Health and Medicine

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation Presents

02:26

Tabs

About

“People were still terrified of AIDS then. It was still incredibly difficult to get any accurate information. When we were doing the show we had a main medical advisor and then a man with AIDS who was also advising us on the story as we went. When All My Children decided to keep the character of Cindy around for all that time, it was pretty great because the life expectancy of people then was two to three years, and that’s how long we told that story, in about two and a half years. It was a very realistic view of what someone’s life might be if that were to happen to them.” - Ellen Wheeler, Producer/Actress

Interviewees discuss health and medicine on television.

Highlights

Ellen Wheeler on working with All My Children creator Agnes Nixon and public reaction to the AIDS storyline

02:29

Jeffrey Hayden on Quincy's plots, including the episode "Seldom Silent, Never Heard," that influenced the passing of the Orphan Drug Act (ODA)

04:20

Debbie Allen on how A Different World was the first network show on TV to broach the subject of AIDS

03:10

Maria Riva on appearing on a series of cerebral palsy telethons in the 1950s at the request of Yul Brynner (the airtime donated by ABC President Leonard Goldenson), and trying to dispel the stigma of the disease

01:26

Producer Paul Henning on ending cigarette ads on The Beverly Hillbillies

01:56

Walter Dishell on advising on how to perform surgery in M*A*S*H

02:34

Who talked about this topic

Debbie Allen

Debbie Allen on how A Different World was the first network show on TV to broach the subject of AIDS

03:10

Army Archerd

Army Archerd on breaking the story of Rock Hudson's AIDS

05:18

Paris Barclay

Paris Barclay on directing a pivotal episode of ER in which a main character is revealed to have AIDS, and seeing the power of television's reach

04:43

Sharon Bialy

Sharon Bialy on submissions for a show like Better Call Saul, and on how the casting process works -- and how casting was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic

02:40

Sharon Bialy on casting a lot of theater actors during early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, and on how the pandemic impacted casting protocols

03:47

Yvette Lee Bowser

Yvette Lee Bowser on balancing serious subject matter within the context of a comedy on A Different World -- including the episode "If I Should Die Before I Wake"

03:31

Yvette Lee Bowser on running the first season of Run the World, which shot in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, and on the show getting a second season

06:10

Yvette Lee Bowser on how pandemic production operated on Unprisoned and on the Zoom writers' room on the show

04:19

Frances Buss Buch

Frances Buss Buch on directing "Telecolor Clinics" for The American Cancer Society

07:43

Margaret Cho

Margaret Cho on what the COVID-19 pandemic experience has been like for her, on the violence against Asian Americans during the pandemic, and on the many streaming services she's been watching

02:25

Margaret Cho on doing remote shows and connecting with fans during the COVID-19 pandemic

00:34

Margaret Cho on what production has been like during the COVID-19 pandemic

01:01

Margaret Cho on COVID protocols for TV production during the COVID-19 pandemic

03:14

Margaret Cho on shooting and traveling during the COVID-19 pandemic

00:56

Margaret Cho on what she's most looking forward to when the COVID-19 pandemic ends

00:53

Margaret Cho on COVID protocols for TV production during the COVID-19 pandemic

03:14

Ane Crabtree

Ane Crabtree on where she was when the COVID-19 pandemic occurred and how it impacted production

09:55

Ramin Djawadi

Ramin Djawadi on scoring The Eternals during the COVID-19 pandemic

02:32

Jeffrey Hayden

Jeffrey Hayden on Quincy's plots, including the episode "Seldom Silent, Never Heard," that influenced the passing of the Orphan Drug Act (ODA)

04:20

Paul Henning

Producer Paul Henning on ending cigarette ads on The Beverly Hillbillies

01:56

Kim Kimble

Kim Kimble on working as a hair stylist during the COVID-19 pandemic, and on having to shut down her salon due to the pandemic

