The series 'Bracken's World' was first developed for television in 1963. After some revamping, 'Bracken's World' finally made it on the air in 1969. 'Bracken's World' took viewers on a journey inside the behind-the-scenes of a movie studio. On reflection, Stanley Rubin reasoned, "Some critics have commented that the major studio is an anachronism, and there is some justification in their criticism. But (in January 1969) when we did the pilot film for 'Bracken's', conditions were different. At that time, talent schools did exist at 3 studios – Fox, Screen Gems and Universal. Now all are gone. But we were committed to that basis and we had to continue with it in the first season. (In the last season) the talent school will be dropped from 'Bracken's'. The head of the school played by Elizabeth Allen, will remain in the cast, but she'll be in a new assignment as talent coordinator in the head office. The 3 girls in the school – Linda Harrison, Laraine Stephens and Karen Jensen – will no longer be starlets but contract players."
By 1986, director John Carpenter lamented, "The overwhelming number of comedies and action-adventure films are a sign of the times...It seems to me the national mood is something like the Depression era because almost all the motion pictures being made are uplift escapism, comedy and happy endings. There are no 'Virgin Spring' (1960), no more left-wing existential films...When Americans go to movies they want to laugh and have a good time, not face hard truths. But how long will this social and political climate last? It spooks me to see films that only make us feel good. No question the situation will turn around one of these days. These cycles always do." Albert Brooks made the point, "Why do my movies always have to go out looking for audiences? I don't want to succeed for the money. Honest. I just want it to keep the wolves away from the door. I like making movies and I'd like to keep doing it. You can't do that without the support, and support only comes from money."
Charles Grodin made the observation, "Comedy is hard to analyze. After all, Bud Abbott wasn't funny, and yet, Lou Costello wasn't funny without Abbott. And 2-person comedy is different from stand-up comedy like, say, Jackie Mason." Ben Kingsley offered, "Comedy is all timing, right down to the fractions of a second. It's probably more usual to find 2 people who have the same sense of tragedy. I got my laughs with 'Hamlet', you see. Because when I play characters like that, in order to present this guy to an audience, you look for the laughs. And conversely, if you play a comedic character, you look for the flaws, the vulnerability, the potential sadness, so you can present the audience with a rounded character. If you're doing a dramatic role, the dramatic emotion will sustain you for the whole day. But when you’re doing a comedic moment, it's arrived at by accident, not even by design. So it’s much more difficult."
Steve Martin maintained, "There's nothing worse for an audience than to enter a theater with the expectations of seeing comedy and finding themselves in the middle of a drama. It's uncomfortable and embarrassing to people when they begin to laugh and discover that what they are watching is meant to be taken seriously...It's not anywhere near as bad when you're expecting to see a drama only to find out that you're watching a comedy." Jackie Gleason insisted, "In order for the comedy to be genuine, the audience must feel protective of you."
"Most of my colleagues in the Royal Shakespeare Company are desperate to get into the movies because it's the greatest invention in the 20th century, the most important in terms of communication and culture," Ben made known. Tom Hanks shared, "It came to a point where I could tell what time of day it was from what was on television. I am almost totally a product of that medium...I became interested in acting through devouring so much television." Edward James Olmos observed, "Television has a formula and they tend to stay with the formula longer than in film." Tom expressed, "Taking an average person and placing him in a non-average situation has been the basis for good drama dating back to Euripides. My device as an actor is to play a wide range of emotion in a short period of time. I lose Tom Hanks and disappear into my characters." Euripides (pronounced You-RIP-i-deez) was regarded ahead of his time, "He presented real and understandable human beings, people you could identify with yourself, rather than ideal heroes and demigods." Born in 480 B.C., he was said to have understood women and was a pioneer in showing women as human beings of complex emotion. 'Medea' (pronounced Me-DEE-a) was his most famous creation rivaling that of Shakespeare's 'Lady Macbeth'. Euripides emphasized, "Expect the unexpected. What mortals dream, the gods frustrate."
Mel Frank made the observation, "The breakthrough for adult comedy, I think, was made in 'The Facts of Life' with (Bob) Hope and Lucille Ball which I directed back in 1960...It was the first time we applied comedy to make a cogent social comment. I believe the epitome of that theme was achieved in 'A Touch of Class' (1973)." Ted Knight acknowledged, "Until I got that part (on 'Mary Tyler Moore'), nobody really considered me to be funny. Usually I was given parts in Grade B war movies, usually as a bad guy...I'm just not geared to do the kind of comedy that Rodney Dangerfield does so well. Rodney has a facile mind – he also drinks a lot and that makes him loose and happy. It seems to give him the ability to project himself in a likeable way."
Of movies which swung back and forth between comedy and drama, Tom theorized, "A comedy drama, a dramatic comedy – what would you call it? – a drama-dy."
The 1980 public television series, 'The Righteous Apples' was considered the first "drama-dy". Topper Carew pointed out, "You can't equate it with anything you've ever seen on television. We've placed more emphasis on dramatic performance. We don't do the show in front of an audience so the dramatic emphasis will be greater. We've eliminated sight gags, one-liners, and go for a more sophisticated humor...It's a multi-ethnic ambiance comedy and the character of the issues is something that would appeal to people who have been sensitized to multi-ethnicity." Topper grew up in Boston, "My cousin and I were the first black kids to integrate an Irish neighborhood. After the 4th grade, I always lived in Irish neighborhoods. It could be tense. So in many ways I feel close to the Irish. But it took a long time. I cook by taste – with lots of spice. Lots of fish and chicken, and light on meat. I have all my spices shipped in from New Orleans."
'Ghost' director Jerry Zucker disclosed, "I always look for a movie that has a chance to do something to the audience – to make them laugh or cry or be scared or make them think or something...In a zany comedy, you don't worry as much about motivations. People don't say, 'Oh, the character would never do that.' You stick to the clichéd stuff. In a movie where you're asking them to believe that this is really happening, it has to be on a deeper level...The motivations all have to be right. The audience is much more likely to say, 'I don't buy that. That wouldn't happen.'...Every movie has to find a tone and stick to it...A movie can be comedic and tragic at the same time as long as it's set in the same world. You can't go back and forth between 'Ordinary People' and 'RoboCop'...In a comedy like 'Airplane!', everything has to be a joke because people get disappointed."
