Speaker 1: Weird.
Speaker 2: We welcome back midnight viewers have fan the Malone's weekly
Speaker 2: round up. I'm Ripley Gene and with me as always
Speaker 2: is father alone. What you'd make an adorable fake priest?
Speaker 3: That's true.
Speaker 2: No one wants to see me in my underwear fighting
Speaker 2: an alien. Well, no matter who's who, we welcome you
Speaker 2: to the show. Having an action pack new year Woo, okay,
Speaker 2: call to action. Hey friends, why haven't you simply pushed
Speaker 2: the subscribe button. Maybe it's because it's a follow button instead.
Speaker 2: Either way, click it, do it. Thank you. Now on
Speaker 2: with the show. If you listened in last week, I
Speaker 2: talked about my adoration for the Lonely Island and the
Speaker 2: work they did on SNL, And if you listen to
Speaker 2: this show with any regularity, you should know the adoration
Speaker 2: I feel for their work on SNL is so minuscule
Speaker 2: when it comes for the totality of love I feel
Speaker 2: for Saturday Night Live. There's a tidal wave of ass
Speaker 2: kissing going on right now because it is the fiftieth anniversary,
Speaker 2: fiftieth season. But try to ignore all the fawning. Don't
Speaker 2: let it cloud your judgment. SNL has always been great,
Speaker 2: and it's always been terrible, just like all your favorite
Speaker 2: things sweet and sour. I mentioned in an earlier episode
Speaker 2: that's the crossover with the Culture Cast, where we discussed
Speaker 2: Jason Reitman's film Saturday Night that chronicles the ninety minutes
Speaker 2: leading up to the pilot episode of SNL, which you
Speaker 2: can go back and listen to after this. It's all
Speaker 2: a call to action. There, I mentioned that my very
Speaker 2: first memory of television is Dan Aykroyd as Julia Child,
Speaker 2: bleeding all over a kitchen set after slicing into his
Speaker 2: own hand. You know, everyone always asks what movie you
Speaker 2: first remember seeing, but no one ever asks about television,
Speaker 2: though I suspect that'll change with future generations given the
Speaker 2: current cratering of the theatrical experience. So anyway, my earliest
Speaker 2: memory then threaded throughout the rest of my life. There
Speaker 2: have been fallow periods over the past five decades for SNL.
Speaker 2: During those periods when people were wondering, who even wants
Speaker 2: is that anymore?
Speaker 4: Me?
Speaker 2: I was every season Michael's to Dominion, to Eversol, and
Speaker 2: back to Michael's. Oh sure everyone was into it when
Speaker 2: Dana Carvey and Jen Hooks are around, but where were
Speaker 2: you when I was stranded alone with Joe Piscopo and
Speaker 2: Charlie Rockett. Huh. Even that season of free Fall after
Speaker 2: the original cast and Michaels had exited, could have worked. Honestly,
Speaker 2: any season of the show could work if the writing
Speaker 2: and performing are in sync, which is evidently like herding cats.
Speaker 2: Couple that miracle with the pressure cooker of live performance
Speaker 2: of material that was written over the past five days
Speaker 2: every week. It's a miracle anything of quality comes out
Speaker 2: of the show. But that quality is always there, and
Speaker 2: even the worst episode will get at least one laugh
Speaker 2: out of me, which is something I can't say for
Speaker 2: some two hour comedy films that were written over months
Speaker 2: and then produced and filmed and edited over a year
Speaker 2: and not one laugh. As much as I love the show, however,
Speaker 2: I am not an apologist. Those fallow periods when the
Speaker 2: show is reinventing itself is concentrated awful. But remember, there
Speaker 2: has never been a season of perfection. That's a lie
Speaker 2: we've all accepted through the decades, thanks to repackaged reruns
Speaker 2: and videotape best of collections. Even in its renaissance periods,
Speaker 2: there are clunkers. I end up saying that about every
Speaker 2: television series we cover here on Midnight Viewing, we go
Speaker 2: in with fond remembrance of all the gloried moments of
Speaker 2: a series, forgetting that there was a lot of chaff
Speaker 2: in that wheat. SNL is an extremely well covered television show.
Speaker 2: If you have any interest in those first ten years,
Speaker 2: check out Saturday Night A Backstage History of Saturday Night
Speaker 2: Live by Doug Hill and Jeff Weingrad. It is indispensable.
