267 stories by "Ken Levine"
THE NINETIES begins tonight on CNN. Like with THE SEVENTIES and THE EIGHTIES, I participate in the chapter devoted to television. I believe that's the episode that kicks off the series to…
Hello from Seattle. One of my one-act plays, LOVERS LEAP, is being performed this weekend at the Edmonds Driftwood Players "8th Annual Festival of Shorts." So I'm back in the great Pacifi…
Here's a question writers sometimes get: Are you a plotter or a pantser? Mystery novelists especially. It means, do you take the time to plot out your story beforehand or do you just b…
Thank you, Kumail Nanjiani and Emily Gordon! Thank you for proving that romcoms can be funny, touching, and timely. Thank you for showing that romcoms don't have to be Nancy Meyer studio…
Tomorrow is Neil Simon's 90th birthday. As you know, I'm a big fan.
Part of the fun of doing my weekly podcast is just being able to try stuff. There's no program director telling me to just shut up, read the liner cards, and play the records. And no PD …
No SPOILER ALERT necessary. You know what you're going to see. The first half-hour (or maybe hour) of WONDER WOMAN was startling. It took place on Xanadu or Shangri-La or Lesbo or Never…
Almost better than attending the Tony's is attending the Tony's rehearsal. This week I got to watch two of them. I kept hope that actually being in Radio City the committee might say, "Oh…
Broadway shows live or die based on critics. A NEW YORK TIMES pan and you're closed by Saturday. At one time, certain movie critics wielded a lot of power. Pauline Kael in THE NEW YORKER …
THIS IS BOTH A BLOG POST AND BLOG EXPERIMENT. (Theatre Companies please read the whole thing.) Very excited that one of my one-act plays has been selected for the 8th Annual Festival of S…
Whenever my writing partner, David, and I had a pilot we always tried to weasel a trip to New York to do some casting. There are many reasons for this. A free trip. Nice hotel. Per diem…
As a playwright I can tell you that it's hard to get a play produced. And especially hard to get a musical on the boards. I've been fortunate enough to have had both. But it's like winn…
Here's a Friday Question worth an entire post: It's from Charles H. Bryan: Are there times when you look at a script (yours or someone else's) and think "There's something missing, but I d…
Saw Disney's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST this weekend, based on the Disney animated version that didn't need to be remade except for all the money it'll make for Disney. There's also a live Broad…
Yes, I'm dipping into the archives but it's one of my favorite all-time posts, so what the hell? I've picked up a few new readers since it ran six years ago. Here's how long ag…
Okay, here it is in print -- my Oscar review (for those who even remember all the way back to Sunday). Thank you for responding and subscribing. I've got some cool things p…
CNN (when it's not being the enemy of the people) is airing an excellent new documentary series on the history of Comedy. This week's episode focuses on women -- comedians, actresses, …
One of the many advantages of growing up in Southern California was having Disneyland right in our own backyard. As a kid I used to love when we had out of town guests because they all want…
The Magic Kingdom is this week's theme and Ken has an expert who will give you helpful tips and secrets on how to make your stay at Disneyland or Disney World the best vacation ever. When is…
This is one of the craziest rewrite nights I ever experienced. It was on WINGS. I was the Thursday night punch up guy. They had a two-parter called "The Gift." Both episodes were wri…
Love and Friday Questions are in the air.Michael kicks it off.Do you think the cast of FRASIER would have any interest in a limited-series revival like WILL AND GRACE and GILMORE GIRLS are d…
The Academy Award nominations were announced today. No real surprises actually. Films that sent out the most screeners were nominated. Films that gave you a code to stream didn't fare as…
It's always weird to me when New Year's Day falls on a Sunday and they postpone the Rose Parade and Rose Bowl until today. I always wonder: is it for religious reasons or just an…
Happy New Year. I can't believe how many wonderful people we lost last year, including Carrie Fisher. As I mentioned earlier we were casual friends (until shock treatments erased…
Readers have been wondering why I haven't been reviewing movies. Simple. I haven't seen any. I was too involved with my play and Tetris Classic. Well, now I'm catching up. So…
