her growing love for him and her inner-drive to give herself to her God.  And in the end, of course, she keeps on her path, and the women end up at the Indian village, where their actions are accepted by the natives, and Drury leaves them there deep in Mexico as he rides off, heartbroken but understanding.
 
It was a very enjoyable episode, but that it was her last film work and what it was about – and so much of the telling dialogue and overlaps with one of the more-famous acts in Hollywood history, especially at the time – made it just absolutely fascinating.
 
I have no idea why she did The Virginian, given the success of her feature film career.  Perhaps she knew someone connected with the show and found out what the plot of the episode was, and it secretly appealed to her. Perhaps it's a simpler explanation, that she had nothing planned and got a good offer.   
 
But whatever the reason, she was really wonderful in it.  A level of acting much better than most you get in such things.

And here then is a treat.  A one-minute clip from the start of the episode.  I can't embed it, but if you click here it will open the page and play after a short ad.

But be sure to come back, because that's not the bonus, just a treat.  This is the bonus --

Here is the full 36-minute, Oscar-nominated documentary short produced by HBO, God is the Bigger Elvis.  It's wonderfully done, smart, thoughtful, very touching at times, open, amusing and even with a sort of surprising twist along the way -- befitting a story whose whole point was a big surprising Hollywood twist.

It turns out that Billie Eilish is a major geek fan of The Office TV series.  Like at a serious geek level.  So, last year, Billboard magazine set up a surprise quiz for the singer at home when Rainn Wilson showed up with the questions about his old show. As the expression goes, fun ensues...

By the way, even though earlier this week we had a video interview with two of my New Trier High School pals Jack Moline and Nell Minow, had another interview today from Rabbi Moline, and as it happens Rainn Wilson is an alum of New Trier, as well, there is absolutely no truth to the rumor that this is New Trier Week at Elisberg Industries.  Every week is New Trier Week at Elisberg Industries.  Some weeks just have more video evidence.

(Due to travel issues and stay-at-home restricttions, we have had to temporarily scrap the New Trier Film Festival with movies starring Charlton Heston, Ann-Margaret, Rock Hudson and Bruce Dern, along with a special screening of Sunrise at Campabello starring Ralph Bellamy, and a tribute to director Ed Zwick with About Last Night and Glory, all ending with a gala, black-tie finale concert featuring Liz Phair, to be hosted by Jake Johnson, two-time Tony-winner Christine Ebersol and Virginia Madsen.)

But now, let it Rainn.

With the absence of sports, ESPN and MLB Network are replaying old baseball games.  I generally check to see what game will be playing, but they usually don’t interest me at all, so I pass them by.  But I’m glad that I do check because a couple days ago, one of them being shown on the MLB Network did leap out – it was one of the most famous games in baseball history, which as far I knew didn't exist on kinescope:  Don Larsen’s perfect game in the 1956 World Series.  Not the final batter, which is all I've ever seen, or a couple of innings, but the whole freaking game!  I couldn’t watch it right then, but recorded it.  I watched the first four innings last night (I put it on late at night, past midnight, and will watch the rest later) – and it was great. Enthralling.
 
To start with, between the New York Yankees and Brooklyn Dodgers, the players in the game are amazing.  Including pitchers in the bullpen and three announcers, there are 15 Hall of Famers involved.  The legendary Mel Allen has been doing the play-by-play so far, but Vin Scully is in the booth, and I assume will come in later.  (And during one inning, there was a guest in the booth, and Mel Allen did an interview with Hall of Famer Carl Hubbell-- who is credited with inventing the screwball.)
 
Then you’re watching and hearing things like, “Line shot to center…and Mantle has it.”  “That brings up Enos Slaughter.”  “Ground ball to third, Robinson to Hodges for the out.”  (I thought, “How cool, Gil Hodges,” but wondered who Robinson was at third.  Brooks Robinson??  No, he’s Baltimore…and then I realized, of course – Jackie Robinson!  I think of him as a second baseman, or at first.  I wasn’t thinking of him at third, where he did briefly play.)  “Berra flies out to right.”  “Fly ball down the left field line, PeeWee Reese is after it, and it drops foul.”  “There’s a pop-up, Campanella is under it.”  (Seeing Roy Campanella actually playing is a joy, when all we've generally ever seen of him is in a wheelchair.)  And Duke Snider seemingly breaking up the perfect game by hitting one out of the park against Larsen, but it just curves foul.  On and on.  It’s utterly wonderful.
 
