Re: [TV orNotTV] Problems on the Community set
The fun continues: A week after series creator Dan Harmon apologized for making an angry voicemail from cast member Chevy Chase public, their feud is making waves again because of a new leaked recording. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31749_162-57412401-10391698/chevy-chase-slams-community-in-new-rant/ -- TV or Not TV The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups TV or Not TV group. To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
Re: [TV orNotTV] Problems on the Community set
On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 12:06 PM, Ben Scripps benscri...@gmail.com wrote: Ken Levine weighs in on his blog today: http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/2012/04/chevy-chase-vs-dan-harmon.html Fun game: try and guess which side the former showrunner came down on. Dan Harmon blogged about it today, admitting he was ignoring PR advice to do so. http://danharmon.tumblr.com/post/20430020654/not-that-it-helps-but Excerpts: ...(I)t’s conspicuously weird of me to say nothing at all about the giant fart with my name on it that you’ve been inhaling. It feels dishonest not to acknowledge it, it feels rude to the caring fans of the show, people who are tweeting me their concerns that I’ve jeopardized something they fight to protect, those are the sentiments that are [rightfully] the most painful because every choice I make, I try to make for the good of the show, and the show is not an expression of my ego or entitlement, it’s an expression of my desire to make strangers happy. When that’s not happening, when I’ve done something that hurts an audience, it’s always an accident. So I have to just acknowledge my mistake and apologize for it to the fans. Even the people that hate the show that are tweeting heckles at me are right, I’m a selfish baby and a rude asshole and not a person to trust with your feelings. and It was in that venue, months ago, that I made the horrible, childish, self-obsessed, unaware, naive and unprofessional decision to play someone’s voicemail to me. He didn’t intend for 150 people to listen and giggle at it, and I didn’t intend for millions of people to read angry reports about it. I was doing what I always do, and always get in trouble for doing, and always pay a steep price for doing. I was thinking about myself and I was thinking about making people laugh. I was airing my dirty laundry for a chuckle. -- TV or Not TV The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups TV or Not TV group. To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
Re: [TV orNotTV] Problems on the Community set
Ken Levine weighs in on his blog today: http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/2012/04/chevy-chase-vs-dan-harmon.html Fun game: try and guess which side the former showrunner came down on. -- -- Ben Scripps benscri...@gmail.com -- TV or Not TV The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups TV or Not TV group. To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
Re: [TV orNotTV] Problems on the Community set
And a little nostalgia from 35 years ago, before we knew how big an asshole Chevy was--sing it, Jane, Laraine and Gilda: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FGsWRAikhkfeature=related Sorry I couldn't find the actual video (this is audio from the SNL soundtrack album). Mark Jeffries Saints Spotlight Editor spotligh...@gmail.com On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 11:06 AM, Ben Scripps benscri...@gmail.com wrote: Ken Levine weighs in on his blog today: http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/2012/04/chevy-chase-vs-dan-harmon.html Fun game: try and guess which side the former showrunner came down on. -- -- Ben Scripps benscri...@gmail.com -- TV or Not TV The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups TV or Not TV group. To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en -- TV or Not TV The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups TV or Not TV group. To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
Re: [TV orNotTV] Problems on the Community set
On Sat, Mar 31, 2012 at 6:21 PM, Tom Wolper twol...@gmail.com wrote: Season 3 wrapped, so this isn't about a problem that will interfere with this season. Chevy Chase never struck me as a team player so the idea that he will get into a conflict with his executive producer is about as surprising as Keith Olbermann getting into a fight with his network. But it's just one thing that a show on the bubble does not need hanging over its head. http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2012/03/community-feud-chevy-chase-and-dan-harmon-face-offwill-pierce-be-back-for-season-4.html My first thought is that this must be some kind of joke, both because it seems like the kind of thing Harmon would do, and because it seems that even as large an asshole as Chevy Chase just has to understand how lucky he is to be in a show that does not make him look like a sad, desperate hack. When Chase is quoted as saying: I'm funny. Pierce isn't funny, this can only be a wicked and impressive piece of self-deprecating humor, or else it is so self-delusional as to be both sad and evidence that Mr. Chase (ironically, like his character) has impaired mental status. It would be as if Paris Hilton got a small supporting role in a critically acclaimed television show, and then seriously bitched that I'm smart. My character on the show isn't smart. (More quotes from the linked piece below). I don't know a lot about Harmon - if this is a true story, and he really did lead the fuck you Chevy song in front of his wife and kid, that would be kind of a dick thing to do. I am inclined to give Harmon the benefit of even the smallest doubt though - he has earned the genius tag simply by not allowing Chase's presence in the show to kill it, as I assumed it would when it first premiered. If Chase doesn't get on his hands and knees and kiss Harmon's ass at least once a day for letting him be on this show he is even more of an idiot than I have always thought he was. The more than I think about this, the more I think the whole thing must be a joke - and that perhaps Tom posted this with a wink and a nod to the joke, and I am the idiot for even considering the possibility that it might be serious pause her to check the internet