#1 New York Times Bestselling Author & TV Producer
Ed Gorman has been pondering, and remembering, my friend writer/producer Roy Huggins, creator of such classic TV series as MAVERICK, THE FUGITIVE, 77 SUNSET STRIP and (with Steve Cannell) THE ROCKFORD FILES. I contributed a few memories of my own experiences with Roy to Ed’s blog, as well as a short piece on MAVERICK. If you’re interested in a little TV history, you might want to mosey over there to Ed’s blog and check out the posts.
The folks over at Toobworld are pondering who should play the father of Dr. Greg House (Hugh Laurie) on Fox’s hit HOUSE M.D. They’ve settled on Dick Van Dyke… as Dr. Mark Sloan. Here’s their thinking:
From a production viewpoint, [the] obstacles could be smoothed over. It’s from the inner reality of the plotline that we might face a few arguments. Most of all, it’s the fact that there was never any mention of a second son for Dr. Mark Sloan in all the years ‘Diagnosis Murder’ was on the air.
He had two children – Steve Sloan, a Los Angeles police detective who often worked with his dad in solving cases; and a daughter who was tragically murdered. Added to this is the obvious difference in their last names – Sloan and House.I’m not the only one who can see the obvious answer, right? Greg House is the illegitimate son of Mark Sloan.
The days when our TV heroes were cast as exemplars of virtue are long gone. Nowadays they have flaws, and foibles, and failings – they are the F-Troop. They make mistakes in Life, but eventually they admit to them and they rise above them. (Unless of course we’re talking about Detective Vic Mackey of ‘The Shield’.) That’s what makes them human, what makes them real. And what makes them interesting to watch week after week. Having been the bastard son of a noted crime-solving doctor on the West Coast might be a great explanation for some of Dr. House’s acerbic attitude towards the rest of the world at large. And a chance to rectify that situation with a renewed relationship with the father he never knew might provide for as many episodes as they wanted to run with it; perhaps a once-a-year type of reunion. And nothing says they HAVE to iron out all their differences. After all, we don’t want House becoming all sweetness and light – that’s not why he’s
become such an interesting character for the audience.
There’s only one excuse for someone giving this idea so much thought. Procrastination. The same reason I am posting this instead of plotting my next (the seventh!) DIAGNOSIS MURDER novel. How’s that for irony, eh?
Victor Gischler posted a list on his blog of 25 movies that have most influence his writing… and my brother Tod quickly followed up with a list of his own. I would have a much easier time listing the TV shows that have influenced me but, off the top of my head, here’s my list, in no order whatsoever, with lots of films left out that I will regret that I forgot to include:
Gee, looking at that list, you can really get a keen sense of my astonishing lack of depth. Now imagine what my writing must be like…
It’s not often you see a review of a 15-year-old rerun airing in syndication…but this week, Entertainment Weekly spotlights an episode of HUNTER written by my buddy Morgan Gendel.
This 1990 Hunter ep is titled "Unfinished Business" but I call it "the one where
Hunter and McCall have all the sex." After six years of stake-outs, innuendo,
and lingering looks over dead bodies, Rick and Dee Dee finally get it on in a
series of positively Bergman-esque flashbacks– and a shiveringly unresolved
ending. Mulder and Scully got nothin’ on this heat. Truly, the crap cop show’s
finest hour. Episode: A. Series: C+. TVLand, March 25th at 1 pm.
I’m sure it was the best episode. Morgan has a knack for writing the episode everybody remembers…no matter what series he’s on. For instance, his STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION episode "The Inner Light" was an instant classic, a Hugo-award winning script that every other STAR TREK series felt duty-bound to ripoff at least once, and sometimes twice (most recently on the ENTERPRISE episode "Twilight").
Once Sarah Weinman links to this, my brother Tod is dead meat in the mystery world. At least he didn’t criticize a book by Ken Bruen. Have I mentioned how much I liked HER LAST CALL TO LOUIS MACNIECE?
I thought I was the only one strangely fascinated by the ad with Steve Wynn standing atop his new hotel…but I’m not. I don’t know whether it’s his smug smile, his
"I’m-a-Syndicate-hitman-from-a-MANNIX-rerun" turtleneck and blazer, the overblown DALLAS-esque score, the self-satisfied smirk, or the Siegfield & Roy-inspired theatrical flick of the hand that cues the big music sting as the camera pulls back from the roof-top in a reverse of the classic HAWAII FIVE-O main titles….
