Remembering The TV Critics' Press Tour

A bunch of snapshots fell out of an old book of press clippings.
I couldn't resist looking and remembering the days when I was on the annual TV Critrics' Press Tour.
I started as a child of 24 in 1970 and ended in 2008 but what a lot of memories there are over those 38 years!
For many years I was the only Canadian allowed on the tour --in those days the Big Three networks ran the whole shebang and even paid the way of most critics.
The reason: the first paper I worked at, the Hamilton Spectator, was considered to be part of the territory of the Buffalo affiliates. Hence I was in and bigger papers like the Toronto Star were out.
At first I was ordered to do all my interviews on a 1-to-1 basis! What a treat that was! On my first tour of duty here I was hanging out on the set of The Brady Bunch in the morning and walking to the next sound stage to interview Peter Graves of Mission: Impossible in the afternoon.
One afternoon an NBC limo took me out to have lunch at Julie London's and she was so warm and wonderful that we kept in touch until her passing.
NBC shut down Disneyland early one night for a candlelight dinner with its stars and I was wedged in between Hayley Mills and Annette Funicello.
In 1974 I remember dinner at Lucy Ball's --in her gazebo, catered by Chasen's. Only two of us had wanted to go out and meet the late, great Miss Ball. This was the last year her faltering sitcom was on and she was considered yesterday's news!
I surprised her by saying I wanted her not to be Lucy but Lucille, the first female head of a major studio (Desilu) and she obliged by giving us as precise a critique of the TV industry as ever I've heard.
On one of those early tours (1972) I went out to Norma Shearer's house and gave her the door nob to the house she'd been born at in Montreal.
She said it was the wrong door nob but let me stay for tea anyway.
Set visits were a real thrill. Every year a bunch of us would sneak out of lunch at the Century Plaza hotel to get through the back studio gates of Twentieth Century Fox and onto the soundstage housing M*A*S*H.
I must have done that ten times in a row. I had an intimate lunch with Loretta Swit in July 1972 --months before the actual series went on the air.
One day we tiptoed out to watch the filming of a key scene on the disaster epic The Towering Inferno. Fred Astaire and Jennifer Jones were dancing away and after the director bawled "Cut" Fred towed Jennifer over to say hello.
Told we were critics she turned and fled to her dressing room. Fred stayed to chat a bit before departing with a wave.
Another big thrill was being on the huge set of Battlestar Galactica and lunching with Toronto's Lorne Greene. "I thought the Ponderosa was huge but now I own the universe!" he joked.
Another big set visit was to The Thorn Birds where I got to sit next to Jean Simmons. It was suggested the only way I could interview Barbara Stanwyck was to sit with her in her limousine as it took her home that afternoon. Hers was a truly intimidating personality but at one point she snapped "Stop shaking like a leaf! You're doing quite nicely with your questions!"
Another great set visit was to the Simi Valley and Roots 2. At lunch I asked Henry Fonda about his recent American Film Institute tribute and he teared right up.
To get Jimmy Stewart I had to go to the set with shooting that day at Harold Lloyd's fabulous Beverly Hills estate. Jimmy had just spotted an autographed picture he'd given Lloyd way back in 1936 and cracked "I don't remember being so young."
I remember the huge part at ABC's Century City headquarters to introduce the cast of Charlie's Angels. I arrived quite late and luckily ate none of the shrimp which seemed flaccid to me. The critics who did had to rush to the Century Plaza hotel to get their stomachs pumped out.
Anther night we all went out to Larry Hagman's Malibu pad for a cook out. His mom, Broadway legend, Mary Martin was welcoming us at the door. She whispered to me "Larry as J.R. is a phenomenon. But ,me, I'm the legend."
Today's press tour, severely truncated because there are so few genuine print critics left, can't compete with the old days, believe you me.

