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Show llH'MijMlifiT' m TV keeps him busy by Jerry lluek Associated Press Writer Gene Reynolds IXS ANGELES has never gotten out of the habit of going to school. Hes now taking courses in literature at UCLA, where he obtained his degree before World War II. When he left his job as producing "MASH to help Lou Grant" for CBS, he develop enrolled in journalism classes. He hasn't acted since The Country Girl and "The Bridges of Toko-Ri- , but still takes acting lessons. I study with Nina Foch, he says. That's simply to help my relations with actors." Reynolds feels he has enough to do as executive producer and sometimes director of Lou Grant and creative consultant to "MASH. He says, "Ive got plenty of challenges now. And I would never think of taking a job away from an actor." which THE CLASSROOM HABIT along with research is one of the secrets of the success of "Lou Grant" and MASH" was not one that came easy for Reynolds, a child star in the Our 1930s. He started at 10 in the Gang comedies and at 14 was under contract to MGM. He was in such Gallant pictures as Boys Town, the past the reporter had always been a crime reporter. A euphemism for private eye. Reynolds sees "Lou Grant as a "conflict of ideas. "The thing is to deal with it evenly, he says, and to mobilize the strongest ideas on each side of the issue. It makes for good drama. The thing I love about the show is that it has such variety. Such riches. I dont think I could follow this with just a show about two guys and a girl. "WE NEED AN opportunity for a lot of curves in the story. MASH dealt with medicine, authority, war, the Korean culture. This is contemporary and it deals with todays issues and with our city room family. One thing we strive for is journalistic dilemmas. The strike story presented a dilemma. So did the conflict of interest. You have a story about in the dumping toxic wastes, but foreground Billie misrepresents herself to a young lady, who in the end feels If betrayed. So its a story of betrayal. a you just play the issues it becomes documentary. Television is unlike motion pictures, 'feature His and Santa Fe Trail. specialty seemed to be portraying the heroies as young men : Robert Taylor in The Crowd Roars, Don Ameche in Sins of Man, Ricardo Cortez in In and John Beal in Old California Madam X. Sons, Reynolds says, It was a rocky road for a child actor. Its very hard on your education. I went to high school at the MGM Studios. It was hard for me to get through UCLA. Lou Grant, which stars Edward Asner as the irascible city editor of the Los Angeles Tribune, is the first successful television series about Thats due in no small part to research done by considerable the Reynolds and his team and to the meticulous manner in which Reynolds examines the story with the writers. That was a practice Reynolds had successfully used on Room 222 and news-paperin- g. MASH. LOU GRANT WAS a new kind of he says. It has no melodramatic moments to hook the viewer. Its a literate show. Its a drama of aI room and its wonderful family. show, city think its the first time anyone had looked at journalism and said there was drama in it. We did the same kind of research to find the characters and the humor and the drama that we found in the MASH unit. Its a very rich field. In -- r" I 1 NEW CONVECTION OVEN IS 4 OVENS IN ONE! to The AFTER SERVING IN the Navy in World War II he was on the ship that served as the model for the Caine of he returned to The Caine Mutiny ruled out a stature short His Hollywood. career as a leading man and he turned to directing. He was a top director, then produced The Ghost and Mrs. Muir and developed Room 222 with James Brooks. Brooks went on to create The Mary Tyler Moore Show with Alan Bums and the two were instrumental in creating Lou Grant. Reynolds and Brooks prowled the hallways of Los Angeles High School in researching Room 222. He says, We knew we wanted to do a story about a black teacher. Thats where we started doing reserach. Room 222 was an interesting show. It came during theme of the civil rights movement. At the same time there was a youth revolution. There was an explosion in educational techniques. WAS a rrrrnr O Bakes O Broils O Microwave O Convection where the director shapes and forms the product. In TV it is only the a drama producer who remains with throughout the season, and it becomes his body of work. Reynolds not only works with the writers in shaping every written story scene by scene, he has several episodes himself. ROOM 222 mm? but, curiously, enough, ABC fought it all the way. It simply wanted a show that was funny and didnt get into any issues. tv CAROUSEL have to. Automatically turns the food so you dont "1.53 cu. ft. 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