But whatever it is… I like it (maybe it’s all those sublimal TV references from MANNIX, DALLAS and HAWAII FIVE -O). I can’t watch it just once.
Aldo Calcagno was among the paparazzi who covered our whirlwind book tour. You can check out the rest of the photos here.
On his blog, my brother Tod fills out the questionnaire the Citizens For Literary Standards are sending to candidates for the Blue Valley School Board in Overland Park, KS. His answers to their self-serving questions makes for good reading… which, of course, means it would be banned if these "citizens" had their way.
The Citizens for Literary Standards, you may recall, seek to "inform parents and the community about poor quality literature and vulgar subject matter (profanity, sex, occultism) in graded reading assignments." Books these LitNazis want to ban from high school include such "poor quality literature" as ALL THE PRETTY HORSES, ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST, BELOVED, LORDS OF DISCIPLINE, CATCHER IN THE RYE, OF MICE AND MEN, and I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS.
It makes sense to me. As we all know, reading CATCHER IN THE RYE has turned generations of Americans into Satan-worshipping, drug-addicted, sociopathic liberals.
I’ve been catching up on my my friend Javier Grillo Marxuach’s blog. We worked together years ago on SEAQUEST, and he’s gone on to much better things… like his current gig as supervising producer of LOST. A few weeks back, he wrote about the demise of ENTERPRISE.
For the past ten years, being a star trek fan has been like watching a
beloved relative waste away from a completely curable degenerative
illness… you prayed for someone to administer the readily available
magic bullet of creative freedom, bold choices and individual
thought… and yet, its care was continually entrusted to insurance
company administrators eager to deliver the bottom line.
He nails it, doesn’t he?
It was the talk of Left Coast Crime in El Paso, whispered in the corridors, at the bar, and by the Spanish-speaking cashiers at the Arby’s across the street…
Have you heard about Shelly?
They were talking, of course, about Sheldon MacArthur, the proprietor of the Mystery Book Store in Westwood (and, for many years before that, The Mysterious Bookshop in West Hollywood). For a little guy, he’s one of the biggest personalities (and opinion-makers) in the Southern California mystery scene… the Yoda of crime writing. If you’re serious about mystery novels, as a writer or a fan, you make the pilgrimmage to his store to get his advice and his blessing. He’s a polarizing character… people either love him or hate him. I’m one of the guy’s who loves him… I was a loyal customer long before I was an author and I can sit for hours talking about mysteries with him.
Well, I could...
Lately, he’s been missing from the store and rumors about his disappearance are running rumpant. The story is that he’s on "extended leave." But I’ve heard lots of other explanations. Some say he had a nasty fight with the other investors in the store and he was kicked out. Others say he’s left to deal with a family emergency. Then there are those persistent rumblings about satan worship, gambling debts to the mob, and wild sex parties involving cats, quilts, and people dressing up as Robert Crais and Gregg Hurwitz.
I was in the store earlier this week and tried pumping the staff oh-so-subtly for information ("So, what’s the real story with Shelly? Is he sick? Has he been fired? Is he having an Extreme Make-Over?"), but they were tight-lipped. All they would tell me, Stepford-like, was that he was "on an extended leave."
So is Jimmy Hoffa, if you know what I mean.
The Mystery Bookstore’s anniversary party is this Saturday… and if he’s not there, his absense is sure to be a hot topic among the mystery writers and fans in attendance (who will include Robert B. Parker, Thomas Perry, Tod Goldberg, Patricia Smiley, Jerrilyn Farmer, Don Winslow, April Smith, Gregg Hurwitz, Bill Fitzhugh, Scott Frost, and, of course, yours truly).
I’ll report back on Sunday…
(that’s Shelly in the picture with Bob, who is doing his "I’m a grim mystery writer" face. I hear they have consultants now who teach mystery writers how to look street instead of cul-de-sac. Either Bob is practicing the face, or he just heard his production bonus check for HOSTAGE got lost in the mail. You can click on the photo for a larger image)