Another New Canadian TV Network Arrives

One of CTV's best and most profitable networks is The Comedy Network.
So why did it take all this time for CTV to figure out the sequel titled Comedy Gold?
The Comedy Rerun Network should be the real title.
Such cable nets as TVTropolis and TVLand specialize in bringing back the big hit TV series of the past.
Comedy Gold does the same with TV comedy, mainly TV sitcoms.
The new network revs up Monday August 2 at 2 by presenting the very first episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show which ran from 1970 to 1977 on CBS.
At 5 p.m.Comedy Gold switches to episodes of Murphy Brown, another CBC sitcom which ran on CBS from 1988 to 1998.
And at 7p.m. its the first episodes of Designing Women which also ran on CBS from 1986 to 1993.
Perhaps the network should be renamed CBS Comedy Gold?Comedy Gold sent over a disc of the first episodes of Mary and Bob Newhart and Newhart and all really stand the test of time.
Why can't anybody make such classy sitcoms these days?
I was in the audience in 1972 to watch MTM go through her paces during show taping night. And she and her cast were amazing for the support they gave each other.
I always thought Newhart's first sitcom the better one but on this disc the first episode of Newhart in 1982 certainly is pure gold. It made me wonder what happened to the gifted (Canadian) actor Steven Kampmann who only lasted the first season as the ibcredibly egotistical Kirk.
And why the character of Leslie Vanderkellen (Jennifer Holmes) morphed into Stephanie Vanderkellen (Julia Duffy) the next year?
I interviewed Duffy on that set and really liked her --she later went on to join Designing Women.
And I must admit to being on the set of Full House twice, the first was to catch the demure Bob Saget who played the very nice father before he came an incredibly funny R-rated stand up comic.
And I came back years later to interview co-star Dave Coulier who hasn't done much since then.
Other sitcoms being revived from the dead include The fresh Prince Of Bel Air Night Court and two U.S. shows I'd hardly consider comedic: Fantasy Island and Hart To Hart.
Since CTV runs this network it's hardly surprising there are so few Canadian comedies present. CTV shows in that era included Littlest Hobo and Police Surgeon.
And some CTV comedic efforts that I covered are not present including Half The George Kirby Comedy Hour and Pat Paulsen's show which was taped at CFTO.
But CTV has resuscitated Check It Out with Don Adams, and Bizarre also made at CTV.
Kids In The Hall which originally ran on CBC is here along with Red Green and SCTV both of which ran on CBC.
But some CBC jewels are not --the biggest loss is Wayne And Shuster. For decades they were Canadian comedy at its best.
Other CBC "treasures" including Material World, Delilah and Not My Department remain missing.
I can think of one series that should be included but can't be simply because the tapes no longer exist. Of course I refer to CHCH's Party Game --the producer would wipe clean the videos at the end of each season to save on storage.
I'm wondering if the CRTC has made any requirement about new productions to be started up in the future.
However if it's a choice between watching a classic episode of Mary Tyler Moore or something current like Entourage I might be half pressed for a few seconds.
But I'd still go with Mary.

Remembering Maury Chaykin

I remember once telling Maury Chaykin he ressembled a permantly unmade bed.
And he laughed heartily and agreed with me.
The talented Canadian actor died Tuesday (ob his 61st birthday) and it's hard to remember a performance in which he wasn't less than great.
Once on the set of a Nero Wolfe TV movie (shot in Toronto) he told me he had basically taken the role because "I get to dress up". Wearing immaculate suits and sipping vintage wines --it was a far different type of role than Chaykin was used to.
But he was great in it just the same and co-star Timothy Hutton said Chaykin was fantastic to work with.
I first talked to him when he was promoting the 1985 TV movie Canada's Sweetheart, the life of Hal Banks and Chaykin had the guy down to a T.
I told him I'd phoned Banks' home and somebody listened as I asked to speak to Banks --then hung up:the next day Banks was dead.
Chaykin could do it all: he excelled in character parts in big U.S. movies like War Games (1983), Mrs. Soffel (1984) (shot in Toronto) with Mel Gibson and Turk 182! (1985) also with Hutton, Stars And Bars (1988) with Daniel Day-Lewis, Dances With Wolves (1990) with Kevin Costner.
But he also specialized in Canadian material --he could jump from a Night Heat episode to a Diamonds guest spot to Street Legal and always catch one's eye.
We always got around to the subject of his weight which disturbed him. But his appearance was also one of the reasons he worked so much --he could ease into many different kinds of people.
He won a Gemini award (finally) in 2006 for the series At The Hotel and had a semi-recurring role in HBO's Entourage. More recently he was deeply moving in the HBO Canada series Less Than Kind.
Make no mistake he was one of the best. And I miss him already.
NOTE: Bravo! salutes Chaykin Thursday at 9 p.m. with a showing of his 1994 performance in Whale Music which won him a Genie.

