In Part Two of my conversation with Ken Levine, more evidence that the Emmy-winner is one of TV’s top storytellers.
One of my favourite episodes from his excellent podcast, Hollywood & Levine, is the one where he told listeners exactly what he thought of the recent reboot of Frasier. Some might see this as sour grapes from one of the authors of the original series, but I for one was keenly interested in Levine’s unvarnished take. He didn’t hold back, and repeats what Fresh Hell he sees in the Paramount+ series.
He also talks about a sitcom he co-created over 30 years ago with writing partner David Issacs: Big Wave Dave’s. The premise had promise (three buddies decide to ditch their dead-end lives and run a surf shop in Hawaii) and the late summer ratings were decent. The cast was outstanding (Adam Arkin, Jane Kaczmarek, Patrick Breen, Kurtwood Smith and David Morse), but the network ditched it after six episodes. Hear why, and also which episode from that series Levine feels is the funniest thing he and his partner ever wrote.
If you are curious about this 1993 series, you can check out episodes, including the pilot, on YouTube. As for Kaczarek, Levine says the future Malcolm in the Middle mom tested higher than anybody — even Bob Newhart — ever did at CBS.
Also in Part Two: hear which episode from a classic TV sitcom from the ’50s made Levine laugh the most as a youngster — and also inspired an episode with a similar one-big-joke premise 30 years later on Cheers.
To listen to the episode, simply click on the white arrow in the blue dot, above.
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