Newsgroup: it.fan.tv.er
Titolo: [English] Articolo scritto da papa' Nick Clooney sulla fissa del figlio per la Live TV.

Another boost for live television
Poiche' da poco abbiamo rivisto la puntata Live di Er e ne abbiamo anche
discusso (pregi e difetti) ho pensato che potresse essere interessante per
qualcuno leggere ancora di come nasce questa idea e quando Clooney ne sia
convinto tanto da riprovare a farla con un film per la Cbs.
Parla principalmente della Tv negli states e di come George abbia
"maturato" questa idea.. parla di come è scaturita l'idea in ER
(particolari che confermano le voci che sapevamo) e cosa vuole fare ancora
su questo genere di cose.
Per chi non lo sapesse: Il papa' di george è un giornalista abbastanza
famoso  nella città e nello stato dove george è nato fin dall'epoca in cui
georgetto era un pargolino.
Ora scrive anche una colonna settimanale sul Cincinnati Post, e a volte noi
cloonettes ci abbiamo trovato delle chicche carine quando gli capita di
parlare della sua famiglia e di suo figlio.
Column by Nick Clooney
 Once again, the rich broadcasting history of Cincinnati will have a direct
effect on network television.
 Some of you may have seen last week's story in this newspaper that there
will be live dram a, one time only, in prime-time TV this spring. Therein
lies a story.
  When my wife Nina and I saw our son George on New Year's Eve, he told us
the project about which he had been talking to us for more than a year was
a ''go.''
  George had bought the rights to the brilliant Cold War novel
''Fail-Safe,'' from which had c ome a tense doomsday film in 1964 starring
Henry Fonda. The film was George's favorite.
  There was something else he favored. Live TV. He and his sister Ada had
grown up right in th e center of the exciting world of in-the-moment
Cincinnati TV. George and Ada could not know, as 5- and 6-year-olds, that
Cincinnati was already an isolated pocket of live productions. All three
netwo rk affiliates here were cranking out daily programs and what the
viewer saw was what the viewer got . No ''take two.''
  National television executives came to Cincinnati and left shaking their
heads. Live TV was dead. Everybody knew that. A dinosaur, extinct in every
major city except this one. Others were by then receiving ''Live-on-tape''
or syndicated fare, edited and sanitized. All drama was taped or filmed
over a period of time, then edited together, just like a movie. ''Playhouse
90'' was a receding memory.
  Clearly, production values are almost invariably better on a taped or
filmed program. Dialog ue can be edited, scenes can be done over and over
until they are perfect.
  Still, ''Live'' added a different dimension, now lost. An overarching
understanding that the se efforts were written only on fleeting electrons
and that the symbiotic between performer and viewer was unique to the
moment, never to be duplicated.
  Yes, there was risk, too. Not that audiences wished to see failure. Quite
the opposite. Audi ences wanted to see great performances that risked
failure and triumphed.
  George took this deep understanding of live TV to a production center
which was by then tota lly ignorant of its special value. Hollywood,
California. He bided his time. When he was fortunate e nough to be part of
the biggest television hit of the 1990s, ''ER,'' he began spreading the
gospel of ''L ive'' among his fellow actors. When they became enthusiastic,
George went to the producers. To their c redit, they took what, for its
time, was the revolutionary step of accepting his challenge. Then everyo ne
went one step further. They decided to do the live program twice so that
those in Western time zones would get the production live, too.
  It was a remarkable hour, one of the most-watched programs of the year.
We should not be sur prised that many critics didn't get it. In fairness,
it was not their fault. Most had never seen live TV drama. They were
comparing it to the only programs they had ever watched; canned, cut in
fragments, sho t out of sequence, slick. Often excellent.
  But never with the on-the-edge rush ''Live'' offers to us who are
watching.
  Now, the Cincinnati influence will strike again. George will be executive
producer and will have a role in the drama. CBS, the most successful
network for the last two seasons, will stick its nec k out on this one. It
will be two hours in prime time. Ford has signed on as a principal sponsor
and init ial indications are that they will do their commercials live, too.
There was talk that the productio n might be presented in black-and-white,
but I'm not sure of the status of that aspect. Tentative date, A pril 9.
  The Hollywood Reporter, whose story was reprinted in this newspaper, gave
a straightforward accounting of the project. The New York Post, on the
other hand called it in their ''news'' story a ''stunt .''
  No, it isn't a stunt. It is the revival of a separate TV genre lost for a
generation. Perh aps that will not matter to the television viewer of 2000,
perhaps it will. If it succeeds, George hopes to produce two or more live
dramas a year. That is an ambitious - and exciting - prospect.
  Let me salute all involved. For two hours on a spring evening, those who
make an appointment to watch ''Fail-Safe'' will see hearts beating on
camera in the same rhythm as their own. And for 120 min utes of drama, the
TV set will seem less a screen than a window.
 
 Nick Clooney writes for The Post every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Publication date: 01-14-00
Mae*
--
mae...@tande.com
Mae's Julianna Margulies Page: 
http://tande.com/mae4er
Mae's Home: 
http://members.xoom.com/Mae75
~~~
I have decided to start things from here
Thunder and lightning won't change what I'm feeling 
And the daffodils look lovely today 
(The Cranberries)

Mae* ha scritto nel messaggio ...
(cut)
ai dont capish na swerz!
Would ju like tradurre almeno eine kleine sinteshy?
Fausto / im an english man in NY...

 im an english man in NY...
oh oh I'm an alien 
I'm a legal alien
I'm englisman in NY!!! 
:-)
-- 
emailme: 
mae...@tande.com
Mae's Julianna Margulies Page: 
http://tande.com/mae4er
Mae's Home: 
http://members.xoom.com/Mae75
~~~
O buio infinito/ timida è la luce di questa lampada
per vincere la sua piccola paura/ accendi infinite stelle