Summer Song - Mark, are you out there?

[Kindigj]

I was watching some of my tapes of TWY episodes today, one of which was Ep. 24
"Summer Song." Seeing it again reminded me of one (or two) of the more glaring
continuity errors I recall from the series. Since the person who wrote the
actual episode reads this newsgroup from time-to-time (or so I've been
informed), I thought I'd bring up what's on my mind! At the end of Season 2,
in Ep. 23 "How I'm Spending My Summer Vacation," Paul is supposedly going away
with his family to a cabin on a lake (anyone know the name of it? - I've never
been able to decipher it), and he's going to be gone until Labor Day. Also,
Kevin whines to his Mom about wanting to take a vacation, to which she replies,
"Maybe next summer." Now, fast-forward a few months to the beginning of Season
3, in Ep. 24, when - lo and behold! - the Arnolds are going on their family
vacation, and Paul is going with them! Not only that, Paul has had time to get
braces over the summer, too. So, my specific question is, why the
discrepancies, particularly in consecutive (albeit time-separated) episodes,
and how were they "justified"? I guess the practical answer to "why" is: it
made for a good story (which it did!). But, still, I'd be curious to hear
Mark's take on this ...

Thanks!

Jeff

[James C. Schul]

Kindigj wrote:
> Paul is supposedly going away
> with his family to a cabin on a lake (anyone know the name of it? - I've never
> been able to decipher it)

I believe it's Lake Champlain, which is in upstate New York.
--
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+ James C. Schul +
+ JCS...@worldnet.att.net +
+ http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Acres/2153 +
+ Dayton, Ohio, USA +
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

[Kindigj]

>I believe it's Lake Champlain, which is in upstate New York.
>

No, I listened to it many times over when transcribing the episode ...
definitely doesn't sound like "Champlain." Actually, it sounds closer to
"Placid," which is of course also iin upstate NY, but I ultimately decided that
didn't sound quite right either.

Thanks for the response, though ...

Jeff

[KGitt44498]

>I believe it's Lake Champlain, which is in upstate New York.

Sorry, James, tghat's definitely not it :-(

Jeff and I tried to figure it out once before. I listen about 12 times. You've
got to read Paul's lips also... My 2 choices are "wesson" or "cressa", although
I put "crescent" in the transcript... for the heck of it.

Kyle:-)

[DOGBOYINC]

Although I didn't save any of the scripts, I can practically assure you that it
was not Lake Champlain or any other identifiable Lakes you may have heard of.
Actually Crescent sounds pretty familiar and like the kind of generic place we
would have picked.
We took immense pains to try and make sure that the city or state in which
the Arnolds lived was never specified or identifiable (with a couple of
slip-ups, unfortunately one that made it into one of my episodes.
Craig Hoffman

[M. Perry]

<<I was watching some of my tapes of TWY episodes today, one of which was
Ep. 24
"Summer Song." Seeing it again reminded me of one (or two) of the more
glaring
continuity errors I recall from the series. Since the person who wrote the
actual episode reads this newsgroup from time-to-time (or so I've been
informed), I thought I'd bring up what's on my mind! At the end of Season
2,

in Ep. 23 "How I'm Spending My Summer Vacation," Paul is supposedly going

away
with his family to a cabin on a lake (anyone know the name of it? - I've
never

been able to decipher it), and he's going to be gone until Labor Day. Also,
Kevin whines to his Mom about wanting to take a vacation, to which she
replies,
"Maybe next summer." Now, fast-forward a few months to the beginning of
Season
3, in Ep. 24, when - lo and behold! - the Arnolds are going on their family
vacation, and Paul is going with them! Not only that, Paul has had time to
get
braces over the summer, too. So, my specific question is, why the
discrepancies, particularly in consecutive (albeit time-separated) episodes,
and how were they "justified"? I guess the practical answer to "why" is: it
made for a good story (which it did!). But, still, I'd be curious to hear
Mark's take on this ...Thanks!Jeff>>

Hi Jeff --

I haven't checked the board in awhile. Your original message had already
disappeared, but the subject heading certainly caught my attention! I
searched Deja News and found your original post, which I copied here.

Okay, you're right. Big time discrepancies in chronology. Here's the only
way I can explain it.

I had my first ever "pitch" meeting at the end of that first full season of
episodes (Spring of 1989 I believe). When I met with Bob Brush and Bob
Stevens (then co-exec producer of the show), they were still editing "How
I'm Spending My Summer Vacation" as it was due to air in a couple of weeks.
That episode was already filmed.

I wrote "Summer Song" as a spec script long before I even knew about the
season finale. It was "Summer Song" that got me in the door in the first
place. I pitched a few ideas for episodes for the next season, and two of
them stuck. One was about Kevin having a teacher who dies, and the other
was about Wayne getting his driver's license and terrorizing Kevin. I was
hired to write "Wayne On Wheels" and then, upon delivery of my second draft,
was invited to join the writing staff of the show.

At that time, many ideas were being considered for the season opener. I had
been told that the show was going to buy my spec script and produce it
sometime in the fall -- but they were having difficulty making that work
because the show was so obviously rooted in the nostalgia of family summer
vacations and changing it to fit a mid-fall trip would have meant too many
compromises. Ultimately, the decision was made that it would make such a
strong season opener that we simply chose to gloss over the plot
discrepancies. Yes, Winnie went away for the summer; but maybe Paul came
back a little early because he had to get braces. And, at any rate, the day
Kevin gets home from vacation, it's set up that school starts the very next
day. So, in theory, Paul could have gone to the lake with his family and
come back in time to join Kevin. You're absolutely right though, and it's a
very good catch. Sometimes in series television, you have to fudge and hope
nobody notices. Of course, the internet is making that a lot more difficult
these days!

