She will use her own discretion as to whether the questions are appropriate to forward to Mr. Clark.
Mr. Clark,what was your favorite episode to write/work on?
--Probably Play It Again, Sammo; Crumb, Again; The Last Untouchable -- maybe my favorite actual script was Deadline but I was deeply unhappy with the ultimate execution of the episode--some of the stuff happened in re-writing it and some of the stuff happened in the direction and I was deep in rewriting another script and was unable to wrestle back on course. I was deeply proud, however, of bringing Lucious Snow back to the series -- at that point the decision had been made from on high to disperse with the "legend" of the paper and I felt that was part of the magic of the series, to have that kind of mystery...
Which actors did you most enjoy working with, and which did you least enjoy
working with?
--Regular actors? Kyle. He really is Gary Hobson awesome to work with -- dedicated to his craft and gives 110% He's one of the few I'd work with again and again. Guests? Sammo Hung, Lou Gossett, the actress who played Molly Greene, the journalist, Constance Marie, Ernest Borgnine and Joseph Campenella--in their entire careers they had never been in anything together.
Are there any stories about the actors you can share?
CBS didn't want Sammo to have any speeches because of his accent. I wrote him a couple and fought to keep them in, including one that worked in some of his own life story. I wasn't there but word came from the set that he liked our episode better than any of the Martial Laws he had to do. A lot of good stuff with a lot of fine actors. You'll have to buy me a pint or four to get bad stories out, not that I would have any about anyone...not even Kristy Swanson, no, not even Kristy, I'm sure I couldn't think of a single bad thing about kristy...there, I didn't say anything negative.
Where did you get your inspiration for writing the episodes? Did someone
say, "We want an episode that deals with (insert a topic here) " or did you
just try to think of something on your own. Did current events ever play
into the writing of your stories?
--mostly on our own, very rarely were we given an area. Play It Again, Sammo came about because we were going to do a cross over with martial law, but martial law rejected our characters, but I loved Sammo and seen a lot of his hong kong work, so I clamored to go ahead and use him... current events rarely actually worked for us.
I see that you wrote The Medal. That is one episode that I feel a connection
to. I had a brother who served in Vietnam. I was touched by the way Gary
continued to try and reach Jim Mathews. What made you decide to write a
story about a Vietnam Veteran?
--I am a veteran. My version was a little different. In the end, Mathews does the act of heroism, but Gary helps him not have to go to the public ceremony and Gary gives him his medal of honor back quietly with his family in McGinty's, but it got "hollywoodized" a little.
By the way, the ending monologue is one of
the best used in Early Edition.
--thanks, I was originally a playwright and have always been pretty good and those kind of things. I wrote a couple like that for an old sit-com called Evening Shade as well.
Was there a reason that the monologues stopped after Fisher left?
--Kyle hated the idea of doing them. I even think we recorded some female voices, but it was too out there, didn't make sense. The writers also felt that we were getting to the emotional core of things in action and could leave you with the right visceral response with having to tell you what it was. Also, in the very beginning, there was a lot more Bob Brush and if you saw the wonder years, you know he loved lots of voice-over.