On TV Everything Old Is New Again

On American TV the great age of recycling is upon us.
Networks in trouble try to reinvent old favorites and see if the franchises are still worth anything.
The new season which starts in September will have a newly minted version of Hawaii 5-0.
Jack Lord has died and sidekick James MacArthur is into scientific projects these days so the new cast will be headed by Aussie import Alexi O'Loughlin who already has a few CBS flops under his belt.
Well. sometimes revivals work but mostly they do not. the world has moved on. If the original stars are back it's a shock to see how much they've aged.
NBC had two big misses with Knight Rider and Bionic Woman but this season will have no revised series coming our way.
But it's the British who are now big into revivals.
ITV says it will revive its hit All Creatures great And Small. Stars Christopher Timothy and Robert Hardy are still out there but the focus of the show will now be on the earlier years of veterinarian James Herriot's career.
ITV is saying it may possibly prove the successor to the long running Heartbeat which has been cancelled.
And then there's BBC's latest riff on Sherlock Holmes. The definitive TV Holmes was certainly Jeremy Brett but he has passed.
But BBC has decided to go back to the future. The new Sherlock will be in his twenties and played by Benedict Cumberpatch with Martin Freeman (The Office) as Dr. Watson. And remember there will probably be a sequel to the recent film with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law.
The pilot has already aired on BBC and beat out Tom Cruise's appearance along with Cameron Diaz on the series Top Gear on ITV.
So why doesn't CBC get into the game or CTV.
I think a modern rendering of Wojeck would be in order --it could concern the coroner's son --because star John Vernon has passed.
CBC already tried to restart The Beachcombers but with remnants of the original cast in a clumsily made TV movie starring Dave Thomas that went nowhere.
CBC had better luck with the reunion of the Kids In the Hall --how about another miniseries from these guys?
But CTV? Come on! Do you really want to see Littlest Hobo back? Or Police Surgeon?
And Global? Did you even see Global's Loving Friends And Perfect Couples the first time around?

Just What Is Canadian TV?

In a terse but fair review of the new police saga Rookie Blue The Boston Globe's TV critic Matthew Gilbert wonders "why Rookie Blue would use the word 'blue' in the title,begging comparisons to NYPD Blue. This is a Canadian production filmed in Toronto and the nameless city in which it's set feels as blandly generic as the characters.There is absolutely no texture in the world of Rookie Blue."
And so it has taken a perceptive American TV critic to spot one of the key problems of the Canadian TV world.
Let's start with the stats: Canada has only one tenth the population of the mighty U.S.A.
Any Canadian TV series has to be sold to the American market or it just won't make much of a profit.
It's an eternal quest --to make it on American TV.
Yes, Rookie Blue is a disguised Canadian show. The police force are never named (but remember Hill Street Blues never named its location). In the backdrop one can spot key Toronto locations but these are never actually named. The actors do not chase around in Toronto police cars but in generic cars.
And it's the same situation on Flashpoint, another generic cop series made for both CTV and CBS.
But it's always been like this.My first assignment as a kid TV critic was to cover the premiere of CBC's first big TV miniseries --Jalna (1971), a sprawling saga starring Kate Reid and dozens of others including Blair Brown.
The producer was the respected Fletcher Markle and he told me he was off to New York to peddle the show to the Americans.
First up was Masterpiece Theater's producer Joan Wilson who watched in a darkened screening room beside Markle and then passed.
She didn't think her viewers would warm to a Canadian epic, she told him. And that was the same reaction at the Big Three TV networks. Jalna was deemed too Canadian.
In the ensuing decades Canadian producers became TV chameleons.
A miniseries like I'll Take Manhattan (1987) was made almost entirely in Toronto with name U.S. actors in the leads and Canadians in support.
And this was the way of Canadian TV right up to the point TV movies disappeared because of increasingly high costs. I remember being on a Liberty ship on Lake Ontario on the set of the minidseries Haven (2001) watching such fine imported talent as Natasha Richardson and Anne Bancroft dramatically battle it out while such Canadian talents as Colm Feore quietly stole scene after scene.
Canadian made series from A Gift To Last (1976) to This Is Wonderland (2004) never made it to American TV because of their unique Canadian qualities.
There were exceptions: Road To Avolea (1989) thrived on the Disney channel as teatime family drama. And Queer as Folk thrived because it was pinpointed to a specific audience.
The wonder to me is that Flashpoint and Rookie Blue have even made it to prime time U.S. TV --albeit in summer time schedules. And that ABC quickly picked up Rookie Blue for a second season.
Canadian producers will continue to make generic shows because they sell to the U.S. and specifically Canadian series do not make it.

