NO CATCHPHRASES
September 2, 2013 7:12 AM Subscribe
My problem: Hardly any of my favorite TV writers.
(Ben Edlund: How about an episode from the POV of a cat...
Darin Morgan: set in a tacky gas station no one can physically leave...
Jackson Publick: Populated with a group of disgruntled Dragon-Con cosplayers in full outfits, fuming at each other after the trip turned sour...
Akiva Goldsman: ...because someone spiked their coffee with an experimental new hallucinogenic drug that allows you to see into alternate realities....
Sara Gamble: ..and one universe is a version where the show is really just a TV show....
Adam Reed: Until a rogue spy agency breaks them out to steal the drug, which is produced in the saliva glands of the cat, so they all dare each other other to see who will kiss the cat first. )
posted by The Whelk at 7:39 AM on September 2, 2013 [8 favorites]
(Ben Edlund: How about an episode from the POV of a cat...
Darin Morgan: set in a tacky gas station no one can physically leave...
Jackson Publick: Populated with a group of disgruntled Dragon-Con cosplayers in full outfits, fuming at each other after the trip turned sour...
Akiva Goldsman: ...because someone spiked their coffee with an experimental new hallucinogenic drug that allows you to see into alternate realities....
Sara Gamble: ..and one universe is a version where the show is really just a TV show....
Adam Reed: Until a rogue spy agency breaks them out to steal the drug, which is produced in the saliva glands of the cat, so they all dare each other other to see who will kiss the cat first. )
posted by The Whelk at 7:39 AM on September 2, 2013 [8 favorites]
What was Seth MacFarlane doing in the same room as the "Greatest Television Writers Ever"?
posted by spoobnooble II: electric bugaboo at 7:44 AM on September 2, 2013 [11 favorites]
posted by spoobnooble II: electric bugaboo at 7:44 AM on September 2, 2013 [11 favorites]
Also where is Matthew Weiner or Vince Gillian?
posted by The Whelk at 7:47 AM on September 2, 2013 [5 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 7:47 AM on September 2, 2013 [5 favorites]
Kudos for not including Damon Lindelhof or JJ Abrams.
posted by Ber at 7:56 AM on September 2, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by Ber at 7:56 AM on September 2, 2013 [3 favorites]
Also where is Jane Esperson or Bryan Fuller? Or Tim Minear? Has it actually been too late to make a Ronald D. Moore joke?
I may care more about TV writing than the makers of the this video, possibly.
posted by The Whelk at 8:01 AM on September 2, 2013 [10 favorites]
I may care more about TV writing than the makers of the this video, possibly.
posted by The Whelk at 8:01 AM on September 2, 2013 [10 favorites]
...I may have just outed myself as some kind of horrible geek here.
posted by The Whelk at 8:05 AM on September 2, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 8:05 AM on September 2, 2013 [3 favorites]
Finally the truth comes out about the Whelk.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 8:16 AM on September 2, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 8:16 AM on September 2, 2013 [4 favorites]
By Chris Carter
posted by Potomac Avenue at 8:17 AM on September 2, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 8:17 AM on September 2, 2013 [2 favorites]
( spits up black oil)
posted by The Whelk at 8:20 AM on September 2, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 8:20 AM on September 2, 2013 [2 favorites]
What was Seth MacFarlane doing in the same room as the "Greatest Television Writers Ever"?
Assume "Greatest" means "Most Successful".
posted by Bonzai at 8:41 AM on September 2, 2013
Assume "Greatest" means "Most Successful".
posted by Bonzai at 8:41 AM on September 2, 2013
But... Dan Harmon?
posted by Potomac Avenue at 8:49 AM on September 2, 2013
posted by Potomac Avenue at 8:49 AM on September 2, 2013
Maybe most well-known to a general audience? IDK.
posted by The Whelk at 9:05 AM on September 2, 2013
posted by The Whelk at 9:05 AM on September 2, 2013
Nah its just the creator's favorites, not meant to be a top 10 list I'm sure. She's clearly a sci-fi fan from her other videos.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 9:12 AM on September 2, 2013
posted by Potomac Avenue at 9:12 AM on September 2, 2013
But... Dan Harmon?
Point taken. I withdraw my theory.
posted by Bonzai at 9:36 AM on September 2, 2013
Point taken. I withdraw my theory.
posted by Bonzai at 9:36 AM on September 2, 2013
No Shonda Rhimes? Pfft. I mean, I'm not a big fan, but she's got a lot of people who love both her shows.
