Ricky Manning
@froonium.bsky.social
TV (mostly sci-fi) writer/producer (Farscape, ST:TNG, &c.); consultant; instructor @ UCLA Extension & ifs filmschule köln. WGA+WGC. He/his. Avatar by Arne Ratermanis.
Post a bird to support @sbworkersunited.org and warn your followers not to buy Starbucks for the duration of the strike.
November 14, 2025 at 7:16 AM
Post a bird to support @sbworkersunited.org and warn your followers not to buy Starbucks for the duration of the strike.
115. Nebari, which (totally coincidentally) is the Japanese word for "bonsai surface roots," and (totally coincidentally) my wife is a bonsai artist. No. 115! Mmm, matter of opinion. Dunno, maybe crispy grolak? Yes, if prepared right.
November 12, 2025 at 6:16 AM
115. Nebari, which (totally coincidentally) is the Japanese word for "bonsai surface roots," and (totally coincidentally) my wife is a bonsai artist. No. 115! Mmm, matter of opinion. Dunno, maybe crispy grolak? Yes, if prepared right.
Superb. Let me know if Childe would like a bit for their very own (or a script, or questions answered, or whatevs)!
November 11, 2025 at 5:24 AM
Superb. Let me know if Childe would like a bit for their very own (or a script, or questions answered, or whatevs)!
Well, this totally makes my day. Please pass along a Froonium-powered "Welcome and enjoy!"
November 11, 2025 at 4:41 AM
Well, this totally makes my day. Please pass along a Froonium-powered "Welcome and enjoy!"
MY NAME IS JOHN CRICHTON
AN ASTRONAUT
AN ASTRONAUT
November 8, 2025 at 11:44 PM
MY NAME IS JOHN CRICHTON
AN ASTRONAUT
AN ASTRONAUT
Or, as (bowling alley owner) Lou said in the ep: "Okay, kids--get to work. And never forget-- when you're facing a seven-ten split, you still got a second ball."
November 8, 2025 at 8:37 PM
Or, as (bowling alley owner) Lou said in the ep: "Okay, kids--get to work. And never forget-- when you're facing a seven-ten split, you still got a second ball."
The moral of the story, I suppose, is "Yea, though the studio and/or the network will do their best to screw things up, don't let them suck the joy out of the process, even if it means seemingly endless rewrites."
November 8, 2025 at 8:37 PM
The moral of the story, I suppose, is "Yea, though the studio and/or the network will do their best to screw things up, don't let them suck the joy out of the process, even if it means seemingly endless rewrites."
-- FOR Outstanding COSTUME DESIGN For A Series (1987)! A first nomination and award for the brilliant Nanrose Buchman, who would go on to nab 4 more noms (most recent: "Perry Mason" 2023) & 1 more award ("The Queen's Gambit" 2021).
November 8, 2025 at 8:37 PM
-- FOR Outstanding COSTUME DESIGN For A Series (1987)! A first nomination and award for the brilliant Nanrose Buchman, who would go on to nab 4 more noms (most recent: "Perry Mason" 2023) & 1 more award ("The Queen's Gambit" 2021).
The cast, the costumers, the composers, the art department--everybody completely got into the spirit of the thing & it worked GREAT. (Special shoutout to Carrie Hamilton & Michael Cerveris, who had AMAZING chemistry!) And -- THE EPISODE WON AN EMMY --
November 8, 2025 at 8:37 PM
The cast, the costumers, the composers, the art department--everybody completely got into the spirit of the thing & it worked GREAT. (Special shoutout to Carrie Hamilton & Michael Cerveris, who had AMAZING chemistry!) And -- THE EPISODE WON AN EMMY --
...even though NOW, for no apparent reason, our characters were firing off slangy 30s dialog & wearing 30s costumes! (& director Win Phelps made so sure to keep up an appropriately lightning-fast 1930s pace that the ep needed two added scenes + a song + a title sequence to fill its running time!)
November 8, 2025 at 8:37 PM
...even though NOW, for no apparent reason, our characters were firing off slangy 30s dialog & wearing 30s costumes! (& director Win Phelps made so sure to keep up an appropriately lightning-fast 1930s pace that the ep needed two added scenes + a song + a title sequence to fill its running time!)
MGM decreed we couldn't do it. Much depression. Then Ira saved the script AGAIN with an idea: "Okay, lose the bookend scenes, put it all BACK into present day, change the character names BACK--but don't change anything else! Leave all the dialog alone." And we did! MGM had no problem with THAT...
November 8, 2025 at 8:37 PM
MGM decreed we couldn't do it. Much depression. Then Ira saved the script AGAIN with an idea: "Okay, lose the bookend scenes, put it all BACK into present day, change the character names BACK--but don't change anything else! Leave all the dialog alone." And we did! MGM had no problem with THAT...
The new 1930s-set draft worked great & everybody loved it--well, everybody EXCEPT the MGM suits, who hated the idea of our cast playing different characters. "It'll confuse our audience" and "our audience doesn't like fantasy." (Fantasy on a series where everybody routinely burst into song & dance!)
November 8, 2025 at 8:37 PM
The new 1930s-set draft worked great & everybody loved it--well, everybody EXCEPT the MGM suits, who hated the idea of our cast playing different characters. "It'll confuse our audience" and "our audience doesn't like fantasy." (Fantasy on a series where everybody routinely burst into song & dance!)
...why not SET the ep in the 1930s & tell the flashback story of the first play the School of the Arts ever put on, with our cast playing their predecessor characters? We loved the notion, changed all the character names, let the 30s dialog FLY, and added present-day bookend scenes so it made sense.