Then add in how good the players are.  Not necessarily with the physical skills of today, but how effortless it is from players who have been together for years and play with a unity and smoothness.  (And seeing that PeeWee Reese isn’t very peewee at all, and when he drifts into left field for a short fly ball, he’s taller than the left fielder.)
 
Also great is that Sal Maglie for the Dodgers was pitching a no-hitter himself through three innings, and only one hit through four – but that one hit is a home run by Mickey Mantle.
 
And making the broadcast all the better is that the host is Bob Costas and apparently about five years ago or so, he got the battery mates of Don Larsen and Yogi Berra together for an interview, which they weave in every few innings.  (Best moment – Larsen talks about getting bombed in his first outing and didn’t think he’d start again in the Series, and only finds out when he got to the ballpark.  Costas asks him, “Were you nervous?”  Larsen smiles – “Which inning?”)  Also, Costas brings up all the Hall of Famers in the game, which Larsen says he’s thought about in recent years which has made it all the more special.  Costas adds to Larsen that with all those Hall of Famers, “But you had the greatest game”—to which Larsen says, “Actually, everyone had a great game.  They all had a great game.  I just had a better one.”
 
For some reason, which Costas doesn’t know the answer to, there’s no first inning, so it starts in the second inning.  But it’s SO great.  The whole game!!  I can't wait to watch the next five innings.  If they repeat it, and if you have the slightest interest in baseball, it’s a don’t miss.
 
As a bonus, however, the best baseball news today is something totally personal.  After I moved a little over a year ago, I’ve been unable to find my collection of baseball cards dating back from childhood and have been concerned that they accidentally got thrown away in the move.  But today...but I found them!!!  Huzzah.

Huzzahs all around.  Play ball!!

John Krasinski has done it again.  It is seriously impressive what he and his team pull off each work.  (I'm certain he has others assisting him -- one person can't do this alone.  And there are credits at the end of every show.) 

And his "Some Good News" broadcast is another gem.

I knew it will be very hard to avoid seeing the title and screenshot of the freeze screen below, but if you can possibly avoid looking and it and find the big arrow in the middle to click (right below the picture of Krasinki at the top center, with the word "Zoom" over his head -- the star arrow is in a box with a guy in a blue shirt and baseball cap, sitting with his girlfriend), try to do so.  It will make the various surprises all the more fun.  If you have to look at that couple in the center to focus where to click, that's fine.

But it's wonderful even having a clue what's in store.

Last week, the NBC series Parks & Recreation had a reunion episode of sorts, done with all the cast members participating from home in a fun, fairly clever premise of Leslie Knope (played by Amy Pohler) trying to stay in touch with everyone on a regular basis during the stay-at-home pandemic to make sure everyone was all right.  It wasn't plot-heavy, but enjoyable, particularly seeing all the cast members back together.

Tonight, the current CBS series, All Rise, is returning to the air with a new episode -- also done remotely at home.  The Writers Guild of America had an interesting article about how the episode all came about, and I thought I'd repost it here below.

(There was no credit line with the article, so alas I can't tell you who wrote it.)

The CBS legal drama All Rise has been one of the first primetime network scripted series to resume production, with a special remotely produced episode set to air this Monday, May 4 at 9 p.m. The show’s creative team, headed by co-EPs Greg Spottiswood and Dee Harris-Lawrence, virtually wrote and produced the topical episode, which addresses the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on criminal justice and the LA County jail system.
"It's a unique chance for our All Rise family to band together—in our different homes, even cities—to tell a story about resilience, justice, and the power of community," said Spottiswood.
​
The COVID-19 pandemic is not only reflected in the upcoming episode’s narrative content, but it impacted how the episode was shot and produced as well. Inspired by current events and penned via a virtual writers’ room, the episode, entitled “Dancing at Los Angeles” (co-written by Spottiswood & Gregory Nelson), was filmed using Zoom, Webex, Facebook, and other social media and tech platforms. When production was cut short in mid-March, there was an unusually quick turnaround time from when the show’s writer-producers first conceived and pitched the idea, to the writing, filming, and air date. It will be the final original episode to air during the series’ first season run.
The All Rise writers’ room operated remotely via Zoom sessions to work on the episode: “We had a virtual writers’ room with a virtual white board, and we had virtual cards, which we shared, and we put up the collaborative function on Final Draft, and wrote and edited each other’s work together in real time on the same document while we were writing,” said Spottiswood. “Neither of us had ever worked that way before, but because Greg [Nelson] and I have worked together for a long time, not only on this season of television but on other shows we’ve done, we had a shorthand, which made the transition into the ‘virtual’ world a lot smoother than it would be for writers who may be just getting to know each other.”