It's also too bad no one knows any of the old-school writers these days, like, say, Carl Reiner, or James L. Brooks, or Joss's father Tom Whedon or his grandfather John Whedon, all TV writers stretching back to the 50s. I suppose it's thanks to the internet that the TV nerds have made writers publicly recognizable and the auteurs of TV in a way that couldn't happen in the past, at least enough to pull off a sketch like this.
This was cute, though.
posted by droplet at 10:46 AM on September 2, 2013
It's also too bad no one knows any of the old-school writers these days, like, say, Carl Reiner, or James L. Brooks, or Joss's father Tom Whedon or his grandfather John Whedon, all TV writers stretching back to the 50s. I suppose it's thanks to the internet that the TV nerds have made writers publicly recognizable and the auteurs of TV in a way that couldn't happen in the past, at least enough to pull off a sketch like this.
This was cute, though.
posted by droplet at 10:46 AM on September 2, 2013
It's worth it, if only for the Whedon/GRRM exchange.
Although I thought the payoff for Whedon's "Let's get people to love the characters and then..." setup was going to be "get canceled suddenly."
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:05 AM on September 2, 2013 [2 favorites]
Although I thought the payoff for Whedon's "Let's get people to love the characters and then..." setup was going to be "get canceled suddenly."
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:05 AM on September 2, 2013 [2 favorites]
No Rod Serling? I mean, come on.
Joss Whedon still does TV. He has that SHIELD show coming up, AKA That Superhero Thing Joss is Doing Instead of a New Buffyverse Show.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 12:22 PM on September 2, 2013
Joss Whedon still does TV. He has that SHIELD show coming up, AKA That Superhero Thing Joss is Doing Instead of a New Buffyverse Show.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 12:22 PM on September 2, 2013
I don't know why it irks me but I really wish she used the term showrunner instead of writer. It seems like the only reason she didn't is that she couldn't have used George RR Martin, and that people like my mom don't know the word showrunner.
But like, most of the best tv writers have to work in a writer's room setting and wouldn't have a problem working together if they were kidnapped and forced to, but here I am, picking oh so many nits, contemplating oh so many beans.
posted by elr at 12:24 PM on September 2, 2013
But like, most of the best tv writers have to work in a writer's room setting and wouldn't have a problem working together if they were kidnapped and forced to, but here I am, picking oh so many nits, contemplating oh so many beans.
posted by elr at 12:24 PM on September 2, 2013
Cute cartoon. Still, George R.R. Martin? At least the others actually are TV writers to some degree.
It's also too bad no one knows any of the old-school writers these days, like, say, Carl Reiner, or James L. Brooks...
Yeah nobody has ever heard of James L. Brooks. Carl Reiner is pretty underrated though, I enjoyed him in Mad About You.
posted by turbid dahlia at 3:09 PM on September 2, 2013
It's also too bad no one knows any of the old-school writers these days, like, say, Carl Reiner, or James L. Brooks...
Yeah nobody has ever heard of James L. Brooks. Carl Reiner is pretty underrated though, I enjoyed him in Mad About You.
posted by turbid dahlia at 3:09 PM on September 2, 2013
Joss Whedon still does TV. He has that SHIELD show coming up
Producing and directing the pilot, but I'm pretty sure Tim Minear is doing the day to day run of it, which is good cause I like Tim Minear's stuff a lot.
posted by The Whelk at 3:10 PM on September 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
Producing and directing the pilot, but I'm pretty sure Tim Minear is doing the day to day run of it, which is good cause I like Tim Minear's stuff a lot.
posted by The Whelk at 3:10 PM on September 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
I thought Matt Greognoirg in there was there to represent the League Of Extraordinary Superwriters that was the Simpsons glory days, Brooks, Weiss, O'Brien ...
Although trying to make John Swartezhalder interact with other human beings might be fun. Asumming anyone survived.
posted by The Whelk at 3:12 PM on September 2, 2013
Although trying to make John Swartezhalder interact with other human beings might be fun. Asumming anyone survived.
posted by The Whelk at 3:12 PM on September 2, 2013
> "Still, George R.R. Martin? At least the others actually are TV writers to some degree."
