Actually, less walking this time. There were so many writers turning out to picket the Viacom building yesterday that there was a good deal of standing around.
More memebers of the Screen Actors Guild have started showing up to join in the march. Met Michael Badalucco, who played Jimmy the Grunt on “The Practice,” who was always one of my favorite characters on that series. Sweet guy; introduced himself to me as “Mike.” Came across much like his TV persona.
Probably the high point was that I spent a good deal of time in the line standing behind Alan Zweibel, one of the original writers for Saturday Night Live. He used to write “Weekend Update,” and he was spending most of his time talking shop and trading stories with the writer for SNL who is *currently* writing Update for SNL. There was literally a generation of time between the two writers, but I was fascinated by all the common ground between the two of them. And when I asked them (I apologized for overhearing, explaining that I had only done so because I was intentionally eavesdropping) they agreed that, yeah, Doctor Evil really does sound like Lorne Michaels.
It’s been a fascinating experience thus far. I just hope/wish we’re accomplishing something.
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WAY TO GO PETER.
Although I have to admit I am loving this on a personal level. I am a slave to television and hate reality shows. Now that most things are repeats I have more time to myself. I have begun working out and started writing my own novel. No more having 13 hours of television to watch on TIVO a week. I am outside breathing fresh air and playing kick the can.
Soon Terminator will begin and the strike will end and all my wonderful television shows will come back but I am hoping my taste of freedom will cause me to turn off the television and pick up a book as I ride my exercise bike. Oh NO! Here comes Stargate Atlantis, Monk And Pysch…DUCK!!!!
Go Peter! Hope Viacom will listen.
I believe the WGA is accomplishing something. Playing the “reasonable partner” isn’t an act, writers deserve what they’re asking for. Even when AMPTP put out a huge ad explaining why you’re not reasonable made the case for the WGA. I would think the crap-fest of “reality” TV proves that we need the writers. Consequently, I’m not watching much TV. Best wishes on negotiation!
Off Topic: Didn’t Maddox send two dupes to alternate futures? We only see the one that went to the future Layla though. When are we going to learn what happened to the other one?
My money’s on Cable’s future.
I wish you luck on this. I’ve been watching “A Daily SHow” and its become a good source on news about the Writer’s Strike.
Oddly enough, I’m actually enjoying ‘A Daily Show’ more than ‘The Daily Show’ so far. I never really liked the field reports much. They were funny sometimes, but dumping them and spending more time on headlines is a win for me.
Plus, it’s interesting what’s happening with John Oliver. The fact that he can’t strike because of his work visa is fascinating. He could end up having vastly more face time during all this, which might have an effect on his career. I’m not saying that he wouldn’t rather be supporting the WGA, but years from now we could look back on this period of Daily Show as being the start of something.
Or the stress of doing all this without the writers could make A Daily Show fall apart next week. Interesting times.
Honestly, I was always lukewarm on the field reports as well. I always preferred the episodes where it was Jon Stewart, or Stewart interacting with the commentators. The thing that’s amazing about Stewart is how he can turn on a dime: That he can go from being the deliverer of jokes to the bewildered straight man.
PAD
I think that ability to shift gears comes from the fact that unlike the commentators, Stewart isn’t playing a character.
I’ve been watching a fair bit of old shows on thedailyshow.com. It’s been really interesting for a variety of reasons, one of which is seeing the other comedians filling in when Jon was absent. They always kept their characters going, much like most Saturday Night Live comedians doing Weekend Update do some version of an anchor man impression.
But Stewart is a lot like Dennis Miller in that he’s mostly just being himself. So when Stewart is telling jokes during headlines, he’s a regular guy who finds the idiocy of the world ridiculous and hilarious. When he’s faced with the commentators, he’s a regular guy trying politely to deal with a crazy person.
Whenever one of the other guys guest-hosted the show, this dynamic changed. There was no straight guy, instead you had two crazy people doing a skit. Usually a funny skit, but not the same kind of thing Stewart does.
If the Daily Show keeps going when Stewart eventually leaves (hopefully a long time from now) finding the right host to replace him will be tricky. I think it couldn’t be someone like Steven Colbert, as great as it is. It needs to be someone who has that same kind of heart that Stewart puts into the show. It will have to be someone who isn’t playing the anchor man character, he’s just a funny guy who finds the news funny and sometimes worthy of outraged mocking.
I was listening to Dennis Miller’s radio show the other day when he had Dana Carvy. Miller wanted the audience to know that the Dr. Evil impersonation was lifted directly from Dana Carvy doing an impression of Lorne Michaels (which Carvy used to do on set all the time).
Jason – I don’t know, from my interactions with Colbert, it could certainly be him… so long as he was being himself, and not the character. I think the unusual thing with Stewart is what several have said, in that his public personae has been pretty consistent since well back in his MTV talk show days. He’s just a genuinely nice guy who happens to be funny and well-informed, and it comes through.
