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Wednesday, Nov 25, 2009
What could TV be that it isn't?
Wheaton: TV can be entertaining, so we can relax and unwind if we'd like, but it can also be thought-provoking and suspenseful, if we're looking for something to stimulate our brains (which -- let's admit it -- are going soft from watching too much TV). But for every purely entertaining show like "Seinfeld" or thought-provoking show like "The West Wing," we get 20 reality shows, which are really just schadenfreude for people who like to watch supermodels eat bugs.
To put entertainment back into television, I would flood the airwaves with '70s variety shows, like "The Brady Bunch," "Variety Hour," or "The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour." I'm talking about guys who can balance plates on their heads while they conduct their orchestra full of dogs, and really corny comedy sketches featuring actors dressed as Red Skelton-esque hobo clowns.
Miss Alli: I would produce a show about women whose idea of charm is something other than acting stupid and incompetent. In comedies, smart women are eventually shown to be secretly insecure dimwits, and in dramas, they wind up being beaten up, raped or stalked so that they can be rescued and fall in love with someone in law enforcement or a member of one of the helping professions. I hate that. They need to stop sending the badass women to the emergency room.
Franken: I don't watch much TV other than news anymore, but one thing I would like to see is a show where real people have to do really disgusting things in order to advance in some sort of contest. I'd like that because it would give us an opportunity to learn something important about human nature.
Kroll: I have a reality elimination show set on Antarctica that I'm dying to do. There is a fascinating culture down on the ice and I haven't given up on making it happen. If I can do it, it will truly be mind-blowing. I can't wait to televise "The Expired Food Challenge," a real event they do down there for fun.
Rosenthal: What could TV be that it isn't now? Good.
I have an animated show that I developed with some friends of mine, called "The Vinyl Café." It's based on the work of Stuart McLean. He's a bestselling author from Canada who writes about a family -- very funny, warm, sweet stories. His is the top radio show in Canada. So this is found material -- someone came to me with the idea of making an animated show, they convinced me to try it, and then CBS let us make half an episode, then they didn't want it.
All the networks pay lip service to family entertainment, and then when you give it to them, you find that what they mean is that the family should be made up of teenage boys. This is closer in tone to "Peanuts" or "The Wonder Years" than "The Simpsons." I wouldn't begin to try to imitate "The Simpsons," because it's a fantastic, classic show. CBS told me, "It's lovely and charming." These are now bad words. They still want hip and edgy. They think anything that's popular or positive is an anomaly, it can't possibly work. You know, "When do they eat the bugs?"
Cowen: I would write and produce a first-of-its-kind, never-before-seen-anywhere drama that is sexy, politically incorrect and highly offensive to uptight assholes and hypocrites. Which is exactly what my partner, Daniel Lipman, and I are doing.
