(image via usanetwork)
One of the five best shows on television is USA Television's "Monk." It is not an easy show to define if you are one of the uninitiated. "Monk" is, by turns, a laugh out loud funny comedy, and, oftentimes in the very same episode a heartbreaking drama about a former police detective trying to get over the loss of his wife. The Corsair emailed "Monk" Executive Producer Tom Scharpling, who also hosts "The Best Show," with some questions:
"The Corsair: How sick are you of the 'So ... What does a Co-Executive Producer do?' Question?
"Tom Scharpling: I'm actually Executive Producer this year! What does that mean? Not a whole lot, other than I guess I can boss people around? I'll have to try that out. The real answer is that a writer who sticks around becomes a producer. Although I do handle a fair amount of nuts and bolts non-writing responsibilities on Monk. I would prefer some sort of writer-based title, like Super Writer or something like that.
"The Corsair: Did Conan's team actually beat the Monk team, or is that an Urban legend?
"Tom Scharpling: They did beat us, but we had the worst first inning of any team ever in any baseball game ever. We settled down from that point and the game was semi-competitive. True fact: the Monk softball team was at the field waiting to play The Daily Show, but those stiffs never showed up. Thankfully the Conan peoples were at the field looking to practice. They saw us and put together a team. One thing I will say is that the Monk squad was comprised of people from the writing office, while the Conan team had guys who lug cables and hook up lighting rigs. That said, both myself and Dan Dratch delivered mightily, and we will be a force in the upcoming year - if any show dares to play us! PS - if Dateline NBC steps up to the challenge, I would prefer that they not field rapists and child molesters."
The next question needs some preambling. During the summer, on Tom's WFMU radio show he spent several minutes on-air trying to get a PC Richards representative to play their theme song on the phones. It is a jazzy little number that expands on the tv theme in innovative musical ways. As Tom was being shuttered through the corporate process one operator actually said something alonmg the lines of "Is this Tom Scharpling from WFMU?" I guess you had to be there. it was pretty funny that this vast corporate enterprise would be listening to Tom's subversive show. And so, The Corsair asked:
"The Corsair: Is the PC Richards song on the radio the best song ever? And, How cool was it that the lady recognized you?
"Tom Scharpling: That was wild. I still can't figure out how she knew it was me calling. Who tipped her off?
"The Corsair: Any especially strange moments that have come from the radio show?
"Tom Scharpling: Yes. I'm generally scared for my life at some point during the show, and I'm not talking about the funny business that me and Jon Wurster do. I am not kidding when I say I will die by the hand of a listener.
"The Corsair: How important to Monk's success do you think it was that most of the writers had never done tv before?
"Tom Scharpling: I think it's a big part of the success. We've all seen enough TV to know how what we wanted in a series but weren't all burnt out after a career of barfing out mystery comedy shows. When the show started out, it was me and Monk creator Andy Breckman in a 10 x 10 rental office, asking ourselves 'how many acts are in an hour-long show anyway?' We've made moves and choices that other mystery shows wouldn't, kinda just because we have been doing what makes us laugh. Woe is the show that hires me after Monk ends - they will be getting one very hacky burnt out writer with moves can be pre-figured by a nine year-old."
Monk can be seen on USA Television Friday nights at 9pm/8c
Tom Scharpling's "Best of Tom" Show can be heard on 91.1 WFMU on Tuesdays 8-11pm (Archives here)
No comments:
Post a Comment