The next time someone goes to see either of the shows taped, they should try to ask why the field reporters opted for a personae, while Jon for the most part has not. Would be an interesting question to have the answer to…
You know, it ‘s funny. Everyone says that Dr. Evil’s speech was based on Michael’s, and Robert Smigel made Michaels sound that way too when he had an animated Michaels in one of his “Saturday TV Funhouse” skits, but I’ve never heard Michaels sound like that, either in any of the skits or clips in which Michaels has appeared, or even when I briefly spoke to him in person last fall. Am I missing something here?
“Jason – I don’t know, from my interactions with Colbert, it could certainly be him… so long as he was being himself, and not the character.”
I’m basing my impressions on the times that Colbert hosted the Daily Show. He wasn’t doing the “Stephen Colbert” persona, but he was still doing a bit of a hokey anchor man impression.
However, that may not be a fair comparison because he never did the show for more than a few days at a time. Stewart was a bit stiffer when he first started out than even a year into his run. Perhaps Colbert or another comedian would settle into a more natural approach over time. On the other hand, most of the people I’ve seen do Weekend Update stuck to whatever persona they started with.
Also, that’s all I’m gonna say about A Daily Show. Sorry if I’m derailing the thread.
Jason M. Bryant wrote: “If the Daily Show keeps going when Stewart eventually leaves (hopefully a long time from now) finding the right host to replace him will be tricky. I think it couldn’t be someone like Steven Colbert, as great as it is. It needs to be someone who has that same kind of heart that Stewart puts into the show. It will have to be someone who isn’t playing the anchor man character, he’s just a funny guy who finds the news funny and sometimes worthy of outraged mocking.”
This is a thought I’ve had the last year or so, figured I throw it out there: If Stewart said, tomorrow, he was leaving the show, the first person I’d go to is Patton Oswalt. He’s got a similar mix of intellectual sophistication mixed with down-to-earth appeal and the ability to play either the loon or the straight-man.
Luigi Novi: You and I agree on something. Whenever I see the story about the Dr. Evil voice being based on Lorne Michaels, my reaction is “That’s funny, I don’t hear it.” Michaels has been on-camera many times on SNL and he has a perfectly normal voice–no weird tone or inflection, no odd speech patterns. It is, frankly, not very distinctive, and I really don’t hear it in Dr. Evil. And character voices are something I pay attention to, since I’ve done a lot of them onstage over the last 20 years.
I’ve noticed a little bit of an interesting cadence from Lorne Michaels, but I never would have connected it with Dr. Evil. Maybe the people who work with him every day notice it more.
Why are you picketing outside their building? It’ll only draw attention to them and the shows they’ve put back on the air. Wouldn’t it be better to deflect attention away from them?
Tom, that sounds like an argument against picketing in general. Isn’t the whole point of any picket line to draw uncomfortable attention to companys that are doing things the workers disagree with?
Peter –
Here’s a link to another article on The Huffington Post that puts the nature of the strike, and its meaning for all those involved, into perspective.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/roger-wolfson/the-stakes-are-far-larger_b_80899.html
See you on the lines.
Chris
Did any one bring Conan swords?
Peter, you are indeed accomplishing something: it’s Democracy in action, and since we seeing less and less of it these days, it’s good to recognize it when it’s there and working.
Hey Peter,
I hope your accomplishing something too and that the strike ends soon. It’s gone on too long already but, I have to make one note.
What I do find interesting is the positive slant the media has given the striking writers for the most part, it’s a stark contrast to the coverage they gave here in New York to the transit workers when they walked out. I don’t think either union is (or was) wrong for what they were asking for.
Maybe, it’s just easier for the media to give the positive slant to the writers? The writers being on strike doesn’t impact daily life the way the transit workers strike did? Maybe it’s the fact that the news people work with the striking writers? Could it be a white collar/blue collar gap?
I wonder?
Like I said, I hope the writers’ are successful (and I believe they will be) but, I am amazed by the contrast in coverage.
The transit workers strike spin was I think which paper you read.
I read the Daily News and the workers were getting a fair shake and the ability to explain to the public what they wanted. The Post’s coverage was much more dámņìņg of the strikers. NYT was sort of in between but they did push the “You Are Inconvenienced” angle a lot.
“Maybe it’s the fact that the news people work with the striking writers?”
Okay, now that’s interesting. Do news people work with writers? I would guess that the people who write news-copy aren’t covered by the WGA. Is that accurate? Would the WGA ever want to include them, the way they want to include animation writers? Or are the jobs just so different that everyone considers them separate?
And even if there’s no urge for the WGA to cover them, is there any feeling of kinship between the news people and the WGA writers? I’d imagine that few people who work at CNN ever come within spitting distance of a WGA writer.
Jason Bryant:
Newswriters are not in the WGA, but the WGA is stepping up for them at the moment:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117978739.html?categoryid=1066&cs=1&query=cbs+newswriters
Hope that helps.
Cool story. I gave up on SNL when they hired that guy from the movie Good Burger. Man, what were they thinking?