Word: sitcoms
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...based on the current lack of diversity in Hollywood, where 75 percent of television writers are white. And in most cases, the minority writers at networks are all working on the same show (in 1999, it was found that ABC employed nine black writers-all assigned to the same sitcom). In order to succeed in his position as a black television executive, then, Lee's main character delves back into the history of blacks on screen to revive one of the most popular forms of early entertainment: the Minstrel. And with the Minstrel, of course, comes Blackface-perhaps the most...
...that I'm king of the mountain. Anything that smells like "Seinfeld," they think will stink again. And they are probably more than willing to roll the dice. But, and this is probably also the only place you'll hear me say this-I'm doing another sitcom but not because I'm dying to create another half hour of television. I do it because it's a great enabler for other things I would like to do as well and because it's a great job to have as a father. So given that as the goal...
...huge workload too, as Midler has discovered, three weeks into shooting. Doing the series required Midler to leave her home in New York City for Los Angeles--the show will move East next year if there's a second season--and the unfamiliar demands of a sitcom left her rattled. "I kept thinking it was a play and I had to be letter-perfect," she says. "Today I don't feel so freaked out, but this is only Monday. By Friday I'll be freaked out again...
...what? As development season dragged on, Midler rejected five scripts that placed her in sitcom situations--selling real estate, running a nightclub--that came off as insufficient for her outsize talent. Finally, as pilot-shooting season loomed, Mad About You producer Jeffrey Lane brought her a simple premise: let Bette be Bette...
...they hate me? They're gonna hate me!" She moans, she wheedles, she feigns deafness--then takes the stage and belts out Midler's signature song, Friends. The scene, meant to introduce her as a force of nature, has funny moments, but there's something offensive about a sitcom metafictionally begging you to love its star in its first three minutes. Make no mistake, Bette loves its lead, all too well. It indulges her with Lucy-esque slapstick (she wrestles an exercise machine! She bashes a block of frozen waffles!). It surrounds her with weak characters who merely react...