CHAT WITH ROBERT
USA TODAY’s Robert Bianco chats with readers Mondays at 2 p.m. ET at facebook.com/USATODAY. Read edited excerpts below, email questions to askbianco@usatoday.com or tweet them to @biancorobert and visit him live online.
Qfunny Making History was at first, but it’s losing momentum. Does it get any better? A— The good news is yes, it does
and relatively soon. In the episode airing Sunday, the show begins a two-part trip to 1919 Chicago which, while not quite as good as the initial visit to preRevolutionary America, is better than the episodes that followed. In addition to a decent plot and some smarter observations about the clash between past and present, you get an amusing guest turn from Saturday Night Live’s Tim Robinson as a completely unbalanced Al Capone. For people like you, who liked it but have considered stepping away, this two-parter may cause you to stay at least a little while longer. Several series are imposQsible for me to watch because of their annoying laugh tracks. Ahowl We’ll put aside the inevitable
from the shows that what you’re hearing are real laughs from the studio audience. (And never mind that we all suspect some of those shows are “sweetening ” the laughs more than they should.) There was a time when every sitcom on TV had a laugh track, including those like M*A*S*H that were shot without an audience. These days, sitcoms that “look” like movies, such as Modern Family, have done away with them. But sitcoms shot in front of an audience, like The Big Bang Theory, are an odd hybrid — part TV show, part theater. And since you hear laughter (or the writers hope you do) when you attend the taping, the thought is that keeping the laughter in enhances the “theatricality” of the experience. It works for me, but that could just be because I’m so used to it. Q I read your review of
Star. You cannot really believe that if the show focused on Queen Latifah’s character it would have been better? Who would have watched? I am not that young and Queen Latifah is good, but she is supporting material at best these days. Awould Of course I believe the show
be better if it were built around Queen Latifah. I wouldn’t have written that if I didn’t. I also know, however, that Hollywood sides with you. Advertisers want young viewers, and networks believe young viewers want shows with young stars. As a business decision, that may be the right one to make (though I continue to think young viewers will watch older actors in the right show and the right role). As an artistic decision, however, it often leads to turning shows like
Star over to young actors who can’t carry them, and pushing the people who could — like Queen Latifah — into supporting roles. As for whether she’s “supporting material at best”: Not to me, and not to anyone with any sense who’s considering a production of
Hello, Dolly, because goodness would she be great in that role.