I mentioned in my post last week that Michael Jacobs, creator of family shows like Boy Meets World, My Two Dads and The Torkelsons among others, was very highly regarded by many of his longtime writers. Rider Strong, who played Shawn on Boy Meets World (and most recently co-created this Obama campaign video for Moveon.org’s “Obama in 30 Seconds” contest) had some comments on the post and with his permission I’m reprinting part of them here, as a reminder of the obvious: while kid- or family-oriented shows have different rules and restrictions from “grown-up” shows, a good producer will take as much trouble with it as with any other kind of show:
I mentioned in my post last week that Michael Jacobs, creator of family shows like Boy Meets World, My Two Dads and The Torkelsons among others, was very highly regarded by many of his longtime writers. Rider Strong, who played Shawn on Boy Meets World (and most recently co-created this Obama campaign video for Moveon.org’s “Obama in 30 Seconds” contest) had some comments on the post and with his permission I’m reprinting part of them here, as a reminder of the obvious: while kid- or family-oriented shows have different rules and restrictions from “grown-up” shows, a good producer will take as much trouble with it as with any other kind of show:
You did get the right info: Michael is a genius. 2 hour note sessions just for the actors, hysterical last minute re-writes in front of the audience, a complete mastery of story and character. I think I thought these things were standard — but the more I work in the industry, the more I realize that he was one of the last of his kind…a TV giant. Not always the easiest to get along with, but only if he didn’t respect you; Michael would often lose patience with the revolving door of young network executives.