Talk Is Cheap

One of the craziest decisions in CBC history was to jettison the daily talk show Take 30.
Similarly, CTV made a few bloopers of its own in canceling its daily Canadian talkers --Dini Petty and Vancouver-based Vicki Gabereau.
Because, you see, talk is all of a sudden daily TV's hottest commodity.
I well remember being one of the first TV critics on the set of the new Barbara Walters show The View which at its inception was carried in Canada by lowly CHCH-TV in Hamilton.
It was something different for American TV: a network-run talk show whereas all the others from Regis And Kathy Lee to Ellen have been syndicated efforts.
But the success of The View and its startling ratings are propelling rivals to get in on the act.
At CTV Marilyn Dennis will debut in September in a new talk sjow format similar to the one she peddled so successfully for 19 years on Citytv.
But the bigger news has CBS filling inits cancelled As The World Turns with a new View-like talk show to be co-hosted by Julie Chen, Sara Gilbert, Sharon Osbourne, Holly Robinson Peete, Leah Remini and Marissa Jaret Whew! Just getting them all onstage together will be some feat
Gilbert will serve as executive producer as well as co-host and not all these gals will be around every day although the View has five co-hosts on a full day.
CBS considered and then rejected an offer from Paramount for a similar themed talk show to feature Valerie Bertinelli.
Also considered and then rejected were revivals of Password and Pyramid --instead an updated Let's Make A Deal was chosen.
My solution for ratings-starved CBC in the afternoon is to develop its own Canadian centric talk show. Take 30 was the first step in a long career for Adrienne Clarkson so why not a modern themed revival?
I'd suggest somebody with brains like Hana Gartner or Wendy Mesley. Or why not both together?

See I Told Ya!

The Canadian TV world was all a-twitter a few weeks back with the story that a new conservative news channel was going to be founded to replace the ratings lethargic Sun TV.
I told loyal viewers at the time it would never happen because the Canadian TV dial is already overcrowded with dozens of priority home grown cable channels nobody particularly wants to watch.
And for once the CRTC has agreed with me.
In a letter the CRTC very quietly torched the idea that the new channel would get priority coverage on the cable dial and thus be eligible for buckets of cash courtesy of your friendly, neighborhood cable company.
Already there are dozens of these channels out there raking in big bucks from the mandatory payments the cable companies must fork out every month.
That's why your cable TV bill is swelling although surveys indicate few of these channels get many viewers at all.
Don't get me wrong I watch such Canadian cable channels as Discovery, Animal Planet, the various sports channels, BBC Canada and a few others.
But the CRTC obviously is worried about the number of disconnects as viewers switch to other, cheaper means. Guys down the street have just bought a new antenna and now get the basics without any monthly cable fee at all.
I've also heard of some people installing illegal satellite receivers to circumvent the CRTC but this is just hearsay.
In March the CRTC announced it was suspending all applications for the "Category A" channels --meaning mandatory coverage across the country.
But Quebecor tried anyway and has been turned down.Quebecor can still go ahead with an application for a "Category B" cable TV license which distributors might or might not pick up. But there'd be no steady cable fees from the carriers.
Or it could continue with Sun TV's current position as an over-the-air carrier (on Channel 52).
Channel 52 was the last conventional TV channel left for Toronto and was the subject of a furious bidding war at the CRTC applications hearings. The Toronto Star proposed a quality local service with coverage of such events as the Kiwanis music festival but this was turned down by the CRTC in favor of Calgary-based Craig Communications.
In little over a year all the bold promises to the CRTC were broken and Craig sold out to Sun TV (now owned by Quebecor).
Now Sun TV wants another make over but the CRTC has passed at the proposal to charge the cable viewers a compulsory service fee.