A discovered treasure

Tomorrow is the Real Don Steele's birthday.   He would have been 77.   He was the world's most exciting disc jockey and proud to say...

WTF???

What did the Jews ever do to Words With Friends?

Do I know how to read women or what?

A few years ago I went to see a rather unusual play called TAMARA. The theater is actually a mansion and the audience follows around the v...

Friday Questions

Ready for some Friday Questions? Sarah has one regarding a recent post on how you don’t have to write jokes to get laughs. In the second s...

My thoughts on Fallon replacing Leno

So Jimmy Fallon is going to succeed Jay Leno and take over THE TONIGHT SHOW. At one time a change in TONIGHT SHOW hosts was a huge deal. ...

THE AMERICANS: My review

It’s amazing how much shit you’ll overlook if you just like a show. Case in point is me and THE AMERICANS. The premise is a tad far fetche...

The pilot you will never see

This is one of those posts where I will ask you to kindly indulge me. There’s no great point. No major lesson. This is just a chance for m...

Phil Spector: My verdict

If David Mamet had made LINCOLN, the official cause of the president’s death would be boating accident. There’s creative license and there...

What are your favorite apps?

This is an idea I flat out stole from writer friend Jay Kogen, but what are the iphone/ipad apps you just can't live without?   There ar...

50 of the most beautiful women ever

This is an amazing video.

We'll always have Vegas

This is the first weekend of March Madness.   Several years ago me and a bunch of my insane friends went to Las Vegas for the four-day colle...

Friday Questions

Next week I’ll have Good Friday Questions but these are pretty decent too. Joseph Scarbrough has a follow-up to my post on anthologies: If ...

Stage direction -- cut it

Recently I participated in a screenplay reading. As I’ve said on numerous occasions, readings are a terrific way to really access your scre...

Random rants

This is what happens when I bang out a blog post at 1 AM.  I take no responsibility if nothing makes sense.  Is there a show where Titus Wel...

Diagnosing problem scripts

Here’s a Friday Question worth an entire post: It’s from Charles H. Bryan: Are there times when you look at a script (yours or someone els...

Passing the comedy torch

The torch has been passed from Levine & Isaacs to Levine & Emerson. My daughter Annie and her partner Jon saw their first script pr...

St. Paddy's Day at CHEERS

Here’s my annual St. Patrick’s Day post.  This is a scene from a CHEERS David Isaacs and I wrote. One of the many Bar Wars episodes....

My snarky history with AMERICAN IDOL

I reviewed AMERICAN IDOL this week and mentioned it would be my last of the season.  The show has gotten stale and routine.  But for several...

A GREAT commercial

Just click on the little Vimeo.com link in the screen. It will take you to the commercial. Le papier ne sera jamais mort / Paper is not de...

Friday Questions

Beware the Ides of March but heed these Friday Questions. Jim S starts us off: You talked about laughter in the writer's room. My questi...

It's time for AMERICAN IDOL to say goodbye

As longtime readers of this blog know, for years a regular weekly feature was reviewing AMERICAN IDOL. I could usually count on at least o...

How to get laughs without writing jokes

Most people think that to be a good comedy writer you have to be a good joke writer. That’s not true. Joke writing is a nice talent to hav...

EXCLUSIVE!! The REAL story behind Ann Curry's firing.

There’s been much finger-pointing following the public execution – excuse me, “reassignment” of Ann Curry from her position as co-host of TH...

GIRLS and "likeability"

A recent article in ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY defending GIRLS accuses the haters of not appreciating the show because the characters aren’t likab...

I hate Pop-Up ads!!!

Okay, this is me going on a rant.I will not buy anything I see in a pop-up ad. They are the most annoying form of advertising ever devise...

Richard Burton & Jack Elam offered the same part

Here's a belated Friday Question time: From Chris Andelman: My question is about writing episodes for guest actors. Do you ever sign the...

Friday Questions

Here are answers to some of your Friday Questions: Mitch gets us going: Your comment about ONE DAY AT A TIME falling between the cracks prom...

Solving a writer's nightmare

What do you do when you have to write a script and on page two you’re stuck? You’ve cleared the story with the producers, the outline has ...

10,000 hours of practice

 This is one of those posts that seems like it's about sports but it's more about life and has a funny payoff.  Non-sports fans are ...

DOWNTON ABBEY season 3 review

Okay, now that’s it been a few weeks since the DOWNTON ABBEY season finale I think I’ve given sufficient time for everyone who has recorded ...

Meet the creators of THE GOOD WIFE

 (I wanted to call this post "Inside The Good Wife" but that just seemed wrong.) One of the many fine programs the WGA Foundation ...

Sunday miscellaneous

Who does Nate Silver like for the next Pope? The good and bad about Los Angeles: Yesterday it was 82 degrees. But you couldn’t drive north...

When your girlfriend's father HATES you

From time to time I've been featuring excerpts from my book about growing up in the San Fernando Valley -- THE ME GENERATION... BY ME (a...

In memory of Bonnie Franklin...

So sorry to hear of the passing of Bonnie Franklin. She was 69. In the mid ‘70s thru mid ‘80s she was the mom on ONE DAY AT A TIME. I had...

Creator/deserters

Ready for some Friday Questions?  Gazzoo starts us off: For decades I’ve been convinced that the first two episodes of the seventh season of...