George R. R. Martin has been writing for television since 1986. He has credits on dozens of teleplays on at least four different TV shows.
posted by kyrademon at 4:44 PM on September 2, 2013 [3 favorites]
George R. R. Martin has been writing for television since 1986. He has credits on dozens of teleplays on at least four different TV shows.
posted by kyrademon at 4:44 PM on September 2, 2013 [3 favorites]
I'd like to thank The Whelk for opening up the discussion here to all the others who'd belong in the coerced meeting of "best TV writers" (and hey, you had your 'horrible geek outing' here LONG ago).
since I was long-ago outed as OLD, I agree with droplet and would include every surviving writer from M*A*S*H, Mary Tyler Moore and Cheers (one of whom is a blogger, dammit), as well as the under-recognized masters of modern TV sci-fi, Rockne S, O'Bannon and the unspellable J. Michael Straczynski (who both worked with GRRM on the '80s Twilight Zone revival) as well as David Simon, David Chase, Steven Bochco, David E. Kelley, Donald P. Bellisario, Aaron Sorkin and maybe Chris Carter. Of course, if you're talking "success" more than just plain "good", you'll be stuck with Chuck Lorre and Dick Wolf as well as J.J. Abrams. And hey, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert write at LOT of their own stuff.
And in response to Tina's "only two women?" complaint... Amy Poehler, Amy Sedaris, Mindy Kaling, Jane Espenson, Marti Noxon (an argument for just kidnapping the old Buffy writing staff - and while you're at it, all the Saturday Night Live writers who Lorne never gave talk shows will up the women-to-men ratio). From the category 'Women Who Were Successful But Have Given Up On TV', Ann "Square Pegs" Beatts, Diane "Murphy Brown" English, Susan "Soap" Harris, D.C. "Star Trek TOS/TNG" Fontana and Agnes "Queen of Soap Opera" Nixon. Yes, she's still alive... have I gone too far?
And as a lifelong toonhead, I'd have included Pendleton Ward, Craig McCracken & Lauren Faust (possibly tied up together, how romantic), the also-spelling-bee-horrors John Kricfalusi and Genndy Tartakovsky, Mike Judge, also-a-blogger Mark Evanier, Bruce Timm, Paul Dini, Loren Bouchard, Brendon Small, David X. Cohen (who does the creative heavy lifting on Futurama, just as Bill Scott did for the toons credited to Jay Ward) and Trey Parker and Matt Stone (definitely tied up together, although Parker does much more of the creative stuff, at least he gets first billing). And make room at the table for Alex "Gravity Falls" Hirsch if season 2 is as good as season 1. Heck, let's move Groening and MacFarlane and give the tooners their own writing room/cell. I'd bet their output would be superior to the other group. (If you know who ALL these people are, YOU are a toonhead too).
I'm definitely going down the IMDb rabbit hole here... did you know Allan Burns went from Bullwinkle to The Munsters to Mary Tyler Moore to Lou Grant to The (massively underrated) Duck Factory? (He's still around and I want to shake his hand.)
posted by oneswellfoop at 6:54 PM on September 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
since I was long-ago outed as OLD, I agree with droplet and would include every surviving writer from M*A*S*H, Mary Tyler Moore and Cheers (one of whom is a blogger, dammit), as well as the under-recognized masters of modern TV sci-fi, Rockne S, O'Bannon and the unspellable J. Michael Straczynski (who both worked with GRRM on the '80s Twilight Zone revival) as well as David Simon, David Chase, Steven Bochco, David E. Kelley, Donald P. Bellisario, Aaron Sorkin and maybe Chris Carter. Of course, if you're talking "success" more than just plain "good", you'll be stuck with Chuck Lorre and Dick Wolf as well as J.J. Abrams. And hey, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert write at LOT of their own stuff.
And in response to Tina's "only two women?" complaint... Amy Poehler, Amy Sedaris, Mindy Kaling, Jane Espenson, Marti Noxon (an argument for just kidnapping the old Buffy writing staff - and while you're at it, all the Saturday Night Live writers who Lorne never gave talk shows will up the women-to-men ratio). From the category 'Women Who Were Successful But Have Given Up On TV', Ann "Square Pegs" Beatts, Diane "Murphy Brown" English, Susan "Soap" Harris, D.C. "Star Trek TOS/TNG" Fontana and Agnes "Queen of Soap Opera" Nixon. Yes, she's still alive... have I gone too far?
And as a lifelong toonhead, I'd have included Pendleton Ward, Craig McCracken & Lauren Faust (possibly tied up together, how romantic), the also-spelling-bee-horrors John Kricfalusi and Genndy Tartakovsky, Mike Judge, also-a-blogger Mark Evanier, Bruce Timm, Paul Dini, Loren Bouchard, Brendon Small, David X. Cohen (who does the creative heavy lifting on Futurama, just as Bill Scott did for the toons credited to Jay Ward) and Trey Parker and Matt Stone (definitely tied up together, although Parker does much more of the creative stuff, at least he gets first billing). And make room at the table for Alex "Gravity Falls" Hirsch if season 2 is as good as season 1. Heck, let's move Groening and MacFarlane and give the tooners their own writing room/cell. I'd bet their output would be superior to the other group. (If you know who ALL these people are, YOU are a toonhead too).
