TV Mailbag, by Arthur Tebbel – Pop Art #174 | @MDWorld

April 3, 2012 Arthur Tebbel 1 Comment

I got a lot of letters this week but I’m going to take two from the TV industry.

Dear Art,

            I think I might be in trouble.  Apparently I stormed out of the middle of taping the season finale of my NBC sitcom Community.  Then while at the wrap party with my wife and daughter, showrunner Dan Harmon led the cast and crew in a toast to me that contained a profanity.  I stormed out and later left a voicemail for Harmon cursing him out.  Is this it for me?  Can I come back from this?

            -Chevy Chase

Chevy,

I want you to know that I’m a big fan.  I loved a lot of your early movies and I love Community so know that it’s out of love that I ask you, who the hell shows up to a wrap party after they storm out of the last episode?  That just seems like terrible etiquette.  You don’t respect the show enough to finish the last episode but you’ll drink their liquor and eat their hors d’oeuvres?  That’s messed up.

I hate to say it but this might be it for you.  You have a reputation for being hard to work with and were only cast on Community because NBC executives insisted as a condition for the show being picked up.  After an incident like this I can’t imagine them insisting on you again.  You could hope that NBC decides that Harmon is more replaceable than you are but after CBS decided that Chuck Lorre was worth more than Charlie Sheen I wouldn’t hold your breath.  I think you might need to sit by the phone for a while and see if anyone wants to make a new Vacation movie or maybe a Caddyshack.  Good luck.  If this ends up being the straw that gets Community cancelled I’ll hate you forever.

 

Dear Art,

            I thought it was going to be a perfectly innocent interview.  I was talking to The Hollywood Reporter about Ashton Kutcher potentially returning for another season on Two and a Half Men.  In the interview I added in some comments about there being too many sitcoms focused on female characters and written by women.  I didn’t call out any particular shows for being bad but I did say that “we’re approaching peak vagina on television, the point of labia saturation.”  These remarks have caused quite a stir.  How can I make this fuss go away so I can go back to counting my big stacks of money?

            -Lee Aronsohn, co-creator, Two and a Half Men

Lee,

I’m about to be very hard on you so I want to start off by saying something positive.  I can tell you’re a talented writer because that is an absolutely fantastic quote.  It’s a good thing you’re a talented writer because you seem to also be a colossal ass.  The idea that you seem to be arguing for some sort of cap on women in television, a literal glass ceiling, is completely appalling.  You work on a show that is often stunningly misogynistic in its portrayal of women and you can’t just keep your head down?  If I thought CBS cared about young women, young people in general or really anyone under the age of 55 I’d say you were in real danger here.  As it is enjoy working on your tenth season and try not to ever give another interview.