01:30

Kim Kimble on working as a hair stylist on set during the COVID-19 pandemic

03:28

Dr. John Leverence

Dr. John Leverence on the role television has played during the COVID-19 pandemic

02:59

Dr. John Leverence on how the COVID-19 pandemic might impact the television industry, moving forward

02:55

Daniel Lipman

Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman on the research they did when writing the 1985 made-for-television movie An Early Frost, which depicted the AIDS crisis, by visiting AIDS patients at Santa Monica Hospital

03:03

Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman on how they approached the storyline where Swoosie Kurtz's character, "Alex Reed", had breast cancer on Sisters

03:14

Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman on the depiction of people living with HIV/AIDS on Queer as Folk

07:39

Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman on the research they did when writing the 1985 made-for-television movie An Early Frost, which depicted the AIDS crisis, by visiting AIDS patients at Santa Monica Hospital

03:03

Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman on how they approached the storyline where Swoosie Kurtz's character, "Alex Reed", had breast cancer on Sisters

03:14

Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman on the depiction of people living with HIV/AIDS on Queer as Folk

07:39

Eryn Krueger Mekash

Eryn Krueger Mekash on how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted makeup for television and what the then-current production conditions were like

05:28

Donald A. Morgan

Donald A. Morgan on how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted production on Last Man Standing and The Conners

04:45

Donald A. Morgan on the challenges of shooting the live episodes of The Conners -- one shot during the COVID-19 pandemic

01:36

Soledad O'Brien

Soledad O'Brien on where she was at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and what pandemic production has been like

06:10

Soledad O'Brien on where she was at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and what pandemic production has been like

06:10

Lyn Paolo

Lyn Paolo on reuniting with the cast and crew of The West Wing to work on a pre-election benefit special in 2020 "A West Wing Special to Benefit When We All Vote" and how it came about, and on working on the special during the COVID-19 Pandemic and how that impacted production

02:23

Lyn Paolo on the shoot for Inventing Anna starting right before the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City in 2020, on working as a costume designer on various shows during the pandemic including working in full hazmat suits, and on the impact of the pandemic on production

03:35

David Pressman

Director David Pressman on some of the social issues covered on One Live to Live

03:22

Sally Jessy Raphael

Sally Jessy Raphael on having Ryan White and Cleve Jones as guests on her show Sally aka The Sally Jessy Raphael Show to discuss the AIDS crisis

03:18

Sally Jessy Raphael on Patty Duke's appearance on Sally aka The Sally Jessy Raphael Show, where she discussed her bipolar diagnosis

02:01

Tim Reid

Tim Reid on missing international travel during the COVID-19 pandemic

01:01

Tim Reid on production during the COVID-19 pandemic

02:04

Maria Riva

Maria Riva on appearing on a series of cerebral palsy telethons in the 1950s at the request of Yul Brynner (the airtime donated by ABC President Leonard Goldenson), and trying to dispel the stigma of the disease

01:26

Fatima Robinson

Fatima Robinson on choreographing the halftime show for Super Bowl LVI (Dr. Dre and West Coast hip-hop All-Stars) and how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the show

02:25

Glenda Rovello

Glenda Rovello on her experience of production during the COVID-19 pandemic

02:06

Yeardley Smith

Yeardley Smith on production on The Simpsons during the COVID-19 pandemic -- moving from recording like a radio play with everyone together, to recording in her home, to recording solo at the studio

04:10

Ruth Warrick

Ruth Warrick on All My Children's groundbreaking AIDS storyline

05:03

Ellen Wheeler

Ellen Wheeler on working with All My Children creator Agnes Nixon and public reaction to the AIDS storyline

02:29

Ellen Wheeler on working with All My Children creator Agnes Nixon and public reaction to the AIDS storyline

02:29

Alan Zweibel

Alan Zweibel, interviewed from home during the Coronavirus pandemic, on how he has been coping during the Stay at Home mandate

11:22

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