I see the first page of a google search (Harmon Chevy Chase) yields a list of stories all of which seem to be taking this seriously - though all apparently citing the same original source. I do see reports that Chase has walked off the Community set multiple times in the past - something I had not heard before, which I guess makes it more likely this is serious. The most I remember is that in a a few interviews with various other cast members, when asked what it was like to work with Chase, they occasionally paused somewhat awkwardly and replied that it was a treat to work with such a comedy icon. ** He said that watching Joel McHale's character wrap up each episode is like being relegated to hell and watching 'Howdy Doody' for the rest of your life. He admitted that he hates sitcoms and feels that Community does nothing to elevate the format. I'm not really gonna buck you all up a lot and say that this is the one, the one that tells it innovatively. It is what it is. I would like to see it go further. I think, if you know me and my humor over the years, you know that this is certainly not my kind of thing. I probably won't be around that much longer, frankly. -- TV or Not TV The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups TV or Not TV group. To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
Re: [TV orNotTV] Problems on the Community set
On Apr 1, 2012, at 7:00 AM, PGage wrote: The most I remember is that in a a few interviews with various other cast members, when asked what it was like to work with Chase, they occasionally paused somewhat awkwardly and replied that it was a treat to work with such a comedy icon. I have a friend who's a writer on Community, and I believe this is her official position as well. She was cursed out by Chevy earlier in the season (early enough that she mentioned it in her Christmas card this year), but I don't know the whole story, or whether she was part of the FU, Chevy fun at the wrap party. -- Jim Ellwanger train...@ellwanger.tv http://www.ellwanger.tv/ -- TV or Not TV The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups TV or Not TV group. To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
Re: [TV orNotTV] Problems on the Community set
On Sun, Apr 1, 2012 at 2:00 AM, PGage pga...@gmail.com wrote: The more than I think about this, the more I think the whole thing must be a joke - and that perhaps Tom posted this with a wink and a nod to the joke, and I am the idiot for even considering the possibility that it might be serious pause her to check the internet For the record, I did not post it as a joke and as April Fools pranks had not yet started, I did not even consider that this story was not genuine. We all have our perception filters and right now one I use has to do with the idea of team effort versus individual talent. I'm sensitized to it both through my work with organizing and movement building and also listening to all those Marc Maron podcasts where he goes into the different mindsets behind standup and sketch/improv. So the idea of Chase having a problem with the show seems reasonable if not inevitable. Throughout its history SNL has always been successful only as a team effort. The only individual talent who can transcend the team is Lorne. In all the books and articles about the early years of SNL, the emphasis has always been on team building, mutual trust, and mutual responsibility. It is meaningful to me that Chase walked away just as the team was pulling together for its best work. I do not condemn Chase for it because not everybody can be a team player, but Chase never showed himself to have the voice or impact an individual talent needs to succeed. He needed, and needs, to be part of a team. In his book, Comedy at the Edge, Richard Zoglin recalls an episode of a Smothers Brothers summer replacement show where George Carlin and Richard Pryor were guests and joined the brothers wearing straw boater hats and singing In the Good Old Summertime. In a few short years both Carlin and Pryor could command a stage and do comedy with unmistakably singular voices. That never was Chase and that is not him now. So I do not know what is going through Chase's head right now. He has to be aware how rare of an opportunity he has been given to have regular work in show business at his age, but perhaps his resentment at not being the center of attention has gotten the better of him. Should Community go to a fourth season he will not be missed. Leonard could be added to the study group. -- TV or Not TV The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups TV or Not TV group. To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
Re: [TV orNotTV] Problems on the Community set
On Sun, Apr 1, 2012 at 9:03 AM, Tom Wolper twol...@gmail.com wrote: For the record, I did not post it as a joke and as April Fools pranks had not yet started, I did not even consider that this story was not genuine. We all have our perception filters and right now one I use has to do with the idea of team effort versus individual talent. I'm sensitized to it both through my work with organizing and movement building and also listening to all those Marc Maron podcasts where he goes into the different mindsets behind standup and sketch/improv. So the idea of Chase having a problem with the show seems reasonable if not inevitable. (SNIP) So I do not know what is going through Chase's head right now. He has to be aware how rare of an opportunity he has been given to have regular work in show business at his age, but perhaps his resentment at not being the center of attention has gotten the better of him. Should Community go to a fourth season he will not be missed. Leonard could be added to the study group. I don't disagree with anything you wrote above - except that I am more toxic and less respectful of Chase's work and judgement that you are. The reports of his behavior are entirely consistent with what we have seen from him throughout his career. Indeed, the reports are so consistent, so on the nose, that it seems almost too Chevy to be Chevy, and better (and more charitably) explained as self-parody. I see now the article on HuffPo that puts the quotes from the article you posted in some context at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/31/community-chevy-chase_n_1393823.html?ref=mostpopular(e.g. *Would you hang out with Pierce?* No. No! [Laughs.] Why would I? Part of the challenge of being in this is to not be anything like myself. No ... I'm funny. Pierce isn't funny). -- TV or Not TV The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups TV or Not TV group. To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
