Saturday is free comic book day and I'm slated to give a talk/Q&A at the shop I go to. I wasn't really sure what to talk about other than the 'creative process' whatever that really means. I was struck when I read an article this morning about an old TV show which illustrates how hamstrung creativity has become in modern television.

Just a quick side note: I was videotaping footage near the border this morning. I wanted to get the feel of the people who have to cross the border everyday. I kept the focus in my head I didn't want shots of 'beautiful' or posed people. I wanted regular folks working.

The article I read was about the show Maude and how it would be impossible to do today. The word groundbreaking is thrown around with such abandon. The word was used in the article to talk about Maude, but the writer was careful to explain how the show would be more groundbreaking and controversial today than it was in the mid 70s. For one, there were a number of 'groundbreaking' shows on the air. With Good Times, All in the Family and others, comedies tackled hard issues such as poverty, crime, alcoholism and others. These weren't the cliched 'very special episode' like we got in the 90s with Blossom or Different Strokes, but issues woven into the show and very tough examinations of hot topics.

It wasn't until I came across an article a few days ago and compared it to the one I read today did I realize, much like the article did, that shows of those times shattered the calm notion of conventional comedies. The big episode talked about was the abortion episode, but I forgot about there were two episodes where Walter, Maude's husband, had a nervous breakdown. I forgot about the alcoholism that was dealt with because these folks were casual drinkers and it caught up with them. I forgot about how Carol, Maude's daughter, planned what she called 'weekend retreats' when she would spend the weekend with whatever current lover she had.

There is no way in the world a current comedy or even drama would dare to go down the Maude road. The simple reason why they won't is money.

Money is part of show business but now that networks have more control of the creative process because of worries about making money in syndication, insist on many as little waves as possible. That's what makes for bland television. We don't get edgy TV. We don't get topical TV. Sexual innuendoes is what passes for racy TV.

When I was developing one my shows, I constantly had to push with the owner of the company about the vision and direction of the show. Honestly I wanted something that pushed the edge, though I was aware of network sensibilities. It was constantly pushing forward 5 steps and getting pulled back 2 or 3 steps. Like my trip to filming the border, while I could understand wanting to have the nice, clean, semi-romanced side of the characters I was bringing to life, the very nature of them dictated they be shown with warts and all, which meant not glossing over their dark side. I have to admit this meant being VERY creative in how I presented the dark side to pass, but I would have loved to have been raw in that presentation.

So I figure when I give the talk on Saturday I'm going to talk about process of being able to have your work presented in the right light and how you have to sometimes compromise but not sell out.