Speaker 2: They talk to everyone and pull no punches. Yes, it
Speaker 2: has the Bill Murray Chevy Chase fistfight story in all
Speaker 2: of its glory. Go fuck your wife, she needs it.
Speaker 2: Bill Murray is a savage. Also, there's line from New
Speaker 2: York The Complete Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live as
Speaker 2: Told by its star writers and guests by Tom Shils
Speaker 2: and James Andrew Miller, which gets you up to speed.
Speaker 2: As of twenty years ago, there have been puff pieces
Speaker 2: and expose's and one hundred cries of Saturday Night Dead,
Speaker 2: but very little has come out behind the scenes from
Speaker 2: the show and Broadway video and Michael's himself. So it
Speaker 2: was pretty exciting to hear about the slew of documentaries
Speaker 2: on the way to commemorate the fiftieth The first of
Speaker 2: those just landed over on Peacock. It is a four
Speaker 2: part look into four aspects of the show's production, and
Speaker 2: it's appropriately called SNL Beyond Saturday Night.
Speaker 3: Anybody could do comedy.
Speaker 1: I can teach all the all day how to tell jokes.
Speaker 5: To be comedy, but are you FUNNYLSNL was the biggest
Speaker 5: show ever.
Speaker 6: There was nothing Mike him.
Speaker 7: Present, unfilmed by the rivers An American Institution.
Speaker 8: I got a FIVA and the only perception is Mark Kappell.
Speaker 7: Any questions you may be wondering why you've never heard
Speaker 7: this story before.
Speaker 4: I don't know what story you heard, but this is
Speaker 4: what happened.
Speaker 5: You know what, It's fine, Let's just do the thing.
Speaker 9: Everything you're about to see has nothing to see before.
Speaker 8: Hi, here we go.
Speaker 4: I'm not sure I'm Amy Poehler.
Speaker 8: Okay, that's enough.
Speaker 2: It'll started coming in here to audition. Some people are
Speaker 2: so nervous they can't even speak.
Speaker 5: It was terrifying.
Speaker 2: My first audition, I threw up.
Speaker 8: I think it's a mare of what I'm sitting here
Speaker 8: right now.
Speaker 7: This is beyond my wildest dreams that we're making a
Speaker 7: documentary about the cow Bell sketch.
Speaker 2: Did you think that the writers get credit that they deserve.
Speaker 5: Absolutely not.
Speaker 9: I don't think so.
Speaker 8: No, no, oh dear. It's really stumped down a landmine here.
Speaker 2: You're just thinking, there's no way this is going to
Speaker 2: go smoothly. Fifteen minutes from now, it might be a bloodbath.
Speaker 3: After a decade on the air, SNL is on the
Speaker 3: brink of cancelation.
Speaker 2: I didn't know that it would be such a difficult year.
Speaker 7: The Weird Year is the polite way to put it.
Speaker 3: Most people say to me, it was the bad year.
Speaker 3: It was so bad that it could have been canceled.
Speaker 4: I still have nightmares about the stress of Saturday Night.
Speaker 8: It is built on competition.
Speaker 1: Can you be your authentic self? It's a real dream
Speaker 1: come true.
Speaker 8: It was everything I loved my show.
Speaker 10: I was on it, Live.
Speaker 4: From New York, Live from New York, Lives from New York,
Speaker 4: Live from New York. Oh boy.
Speaker 2: Those four episodes are each about an hour in length.
Speaker 2: They are five minutes written by a week into the
Speaker 2: SNL writer's room. More cow Bell and the Weird Year.
Speaker 2: Five minutes is about the five minutes you're given to
Speaker 2: an audition for the show and talks to a vast array
Speaker 2: of current and past actors who have appeared. Written by
Speaker 2: is self explanatory. The Weird Year is about the eighty
Speaker 2: five season when Lorn returned and started to rebuild the show,
Speaker 2: but more cow Bell. I loved that sketch as much
Speaker 2: as it took a song that always straddled the line
Speaker 2: between sincere and cheesy and just drop kicked it into
Speaker 2: a bucket of melted velveta, thus ruining it forever. I
Speaker 2: love that sketch. You all know it. We all had
Speaker 2: the fever and there was only one cure. But if
Speaker 2: you're given four hours to touch on any aspect of
Speaker 2: the process of making Saturday Night Live from any era,
Speaker 2: with any cast, or any set of writers, or any musicians,
Speaker 2: and I'm not even talking about the guests who have
Speaker 2: come on to play their latest hits. I'm talking about
Speaker 2: the Saturday Night Live band that was once conducted by
Speaker 2: Howard Shore, who'd eventually write the music for the Lord
Speaker 2: of the Rings films. His replacement was Paul Shaffer, who'd
Speaker 2: run the World's Most Dangerous Band for Letterman for three decades.
