Ken Levine

Ken Levine joined me and discussed the influence of Sgt. Bilko and The Dick Van Dyke show to him and his peers; bad 60's TV; when he decided to become a writer ; why they are known as Levine & Isaacs; writing a spec Mary Tyler Moore Show; writing for Jeffersons and Joe & Sons; writing freelance M*A*S*H* ; being a college DJ; watching "Bananas" and not wanting to be an old DJ lead him to rethink about writing; meeting his partner, David Isaacs; his first script "Out of Sight, Out of Mind" led to offers from The Tony Randall Show and to write more M*A*S*H* episodes; joining the M*A*S*H staff; Ronny Graham; stories about the episodes "The MASH Olympics", "Merchant of Korea", "Our Finest Hour" and "POV"; 1981-82 sitcom Open All Night; Cheers -start, episodes "Any Friend of Dianes", "The Boys in the Bar"; airchecks; meeting (then) Prince Charles on set of M*A*S*H*; life, death, and backstory of Eddie LeBec; writing Cheers related content for the Super Bowl and Mickey Mouse; episodes featuring Wade Boggs and Kevin McHale; keeping the action in the bar is key to the success; writing "To All the Girls I've Loved Before" without an outline; Wang Chung; Sheldon Leonard; background of my favorite episode "Here's......Cliffy”; being in the green room with Elizabeth Taylor; writing and guest voicing a Simpsons; the late Cheers and Frasier script supervisor Gabrielle James; prop master Ed LaPorta and the crew getting their credit