Lee Goldberg

News Views Schmooze

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You might have noticed two blogs on my blogroll with the same title…News, Views and Schmooze.  One belongs to mystery novelist Rochelle Krich, the other to writer/producer Bryce Zabel. Both are well worth a visit each day. Today, Rochelle talks about the common practice of auctioning off character names in books.

I’ve participated in four charity auctions and have named several
characters after real people. The challenge, as a writer, is forgetting
that the characters are, in fact, based on real people.

At Left Coast Crime in Pasadena, a fan bid successfully to make his wife a character in Grave Endings.
When the book came out, he threw a surprise party for his wife, who
joined me in signing copies of the book that her husband gave each
guest.

Today, Bryce talks about his experience seeing a one-night-only staging of CAMELOT at the Hollywood Bowl.

The entire time I sat in those incredible seats, however, my mind
kept wandering away from the music (which was above average), away from
the story (which was below average), away from the staging (which was
less than the usual school play) to thoughts of how unique this night
was.  All these talented people, all this effort, all for one night.

Or, as Arthur would describe Camelot, and Jackie would describe her husband’s administration — "one brief, shining moment."

Where are the TV Themes?

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If you’ve bought any episodes of BONANZA on DVD, the first thing you’ll notice is that the show’s classic theme music is missing.  The same is true on some episodes of BEVERLY HILLBILLIES, ANDY GRIFFITH and THE LUCY SHOW, among others.

According to DVD Exclusive Magazine, that’s because some individual episodes of those series have inexplicably fallen into public domain — but the music has not. The companies who are issuing the cheapo DVDs don’t want to pay for the theme music and scores, so they change them… leaving buyers feeling confused and ripped off (Okay, this buyer).

Reel Media International, which holds 2,500 public domain,
or PD, films and TV episodes in its library, regularly hires composers to cook
up new theme songs for its DVD clients. 

"We’ll replace every bit of music–the front and the end, into the commercial
break–that way our clients aren’t going to have to pay," Reel Media president
Tom T. Moore said.

They’ll Put Any Shows on DVD…Except Mine!

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According to DVD Exclusive Magazine, upcoming TV shows being released on DVD this month include:

ADAM-12: The Complete First Season (we know how much America has been clamoring for that!)
McCLOUD: Seasons One and Two (The McCloud convention-goers will be thrilled)
PROFIT:The Complete Series
UNDECLARED: The Complete Series
BLISS: The Complete First Season Uncut
HOUSE MD: The Complete First Season
THE MIND OF THE MARRIED MAN: The Complete First Season (I couldn’t finish the complete first episode)
ROSEANNE: The Complete First Season
LOST: The Complete First Season

What is the WGA Thinking?

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This has not been a great couple of years for the Writers Guild of America. First, president Victoria Riskin created an embarrassing scandal when it was revealed she wasn’t actually an active member and, therefore, unqualified to serve.  She resigned and Charles Holland took her place — until it was revealed by the LA Times that claims he made about his college football accomplishments and military service were at best exaggerated and at worst complete fabrications.  He resigned, too. 

After those two scandals, and with the union’s image in tatters, the WGA instigated a very public battle with their own members by charging that the  WGAe hadn’t paid their fair share of dues. While the WGA may have been right, technically and legally,  in their dispute with WGAe, it was a public relations disaster that underscored the  image of a Guild in utter disarray.

And so it goes today. Apparently, the WGA board has learned nothing from the events of the past couple of years.  Variety reports that the WGA is giving Riskin the prestigious Valentine Davies Award for her contributions to writers and the community at large. 

The action — taken several weeks ago with board members pledged to
confidentiality — undoubtedly will reopen what had been an embarrassing chapter
for the WGA West.

No kidding.  What were they thinking? Or, more accurately, were they even thinking at all? I don’t argue that Riskin may deserve the honor…I’m sure that she is. But to give it to her now, so soon after she resigned in disgrace and embarrassed her Guild,  is such a blatantly  wrong-headed decision that I can’t believe the Board seriously considered it…much less approved it.

This decision shows that the board suffers from a disturbing and rather astonishing case of political ineptitude. Can they be this unaware of how their reactions are perceived…or the image of the Guild right now among its members and the industry as a whole? Either they are  dumb or they are clueless. Neither choice speaks very well of our elected leadership.

Keenan on BADGE

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Mystery lover Vince Keenan, columnist for the excellent Mystery File newsletter, had some very nice to things to say about THE MAN WITH THE IRON-ON BADGE on his blog today.

