Black Friday questions of the week

It’s Black Friday question day. Take a break in between trips to Costco and your bank (if it hasn’t gone under).

From Vermonter17032:

QUESTION: I think CHEERS got better when Lillith became a regular character. Bebe Neuwirth is great. When a character who has been in the show sporadically is finally made a regular, are writers glad or is it just more challenging?

Writers are thrilled. The reason a sporadic character becomes a regular is because they’re terrific. It’s usually the writers who campaign to get that character on the show permanently. Both Frasier and Lilith were happy surprises. Frasier was originally supposed to be in a three-part arc to begin season three. And Lilith had four lines in a teaser and that’s it. But the actors scored so well that we just kept bringing them back. Another example is Chris Lloyd as Reverend Jim in TAXI.

On ALMOST PERFECT we were going to make Lisa Edelstein a regular. But alas, we were canceled first. It’s too bad. I wonder whatever happened to her.

ElwynBrooksWhite wants to know:

What happens to the writer(s) that come in after the first bloom is off a show? For example, how do you write the episode that follows the "Happy Days" Jump the Shark three-parter? Or, when a character previously played for laughs ("Hot Lips" etc.) then takes a more serious turn? Is it possible for a show to recover from a stunt episode? Or does that tend to linger?

Most of the time when a second regime takes over the show is not as good. I’m very proud of the work David and I did on MASH in those middle years of the series but our seasons don’t hold a candle to Larry Gelbart’s.

Sometimes however, new teams of writers can energize or even improve a show. For my money, NEWHART got much better when Dan Wilcox took over and even better still when Mark Egan & Mark Solomon ran the show.

Generally, when a show jumps the shark it’s very hard to come back. It’ll be interesting to see if 24 can rebound from it’s sub-par sixth season. And HEROES is still trying to recover from its disastrous second season (although usually a hit show doesn’t lose its way in season two… that takes real futility).

What’s your question… besides what was in that stuffing?