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The Writers Panel

The creators of Cheers

The Writers Panel

Ben Blacker

Tv & Film, Tv, Writing, Movies, Hollywood, Screenwriting

4.7796 Ratings

🗓️ 16 May 2023

⏱️ 123 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A special episode today, as Ben Blacker chats with the creators of Cheers: Glen Charles, Les Charles, and James Burrows. They discuss the TV comedy landscape in 1982 and now, who at NBC didn't get the show, Taxi, Phyllis, discovering the cast's special talents, the pressure following Shelley Long's departure, and lots more.


Before that interview, though, an excerpt from Ted Danson and His Friends From Work, a live streaming special that Blacker produced in 2020. The show featured cast reunions of Ted Danson's shows and movies, from Three Men and a Baby to The Good Place, and ended in a 45 minute Cheers reunion, featuring the Charles brothers, Burrows, Danson, Rhea Perlman, Woody Harrelson, Kelsey Grammer, Kirstie Alley, John Ratzenberger, Bebe Neuwirth, and George Wendt, as well as a fan-question from Tina Fey!


And before THAT, a short but important conversation with Adam Conover (Adam Ruins Everything), who is a WGA Board Member and is on the contract negotiating committee about who forms the WGA's strategy, what sympathetic execs can do to help (without getting fired), how pre-WGA writers can pitch in, and what gives him hope that the WGA will win this fight,


By the way! Les Charles wants you to know that the name of the episode that he couldn't recall in the conversation is "Old Flames," which is episode 7 of season 2 and was written by the late, wonderful David Angell.


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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Cross, the new series only on Prime Video.

0:04.0

You're going to be part of a masterpiece.

0:06.0

Evil knows his name.

0:08.0

Detective Alex Cross.

0:11.0

Where he lives.

0:13.0

It was in my house.

0:15.0

His darkest secret.

0:16.0

And when I'm done, the world will know the truth.

0:20.0

Based on characters created by James Patterson.

0:23.4

I'm not a monster.

0:24.4

I don't kill for fun.

0:25.9

Cross.

0:26.7

New series.

0:27.8

Watch now only on Prime Video.

0:29.6

Your heart's planning.

0:35.4

Wherever they take us to

0:38.3

Small changes

0:40.3

The critically acclaimed new album

0:42.3

From Mercury Prize winner

0:44.3

Michael Kiwanuka is out now

0:46.3

One and on

0:48.3

One and on

...

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