Speaker 2: Remember E. G. Smith teaching the entire world the meaning
Speaker 2: of guitar face, and that's just one small aspect of
Speaker 2: the show worth examination. But one hour devoted to the
Speaker 2: genesis of what was at best a catchphrase generator baffles me.
Speaker 2: Remember when everyone, and I fucking mean everyone thought it
Speaker 2: was hilarious to say something and then yell not. I
Speaker 2: wouldn't suggest watching an hour about the genesis of Wayne's
Speaker 2: world either, but it would seem to be about a
Speaker 2: subject that had greater ripples in the real world than
Speaker 2: that one meme we all got. It's not a total
Speaker 2: waste of time. If you need another dose of Jimmy
Speaker 2: Fallon giggling his way through memories of how unprofessional a
Speaker 2: performer he was, or if you're actually interested in what
Speaker 2: Blue Oyster Cult thought of the sketch Boy, you're in
Speaker 2: for a real fucking treat. So this is a three
Speaker 2: part series about SNL. The most successful is episode four,
Speaker 2: The Weird Year. It's a far more harrowing tale than
Speaker 2: just getting on the show or getting the show on
Speaker 2: the air for the first time. After five solid years
Speaker 2: of steadily declining ratings, SNL was ready for the scrap heap.
Speaker 2: Michael's return was a hail Mary for all involved. The
Speaker 2: previous season was a different kind of Hail Mary by
Speaker 2: Dick Eversol when he restocked the cast with ringers like
Speaker 2: Billy Crystal, Martin Short, Harry Shear, and Christopher Guest. Michaels
Speaker 2: had to start from scratch, restocking the cast and pulling
Speaker 2: in writers both old and new. Remember how I said
Speaker 2: any season could work if the cast and writers sink.
Speaker 2: Not what happened here. Terry Sweeney is a very funny
Speaker 2: comedian and performer, and was not only SNL's first openly
Speaker 2: gay cast member, he may have been the first openly
Speaker 2: gay performer on television ever. But who on that writing
Speaker 2: staff knew one fucking thing to write for him? The
Speaker 2: writing staff has always been accused of being a boys club,
Speaker 2: to which I'd say, Anne beats Marilyn Suzanne Miller, Rosie Schuster,
Speaker 2: Sarah Paley, Patricia Marx, Pamela Norris. You get the idea.
Speaker 2: The problem was more straight and white. I think it
Speaker 2: doesn't seem like Terry Sweeney was able to partner up
Speaker 2: with anyone, but then most performers couldn't seem to do
Speaker 2: that either, which is scandalous considering who was on the staff.
Speaker 2: Not only were there returning heavy hitters like Michael O'donnahuo,
Speaker 2: Franken and Davis, Jim Downey, Herb Sargent, and Don Novello,
Speaker 2: but there was also Mark McKinney and Bruce McCullough from
Speaker 2: The Kids in the Hall, Jack Handy, Deep Thoughts, John
Speaker 2: Schwartzwelder and George Meyer, who'd go on to write the
Speaker 2: best episodes of The Simpsons, and Robert fucking' Smigel. Sounds unbeatable,
Speaker 2: but you know, maybe the cast wasn't exactly perfect. Anthony
Speaker 2: Michael Hall, Randy Quaid, Dinitra Vance Sweeney, Damon Wayans notoriously
Speaker 2: one of the few actors fired from the show while
Speaker 2: the show was still going. He's here to give his
Speaker 2: side of it, and it's great. Rounding out the cast
Speaker 2: were the ones who'd continue forward, Dennis Miller, Nora Dunn
Speaker 2: and John Lovetts. It's love Its his stuff that shined
Speaker 2: then and now, and it's his sketch master Thespian with
Speaker 2: John Lithgow that allows for the entire documentary's moment of clarity.