Re: [TV orNotTV] Problems on the Community set
I won't defend Chase, but I will say I've watched about five or six episodes of Community over the last few years because people I respect enjoy the series. I find it to be marginal/average at its best moments (frankly whenever Jon Oliver appears in his recurring role), and I would agree with Chase's assessment that the show is bland and unoriginal. Joke or no joke, nobody involved with the show looks good in this story. It is along the lines of Chase is an ass AND Community stinks. -- Kevin M. (RPCV) -- TV or Not TV The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups TV or Not TV group. To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
Re: [TV orNotTV] Problems on the Community set
On Sun, Apr 1, 2012 at 10:42 AM, Kevin M. drunkbastar...@gmail.com wrote: I won't defend Chase, but I will say I've watched about five or six episodes of Community over the last few years because people I respect enjoy the series. I find it to be marginal/average at its best moments (frankly whenever Jon Oliver appears in his recurring role), and I would agree with Chase's assessment that the show is bland and unoriginal. Joke or no joke, nobody involved with the show looks good in this story. It is along the lines of Chase is an ass AND Community stinks. My own view is that Community is not as edgy or ground breaking as its most ardent fans (and creators) think it is, but it is still a pretty good show - better than many though not as good as some. I can see why some people would not enjoy it, but the judgement that Community stinks is, I think, probably idiosyncratic among most people who have seen the show regularly. But I don't think this episode comes down to that - I suspect there are a lot of actors appearing in television shows they don't really like or even respect. They get paid pretty good money, and nobody is forcing them to do it, so I don't spend a lot of time feeling bad for them. For me the point is that instead of being grateful for getting a nice role in a television show that is well regarded by many at a point in his career when he could (and probably should) be ignored and forgotten about, Chase instead assumes that he is above the material, and seems to still be trying to make himself believe that his own individual work was somehow truly creative and groundbreaking. -- TV or Not TV The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups TV or Not TV group. To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
Re: [TV orNotTV] Problems on the Community set
On Sun, Apr 1, 2012 at 12:40 PM, PGage pga...@gmail.com wrote: I don't disagree with anything you wrote above - except that I am more toxic and less respectful of Chase's work and judgement that you are. The reports of his behavior are entirely consistent with what we have seen from him throughout his career. Indeed, the reports are so consistent, so on the nose, that it seems almost too Chevy to be Chevy, and better (and more charitably) explained as self-parody. I see now the article on HuffPo that puts the quotes from the article you posted in some context at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/31/community-chevy-chase_n_1393823.html?ref=mostpopular (e.g. Would you hang out with Pierce? No. No! [Laughs.] Why would I? Part of the challenge of being in this is to not be anything like myself. No ... I'm funny. Pierce isn't funny). My knowledge of Chevy Chase's behavior is limited to a small sample size of his work and interviews so I don't want to draw conclusions and pretend it's something we all should know. Plus the fact that people mature as they get a better grasp of show business or whatever their professional environment is. I watched the first two seasons of Community on DVD and watched two or three commentaries from each season. I do not remember Chase participating in any of the commentaries, but the cast and crew always spoke well of him and his contributions. I had not read the Huffington Post piece before I posted because I assumed it was just a rehash of what was in the article I linked to. Having read it, I would say Chase's criticisms have some merit. The series has neglected the college although that could also be Harmon and the writers trying to broaden their world's borders. Pierce has become a more marginal character. It could be that feedback to the show shows that fans want to see more of the other characters or it could be that the creators do not know what to do with him. -- TV or Not TV The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups TV or Not TV group. To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
[TV orNotTV] Problems on the Community set
Season 3 wrapped, so this isn't about a problem that will interfere with this season. Chevy Chase never struck me as a team player so the idea that he will get into a conflict with his executive producer is about as surprising as Keith Olbermann getting into a fight with his network. But it's just one thing that a show on the bubble does not need hanging over its head. http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2012/03/community-feud-chevy-chase-and-dan-harmon-face-offwill-pierce-be-back-for-season-4.html -- TV or Not TV The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups TV or Not TV group. To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
Re: [TV orNotTV] Problems on the Community set
On Sat, Mar 31, 2012 at 6:21 PM, Tom Wolper twol...@gmail.com wrote: Season 3 wrapped, so this isn't about a problem that will interfere with this season. Chevy Chase never struck me as a team player so the idea that he will get into a conflict with his executive producer is about as surprising as Keith Olbermann getting into a fight with his network. But it's just one thing that a show on the bubble does not need hanging over its head. Maybe they can get Ashton Kutcher to join the cast. -- Kevin M. (RPCV) -- TV or Not TV The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups TV or Not TV group. To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
