Bill Daily's Career and Development of Television - Essay Example

Bill Dailey The early development of television was shaped by a variety of people who few outside the industry have heard about or given much thought to. While others might be familiar for a favorite role they played, those individuals who became involved in television during the early years also had a great deal of influence off camera as well. This concept emerges strongly as one begins to take a look at the life and career of one such early television celebrity, Bill Daily. Becoming involved in the industry first behind the scenes as a writer and stage manager thanks to a strong knowledge of music, Daily had the unique opportunity to watch the genre develop. In a two-hour long interview with Bill Dailey, the artist talked about his involvement with television from its early days of primarily live television to more recent shows such as Alf and Caroline in the City. While the discussion focused primarily upon the highlights of his career, Daily also provided several impressions regarding the development of television over the years as well as his personal involvement in it both on and off screen. Daily first became involved with television as the result of his love for music. In his interview, he indicated that he had first left home to become a jazz musician, and was actually pretty good at it, but that his band fell apart when the members had to serve in the Korean War. However, the difficultly in gaining attention for himself as the bass player awoke a love he had always had for comedy and, while serving, he began to nourish a desire to work in television. After receiving some advice, he was able to secure a position as a stage manager for NBC as a result of his being able to read music. During his career, he participated in writing content for entertainment shows like the Mike Douglas Show, directing and eventually, acting as his ability to come up with material quickly became necessary to fill any gaps in the mostly live shows of early television. As the industry changed formats stylistically and became more technological, Daily began performing in front of the camera more and more. Beginning with guest spots on situation-comedies such as My Mother the Car and Bewitched, Daily was given the opportunity for a recurring role by director Sidney Sheldon (“Bill Daily”, 2007). He was the regular sidekick in several popular TV shows such as I Dream of Jeannie and The Bob Newhart Show and had a few opportunities to star in shows of his own. Between shows and even while acting in them, he was able to keep up some of his writing, performed at comedy clubs and became more involved with theater. Although he was given plenty of chances to also star in movies and commercials, he indicated in his interview that he could not take advantage of these opportunities because he had dyslexia and could not read sufficiently well to be able to conduct a ‘reading.’ Through this impressive diversity of involvement in the entertainment industry, Daily’s contributions to the industry help illustrate some of the ways in which it has evolved. In the early days of his involvement with television programming, Daily said he worked primarily as a writer and secondarily as an actor. However, his description of his writing duties seemed fairly loose. He told his interviewer he would write a story in terms of a beginning, middle and an end, without any kind of script involved. According to Daily, these stories were characterized by a presentation of a specific sort of scenario, such as a young couple going out to dinner to celebrate their first anniversary. From there, the story would outline a general course of events, such as a quickly escalating battle over a trivial issue (what they wore on their first date) ending in a generally sweet and peaceful yet surprising conclusion. While he admitted that many of these turned out to be flops because of their lack of true direction or because of their tendency to become repetitive, this general sense of freedom from the ‘script’ carried over into some of his later work. For instance, Daily indicated his improvisational abilities honed from working with live television translated themselves naturally into the relatively fast-paced world of the evolving sit-coms. While working with I Dream of Jeannie, he said he and Larry Hagman would frequently change the script to positive effect while they were frozen in a scene awaiting a change of some sort wrought by the ‘magical’ Jeannie. While his dyslexia prevented him from reading for several parts he had been offered, these improvisational abilities also enabled him to react quickly to having forgotten some of his lines as frequently happened on shows with fewer rehearsals such as The Bob Newhart Show. Although he said many of the shows were written quickly and were filmed with few cuts and greater coherence overall, his perspective on the way television has developed indicates he feels the modern world of TV has far less to offer the consumer than its earlier years. His involvement in all of these activities provided him with a strong sense of what was happening in the industry as it grew from its childhood to its present position, enabling him to answer some of the seeming paradoxes that have emerged as discussions of the quality of television programming through its evolution have been conducted. One of the major differences affecting television, according to Daily, is the technological advancements that have occurred and the changes this has brought about in the method through which shows are now produced. When he first started in television, Daily said about 90 percent of it was done live. This style of production allowed for a great many spoofs and errors, but also contributed to the fun and spontaneity of the medium. While he was involved in filming everything from news programs to entertainment skits, Daily indicated that this element of live performance contributed greatly to the actors’ awareness of what was happening as well as to the coherence of the show. He compared this to the modern method of taping everything, illustrating both how it was thought that the ability to tape shows would enable producers to make the shows better by cutting out tangents, lulls and other problem areas, but has instead contributed to a general break-up of programming. As he was working within the industry on a regular basis, he watched television programming move from approximately 90 percent live shows to approximately 90 percent taped shows, each with their own speed of production. Those shows that had a tendency to produce their shows quickly, filming a 30 minute show during a three day period for example, retained the coherency and chemistry he had associated with the earlier live shows. However, as more and more studios worked on perfecting the art of taping, these production schedules began to take on new dimensions, stretching into two week production times and long arduous hours spent in the studio. Numerous takes are now made of each individual scene, which is now defined as a continuous taping rather than through any kind of focus on content and the feel of the show becomes lost. One of the major breakdowns seen in the television industry was also pointed out by Daily as being a general breakdown in content. While shows such as I Dream of Jeannie were certainly not considered by him to be anything more than just silly fun, Daily illustrated how even this show contained a specific story, a plot and a developed idea. Although shows were taped at a much quicker speed, and often even written at a much quicker pace than they are today, he also pointed out that with the huge bulk of television hours that must now be filled on the hundreds of stations that are available, the lack of adequate talent and the rate at which the available talent must work quickly burns out the ideas, exhausts the creative resources and provides little to no opportunity for truly excellent programming to emerge. At the same time, by pointing out the difference in popularity between shows like I Dream of Jeannie, which was immensely popular, and The Bob Newhart Show, which never gained the type of popularity Jeannie had, Daily also makes a comment about the types of audiences that typically tune into television. He told his interviewer that while Bob Newhart was by far a better show, it had a smaller appeal because it only delivered half of the joke. The other half had to be figured out by the viewing audience. Throughout his interview, Daily presents a view of the development of television as a general decline of something that could be great. The taping of shows has led to degeneration in the spirit of film and the spontaneity of the art. No one is allowed to improvise lines on television anymore and the number of hours of programming that have to be filled has led to a general decline in the type of content offered as well. Although audiences are not necessarily attuned to appreciating the finer nuances of the art, they are no longer being offered much programming that truly could be referred to as art. Overall, this interview highlights how the creativity has slowly been leaking out of the medium since the advent of taping and provides hints at what could be done to help regenerate the excitement and brilliance that once made it so popular. Works Cited “Archive of American Television Interview with Bill Daily.” Emmys TV. (June 26, 2003). Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation. April 4, 2007 “Bill Daily.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. (March 22, 2007). Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. April 4, 2007 . Read More