Speaker 2: John Lithgow remembers the show thusly.
Speaker 7: My first hosting job for SNL in only like the
Speaker 7: fourth episode of this brand new Company, I remember having
Speaker 7: the feeling that everybody was trying out their own material.
Speaker 9: Basically, it's a career move.
Speaker 11: It's finally my chance to prove what's there are more
Speaker 11: than just.
Speaker 9: Another teen actor, young actor, rat pack Dupie.
Speaker 7: They were trying to make their own identity rather than
Speaker 7: the identity of Snow. I think that was the whole problem.
Speaker 2: It's a fascinating hour about a seldom discussed era of
Speaker 2: the show. The one thing it's missing is the one
Speaker 2: thing that's ultimately missing from all of the episodes, and
Speaker 2: that's Lorne Michaels. He shows up in every single one
Speaker 2: of them, though he continues to remain the figure of
Speaker 2: mystery at the edge of frame, commenting cryptically here and there,
Speaker 2: but there's no great interaction with him at all. In fact,
Speaker 2: any of the on cameras straight up interview footage they
Speaker 2: have of him is from two thousand and five and
Speaker 2: clearly from a documentary about the thirtieth anniversary. Now, the
Speaker 2: fact that he's maintained this level of mystique over the
Speaker 2: decades is admirable, even more so that basically everyone who's
Speaker 2: ever had an interaction with him, has one an impression
Speaker 2: of him, and two can tell you almost everything about
Speaker 2: their dealings with him while maintaining how inscrutable he is.
Speaker 2: I mentioned there's a slew of documentaries on the way,
Speaker 2: and evidently one is dedicated specifically to Lorne Michael. So
Speaker 2: I'm assuming that all the intentions and motivations in theories
Speaker 2: of his will come to light there. I hope so,
Speaker 2: because as fascinating as any of these probes into the
Speaker 2: various strata of SNL can be, a little more insight
Speaker 2: from the creator would be welcome. Five minutes the first
Speaker 2: episode is a delight. How couldn't it be. It's all
Speaker 2: of your favorite performers from the past fifty years regaling
Speaker 2: us with tales of horror and heartbreak that led to
Speaker 2: a life changing stint on a television institution. What's better
Speaker 2: is that we get to see those moments. Every audition
Speaker 2: for SNL remains thanks to the glory of videotape, and
Speaker 2: it's pretty fucking awesome to watch someone as seasoned as
Speaker 2: Amy Poehler struggle to get through even a minute of
Speaker 2: hers Oh there is so much shudderingly cringe worthy on display.
Speaker 2: It's glorious. And there are just as many right out
Speaker 2: of the gate superstar performances. Then it's kind of staggering.
Speaker 2: Every character that Kristin Wigg auditioned with became not just
Speaker 2: a sketch, but a recurring sketch. Speaking of staggering, the
Speaker 2: compilation of those who weren't hired, the Jim Carreyes, the
Speaker 2: Jennifer Coolidges, the Donald Glovers is mind blowing, especially when
Speaker 2: you see how fucking good they were doing. How did
Speaker 2: they not get the gig? Who could answer that? No
Speaker 2: one in this episode see what I'm saying. There are
Speaker 2: major questions at the heart of each of these segments
Speaker 2: that have answers that we can only get from one man.
Speaker 2: And ultimately, as lovely as it is to see Bobby
Speaker 2: moynihan tearfully recall his time on the show, this episode
Speaker 2: would have been equally successful had it just been a
Speaker 2: string of the auditions themselves. The next episode, written by
Speaker 2: follows the season forty nine writers from the Monday meeting
Speaker 2: to air, interspersed with discussions on the show's environment, schedule, hierarchy,
Speaker 2: and history by some of the best writers who have
Speaker 2: ever worked There. Any chance to spotlight the writers of
Speaker 2: this show is a winning one, so bravo. The problem,
Speaker 2: or maybe this is illustrative of the show's wildly swinging personality,
Speaker 2: is that the show that doc crew has chosen to
Speaker 2: cover isn't very funny. The writers are charming, no doubt,
Speaker 2: and we've seen them do really good work elsewhere that
Speaker 2: season and into the current season, but since nothing is
Speaker 2: really happening comedically, you hope to see some of the
Speaker 2: panic and the pressure that literally everyone interviewed here talks about.
