CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
January 30, 2012 | By Dennis McLellan, Los Angeles Times
As a top television comedy director who won an Emmy directing "The Dick Van Dyke Show"in the early 1960s, John Rich was faced with a tough choice in 1970. On the same day he received a phone call from Mary Tyler Moore wanting to set up a meeting to discuss his directing the initial episode of her new TV series, he got a call from Norman Lear who wanted to send him a script for a pilot he was about to produce. Rich was impressed with both scripts, but he was shocked by the "unusually explicit language" he found in Lear's offering.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
December 7, 2011 | By Stephanie Stassel, Special to The Times
Emmy Award-winning actor Harry Morgan, who played the crusty yet sympathetic Col. Sherman T. Potter in the sitcom "MASH" and the hard-nosed LAPD Officer Bill Gannon in the television drama "Dragnet," died Wednesday. He was 96. Morgan died at his home in Brentwood after a bout with pneumonia, his daughter-in-law, Beth Morgan, told the Associated Press. Morgan's eight - year run on "MASH," the pinnacle of his seven-decade acting career, began when he was 60 and had already appeared on the Broadway stage, in dozens of television shows and more than 50 films.
ENTERTAINMENT
November 27, 2011 | By Yvonne Villarreal, Los Angeles Times
A panic-stricken middle-aged man, wearing little more than a gas mask and tighty-whities, is driving a dilapidated RV across the desert. Two unconscious bodies and a dead one slide around in the back — near his portable methamphetamine lab. He wants to make money before he dies of cancer. A slightly younger man, dressed in snug leather pants and a glittery top with a plunging neckline, is gyrating his hips for an arcade dance contest. He's doing the robot to a mix of "Sometimes When We Touch.
ENTERTAINMENT
September 19, 2011 | By T.L. Stanley, Special to the Los Angeles Times
Hey, Amy Poehler, jump the gun much? At Sunday night's Emmy Awards, it seemed as if Poehler, nominated for lead comedy actress, marched purposefully onto the stage to pick up a trophy she thought was hers. Or believed should be? The assembled audience inside the Nokia Theatre didn't seem to know if Poehler had gone rogue, making a statement with feet planted on the stage and defiant expression on her face. Her body language said, "That hardware's mine!" The question mark continued as each nominee — "30 Rock's" Tina Fey, "The Big C's" Laura Linney, "Nurse Jackie's" Edie Falco, "Raising Hope's" Martha Plimpton and "Mike & Molly's" Melissa McCarthy — made her way to Poehler's side.
ENTERTAINMENT
September 19, 2011 | By Joe Flint, Los Angeles Times
Apparently you can't be too big to fail. HBO, the premium pay cable channel that is normally a dominant force at the Emmy Awards, was beaten up in prestige categories Sunday by an unlikely foe — public broadcasting, which gets its funding from the government and viewer contributions. Although HBO outscored PBS in the final Emmy medal count — 19 to 14 — it was PBS' British import "Downton Abbey" that walked away with some of the night's highest honors. The "Masterpiece"drama about an aristocratic family in pre-World War I England that PBS aired in the United States won for TV miniseries or movie.
NEWS
September 18, 2011 | By Susan King and Rene Lynch, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
It was repeat victories for ABC's "Modern Family" and AMC's "Mad Men" on Sunday night as they captured the marquee prizes at the 63rd annual Emmy Awards. The sitcom about a deliciously dysfunctional family won its second consecutive trophy for outstanding comedy series and four other awards, including honors for onscreen husband and wife Ty Burrell and Julie Bowen. Meanwhile, AMC's stylish period drama about Madison Avenue advertising executives earned its fourth consecutive Emmy for outstanding drama series.