November 8, 2025 at 8:37 PM
...why not SET the ep in the 1930s & tell the flashback story of the first play the School of the Arts ever put on, with our cast playing their predecessor characters? We loved the notion, changed all the character names, let the 30s dialog FLY, and added present-day bookend scenes so it made sense.
Our first draft script was positively received, but producer Ira Steven Behr thought it needed to go further; we'd tried to incorporate some sassy, breakneck, 1930s-ish dialog without going too overboard... and it just didn't sparkle as much as it could've. Ira had a dynamite idea...
November 8, 2025 at 8:37 PM
Our first draft script was positively received, but producer Ira Steven Behr thought it needed to go further; we'd tried to incorporate some sassy, breakneck, 1930s-ish dialog without going too overboard... and it just didn't sparkle as much as it could've. Ira had a dynamite idea...
It was the sixth and last season of FAME; Hans and I were invited in to pitch. One of our stories was a "42nd Street" homage; we almost didn't pitch it, because we figured they MUST've already done something like it already. But they hadn't, and they bought it! (And shot it!)
November 8, 2025 at 8:37 PM
It was the sixth and last season of FAME; Hans and I were invited in to pitch. One of our stories was a "42nd Street" homage; we almost didn't pitch it, because we figured they MUST've already done something like it already. But they hadn't, and they bought it! (And shot it!)
39 Years Ago Today: An episode of FAME I co-wrote with Hans Beimler -- our second produced TV script! -- got a "Close Up" in TV GUIDE magazine. Not bad for a little show running near-invisibly in syndication (and a troubled script that went to "Third Blue" [i.e., multiple rewrites/revisions)... 🧵
![TV GUIDE [logo]
America s Television Magazine
Vol. 34 No. 45 / November 8, 1986 / Issue #1754
* * *
BROADCAST
Syndicated Fame
Sun., ABC Disney Movie
Sun.,NBC Valerie
Mon.,PBS Story of English
Wed.,PBS Live from Lincoln Center
Thurs.,PBS Mystery!
Fri., NBC A-Team
* * *
This week: seven regular series try something out of the ordinary. Each in its own way succeeds.
* * *
Apart from PBS, Fame serves up an all-singing, all-dancing, hey-kids-Iet's-put-on-a-show show. The show they put on is rather reminiscent of ''42nd Street''--and really very well done. . . .
* * *
(5) FAME-- Drama; 60 min.
"All Talking, All Singing, All Dancing.'' See the Close-up on A-70.
* * *
close
up
FAME
3:30 PM (WGN)
8 PM (5)
9:30 PM (WGN)
[Photo (captioned "Gene Anthony Ray and Elisa Heinsohn"): A young Black man and young white woman in fancy 1930s outfits strike a dance pose.]
GOLDDIGGERS OF 1986
It's time to "put on a show'' as the "Fame'' regulars portray characters in a 1930s Busby Berkeley musical with Jesse (Jesse Borrego) as the harried director; Ian (Michael Cerveris) as the struggling songwriter; and Jillian (Elisa Heinsohn) as the naive chorine thrust into the spotlight when the Ieading Iady gets Iaryngitis on opening night. Miltie: Robert Romanus. Leroy: Gene Anthony Ray. Reggie: Carrie Hamilton. Lou: Dick Miller. Nicole: Nia Peeples. Danny: Carlo Imperator. Christopher: Billy Hufsey. Lydia: Debbie Allen. (60 min.)](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ot3nzcyg5dqlrs27gvdqhouv/bafkreihah3fubqcysxtwtj7va7ke7it5kxzuml5a5i2iqznzadkzzfibcy@jpeg)
November 8, 2025 at 8:37 PM
39 Years Ago Today: An episode of FAME I co-wrote with Hans Beimler -- our second produced TV script! -- got a "Close Up" in TV GUIDE magazine. Not bad for a little show running near-invisibly in syndication (and a troubled script that went to "Third Blue" [i.e., multiple rewrites/revisions)... 🧵
Happiest of birthdays atcha! Enjoy a beer (or other fine beverage)!
November 4, 2025 at 5:56 AM
Happiest of birthdays atcha! Enjoy a beer (or other fine beverage)!
Well, my "Person of Interest" / "Farscape" crossover fanfic novel (currently at 400,000 words; I think it's going to need a little editing) where Sameen and Aeryn team up is entitled "The Shaw-Sun Redemption."
November 4, 2025 at 5:49 AM
Well, my "Person of Interest" / "Farscape" crossover fanfic novel (currently at 400,000 words; I think it's going to need a little editing) where Sameen and Aeryn team up is entitled "The Shaw-Sun Redemption."
I have too many red inks and yet still not enough. For a darker "pure" red, I'd say... Diamine Red Dragon. Darker? Diamine Oxblood. Darker still? Diamine Writers Blood. Want your red to lean slightly magenta/purple? Colorverse Red Shift or Ferris Wheel Press Royal Rhubarb.
November 3, 2025 at 2:08 AM
I have too many red inks and yet still not enough. For a darker "pure" red, I'd say... Diamine Red Dragon. Darker? Diamine Oxblood. Darker still? Diamine Writers Blood. Want your red to lean slightly magenta/purple? Colorverse Red Shift or Ferris Wheel Press Royal Rhubarb.
You were right the first time: Writer's Blood is the excellent Diamine ink; Writers Tears is the excellent Irish whiskey.
November 3, 2025 at 1:58 AM
You were right the first time: Writer's Blood is the excellent Diamine ink; Writers Tears is the excellent Irish whiskey.