‘Life with Bonnie’ Cans Writing Staff
HOLLYWOOD (Variety) -- The executive producers of fledgling ABC hit comedy “Life With Bonnie” have fired most of the show’s scribes, opting to handle the scripts themselves. Insiders stressed that Bonnie Hunt and Don Lake had from the beginning petitioned producer Touchstone Television against hiring a writing staff, given their desire to focus heavily on penning the show’s scripts themselves, a la Larry David with “Seinfeld” or David E. Kelley with some of his creations. Indeed, as of now none of the scripts written by “Bonnie” staffers have even been produced. And now that the show is off to a strong start and has been given a full-season pickup, the studio agreed to disband most of the staff. “It wasn’t personal,” an insider said. “Bonnie said from the beginning that ‘You guys are great, but we did not want a writing staff.’ The writing was on the wall, especially now that the show is working.” Frank Mula, Norma Vela and Sam Denoff will continue with the comedy under Hunt and Lake; four or five other writers and producers won’t be replaced. After three weeks, “Bonnie” has performed solidly for ABC, pulling a competitive second place adults 18-49 rating opposite “Frasier” last Tuesday.
HOLLYWOOD (Variety) -- The executive producers of fledgling ABC hit comedy “Life With Bonnie” have fired most of the show’s scribes, opting to handle the scripts themselves. Insiders stressed that Bonnie Hunt and Don Lake had from the beginning petitioned producer Touchstone Television against hiring a writing staff, given their desire to focus heavily on penning the show’s scripts themselves, a la Larry David with “Seinfeld” or David E. Kelley with some of his creations. Indeed, as of now none of the scripts written by “Bonnie” staffers have even been produced. And now that the show is off to a strong start and has been given a full-season pickup, the studio agreed to disband most of the staff. “It wasn’t personal,” an insider said. “Bonnie said from the beginning that ‘You guys are great, but we did not want a writing staff.’ The writing was on the wall, especially now that the show is working.” Frank Mula, Norma Vela and Sam Denoff will continue with the comedy under Hunt and Lake; four or five other writers and producers won’t be replaced. After three weeks, “Bonnie” has performed solidly for ABC, pulling a competitive second place adults 18-49 rating opposite “Frasier” last Tuesday.