Art imitates life, as the series' main characters manage their new daily routines at home. In the episode, Judge Benner (Marg Helgenberger) authorizes Judge Lola Carmichael (Simone Missick) to virtually preside over a trial, while other characters attempt to maintain relationships under quarantine. One character deals with the struggle of working as a food delivery driver to make ends meet. The episode’s plotline has real-life parallels, as some US courts are currently using Zoom to hear, try, and rule on cases while courtrooms are closed. The show's consulting producer, former Los Angeles County District Attorney Gil Garcetti, was on hand to provide insight into how the justice system continues in LA, even during a pandemic.

Compelled by both the unprecedented circumstances and logistical limitations of shooting remotely, the series’ production team had to get creative: Using Webex to create their own private network to dial in to shoot specific scenes, virtual footage was shot in each of the series regulars' homes, adding VFX to create necessary backgrounds. In addition, a lone cinematographer operating solo captured exterior footage that reflects the desolate environment that currently exists on the streets of LA. Surprisingly, the show’s team shot 64 pages in six ten-hour days, a faster pace than most one-hour series productions.

While CBS has yet to determine if the freshman series will be renewed for a second season, the show’s creative team would continue to incorporate some of these themes and production techniques going forward: “From a storytelling standpoint, I think that COVID-19 is going to affect all of our lives certainly into next year, and it’s going to affect how everyone does their jobs, so it’s going to become a part of our storytelling,” said Spottiswood. “We’ll take our lead from how the justice system itself is dealing with it, and how our characters are dealing with it, so some aspects of this special episode are going to carry over [to next season].”

But are audiences ready to watch scripted fare that mirrors the grim daily reality many people look to TV to escape from?

“It was a huge consideration, as we talk about tone all the time,” explained Spottiswood. “All Rise is an aspirational show, a hopeful show, that takes very real dynamics in the justice system and sees them through a specific lens of Lola and our characters, so it was something we talked about conceptually, and something Greg and I talked about every day when we were writing. We tried to focus on what our characters were experiencing in that moment, and to be honest to those characters and their situations.

“Many of our characters are essential workers, so they have to find a way to do their jobs. The justice system does not close down. It slows down to a dangerous pace, and people are in jeopardy or vulnerable as a consequence, and their Constitutional rights are at stake, so we focused in on the story and the relationships between characters and their ability, or inability, to find a way to connect. The movement, for us as writers in this episode, is one from isolation to connection, and that was our guiding principal.”

Continues Spottiswood, “Here are some people who feel as isolated as all of us do during this crisis, and what story can we tell to find them just a simple moment of connection with another human being so they feel less alone. Our hope is the audience will identify with that. Whatever their specific circumstance is, whether living in fortune or misfortune, a story about finding moments of connection and a quest for justice in an unusual circumstance is something that we hope, and believe, will resonate with our audience.”
 

As I've noted in the past, I enjoy a talk show on BBC America, The Graham Norton Show.  For the past few weeks, like most talk shows, they’ve been doing an at-home version, and one of their guests last Friday was Michael Sheen.  The whole interview is fun, but one segment of it leaps out.
 
He’s finished a movie based on a true event, not known here but a big deal in England, when there was a cheating scandal on their version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.  Sheen (who's made a career playing real-life people from Tony Blair to David Frost, British actor Kenneth Williams and soccer coach Brian Clough) plays another real-life personality here, the very popular, long-running host of the show Chris Tarrant, (who was not part of the scandal), and he “recreates” the role for the talk show and he and Norton play a brief, funny version of it.  He’s a hoot, but what you’ll love is when the host decides he has to phone a friend.  And who the friend is, and their conversation.
 
By the way, I’ve tracked down a bunch of video of Chris Tarrant, who Sheen plays in the movie, and it will not shock you to learn his performance is spot-on brilliant (which you can tell when host Norton breaks into laughter upon hearing it). 

But in case you want to check it out for yourself, here's a montage of the real Chris Tarrant introducing himself to the friends who the contestants have had him phone for assistance.