tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441882467431112276.post8624518700424411441..comments2023-04-26T07:34:42.821-07:00Comments on The Story of Millie: In which we take Advantage of TechnologyThe Doctorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04322048779156560794noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441882467431112276.post-27913197264830864432009-05-12T07:59:00.000-07:002009-05-12T07:59:00.000-07:00The Godzilla show is a-comin'. It would be consid...The Godzilla show is a-comin'. It would be considered "non-canonical", I spose ... it was a radio station promotion and they handled the whole package; no LBG, no backsassing the projectionist, no funny walkons, just Barb in garb. I had an idea to do it like a Jerry Lewis Vegas act, and the radio station guys said "Oh. We have something else in mind."The Doctorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04322048779156560794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441882467431112276.post-34766761551742863502009-05-12T00:22:00.000-07:002009-05-12T00:22:00.000-07:00OH! For people reading, my inquiry about that isn...OH! For people reading, my inquiry about that isn't because of MT... it's because of Godzilla. You guys DON'T even want to know how much Godzilla crap I have... or how much I know about the kaiju parade. <br /><br />But I remember, back then, knowing I couldn't attend it, being depressed not because I couldn't attend a Millie live event. It was because I didn't believe I'd ever see a Godzilla movie in a theatre. And wow, it turned out that woulda been a good movie to watch, huh?<br /><br />It turned out that I did see a Godzilla movie in the theatre: Godzilla Millenium... or whatever they called it, the one with the flying rock. I saw it in Dallas, one of my best memories from there.Hillbillyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08994538216606990771noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441882467431112276.post-16544755568779290162009-05-12T00:00:00.000-07:002009-05-12T00:00:00.000-07:00Well, it's still a thing to wrap my head around th...Well, it's still a thing to wrap my head around that you were doing those early shows live. BUT I gotta say, you quickly found a way to hook the audience, and I do remember, for some reason, that after this episode things got better for the show. From a production standpoint at least, I mean, although at the time I didn't realize that's what I was analyzing.<br /><br />Oh, and another thought on memories, although I have no idea if you had any input in it: the showing of *Godzilla: 1985* at the Kentucky Theatre. I saw the newsclipping about that and was so disheartened at the time, because there was no way I could attend it, even with my half-brother living down on Nicholasville Road. (there's reasons)Hillbillyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08994538216606990771noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441882467431112276.post-44101064768280095642009-05-11T10:55:00.000-07:002009-05-11T10:55:00.000-07:00Bill's idea, I think, was that the live-ness of th...Bill's idea, I think, was that the live-ness of the show would be performance enhancing: if you know you only have that One On-Air Shot, you will focus your concentration wonderfully like Dr. Johnson's hypothetical man about to be hanged. We thought that notion was ... uninformed. It may indeed be true for a live audience in the studio. But for the viewing audience at home, I don't think so. I've always thought that Marshall McLuhan had the right idea, if not the right syntax: we learn a way of processing our inputs that's unique for each delivery system. Watching a teevee show is only a shared experience to the extent that other people watch that show. Otherwise, the experience is only shared with the folks in the room, and the remembered experience is the experience of watching more than the experience of the show.<br /><br />After 20-odd years, I have finally learned (professionally) that you really don't sell a new idea so much as you keep presenting it over and over, and eventually the person being pitched comes to accept the idea as his or her own. Of course, that often means that in that person's mind He/She Thought of It First. <br /><br />So IMO the significance of the Phone-In Show was that it was outside validation (through viewer response, payroll and engineering data) that for MT "live" was a style choice, not a critical factor for success. And once it was validated as a style choice, then you could make the "business" case for making a "more cost-effective" style choice. "Live" and Barbara were Bill's ownership stakes in the show, and up to this point that's what counted in WLEX's Corridors O Power. IMO, he held on to live broadcast until he had a somewhat graceful way to let go of live broadcast. This way, it didn't seem like he was caving to the Artistes.<br /><br />Or, as the Head Rat of Ruckus Arenus taught us in Negotiating 101: Give 'em a way out. Cornered animals bite.The Doctorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04322048779156560794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3441882467431112276.post-81969668341920650762009-05-10T18:58:00.000-07:002009-05-10T18:58:00.000-07:00To be honest, I never believed, until That One Pho...To be honest, I never believed, until That One Phone Call, that it was live to begin with. And in fact, I promptly forgot realizing that and went back to assuming you guys filmed it during downtime from the News or something.<br /><br />I just couldn't wrap my head around putting on a full-blown show that late at night (even given the limitations of the no-budget and all). Of course, given the chance, I'd do it, but I doubt I'd be as fun to watch. I'm not camera friendly.Tabkendhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12431369911171369557noreply@blogger.com