Harvey Mapes drifted into security work because he thought it
would be like MANNIX or one of his Gold Medal paperbacks. He stays in it because
it gives him time to read more Gold Medal paperbacks. When a resident of the
gated community where he works hires him to tail his wife, Harvey finally gets
his chance to make like Spenser.

The book is about Harvey’s discovery
that real-life crime isn’t like the fictional variety at all. At first, the
differences are played for laughs, but when Harvey’s case takes a tragic turn,
Lee never loses his footing. Harvey actually matures on the page, a
transformation made evident in the character’s distinctive voice. He stops
wising off and starts wising up.

Thanks, Vince. And where’s the next issue of Mystery File? I’m going through withdrawal.

“There’s a Process?”

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Cover_svlMy friend author Paul Levine’s brand new website is up, just in time for the launch of his acclaimed new novel SOLOMAN VS LORD. It’s a slick site…go take a peek right now.  Among the many funny and interesting things on the site is this anecdote about his first Hollywood experience with a movie based on one of his books:

Here’s an actual telephone conversation between the naive novelist in Miami and
the savvy screenwriter in Hollywood:

NOVELIST
You didn’t use any of my notes.

SCREENWRITER

And you don’t understand the process.

NOVELIST
There’s a
process?

SCREENWRITER
See, you owned a car. You sold us the car.
Now, you want to drive the car. But I’m gonna drive it. You can wave as it goes
by. That’s the process.

Mr. Schneider, Your Movie Sucks

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In his review of the new Deuce Bigelow movie, critic Roger Eberts gets back at Rob Schneider for his swipe, several months back, at LA Times reporter Patrick Goldstein:

The movie created a spot of controversy last February. According to a story
by Larry Carroll of MTV News, Rob
Schneider took offense when Patrick Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times
listed this year’s Best Picture Nominees and wrote that they were "ignored,
unloved and turned down flat by most of the same studios that … bankroll
hundreds of sequels, including a follow-up to ‘Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo,’ a
film that was sadly overlooked at Oscar time because apparently nobody had the
foresight to invent a category for Best Running Penis Joke Delivered by a
Third-Rate Comic."

Schneider retaliated by attacking Goldstein in full-page ads in Daily
Variety and the Hollywood Reporter. In an open letter to Goldstein,
Schneider wrote: "Well, Mr. Goldstein, I decided to do some research to find out
what awards you have won. I went online and found that you have won nothing.
Absolutely nothing. No journalistic awards of any kind … Maybe you didn’t win
a Pulitzer Prize because they haven’t invented a category for Best Third-Rate,
Unfunny Pompous Reporter Who’s Never Been Acknowledged by His Peers."

Reading this, I was about to observe that Schneider can dish it out but he
can’t take it. Then I found he’s not so good at dishing it out, either. I went
online and found that Patrick Goldstein has won a National Headliner Award, a
Los Angeles Press Club Award, a RockCritics.com award, and the Publicists’ Guild
award for lifetime achievement.

Schneider was nominated for a 2000 Razzie
Award for Worst Supporting Actor, but lost to Jar-Jar Binks.

But Schneider is correct, and Patrick Goldstein has not yet won a Pulitzer
Prize. Therefore, Goldstein is not qualified to complain that Columbia financed
"Deuce
Bigalow: European Gigolo" while passing on the opportunity to participate in
"Million
Dollar Baby," "Ray,"
"The
Aviator," "Sideways"
and "Finding
Neverland." As chance would have it, I have won the Pulitzer Prize,
and so I am qualified. Speaking in my official capacity as a Pulitzer Prize
winner, Mr. Schneider, your movie sucks.

(Thanks to William Rabkin for the heads-up on this!)

A Kindred Spirit

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When I was nine years old, I started writing my book UNSOLD TV PILOTS. It was what studio and network execs today like to call "a passion project." I wanted to listed every pilot rejected by the networks since the dawn of television. I finally finished the book around 1988 and it was published in 1989. I’ve continued compiling information since then — and although I never wrote the sequel, that research became the fodder for two TV special, one for CBS and one for ABC, that I produced with William Rabkin.  I thought I was alone in my strange fascination with TV failures…but I’m not.

The blog TrivialTV notes that summer used to be the time when networks burned off their busted pilots. Not anymore. Now it’s a reality show backwater. But in honor of all those busted pilots, today TrivialTV lists the titles and airdates of most of the 1/2 hour and hour-long  busted pilots that have been broadcast  since January 1, 1990.