TV Guidance Counselor Episode 623: Allan Arkush

December 7-13, 1985

This week Ken welcomes writer, producer, professor, director and all around good guy Allan Arkush to the show.

Ken and Allan discuss Allan's cool office, Allan's record collection, Roger Corman, Emmy Nominations, directing or directing and producing over 400 episodes of TV, the path from 70s exploitation to 80s mainstream TV, having a high batting average of sold TV pilots. Fame, Summer pilot, Rock N Roll High School, telling stories through music, how popular Fame was in Israel, residuals, 80s NYC, directing videos for Elvis Costello, Bette Midler and Fleetwood Mac, the ones you turn down, why 1985 was a huge TV year for Allan, St. Elsewhere, Moonlighting, being able to be a style chameleon, being a cinema fan, having Scorsese teach you film, growing up in NJ, making whatever movie you want as long as it's the movie Roger wants, how hard it is to make good TV, coverage and lighting, how execs are not funny or creative, how bad studio notes are, King Kong, Micky Mouse Club, serialized stories, loving the theme songs from Westerns, Rocky and Bullwinkle, The Loan Ranger, Circus Boy, Abby Singer, The Twilight Zone, Soupy Sales, using rock music in movies, Get Crazy, Zacherly introducing the Grateful Dead at the Filmore East, I Love Lucy, The Honeymooners bump, being a nerd, how some things don't hold up, The Dick Van Dyke Show, working with Ron Howard, Doris Day movies, Family Affair, Father Knows Best, Leave it to Beaver, the importance of empathy, the transitional time of the 70s and 80s, East Side West Side, The Bronx Zoo, Hill St. Blues, the importance of casting, working for Bruce Paltrow, Crossing Jordan, ER, police procedurals, the time Ken ruined a shot in the pilot of Crossing Jordan, having to rush home and watch Saturday Night Live, SCTV, Catherine O'Hara's total character commitment, film noir, the zeitgeist of relationships between men and women, the dancing baby on Ally McBeal, Heroes, Duck Soup, The Shining, Lemony Snicket, showing The TAMI Show to young people, and how the future is female.