Latest News from The Interviews

2012 Television Academy Hall of Fame

 Thu, 03/01/2012 Two and a Half Men star and Emmy winner Jon Cryer will host tonight's 21st Annual Television Hall of Fame Gala at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Performers Vivian Vance and Bill Frawley, executive Michael Eisner , show creator-producer Chuck Lorre , executive producers Mary-Ellis Bunim and Jonathan Murray , host Mario Kreutzberger (aka Don Francisco), and lighting director Bill Klages will become the newest inductees into the Television Academy’s Hall of Fame. Presenters at tonight's ceremony include...

It's Garry Shandling!

 Wed, 02/29/2012 Garry Shandling : electrical engineer turned comedian. Shandling switched from majoring in electrical engineering to business at the University of Arizona, and simultaneously began pursuing his interest in comedy writing. He soon moved to Los Angeles, where he found success writing for Sanford and Son and Welcome Back Kotter , and started getting into stand-up. He became a regular on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson , even guest-hosting many times, and went on to create and star in both It's...

The Academy Awards: "One Big TV Show"

 Sun, 02/26/2012 Though The Academy Awards celebrate movies, the ceremony also makes for one of television's biggest events: the Oscars are "one big TV show" according to Archive interviewee Ron Howard . The televised awards show provides one of those now-rare communal-TV-watching experiences that the medium used to enjoy quite frequently in its early years. When TV was just starting out and few people owned sets, neighbors used to gather around the set of the one early adopter on the block to watch television...

Getting Real with Producer Jonathan Murray

Fri, 02/24/2012 He's responsible for those seven strangers, picked to live in a house and have their lives taped, to find out what happens when people stop being polite, and start getting real. Jonathan Murray , together with production partner Mary-Ellis Bunim, produced MTV's hit reality show, The Real World , which many consider to be the first modern reality program. In his Archive interview Murray reveals that he was influenced by the 1973 documentary series, An American Family (often noted as THE first...

Phylicia Rashad Directs "A Raisin in the Sun"

 Fri, 02/17/2012 Phylicia Rashad is currently directing a production of Lorraine Hansberry's "A Raisin in the Sun" at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City, CA. Rashad is quite familiar with the play, which centers on the Younger family in post World War II Harlem: she won a Tony Award for playing "Lena Younger" and reprised the role for a 2008 Movie of the Week version of the play. She discusses the role in detail in her 2007 Archive interview, where you can sense both how much Rashad has reflected on the...

A Whistleblower in Springfield: "The Simpsons" 500th Episode

 Fri, 02/17/2012 It started as a series of shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show in 1987. It's now the winner of 27 primetime Emmys, has been licensed in more than 100 countries, been syndicated domestically for 18 years, is the longest-running American sitcom in television history, and beat out Gunsmoke to become the longest-running primetime, scripted series. Oh, and no one on the show has aged in 23 years. Talk about mind-blowing. Matt Groening's The Simpsons celebrates a landmark achievement in television this...

Whitney Houston Turned Down "The Cosby Show" and Became a Superstar

 Mon, 02/13/2012 The world is mourning the passing of singer Whitney Houston, who died this past Saturday, February 11, 2012. Radio stations are playing medleys of her hit songs, and last night's Grammy Awards paid tribute to her with a moving performance by Jennifer Hudson. We're all aware of Whitney's amazing musical talent, but perhaps you didn't know that once upon a time, Whitney almost became a member of one of television's favorite families. According to director Jay Sandrich , Whitney auditioned for and...

Music's Big Night: The 54th Grammy Awards

 Sun, 02/12/2012 The 54th Grammy Awards air tonight at 8 p.m. PT/ET on CBS. Performers will include Adele, Jason Aldean, Kelly Clarkson, Foo Fighters, Bruno Mars, Nicki Minaj, Bruce Springstein, and Taylor Swift. Diana Ross will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award. Over the years the Archive has interviewed several Grammy Award winners and producers. In his 2001 interview comedian Bob Newhart discusses his Grammy-award winning album, "The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart": And in his 2004 interview, Ted...

It's Ba-ack! New Version of Edward R. Murrow's "Person to Person" Debuts Tonight

 Wed, 02/08/2012 CBS has revived Person to Person , the 1953-61 interview series hosted by newsman Edward R. Murrow. Charlie Rose and Lara Logan will host the modern-day program, which will air as a series of one-hour specials beginning tonight at 8pm ET/PT. The hosts will get a tour of George Clooney's LA home, Warren Buffett's Omaha office, and Jon Bon Jovi's New Jersey mansion. Director James Burrows appeared on the original Person to Person as a child, when the program came to do an interview at the house...

Lessons in Lighting Design from Imero Fiorentino

 Tue, 02/07/2012 Even if you haven't heard of Imero Fiorentino , chances are you're familiar with his work. He was the lighting designer on may of ABC's earliest programs, including U.S. Steel Hour, Omnibus , Paul Whiteman's Goodyear Revue , and Tales of Tomorrow . He lit the scene for Telstar I's first live transatlantic transmission on July 10, 1962, and he designed the lighting for the World Showcase Pavilions at Disney’s Epcot Center. Perhaps the most famous broadcasts with which Fiorentino was involved: he...