Welcome to a new Wildcard Wednesday! This week, I’ve got another Q&A entry, where I answer questions submitted by readers. Thanks to everyone who sent in something — if you don’t see your “Q” here, I just may “A” it next time. (And keep them coming — any related topic on which you want my opinion and/or a little research? Just let me know!)
Travis asks… Are you a fan of Sondheim musicals and if so, which ones are your favorite?
Yes, I have enormous respect and appreciation for Sondheim’s collective body of work and really enjoy the majority of his catalogue. I would say, excluding the classics for which he partnered with another composer and wrote only the lyrics (namely, West Side Story and Gypsy), my favorite Sondheim show is Follies (1971) — it’s theatre-for-theatre-lovers but with rich dramatic characters and a strong score — followed by Sunday In The Park With George (1984), which has several moments that I find to be quite personally profound, and then I go back and forth about what I would put in third place, but Company (1970) — a seminal example of the concept musical and the start of Sondheim’s most prolific era (with director Hal Prince) — gets played most often in my house. That said, I’m also crazy about both A Little Night Music (1973) and the fascinating Merrily We Roll Along (1981), and I admit, like most theatre kids, I had an Into The Woods (1987) phase — it’s an ideal introduction to Sondheim for youngins.
Clem wants to know… Is there any news of seasons six to nine of the Beverly Hillbillies being released?
Not to my knowledge, no — it doesn’t seem like CBS is putting out many new releases of old shows on physical media anymore. However, the entire series has been remastered, so it is releasable. My guess is the complete run might show up on a streaming service eventually. The last few years are pretty bad, but it would be nice to have Six complete and in good quality!
Martin is checking in… Have you given any more consideration or changed your mind on M * A * S * H?
I haven’t changed my mind about the show (as I see it from a distance, without the benefit of a formal study), but the more I cover long-running middling efforts like Two And A Half Men, the more I am convinced that I could grit my teeth and feature M.A.S.H. here at some point. So, it’s not off the table, and in fact, I’m warmer to the idea now than I was a few years ago.
Issa Kelly asks… [H]ave you ever dabbled in sitcom writing?
Yes, I’m grateful to say that I studied Writing for Screen & Television at USC, under some of the very people whose work has been highlighted on this blog!
Kevin Greenlee is curious… If you were required to oversee a reboot/ continuation/ whatever of one of the series you have covered on the blog, what series would you pick and how would you formulate it in order to maximize its chances of creative success?
If I had to help revive a sitcom covered here, I’d choose one for which there could no longer be any gimmicky guest appearances or heavy narrative callbacks to the original. In other words, I’d want a full ground-up reboot of a show, not a new season of an old series. That way, the new elements would stay at the fore, sans the crutch of self-adoring predecessor-aimed nostalgia to carry episodic weight. Also, I’d pick something that was already structurally sound, not needing any major premise-related tinkering. That way, I could avoid foundational weaknesses – I’d automatically be playing with a formula known to work. This would then leave room to focus on what matters: re-developing the characters and their relationships for this new era, dialing in on how their depictions could influence a fresh take on story ideas and the overall comic tone. Accordingly, the conceptual basis of this “reboot” would remain the same as the original, but with a new understanding of character. So, I’d need something fairly old, constructionally solid, and conducive to another perspective… The series I’ve covered here that most fits those above terms, I think, is Gilligan’s Island. If I had to help reboot a sitcom, that would be my choice.
Have a question for me? Submit it at the “Ask Jackson (Q&A)” link.
Come back next week for another Wildcard! And stay tuned Tuesday for more sitcom fun!