Speaker 2: But instead it's all very quiet and mellow and business like,
Speaker 2: which is great for them, I guess, but it ends
Speaker 2: up making this another TV magazine piece, the kind you'd
Speaker 2: get from Entertainment Tonight, except the access to the writers
Speaker 2: and the materials are beyond whatever the most sycophantic piece
Speaker 2: could ever hope to achieve. Each of the episodes, except
Speaker 2: that fucking cow Bell is worth a watch. The wealth
Speaker 2: of material on display is incredible and incredibly funny. I
Speaker 2: doubt I'll see a funnier documentary anytime in the near future.
Speaker 2: But honestly, if you were to ask me to sit
Speaker 2: down and write a first person account of what it
Speaker 2: was like to audition and get hired and how tough
Speaker 2: my first year was, and how interacting with Lorne and
Speaker 2: the writers was, and how I found my groove. I
Speaker 2: think I could do it pretty convincingly because everything presented
Speaker 2: in these shows has been around in copious amounts. The
Speaker 2: two books I mentioned at the top are perfect examples.
Speaker 2: If you've read them and want to know something new
Speaker 2: about the process, you're out of luck. If you want
Speaker 2: to hear personal reflections and how the actual people felt
Speaker 2: about their time there, then these are great, or would
Speaker 2: be if any of those personal reflections included those of
Speaker 2: mister Lauren Michaels. I don't want to hear your Lorne
Speaker 2: Michael's impression. Oh the listeners do? Gotcha?
Speaker 3: Okay?
Speaker 5: Hit me.
Speaker 1: It was nineteen eighty I was on the Upper West
Speaker 1: Side living with Paul Simon, and Ted Bundy called me
Speaker 1: and he said, look, I just killed these two girls
Speaker 1: in Florida, and I went, no, no, no, I know them.
Speaker 2: Jesus, you heard her, hp K, because thank you HP
Speaker 2: In this fantasy scenario, you were in the SNL band.
Speaker 2: Here's a Paul Schaeffer fun fact. His nickname is the Shiv.
Speaker 2: That's right, Paul, the Shiv. Shaeffer fucking love him. So
Speaker 2: what's on the agenda, little monkey? What's your choice for
Speaker 2: the roundup? Excellent and appropriate? This past weekend we launched
Speaker 2: David Lynch. He's a mammoth in filmmaking, and I don't
Speaker 2: think we're going to see his like again. Also passing,
Speaker 2: and oddly more importantly here on midnight viewing was mister
Speaker 2: Jeno Zwark. He directed twenty two segments of Night Gallery.
Speaker 2: He did two episodes of Twilight Zone eighty five, and
Speaker 2: in each of those, I've been his frequent champion and
Speaker 2: vocal defender. He was never less than a filmmaker in
Speaker 2: any media. Whatever faults there were in any of his
Speaker 2: Night Gallery segments, they weren't his. Zwark's problem has always
Speaker 2: been the material you can make good great, but bad
Speaker 2: will only ever be a little better. That better part
Speaker 2: is Zwark. He toiled mightily against budget constraints and scheduling
Speaker 2: nightmares and uncooperative casts and second guessing per and managed
Speaker 2: to produce some of the most striking pieces of anthology
Speaker 2: television ever, so pressure and deadlines were nothing new to him.
Speaker 2: When Night Gallery's production designer Joe Elves recommended he take
Speaker 2: over the already troubled production of Jaws two.
Speaker 3: When the movie Jaws first opened, it created a sensation,
Speaker 3: and shark sightings increased by the thousands in all the
Speaker 3: vast and unknown depths of the ocean. How could there
Speaker 3: have been only one? Once? There was a terrible tragedy here,
Speaker 3: But today amity has a new hotel and the promise
Speaker 3: of a perfect summer. Now, just when you thought it
Speaker 3: was safe to go back in the water, the legend continues.
Speaker 5: Chief chief body, can we go please? I think we
Speaker 5: may have another short.
Speaker 8: Prom Are you serious? Roy Scheider, Hope, Lorraine Gary, and
Speaker 8: Murray Hamilton.
