Authors: Barney Rosenzweig

B004YENES8 EBOK (56 page)

⁷⁶Reference is to the true story portrayed in the film
Stand and Deliver.

⁷⁷Joel was finally given the opportunity to make his film directorial debut, over the objections of Dick Rosenbloom, who by that time probably felt one Rosenzweig in this business was more than sufficient. I put up a financial bond to assuage Orion’s concerns by paying director Reza Badiyi to stand by if Joel faltered. My brother, I am pleased to note, came through, with flying colors. Episodes were “Ahead of the Game” (actually made for the 1986–87 season and written by Allison Hock) and “You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby” (written by Fred Rappaport).

⁷⁸For insertion in yet-to-be made episodes in an effort to minimize the absence of such a key character.

⁷⁹Al Waxman did return and, thirty-five pounds lighter, completed the season, but died several years later after completing yet another series I would supervise,
Twice in a Lifetime
, for the Pax network. There Al played Othneil, a character I created for him.

⁸⁰Written by Kathryn Ford, directed by Sharron Miller. An
Emmy
nomination for Ms. Gless.

⁸¹Written by Shelley List & Jonathan Estrin, directed by Reza Badiyi. An
Emmy
nomination and win for Ms. Daly.

⁸²Lee Grant’s line is the same, only Communist and Fascist replace chauvinist and feminist. The line was made famous by her during a guest appearance on
The Tonight Show
with Johnny Carson.

⁸³Won by Tyne Daly for “Friendly Smoke.” No one is a bigger fan of Ms. Daly’s than this author, but this particular entry was not Tyne’s best work, whereas Sharon’s performance in our episode “Don’t I Know You” was among her very best. The reference to the Academy’s blue ribbon panel is pure speculation on my part. The
Emmys
were, at that time, in my judgment, the fairest of all the major awards, in that once nominated, all the contenders were screened by a panel of judges on the same television monitor, in the same room, at the same time. Each of the performances was therefore guaranteed to be seen by the judges. That is not necessarily true for the
Oscars
or the
Tonys
. At any rate, feelings in our community against Sharon and myself were running so high that it is not a stretch to imagine that one or two members of that finite panel found themselves influenced. One or two votes would, in this setting, most definitely affect the outcome. For the record, the TV Academy no longer uses this blue ribbon panel system.

⁸⁴In 2007.

⁸⁵Reference is to the heavily romantic MGM fantasy film of the 1940s, starring Robert Young and Dorothy McGuire.

⁸⁶Alone by virtue of my marriage being over and my “thing” with Gless then very much in abeyance. The locale was the Villa Vera, made famous in the days of Errol Flynn’s stardom in Hollywood.

⁸⁷And he wrote one. In 2010
When I Stop Talking You'll Know I'm Dead
was published to generally favorable reviews. I read it and you should too. Good stuff.

⁸⁸Run more than 24 frames per second through a motion picture projector or camera and a slow motion effect is produced. The more frames, the slower the images appear to move. Run less than 24, and the images seem faster. That herky-jerky movement you see today in the old-time silent films is because in those days the standard was to film and project at 18 frames per second. If one projects, at 24fps, a film shot at 18fps, you get those funny-looking movements,which we have come to accept as natural for that kind of movie from those early days.

⁸⁹At California’s Malibu Beach: May 1 and/or May 4, 1991, depending on whom you talk to.

⁹⁰The previous year, Sharon had made her London stage debut at the Criterion Theatre opposite Bill Paterson in Stephen King’s thriller
Misery
, creating the role on stage made famous by Kathy Bates on film. For artistic reasons, Ms. Gless decided to bulk up for the role, gaining sixty pounds, and was now finding it difficult to shed same. I am not married to Ms. Daly, so I haven’t heard her reasons, but it never seemed to matter as much to Tyne as it did to Sharon.

⁹¹Slightly shorter version of on-air promotions or point of sale advertising, which is what an ad for a TV show, seen on TV, is—an ad for people who are watchers of that network (they are at the “point of sale”).

⁹²Years later on a NY publicity tour for this tome, Les Moonves got the last and best dig in of all. When asked about some of the comments published in this book, Moonves, through the CBS publicity department, simply retorted "Who's Barney Rosenzweig?"

⁹³Sony, of course, is a Japanese company. Rupert Murdoch is a transplant from Australia, and General Electric is about as multinational as any company can get.

Table of Contents