minor muppetz
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I have been wondering quite a few things about television writing, especially recently. Recently in the "Ask Jim Lewis" thread Jim said he always figured the writing for the show was a group effort, and said it was that way on Muppets Tonight. I commented on my confusion over this, having thought for years that each sketch and backstage plot would have had different writers and then the stuff would be put into one script.
Somebody in that thread explained a few things about the situation to me, and also mentioned that some sitcoms often are written by all the writers, with only one or two writers credited (I think Newsradio was a cited example). Then again, I wonder if this is true for Family Guy.. I notice that most episodes have one or two credited writers, and Seth Macfarlane is rarely credited as a writer. Though I wouldn't be surprised if the show's various writers write cutaways that get put into full episode scripts. On the other hand, in the audio commentary for The Weird Al Show, it was said that each episode had to give writers credit to everybody who contributed to the writing, even to writers who may have contributed to only a small gag.
Still, I assume that most variety/sketch comedy shows have different writers contributing to different sketches (that's how I would do it, if I had my own variety series). There was a book about Saturday Night Live, with quotes from the cast and crew, and I recall a quote from Chris Rock, saying that every individual sketch from a recurring sketch or character was written by the same person each time, while on In Living Color any writer could write for any recurring sketch or character. Of course I think there are exceptions... Considering Weekend Update has been in almost every show since the start (I feel like it was missing from the Desi Arnez episode... Or maybe that's just the syndication version), there would have to have been different writers for that, and I would have thought the various writers would write different news stories for each individual sketch. And of course it's sourced that each Muppet sketch was written by whichever writer drew the shortest straw that week.
I assume that each Sesame Street insert is written by just one or two writers (and I think I have seen some sources confirming this). I would think that each sketch on SCTV was written by a different person, but several backstage plots would be group efforts (especially stuff like the pledge week shows, the christmas party episodes, and the award show episode).
Somebody in that thread explained a few things about the situation to me, and also mentioned that some sitcoms often are written by all the writers, with only one or two writers credited (I think Newsradio was a cited example). Then again, I wonder if this is true for Family Guy.. I notice that most episodes have one or two credited writers, and Seth Macfarlane is rarely credited as a writer. Though I wouldn't be surprised if the show's various writers write cutaways that get put into full episode scripts. On the other hand, in the audio commentary for The Weird Al Show, it was said that each episode had to give writers credit to everybody who contributed to the writing, even to writers who may have contributed to only a small gag.
Still, I assume that most variety/sketch comedy shows have different writers contributing to different sketches (that's how I would do it, if I had my own variety series). There was a book about Saturday Night Live, with quotes from the cast and crew, and I recall a quote from Chris Rock, saying that every individual sketch from a recurring sketch or character was written by the same person each time, while on In Living Color any writer could write for any recurring sketch or character. Of course I think there are exceptions... Considering Weekend Update has been in almost every show since the start (I feel like it was missing from the Desi Arnez episode... Or maybe that's just the syndication version), there would have to have been different writers for that, and I would have thought the various writers would write different news stories for each individual sketch. And of course it's sourced that each Muppet sketch was written by whichever writer drew the shortest straw that week.
I assume that each Sesame Street insert is written by just one or two writers (and I think I have seen some sources confirming this). I would think that each sketch on SCTV was written by a different person, but several backstage plots would be group efforts (especially stuff like the pledge week shows, the christmas party episodes, and the award show episode).