Speaker 5: Look at this, that's a shock. You started a panic
Speaker 5: on a public beach. I wonder if somebody decides to
Speaker 5: sue us shock. Did you want to stock a fake
Speaker 5: about that? And I don't know what a shock looks like
Speaker 5: because I've seen you when I'm close. Didn't know something
Speaker 5: about this one, because I don't intend.
Speaker 4: To go through that hell again.
Speaker 8: Don't press it this time.
Speaker 4: Mike is out there over there.
Speaker 10: Down here.
Speaker 6: All I know is a boy is dead and my
Speaker 6: son and husband are still out there.
Speaker 3: What None of man's fantasies of evil can compare with
Speaker 3: the reality of Jaws, the only Jaws to.
Speaker 8: See it before you go back in the water.
Speaker 10: Wow.
Speaker 2: Now, how's that for a trailer really tells the story.
Speaker 2: I love it. And that's Percy Ronderiguez doing the narration.
Speaker 2: He's the voice of the Lochnar in Heavy Metal, which
Speaker 2: we covered over on Anthologies Attack and you can hear
Speaker 2: that after you listen to our Saturday Night episode, after
Speaker 2: you listen to this. The other voice I want to
Speaker 2: point out in that trailer belongs to the character of
Speaker 2: Tina played by Ann Dusonberry, and that scene is terrific,
Speaker 2: which is a weird way to describe it because it's
Speaker 2: actually horrifying. Tina and her boyfriend Eddie are out in
Speaker 2: the middle of the ocean in a tiny sailboat. It's
Speaker 2: a rowboat with a sail, and the attack is brutal
Speaker 2: and while the actors are certainly helping, it is a
Speaker 2: visual treat, just ratcheting the tension and hammering you. However,
Speaker 2: there's an aftermath scene where Tina has been rescued and
Speaker 2: Anndusenberry delivers in one line all the horror you could
Speaker 2: ring out of even the best directed, most frightening sequence
Speaker 2: of all time.
Speaker 9: Is what did until they wasted.
Speaker 2: Seeing that for the first time as young as I was,
Speaker 2: made me understand the fragility of the human psyche and
Speaker 2: how sometimes it's totally warranted. In breaking apart, did I say,
Speaker 2: troubled production from Jump Before Johns had even finished demolishing
Speaker 2: the box office in its opening weekend, Universal was already
Speaker 2: pursuing a sequel. Zenac and Brown, the original film's producers,
Speaker 2: wanting to keep control, jumped aboard immediately. Original idea for
Speaker 2: the script included the sons of Quint and Brody going
Speaker 2: after their own shark, and this one's intriguing. Howard Sackler,
Speaker 2: who is uncredited on the first film but did do
Speaker 2: a draft or two, proposed a prequel film in which
Speaker 2: they dramatized the Indianapolis speech from the first film, with
Speaker 2: young Quint as the lead. Instead, Sackler ended up giving
Speaker 2: us the further adventures of Chief Brody and that time
Speaker 2: another shark came to Amity Island. Scheider had recently dropped
Speaker 2: out of The Deer Hunter, and Universal forgave that and
Speaker 2: the other two films. He owed them if he'd appear
Speaker 2: in Jaws two. Schider was not pleased, While he is
Speaker 2: the lead. They let him off the hook a bit,
Speaker 2: relegating the ocean adventures mainly to a group of Amity
Speaker 2: Island teenagers whose flotilla of sailboats become fouled in drifting
Speaker 2: and at the mercy of Jaws two. Now he's got scars.
