Behind every great TV program is a great show-runner
By Kate Stanhope
Jan. 29, 2009 9:05 p.m.
At this past Sunday’s 15th Annual SAG Awards, winner Tina Fey thanked her daughter, Jane Krakowski of “30 Rock” thanked fellow NBC comedy “The Office” for being a great lead-in and Jon Hamm, floppy hair and all, paid tribute to a part of television that sometimes doesn’t get enough credit alongside the agents, managers, and family members: He thanked “Mad Men” creator and show-runner Matthew Weiner.
“Thank you, Matt. Without what you do, what we would do would be decidedly terrible. So, thank you very much.”
The moment was especially poignant because Weiner had just ended a fairly public battle with the production house of “Mad Men,” Lionsgate, to stay as show-runner for the show’s upcoming third season. Weiner wanted a raise for putting AMC at the top of the heap, along with HBO, Showtime and TNT, for original content. Lionsgate seemed hesitant to pay the increased sum Weiner demanded for his pet project-turned-“it” cable show, and critics, bloggers and fans panicked about what the future would hold.
It’s a tricky situation that happens often in Hollywood: As viewers, we naturally become emotionally invested in certain programs. Sometimes these shows are perfect from the first episode to the last ““ “Sex and the City,” for example ““ and sometimes these shows “jump the shark” and lose their charm over time.
Unfortunately, more often than not, the latter downward spiral can be attributed to a show losing those people who were there from the beginning. I’m talking about the visionaries behind it all: the show-runners. When looking back at some of the more recent shows that fell victim to this problem, it’s understandable why critics and fans alike were so worried for the man behind “Mad Men.”
When “Gilmore Girls” lost creator and executive producer Amy Sherman-Palladino after its sixth season, the dramedy limped through one season without her before calling it quits. Although the show had become a cult favorite, fans and journalists mainly focused on figuring out the original ending Palladino had put in motion years before and that never aired because of her early departure.
In addition, “The West Wing” drastically changed pace after show-runner Aaron Sorkin left at the end of the fourth season. Besides serving as the show’s creator, Sorkin was known as having written many of the episodes from the first four seasons, and with his distinct voice suddenly gone, the show’s ratings and critical attention fluctuated for its three remaining seasons.
There is at least some hope, should this same hiccup between Weiner and Lionsgate occur this time next year ““ after all, his contract is only for one season. For example, UCLA alumnus and “Melrose Place” mastermind Darren Star is credited with transforming “Sex and the City” ““ the column ““ into the iconic television show.
However, Star shifted from working as an executive producer at the start of the show to simply serving as an executive consultant when Michael Patrick King took the reins. There are noticeable differences between Star’s and King’s seasons, but many fans would argue the show’s peak came during its third and fourth seasons, when King served as the executive producer.
The Los Angeles Times’ TV columnist Scott Collins put it best in a column he penned two years back: Show-runners “make ““ and often create ““ the shows, and now more than ever, shows are the only things that matter.”
For now, at least, those devoted to the goings-on of 1960s advertising agency Sterling Cooper (the focus of “Mad Men”), need not worry about whose hands characters like Don Draper and Peggy Olsen lie in.
But for the future, actors, writers and other creative types in the TV industry, remember to thank your lucky stars: your family … and your show-runner.
If you think Shonda Rhimes should be put on probation for “Private Practice,” then e-mail Stanhope at [email protected].
