Al Franken was hated on own sitcom set

The Pond ^

[Comedylover]

Franken was impossible to work with. There was one scene in the pilot where the camera stays on Franken’s face for what seems like an hour. “What’s going on there?” I asked, when they showed me the pilot.

“He made us stay on his face. I swear,” a producer told me. “He kept looking at himself and laughing and saying ‘Look how funny I am! Stay on me! Stay on me!’ We tried to stop him and he just screamed at us.”

[dirtboy]

Franken was impossible to work with. There was one scene in the pilot where the camera stays on Franken’s face for what seems like an hour.

Impossible. The lens would have cracked within 30 seconds.

[Lazamataz]

I *HATE* unnecessary excerpting. Therefore, I post the article in it's entirity:

---------------------------------------

When I was a writer on House Rules for NBC, we shared some of the crew from Lateline, Al Franken's disastrous sitcom. Through them, I got to know more about this character than I ever wanted.

Let me set the stage, first.

Franken, you see, had been a 20 year writer for Saturday Night Live. To many, that seems like quite an accomplishment. To those of us in the industry, it means total failure.

Saturday Night Live is a stepping stone, not a home. If you get stuck there, it's bad. To be stuck there for 20 years means you are just plain awful and nobody else will work with you. Franken is awful. It's seems cruel to say, and I never would have brought it up, had it not been for recent events.

The Lateline crew came over exhausted. Franken was impossible to work with. There was one scene in the pilot where the camera stays on Franken's face for what seems like an hour. "What's going on there?" I asked, when they showed me the pilot.

"He made us stay on his face. I swear," a producer told me. "He kept looking at himself and laughing and saying 'Look how funny I am! Stay on me! Stay on me!' We tried to stop him and he just screamed at us."

Franken wasn't done. He made big demands of the studio and network. He considered himself a big time star. He'd finally made it, in his eyes, and now it was his turn to be king. When Lateline was being pushed back on the schedule, Franken called the network himself and demanded the show air NOW. I spoke with a network exec who said Franken yelled "Do you know who I am? Do you know who I am? I'm Al Franken!" Then out came a bunch of words I won't repeat.

I've never seen more people in Hollywood hate one man. And he was a liberal!

So it was with great disappointment that I saw Fox News begin their lawsuit. I knew it would give Franken what he so craves - attention. Everybody on Lateline couldn't stand the man, and he didn't care. He wanted attention more.

Silence is the only thing that he can't stand. Being wrong won't stop him. Neither logic nor reason will stop him. He worked with some of the nicest people I've known in Hollywood, and still treated them like dirt.

There's something deeply wrong with this man, Al Franken.

[anniegetyourgun]

Yes, something is deeply wrong about this man. In fact....everything is wrong about this man.

[TexasNative2000]

You mean "The Pond" isn't part of the court order that FR has to deal with? I thought we couldn't post any entire article from The Washington Post, The LA Times, or The Pond. My mistake, I guess.

[chiefqc]

Do you mean other than really, really butt ugly?

[StatesEnemy]

Yes, something is deeply wrong about this man. In fact....everything is wrong about this man.

I always thought 'he' would make a good "Pat".

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

"There's something deeply wrong with this man, Al Franken."

Goes without saying. He is a liberal, after all. :)

[Prince Caspian]

I knew it would give Franken what he so craves - attention.

Sounds like someone else we all know...

[mass55th]

Bad links to article.

[TexasNative2000]

Great tag line.

[steve8714]

Al Franken had a sitcom? He has never been funny without a gentile partner. Even then, they were second rate derivative comedy at best, trying to be Burns and Schreiber, Lenny Bruce, and Newhart all at once.
"Al Franken is a dull, dull dullard and the dull blah blah he spouts!"is the name of my book, due out soon.

[montag813]

My wife's ex-boyfriend was a physical therapist here in NYC, treating the best dancers and athletes. Al Franken was a client of his for a back injury, and he told her that he hated treating Franken because (and I quote) "he had the smelliest butt of anyone I have ever treated". He ended up telling his secretary to tell Franken he was on vacation every time he called for an appointment. True Story!

[Sloth]

I thought we couldn't post any entire article from The Washington Post, The LA Times, or The Pond. My mistake, I guess.

LOL... Yeah, those children's Christian radio shows are real SOBs when it comes to copyright infringement.

[steve8714]

In my neighborhood, the bullies who took Al's lunch money and pantsed him n his way to school would have been serving Mass and playing clarinet in the school band.

[Shermy]

Thanks for the inside info.

As an insider, could you tell us what writers think of SNL? For example, is it funny? When was the last time it was funny, 1978? How come the writers can't write a punch line, or close a skit without the audience pausing in confusion until they mechanically applaud?

[new cruelty]

BLAHAHAHA... thanks for sharing.

[Mo1]

Franken wasn't done. He made big demands of the studio and network. He considered himself a big time star

To this day I don't understand why he is still involved with TV or anything else for that matter.

I never ever thought he was funny and that Stewart act was really stupid.

[.38sw]

I'm searching my memory for stories about Al Franken told by Melanie Morgan, talk show host on San Francisco's KSFO radio. It seems that she had been on a TV show as a guest along with Franken. Franken was so incensed by her views, that he somehow got her home phone number and would call her at home at scream at her. She also mentioned another guest whose name I can't recall, who had similar conservative viewpoints. Franken followed him down the hallway after the show and yelled at him. The guy is a taco short of a combo plate.

[Lazamataz]

Thanks for the inside info. As an insider, could you tell us what writers think of SNL? For example, is it funny? When was the last time it was funny, 1978? How come the writers can't write a punch line, or close a skit without the audience pausing in confusion until they mechanically applaud?

I'm an outsider.

(confused pause)

(applause)