Speaker 2: Jaws one he was cool. I guess in a you
Speaker 2: never see the motherfucker kind of way. Jaws two battle
Speaker 2: scars for all to see, and I'll jump battle the
Speaker 2: water multiple times. So they've got a script, and they've
Speaker 2: got a cast, and they've got a director. And not
Speaker 2: so fast after a month of filming or thereabouts, original
Speaker 2: director John D. Hancock is pulled. And that's when Joe alves,
Speaker 2: the man responsible for the Shark and would do the
Speaker 2: production design. Just a few years later, on Escape from
Speaker 2: New York, who recommends his frequent Night Gallery collaborator, Jeno Zwark,
Speaker 2: given that he could turn around a full episode of
Speaker 2: excellently shot television in sometimes half a day, must have
Speaker 2: been a selling point. Couldn't hurt that Spielberg also got
Speaker 2: his start on Night Gallery. Zwark heads off to shoot
Speaker 2: the film's trailer darling sequence, the water skiing attack, which
Speaker 2: allows Carl Gottlieb, the real MVP of Jaws, him and
Speaker 2: Werner Fields to rewrite the script, dropping a bunch of
Speaker 2: teens and adding Deputy Hendrix back to the plot, and
Speaker 2: then everything went great, except the usual problems of shooting
Speaker 2: on the ocean resurfaced. Plus the cast was mainly young
Speaker 2: actors in their twenties, so hijinks and Schider clashed frequently
Speaker 2: with Zark over the way the film was being shot. Now,
Speaker 2: I love Roy Scheider, but word is, his main complaint
Speaker 2: seemed to revolve around the fact that others were getting
Speaker 2: the spotlight in his scenes. So kind of fuck you,
Speaker 2: Roy Scheider. But that in no way means that I'm
Speaker 2: saying Roy Scheider doesn't deliver in his performance. It's as
Speaker 2: good as anything he's done, honestly. In fact, for all
Speaker 2: his bitching, his performance actually expands and deepens Brody as
Speaker 2: a character. For all the carbon copy criticism the film
Speaker 2: would receive, you can't lay that blame on Schier. He
Speaker 2: could very easily have sleepwalked through this role. But the
Speaker 2: man is a fucking pro, even if he sometimes takes
Speaker 2: a swing at the director. One Elementark didn't change was
Speaker 2: the film's composer John Williams had already won an Academy
Speaker 2: Award for the film's iconic b I Want sanchon Williams
Speaker 2: conducting the Boston Pops with an evening of music from
Speaker 2: the films of Steven Spielberg. Spielberg was meant to attend
Speaker 2: and introduce each piece, but Kate Capshaw was giving birth
Speaker 2: at that moment, and he bowed at selfish prick. But
Speaker 2: when the first two notes of Jaws came shivering out,
Speaker 2: the audience began tittering. It was the quietest roar I've
Speaker 2: ever heard, and John Williams turned to us very slowly,
Speaker 2: then even slower, brought his fingers to his lips and
Speaker 2: shushed us, and that he continued. Now, I have no
Speaker 2: idea if I was making noise with everybody else, probably,
Speaker 2: but I feel pretty great having been told by John
Speaker 2: Williams to be quiet and pay attention to his music.
Speaker 2: And what music. We all know that original theme, and
Speaker 2: we probably all know the cues by heart. But I
Speaker 2: will contend, yes, I'm gonna say it, Jaws two is
Speaker 2: the superior soundtrack.
Speaker 1: It is.
Speaker 2: It's got everything from the original, but it builds on
Speaker 2: it in the way only Williams seems capable of when
Speaker 2: it comes to franchised entertainment. There's a brief moment in
Speaker 2: Jaws when the tourists are arriving where the score becomes
Speaker 2: really jaunty with a coronet. Williams tanks that and fucking
Speaker 2: runs with it, turning the mostly frightening, intension filled score
Speaker 2: on its head and giving it a bit of levity
Speaker 2: in life. I think critical reaction and the public reaction
Speaker 2: to the film was less than kind at the time.
Speaker 2: How do you follow the blockbuster with anything that would satisfy?
Speaker 2: But the fact is the film has been properly reassessed
Speaker 2: and I think has garnered a reputation that if it
Speaker 2: isn't glowing, it's at least a more fair assessment of
Speaker 2: the film on its own, especially given the fucking horrible
Speaker 2: sequence we've been plagued with ever since. And while I
Speaker 2: don't think that behind the scenes stories of how a
Speaker 2: film came together should ever be levied against the quality
Speaker 2: of the finished endeavor, I do think my appreciation for
Speaker 2: Jaws only climbs when you consider that this mostly television
Speaker 2: director was dropped into the middle of a giant studio
Speaker 2: machine that was already barreling forward, had barreled forward. They
Speaker 2: were filming Oversaw, a new draft of the script, contended
Speaker 2: with water and weather and unruly actors, and somehow not
Speaker 2: only turned in a cohesive film and a worthy continuation
Speaker 2: of the first film story, but an entertaining one at
Speaker 2: that Everyone was expecting any film with a two after
Speaker 2: the title to be on par with Godfather Too, which
Speaker 2: is fucking bonkers now. Granted, what followed in the years
Speaker 2: after that film were sequels like Exorcist two and Omen two.
