From the very start, the opening roll call scene, held by Michael Conrad as Sergeant Phil Esterhaus, "Hill Street" was a study in barely controlled chaos. You like dogs?ĪSNER: (As Lou Grant) Yeah, I like dogs, big dogs.īIANCULLI: Then came another massively influential MTM production, "Hill Street Blues," which brought serialized storylines and sophisticated filming techniques to the TV cop drama. I didn't like the one who died in the men's room either. ![]() MARCHAND: (As Margaret Pynchon) I didn't like him. MARCHAND: (As Margaret Pynchon) One of them died in the men's room, one quit, and I fired the third.ĪSNER: (As Lou Grant) Why'd you fire him? UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) I told him. MARCHAND: (As Margaret Pynchon) Oh, we've had three men at the city desk in the last eight months. NANCY MARCHAND: (As Margaret Pynchon) You look like you're about to throw a punch. And Lou already is visibly uncomfortable. She's petting a small dog as it sits on her desk. And this time, it's a woman publisher, played by Nancy Marchand, who's very clearly in charge of the job interview. Here's a scene from the first episode of "Lou Grant." It's an intentional gender-reversal mirror image of the start of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show." This time, it's Lou Grant seeking a job, this time on a Los Angeles newspaper. It's a formula that has informed almost every quality TV-drama ever since, from "The Sopranos" to "Breaking Bad." If I don't like you, I'll fire you.ĪSNER: (As Lou Grant) If you don't like me, I'll fire you.īIANCULLI: MTM Enterprises generated a string of smart, successful sitcoms after that, including "The Bob Newhart Show." Then it changed the TV landscape again in the late '70s by taking the Lou Grant character from its "Mary Tyler Moore" sitcom and spinning him off into a drama series called "Lou Grant." The concept there was that the content was about 70 percent drama, 30 percent comedy, but without a laugh track - just like life. But it does seem that you've been asking a lot of very personal questions that don't have a thing to do with my qualifications for this job.ĪSNER: (As Lou Grant) You know what? You've got spunk.ĪSNER: (As Lou Grant) Tell you what - I'll try you out for a couple of weeks, see if it works out. MARY TYLER MOORE: (As Mary Richards) Yes, Mr. (SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW")ĮDWARD ASNER: (As Lou Grant) Look, Miss, would you try answering the questions as I ask them? In that series, Mary Tyler Moore ended up playing Mary Richards, a single, working woman, at a time when that was a quietly, but clearly feminist premise for a TV sitcom.Įven in the pilot episode, during her job interview at a TV news operation in Minneapolis, Mary Richards had the nerve to stand up to the chauvinist news director Lou Grant, played wonderfully by Ed Asner. "The Dick Van Dyke Show" had been the smartest TV sitcom of the '60s and became the model for "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," premiering on CBS in 1970. They were groundbreakers an envelope pushers. Many of those shows weren't just critical and popular successes. Elsewhere," "Cheers," "The Cosby Show" and others. And each and every one of them said that the most amazing and important thing about him was that he identified the people he thought were the most creative, then encouraged them to do what they wanted while protecting them from network interference.Īs a result, Tinker's string of hits and creative TV triumphs, either as a production executive or network chairman, included not only "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," but "Hill Street Blues," "St. Over the years, I've interviewed dozens of people who worked with and for Grant Tinker. In the case of Grant Tinker and why he's widely considered the best and most influential network executive in TV history, it wasn't so much what he did, as how he did it. But in 1970, he broke from the pack and founded MTM Enterprises, an independent TV company named after Mary Tyler Moore and showcasing her with its first television production, "The Mary Tyler Moore Show." Then, Tinker took over a broadcast network, running NBC in the 1980s and bringing it from last place to first. ![]() Early in his career, he also was a low-level NBC executive for a while. ![]() ![]() He started out as an ad executive for Procter & Gamble, where he helped shape "The Dick Van Dyke Show" and met his future wife, that show's co-star, Mary Tyler Moore. Today, we'll listen back to Terry's 1994 interview with him, as well as a 1995 interview with Mary Tyler Moore, Grant Tinker's ex-wife, who starred in two famous and influential sitcoms with which Tinker was involved - "The Dick Van Dyke Show" and "The Mary Tyler Moore Show." Grant Tinker was a major influence on and in television for the second half of the 20th century. TV executive Grant Tinker died last week at age 90. I'm David Bianculli, FRESH AIR's TV critic, sitting in for Terry Gross.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |