tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post3612671150483659893..comments2024-01-07T06:59:04.212-05:00Comments on The Playgoer: Plays on TV? WHAT??? There Was a Time...Playgoerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02994724588504353485noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-35814126486282693722008-08-31T02:06:00.000-04:002008-08-31T02:06:00.000-04:00In response to your question of "what happened," I...In response to your question of "what happened," I think what happened was the fragmentization of the audience as more channels arose. Now that we have some six hundred or seven hundred channels, it's even harder for a commercial channel to attract the sort of market needed for a niche audience (which is what people who want to watch theater on the television) is. As the audience was less and less concentrated, it became less and less worthwhile for the networks to air it. They, after all, have their advertisers to think about.<BR/><BR/>Another reason might have been the rising production value of television/movies. Back in the 1950s, there wasn't that big of a distinction between television and the stage; I Love Lucy, for instance, was basically a living-room comedy. Occasionally they went into the bedroom or the kitchen and even more rarely to the Mertz's or to Ricky's club.<BR/><BR/>But plays on the stage, when broadcast, have always felt kind of awkward, the stage pictures don't translate into film/television pictures all that well. That's why Raisin in the Sun was made for television--so the director could translate the stage pictures into film pictures. It creates a more vivid, realistic presentation than that of the real world.<BR/><BR/>I'm not necessarily sure that's the way to go, but I'm sure that if they hadn't gone that road, it wouldn't have been as successful.<BR/><BR/>Actually, I'm not fully sure how successful it was. Did people watch Raisin in the Sun?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15720306798572553680noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-10843104103885124322008-08-29T12:58:00.000-04:002008-08-29T12:58:00.000-04:00I feel that, just as rlewis stated, that there is ...I feel that, just as rlewis stated, that there is a current direction towards theatre. While most of it has been because of the aforementioned popularity of the Movie Musical, it still calls attention to the original form, and that in itself is something to build upon.<BR/><BR/>In terms of television, we've seen a little of it slowly starting to develop, what with the broadcast of "Company" on PBS and the made-for-tv movie, "A Raisin in the Sun." It's not the full pulp of the theatre the way it was shown back during the days of American Playhouse (which I am probably too young to have seen), but it's something that I feel is going to be a gradual ascension. <BR/><BR/>I think that as long as there are people who are aware of this missing piece in the so-called "far-reaching" medium of television, and as long as there are others aware that there <I>is</I> an audience willing to see it, then that can help dictate the direction of theatre's place in the American cultural sphere.JESSICA TAGHAPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04618778244393553682noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-22423028506724997202008-08-28T18:51:00.000-04:002008-08-28T18:51:00.000-04:00Couldn't do it on a network or Public Broadcasting...Couldn't do it on a network or Public Broadcasting. It would be too damn expensive with SAG/AFTRA, Equiy buyouts, lots of other Union crud and fees and ratings would be so low you would never recoup.<BR/><BR/>However, you could do it on cable and with non union actors. And it would have to be playwrights who haven't been produced in theater yet (otherwise the equity thing gets in the way again, that's why some unions suck). However, I think new unpublished playwrights could be done on Bravo or another Arts and entertainment channel...oh wait it's all REALITY schlock now. Sorry I guess you couldn't do it on any station these days. I guess we have to wait for the next cycle to turn and the Housing bubble to wreak havok on Broadway so that nobody affords a ticket and Equity has to get off their asses and start thinking creatively like many under the radar theatre companies do now.<BR/><BR/>BC-NYCAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-74799615658788945662008-08-28T17:15:00.000-04:002008-08-28T17:15:00.000-04:00I am actually heartened by the new trend of musica...I am actually heartened by the new trend of musical films (Chicago, Rent, Hair Spray, Passing Strange soon, etc.). There is actually something that one can point to as a direction this genre is growing into.