Speaker 2: The world wasn't ready for aliens yet. They couldn't quite
Speaker 2: grasp that the original magic wasn't coming back, and a
Speaker 2: different tack was required. Nearly every horror sequel ends up
Speaker 2: being an action remake of the first film, for good
Speaker 2: or ill. In the case of Jaws two, very very
Speaker 2: good and that was a good choice, Ripley, And you're
Speaker 2: a very good dog. Yes you are. Oh, you can't
Speaker 2: fool me. You love it. I'm gonna scratch that belly.
Speaker 2: Thank you once again for joining us here at Father
Speaker 2: Malone's weekly Roundup. Be sure to join us this Friday
Speaker 2: for midnight viewing the Horror Anthology podcast where we Are
Speaker 2: continuing our look and tales from the dark Side. In fact,
Speaker 2: that episode marks the start of Dark Side's third season.
Speaker 2: One of those is written by the man himself, mister
Speaker 2: George Andrew Romero. I already escorted you to subscribe, but
Speaker 2: maybe you could also give us five stars, maybe six?
Speaker 2: Do they have more than five? Whatever it is, give
Speaker 2: us the Max the Max Headroom. Did anyone who was
Speaker 2: older than twelve when Max Headroom hit the scene just
Speaker 2: immediately get the joke in that name? Was it like
Speaker 2: hearing that Luck's interior was the lead singer of the Cramps.
Speaker 2: My tiny brain just thought his name was Max Headroom.
Speaker 2: I was floored when I found out it was a
Speaker 2: warning sign that the lead smacked his head on giving
Speaker 2: birth to that digital provocateur. Yeah, maybe we will cover
Speaker 2: it in a future episode right after the Fog. If
Speaker 2: you want to support us financially, head over to Patreon
Speaker 2: dot com slash Father Malone. There you will receive episodes
Speaker 2: early and commercial free, and you'll get access to our
Speaker 2: exclusive shows like Cable Box Theater, where Noise Junkies host
Speaker 2: HP and I revisit the late seventies early eighties cable
Speaker 2: television stations when they were desperate for content and resorted
Speaker 2: to showing videotaped Broadway plays. Oh they are something gonna
Speaker 2: leave you with a bit from SNL. Maybe they could
Speaker 2: dedicate an entire documentary to this.
Speaker 7: Yeah, this isn't so much a question about you, but
Speaker 7: I'm a big Twin Peaks fan, and I was kind
Speaker 7: of wondering, are we gonna find out this year who
Speaker 7: killed Laura Palmer?
Speaker 11: Yeah, it's it's Shelley the waitress, and uh, well they're
Speaker 11: gonna they're gonna reveal that in the last episode, So.
Speaker 8: I kind of could Could you come into the control
Speaker 8: room for a moment.
Speaker 1: There's a phone call for you.
Speaker 11: Yeah, okay, excuse me, it's David Lynch. David, are you watching? Well,
Speaker 11: what do you think? Well, he asked me, what was
Speaker 11: I supposed to do?
Speaker 4: Live?
Speaker 11: I've been in the business for six years, David, you
Speaker 11: know that what would have been telling it's Shelley, David.
Speaker 2: I mean the episode has been shot.
Speaker 11: It's Shelley. Okay, I mean they're gonna find out eventually. Okay, yes, sir, yes, sir,
Speaker 11: I understand, Okay, I'll try all right, excuse me, I
Speaker 11: want to say one thing earlier when I made the
Speaker 11: joke about Shelley the Waitress killing Laura Palmer, I just
Speaker 11: wanted to make sure that you all knew that it
Speaker 11: was a joke. And I mean, obviously I wouldn't come
Speaker 11: out here and and tell you that you know that
Speaker 11: it was real and ruined ruined my chances of being
Speaker 11: in the second season. I mean, only a real idiot
Speaker 11: who never wanted to work in Hollywood and who deserves
Speaker 11: a real big spanking would.
Speaker 2: Would do such a stupid thing like that.
Speaker 11: So uh, anyway, We've got a great show, so stick around.
Speaker 11: We'll be right back
Speaker 4: H