RIP George Wendt - today we lost one of the sitcom greats
Sometimes you just hear a celebrity has died and it guts you. Today I felt that with the news that Cheers star George Wendt has died, aged 76.
Beyond his role as Norm Petersen on Cheers, I actually know precious little about Wendt. Urban legend has it that since his time on the sitcom, he has never had to pay for a beer anywhere. Everyone wants to buy him a drink. And that just seems as it should be.
Wendt was one of those actors who found fame and fortune on a hit sitcom and never really went on to do a whole lot of other screen work of note. He has 172 credits on the IMDB, but a lot of that is cameos and roles in TV movies. I always enjoy seeing him appear in the film Fletch (he’s there as a drug distributor working a beach - it is not a funny role).
After Cheers he starred in the sitcom The George Wendt Show, which was cancelled after just six episodes.
From the New York Times obit:
While the Norm character felt natural to who he was, he said, there were definitely differences between fiction and reality.
“The Norm you see in ‘Cheers’ has been years in the making,” he said. “I have some characteristics in common with him besides our fondness for beer. But I think I’m a lot happier than Norm.”
He added: “I was a beer drinker long before ‘Cheers.’ When I put a couple of six packs on top of my grocery shopping cart, people are pleased. I tell ’em I’m taking them home to rehearse.”
As I said up top, I don’t know much at all about Wendt. But I do know that for my entire life I have welcomed him onto my TV screen with regularity watching Cheers (both in its initial run - I was just old enough to appreciate it for its last season or two) and through watching the show on repeats for decades since.
George Wendt has made me laugh for my entire life. And will continue to do so.
RIP UK daytime TV
ITV are making massive cuts to its daytime schedule, slashing the budgets and staff numbers. Over 220 staff are expected to lose their jobs - that’s half the workforce.
Impacted shows include Good Morning Britain, Lorraine, Loose Women, and This Morning.
As per The Guardian:
The biggest impact will be at Lorraine, which will be cut from an hour to 30 minutes in length and air for just 30 weeks a year rather than 52. Loose Women will stay at the same running time but will be cut to 30 weeks.
This Morning will remain the same length and frequency, while Good Morning Britain will be extended by 30 minutes, running from 6am to 9.30am. For the 22 weeks of the year that Lorraine is not airing, GMB will run a further half hour until 10am.
It continues:
A spokesperson for ITV said the move was not related to the performance of any of its shows, but about centralising its national news-gathering production in one place and investing its resources in high-profile shows such as Mr Bates vs The Post Office and events such as the football World Cup.
Lygo said: “Daytime is a really important part of what we do, and these scheduling and production changes will enable us to continue to deliver a schedule providing viewers with the news, debate and discussion they love from the presenters they know and trust, as well generating savings which will allow us to reinvest across the programme budget in other genres.”
Broadly, with TV experiencing declining viewership across the board, we are going to start seeing more and more of this. And the first shows impacted will be those that are either not bringing in massive viewership, or those with limited shelf life once they have been aired. The only way to keep these shows sustainable/on the air is to severely reduce the expense of making them.
It’s a similar situation to Australian soap Neighbours. It was still being watched in decent numbers in the UK when the decision was made to cancel it and invest that budget into shows that Channel 5 could sell internationally. How networks are using their budgets are driving revenue from them is under greater scrutiny as those ad dollars are drying up and other financial pressures are mounting.
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News Desk
Carey Mulligan is the latest name in the mix for the new Greta Gerwig Narnia film for Netflix. Read: Variety
The BBC has confirmed this Christmas's Julia Donaldson adaptation will be The Scarecrows’ Wedding. Read: Radio Times
Apple TV+ has renewed Women In Blue for season 2. Read: Deadline
Supercell mobile strategy games Clash of Clans and Clash Royale will be adapted into an animated series at Netflix. Read: The Verge
Expect HBO’s The Last of Us to run for four seasons. Read: Dark Horizons
A proposal from TV lobby group Free TV Australia would see daytime M-classified programming would be expanded from three to five hours a day. This opens the door to more alcohol ads on TV. Read: The Guardian
Mike Richards, the former Jeopardy! executive producer who gave himself the hosting job and was subsequently embarrassed out of television following dodgy comments on his own podcast, is joining conservative opinion outlet The Daily Wire. Read: THR
Apple TV+ has announced Snoopy: Presents: A Summer Musical for July 18. Read: thefutoncritic
Trailer Park
IT: Welcome To Derry debuts on HBO Max in the US fall. Exact date TBA.
Get ready to go back to where IT all began... 🎈
The Arnold Schwarzenegger Netflix show FUBAR (which has outlasted the True Lies TV series adaptation by not releasng a second season for two years) will return on June 12.
The Bear is back for season 4 on June 25 by way of Hulu and Disney+ (internationally).
Kaulitz & Kaulitz returns for season 2 on Netflix June 17.
Platonic, a series that absolutely did not need a second season, is back August 6.
Dan Da Dan (great name) returns for season 2 on ADN, Crunchyroll, Hulu, Muse, Netflix, and more.
That’s the newsletter for today.
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