<BR/><BR/>But I'm not seeing what about TV today (reality shows and talent competitions - UNscripted work is the present and the future) that anyone can point to as a direction that would inspire the making of tele-plays again. Please help me here with something, anything, to back this idea up, and I'll jump on board.<BR/><BR/>Tad is not coming back, so what on earth makes anyone think that tele-theater might? Those early shows were all about a budding new thing called television, desperately in need of quick content to put between commercials - it was not about theater prominence in the least (and especially not about helping playwrights).<BR/><BR/>It's one thing to reinvent the wheel as we too often do; it's quite another to reinvent the wooden wheel.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-39027040481095569472008-08-28T13:24:00.000-04:002008-08-28T13:24:00.000-04:00I would really appreciate seeing a show on televis...I would really appreciate seeing a show on television that presented contemporary works of American Playwrights. We have so many strong stage voices living right now that I think they deserve a forum to reach a broader audience. Though there are some artists out there that I could never imagine seeing on the small screen, their work is just too large and magnificent for the small screen (mainly Mary Zimmerman comes to mind).Miss Lynnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08251088755510487797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-22581878103302558832008-08-28T13:23:00.000-04:002008-08-28T13:23:00.000-04:00Obviously, *I* would watch them, but that's no...Obviously, *I* would watch them, but that's no big surprise from a theatre geek. For a kid like me growing up in Los Angeles, other than the occasional tour of "Cats", TV was where I was able to get the foundation of my theatre education. I was able to catch most of the telecasts of Sondheim's work on A&E when it was still dedicated to Arts and Entertainment, the Ben Vereen/William Katt production of "Pippin" on PBS, not to mention all of the excerpts of plays and musicals on the Tonys. And when they stopped showing scenes from plays on the Tonys, I stopped watching the Tonys. <BR/><BR/>At the same time, I vividly remember things like the hour-long episode of "Family Ties" where the second half was Michael J. Fox on a dark stage, talking to his (unseen) therapist about a friend's death -- to this day, it's one of the best little one-act plays that I've seen on TV. <BR/><BR/>I look at a show like "Everybody Loves Raymond" which was not only incredibly popular, but also happens to have a pretty solid one-act comedic story structure, and is heavy with character-based comedy rather than one-liners. So I have faith that good productions of good scripts would find an audience in this day and age.<BR/><BR/>But I think it takes one of two things. Either you have to bait-and-switch by not marketing it as "Theatah" until the quality of the storytelling catches on, or else you need a champion of some sort who says, "Look, this is what we're doing because it's REALLY good stuff." And, of course, the deep pockets it takes to keep it going until it finds its audience.Philuciferhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16677432259206550338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-60844918011638106842008-08-28T11:37:00.000-04:002008-08-28T11:37:00.000-04:00Two quick notes:(1) The original complete American...Two quick notes:<BR/>(1) The original complete American Playhouse is available as a boxed set (it came out a few months ago) so people interested in what that was like, in tripping down memory lane or whatever should go get it.<BR/><BR/>(2) I feel like I read somewhere recently that PBS is planing on taking a more adventurous and arts-centered direction over the next few years. So maybe there will be a return of American Playhouse. Who knows?isaac butlerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07815094790605298884noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12657288.post-85320220610811527542008-08-28T11:22:00.000-04:002008-08-28T11:22:00.000-04:00I, too, long for a return to TV plays. PBS is the ...I, too, long for a return to TV plays. PBS is the place for them. The other major networks (should they even dare to try out the concept) would chop up the play with commercials, of course, and the content would be vulnerable to the red pencils of network censors. The result? Watered-down, innocuous Neil Simon-esque comedies, I suppose. No, drama on TV should rightfully exist on PBS--but of course they have been virtually neutered in the decades-long onslaught from the right. The home of programs like "American Playhouse", and Theater in America" is now a culturally-barren tundra populated by "Antique Roadshow" and the umpteenth pledge-drive "Doo Wop" showcase.Kenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06062987385482820410noreply@blogger.com