Anyway, hope this helps!

Mark Perry

[M. Perry]

Now here's a nice surprise! Craig! How are you?!

All right, having entirely too much time on my hands :) I dug out my scripts
(I'm a pack rat, I save EVERYTHING) and lo and behold, Paul and his family
were going to "Lake Cohasset." Now, I have no idea if that's a real place
or not, probably not.

Craig said one of the location slip ups was in one of his episodes. Well,
another one was in one of mine. I couldn't believe it when I saw it on
screen. In "Wayne On Wheels," the prop guy had to do a dummy DMV envelope
addressed to Wayne Arnold. The address he used was the address of the
warehouse/soundstage where the show was filmed in Culver City! Somehow,
this got past everyone, including the executive producers who surely must
have seen it in the editing process.

Craig, was the slip up in your episode a visible California license plate
perchance? I seem to remember that being one of the few give aways.

Despite those slip ups, though, the show was supposed to take place in
Anywhere USA. But as Jim pointed out, booboos do sneak in from time to
time.

Hope this helps.

Mark Perry

DOGBOYINC wrote in message <19990301001434...@ng42.aol.com>...

[DOGBOYINC]

No, I wish it had been that innocent. In "Eclipse", when the kids go on a
field trip to the "Nierman Planetarium" (named after my wife's family, by the
way), the location was the Griffith Observatory in LA. It was bad enough
during the bus shots that the road they chose was clearly desert...too late to
do anything once we got there and had to film, but worst of all, in one of the
panning shots of the observatory, you can make out the Hollywood sign. We
tried everything to lose that shot, but it was too crucial to the episode.
Talk to you soon, Mark!
Craig

[KGitt44498]

Well, I was so impressed and appreciative of Mark and Craig sharing some
insights into various apsects of other episodes, I thought I'd try for some
feedback on my favorite episode, #70 The Lake".
I believe Mark was the story editor, and Carig was in there somewhere (sorry
Craig, I don't have my list handy!)

Although most of us know the missing lines from the first condom scene:
Paul: No, it's not for your nose. It's for your -
Kevin: Enough, Paul.

and the fact that 1-1/2 seconds were cut from the ending where Kevin touches
Cara's breast (good golly!)

And yet you stick a red condom in our face.:-)

I would like to know how those decisions came about, and any other trivia bits
would be appreciated.

Kyle:-)

[DOGBOYINC]

I think that was my first season on the show...and Mark Levin wrote that one if
memory serves...I'm not sure, and Mark Perry can correct me if I'm wrong, but I
think it was an ABC standards problem with both issues and they gave in on the
condom if the sex was cut...Mark, does that sound right?
Craig

[M. Perry]

Craig,

I believe that's true. I believe, too, that it was then becoming more
acceptable to discuss and show condoms on prime time TV, in light of the
AIDS epidemic. But if memory serves, the "fondling" was trimmed to pacify
S&P.

I was so busy while that episode was in production, I actually don't
remember much about it. Always felt it was a bit of a rehash of "Summer
Song" -- family vacation; Kevin meets older sexy girl; Kevin kisses/fondles
girl. Or maybe I'm just being proprietary. :)

Mark

DOGBOYINC wrote in message <19990302104627...@ng-fp1.aol.com>...

[M. Perry]

Wow! I had no idea -- but then, I didn't catch all the episodes that last
season, imagine that! :) Too bad they couldn't paint box it out, or maybe
that's more recent technology.

Later,

Mark

DOGBOYINC wrote in message <19990301214056...@ng25.aol.com>...

[Dale Cooper]

> maybe I'm just being proprietary. :)

i would have to say yes

-henry

[Kindigj]

>Sometimes in series television, you have to fudge and hope
>nobody notices. Of course, the internet is making that a lot more difficult
>these days!

Mark,

First of all, thanks for the detailed reply! To address the part of your
message that I quoted above, I think when the episodes originally aired the
"time discrepancy" would not have been so obvious since nearly 5 months passed
between them. What made it stick out the other day when I posted is that I
have them taped consecutively from Nick-at-Nite and watched them back-to-back.
But, hey, television is all about "willing suspension of disbelief" anyway ...
:-)

Thanks again for writing back, and for that matter, for writing a very good
spec script!

Jeff

[KGitt44498]

>I was so busy while that episode was in production, I actually don't remember
much about it. Always felt it was a bit of a rehash of "Summer Song" --
family vacation; Kevin meets older sexy girl; Kevin kisses/fondles

girl. Or maybe I'm just being proprietary. :)
>Mark

Well, I agree with you on some of that. However, "Teri" seemed to still be a
goofy kid, while "Cara" seemed more mature - and they were actually the same
age - 15. Also, Kevin was rebelling against Jack a bit, instead of just "going
along for the ride" as he seemed to do in "Summer Song."

I know you professional writers don't want to read unregistered scripts or
whatever, but for the rest of you, I have written a continuation of "The Lake",
called "The Lost World". I has had good reviews (except for 1 person, for
reasons unspecified. It's not
"X", but that old Red Chief is prominently featured :-)

http://members.xoom.com/kyleg/story.html

will get you the cover page for that story and my reunion script.

Sorry for the plug, but what the hell, it was written to be read - and enjoyed.

Kyle:-)