The End of an Era

The show that I've worked on for the past thirteen years came to an end tonight.

When Life & Times first aired in 1992, I was involved enough to be one of the approval signatures on the first budget, and to watch while the potential hosts were auditioned. It wasn't until 1994, when I left my office job for a life in the trenches of television production, that I got to know the show well.

I started out as a Stage Manager, telling people when to slide onto the set and hustling them off. I learned to shout Quiet on the Set with calm but insistent authority, and to make hand and arm movements at the hosts when they needed to stretch or wrap. My favorite guest from that short stint was when they interviewed Santa Claus. Is that any surprise? I mean, we go back. (The hosts were less impressed than I was, I think, being more comfortable talking to the various politicos.)

It wasn't long before I moved up to the position of Associate Director. I set up shots for the Director, insisted to the producer that we were completely out of time, and counted backwards to all the various cue points within the show, and--most importantly--the very end. It was fun and exciting, even when things didn't go as planned. In those days we taped four shows in a day and then went live at 7:30 on Friday night. I've always loved live television. I think that's what it does best that no other medium can do.

At some point someone had the brilliant idea to retitle the show Life & Times Tonight. This caused no end of confusion, especially with the promos ". . . that's tomorrow on Life and Times tonight." Say that out loud three times and see if you can figure out when it's airing. It may have been at this time that the show went live every night.

KCET has two very large sound stages that go back to the 30's. Legend has it that Stage A had a pool built for Esther Williams. Be that as it may, it was also the home of Life & Times. It had a great big set with a spiral staircase and monitor banks. You could see the actual stage walls behind the set, and the lights hanging from the grid.

Around 1999, KCET moved its broadcast facilities to a new building, the Tech Center. This building had a small studio for Life & Times. On the rare occasion when I Stage Managed, I found it so crowded it was difficult to move around the cameras.

Then about four years ago, they gave up the studio completely and went into the field. This was when I went into the dark edit bay and supervised the daily assembly of the show. It has been like putting a quilt together and trying to make it look nice, as if all the pieces were meant to go together.

Another thing happened while the show was in the field. They dropped the Tonight moniker and the aspect ratio changed as the show went from standard 4x3 to widescreen 16x9. I'm sure this means nuttin to nobody, but it was your basic PITA at the time.

It's been a long grind with a bare bones and terrific staff, and now it's over. Tonight I stood in Master Control as the final episode went on the air. The historian in me insisted I document this for posterity.

To be honest, I feel tired. And sad. Disappointed that with the end of Life & Times KCET has no local news coverage, although there will be a half-hour show beginning sometime in the spring. I'm glad I was part of this effort. I was always proud to contribute to this program. It was a true service to the citizens of Southern California.

I used to joke that the only excuse for credits was because people's parents liked them. And truly they are a hassle, not just because of spelling and egos and union considerations, but because who really does care besides your mother?

But since my mother hasn't been around to gloat over my credit since 1996, I'm sharing it with you, my faithful readers.

Good-bye Life & Times. Thanks for the memories. And, as they say in my business, thanks for the work.