Friday, July 20, 2012

Ken Levine's blog

One day I was on Wiki reading about Cheers episodes and they mentioned Carla's husband Eddie and the way that he left the show. On Cheers, Eddie was done with hockey and ended up in an ice show. Then he was run over and killed by a Zamboni machine. Wiki had a link to the blog By Ken Levine and on his blog he told the story about how the actor who played Eddie, Jay Thomas, had a radio show at the time and one day a caller asked what was the worst thing about working on Cheers and he answered, "Having to kiss Rhea Perlman". She was listening that day. I liked Levine's blog and I went back and read his older posts from the archive. There are some great tips for TV writers and lots of behind-the-scenes stories about Cheers, MASH, Frasier, and other shows he's worked on. Anyway, on Fridays he answers questions from readers and one guy, ScottyB, mentioned how unfunny and typical childbirth scenes are on TV and in movies. The pregnant woman freaks out and yells at the father and demands drugs. That's so true. Just last month I saw the trailer for some dumb movie called What To Expect When You're Expecting and it had a clip of a woman in labor. MAN: Remember, honey, you said you wanted a natural childbirth? WOMAN: Give me the juice. GIVE ME THE JUICE!!! We've all seen that scene a billion times and it's never funny. Then at the end the father will act all tough and tell the woman that he's going to stay by her side for the whole delivery. A doctor will step up with some scary medical equipment or a huge needle, or the baby starts coming and the man looks under the sheet and he faints. Someone should put together a collection of clips from sitcoms and movies and show all the hysterical women and fainting fathers. That would make a good Youtube video.