{"id":8938,"date":"2014-05-22T15:29:43","date_gmt":"2014-05-22T19:29:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=8938"},"modified":"2014-05-22T15:29:43","modified_gmt":"2014-05-22T19:29:43","slug":"film-sheldon-leonards-wonderful-life-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=8938","title":{"rendered":"Film: Sheldon Leonard\u2019s Wonderful Life (2011)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\"SheldonLeonardsWonderfulLife_pic_s\"<\/a>Film<\/strong>: Very Good<\/p>\n

Transfer<\/strong>: \u00a0n\/a \u00a0Extras<\/strong>:\u00a0n\/a<\/p>\n

Label:\u00a0n\/a<\/strong><\/p>\n

Region:<\/strong>\u00a0n\/a<\/p>\n

Released:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0n\/a<\/p>\n

Genre:<\/strong>\u00a0 Documentary \/ TV History \/ Toronto Jewish Film Festival 2014<\/p>\n

Synopsis:<\/strong>\u00a0Profile of actor, writer, producer and director Sheldon Leonard, the pioneering showrunner of TV’s Dick Van Dyke Show<\/em> and The Andy Griffith Show<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Special Features:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0n\/a<\/span><\/p>\n

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Review:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Originally a 72 mins. doc from 2011, director Allan Holzman apparently re-edited his film with newer material for a 55 mins. version in 2014, but even in its shorter length there\u2019s still enough material in this affectionate chronicle of one of TV\u2019s unsung heroes.<\/p>\n

Sheldon Leonard began as a character actor (he\u2019s perhaps best known as the bartender in It\u2019s a Wonderful Life<\/strong>) in film before switching to radio where he took a crack at writing. His knack for humour and refining a concept were important commodities in TV\u2019s early years, and by the time he shepherded a series of classic TV series to fruition \u2013 Make Room for Daddy<\/strong> (1953-1963), The Dick Van Dyke Show<\/strong> (1961-1966), The Andy Griffith Show<\/strong> (1960-1968), and I Spy <\/strong>(1965-1968) \u2013 he was a bonafide hit maker.<\/p>\n

Leonard was a pioneering showrunner \u2013 the creative executive who ensured every script was a natural fit in a show\u2019s concept \u2013 and he\u2019s credited with creating the spin-off series by needle-dropping a character for a proposed series into a current successful show to tease the interest of potential investors and the network. The ploy worked several times, and Leonard\u2019s astute business sense had him shopping, selling, closing deals, and fighting for casting choices that seemed risqu\u00e9 in their day. He\u2019s credited for pairing Bill Cosby and Robert Culp for the buddy spy series I Spy<\/strong>, but admits to being surprised when the network thought it was indeed time to have a show where a character\u2019s colour was irrelevant.<\/p>\n

Besides starring black and white team of actors, I Spy<\/strong> also benefitted from a resourceful technician who designed a mobile van which could travel Europe with the production\u2019s gear and gather the valuable location footage which gave the series its genuine exotica.<\/p>\n

On hand are archival interviews with Sheldon, and new interviews with Mary Tyler Moore, Duck Van Dyke, I Spy<\/strong> and Any Griffith<\/strong> composer Earle Hagen, Ron Howard, and Carl Reiner. Holzman\u2019s doc should compel newbies into tracking down and exploring Leonard\u2019s shows which featured a rich talent pool, and fans should enjoy the various clips and interviews which provide a fairly solid overview of the aforementioned series which are hallmarks in 20th century American TV.<\/p>\n

Leonard did continue to act now and then in TV, but his skills as a writer, producer, director, and showrunner were remarkable, given he managed to apply them so well to a succession of hit shows. His golden period lasted to the late sixties, after which subsequent series failed to last more than a season \u2013 My World and Welcome to It<\/strong> (1969), and the British productions From a Bird\u2019s Eye View <\/strong>(1970) and Shirley\u2019s World<\/strong> (1971)- and included the occasional TV movie (like the voguish reunion special I Spy Returns<\/strong> in 1994, his final production credit before his death three years later).<\/p>\n

Holzman\u2019s credits include the B-movie Forbidden World<\/strong> (1982) for Roger Corman, several TV movies, and the autobiographical doc C-C-Cut <\/strong>(2009).<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 2014 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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External References:<\/strong>
\nIMDB<\/a> \u00a0— \u00a0TJFF 2014 Listing<\/a>
\n\u00a0<\/span>
\nVendor Search Links:<\/strong>
\nAmazon.ca<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.com<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sheldon Leonard began as a character actor (he\u2019s perhaps best known as the bartender in It\u2019s a Wonderful Life) in film before switching to radio where he took a crack at writing. His knack for humour…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[18],"tags":[2793,2792,2794,2791,2746,2778],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-2ka","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8938"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8938"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8938\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8958,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8938\/revisions\/8958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}