Its not very often you get to combine two of you biggest obsessions as they both come to an end.
Its rarer still when you get a chance to "go back in time" and clear up some unfinished business from years gone by.
This week, I got the chance to do both -- and then some.
This excerpt from SUB-LEBRITY sets it all up:
"Once Trump announced his candidacy in 2015, social media became saturated with political rage. Breaking through the noise to fund-raise and promote the show [Old Dogs & New Tricks] now seemed impossible -- and attempting to do so felt more than a little petty.
Okay, I thought, I'll take a break until the election, then resume fundraising efforts for the final season after Hillary wines and sanity is restored.
We all know how that turned out
It was the final nail in Old Dogs & New Tricks' coffin. I wish we had shot a proper series finale, but I was resigned to the show's fate. Our last special would be our final episode ever."
We didn't lack scripts! That last special, "Where Were YOU When the Rights Went ON?" was to be the first of a ten-episode final season. Alas, after several stop-and-start attempts, we finally put all fundraising on hold.
Suddenly, its almost five years later. And it still bugs me that we never gave our loyal audiences a sense of closure with a proper series finale.
Well, most of show biz is still on hold, at least in Los Angeles, as we order our ring lights & set up our apartments and bedrooms as home studios. While we certainly couldn't ask our original cast to sit through ZOOM readings of all nine of those scripts, I thought it would be fun to get us together -- socially distant of course -- and give that un-produced, un-shared series finale script a public read.
Somehow Laurence -- master producer that he is -- pulled it together within days.
To separate it from some of those other ZOOM projects, we "podcasted" this up with music, sound effects, and even some occasional flashbacks. I think it works just as well as a radio show! Hopefully, it will be just as much fun for YOU, stuck at home, having now binged on almost every series the streaming platforms have on offer (including, we hope, ODNT on Amazon Prime Video!)
As we came to the end of the "episode," I found myself deeply moved saying goodbye to these characters who'd been such a large part of my life -- and who have occupied such a large part of my psyche. See if you can spot the moment(s) I almost had to cut!
Now, once we get rid of Trump, and come to grips with COVID, we will -- yet again! -- try to resurrect fundraising to revisit the gang. If/when that happens, we'll either incorporate the groundbreaking events of this episode, or we will completely ignore them like Will & Grace. Or Roseanne.
By then, however, the Old Dogs may be Much Older Dogs & No Tricks, and maybe ready for a feature-film treatment instead! Hey, I'm certainly game!
But at any rate, I am thrilled our longtime fans and friends will finally get to see how it all ended for Nathan, Brad, Muscles, Ross, Lydia, Neal and Nelson -- and I'm delighted to finally give my characters the happy endings they deserve, at long last!
We offer this video the spirit of #AloneTogether and #LGBTQ #Pride. After the show, please click HERE for a fun meet & great with the cast to learn what they're up to these days!
And as always, wash your hands, wear your masks, thank your essential workers, frequent black-owned businesses,* over-tip if you can, and #VoteBlue in November, no matter who! And stay safe & sane.
* You say you don't know of any black-owned businesses? IT'S TIME TO FIND SOME!