I'm definitely going down the IMDb rabbit hole here... did you know Allan Burns went from Bullwinkle to The Munsters to Mary Tyler Moore to Lou Grant to The (massively underrated) Duck Factory? (He's still around and I want to shake his hand.)
posted by oneswellfoop at 6:54 PM on September 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
George R. R. Martin has been writing for television since 1986.
I think you're thinking of Herman Melville. OR AM I?
posted by turbid dahlia at 7:50 PM on September 2, 2013
I think you're thinking of Herman Melville. OR AM I?
posted by turbid dahlia at 7:50 PM on September 2, 2013
One day there will be a post of "the best x of y" and it will just link to a compendium of complete world knowledge so everyone can be happy.
posted by munchingzombie at 9:16 PM on September 2, 2013
posted by munchingzombie at 9:16 PM on September 2, 2013
My problem: Hardly any of my favorite TV writers.
David Simon: [Delivers 2 hour speech on the fraud of the drug war and a hyper-capitalist society]
posted by windbox at 9:48 PM on September 2, 2013
David Simon: [Delivers 2 hour speech on the fraud of the drug war and a hyper-capitalist society]
posted by windbox at 9:48 PM on September 2, 2013
partial IMDb listing for the 1985-1989 revival of Twilight Zone
Series Writing credits
Rod Serling (65 episodes, 1985-1989) (creator)
J. Michael Straczynski (before Babylon 5) (12 episodes, 1986-1989)
Rockne S. O'Bannon (before Farscape) (8 episodes, 1985-1986)
Harlan Ellison (5 episodes, 1985-1989) (3 teleplays, 2 based on story by)
George R.R. Martin (5 episodes, 1986) (his first TV gig, left to co-produce 'Beauty and the Beast')
Philip DeGuere (3 episodes, 1985-1986) (AFTER creating 'Simon & Simon')
Gerrit Graham (3 episodes, 1985-1986) (5 total credits for writing, 120 as an actor)
Charles Beaumont (2 episodes, 1985-1986) (based on teleplays of original series)
Ray Bradbury (2 episodes, 1985-1986) (1 teleplay, 1 based on a short story)
Donald Todd (2 episodes, 1985) (long before co-creating 'Samantha Who?' with Christina Applegate)
David Gerrold (2 episodes, 1986) (after writing 'The Trouble with Tribbles' for 'Star Trek')
Theodore Sturgeon (2 episodes, 1986) (based on short stories)
Cal Willingham (2 episodes, 1987-1989) (only IMDb credit, WHO IS THIS GUY?)
Not including the last guy, THAT crew could "write the greatest TV show of ALL TIME!" So why didn't they? (I remember the show, it was pretty good, but...)
posted by oneswellfoop at 10:06 PM on September 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
Series Writing credits
Rod Serling (65 episodes, 1985-1989) (creator)
J. Michael Straczynski (before Babylon 5) (12 episodes, 1986-1989)
Rockne S. O'Bannon (before Farscape) (8 episodes, 1985-1986)
Harlan Ellison (5 episodes, 1985-1989) (3 teleplays, 2 based on story by)
George R.R. Martin (5 episodes, 1986) (his first TV gig, left to co-produce 'Beauty and the Beast')
Philip DeGuere (3 episodes, 1985-1986) (AFTER creating 'Simon & Simon')
Gerrit Graham (3 episodes, 1985-1986) (5 total credits for writing, 120 as an actor)
Charles Beaumont (2 episodes, 1985-1986) (based on teleplays of original series)
Ray Bradbury (2 episodes, 1985-1986) (1 teleplay, 1 based on a short story)
Donald Todd (2 episodes, 1985) (long before co-creating 'Samantha Who?' with Christina Applegate)
David Gerrold (2 episodes, 1986) (after writing 'The Trouble with Tribbles' for 'Star Trek')
Theodore Sturgeon (2 episodes, 1986) (based on short stories)
Cal Willingham (2 episodes, 1987-1989) (only IMDb credit, WHO IS THIS GUY?)
Not including the last guy, THAT crew could "write the greatest TV show of ALL TIME!" So why didn't they? (I remember the show, it was pretty good, but...)
posted by oneswellfoop at 10:06 PM on September 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
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posted by sammyo at 7:17 AM on September 2, 2013