Multiple Emmy-winner Harvey Korman, known for his work on The Carol Burnett Show and Blazing Saddles, died on Thursday in Los Angeles. He was 81. In a statement, Korman's family said his death was related to complications from a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm that occurred four months ago. Korman got his start on TV in 1964 with The Danny Kaye Show. When it was canceled three years later, he joined Carol Burnett. Korman went on to have his own, eponymous series — which did not last long — and eventually began working in film, too. Perhaps his most famous role was in Mel Brooks' 1974 Western satire, Blazing Saddles, but Korman also appeared in numerous other movies, including Brooks' High Anxiety and History of the World Part I, as well as two Pink Panther movies and Gypsy, among others. On TV, Korman's guest appearances spanned a range of shows, such as Perry Mason, Roseanne , The Muppet Show and The Love Boat. In a 2005 interview, says the AP, Korman commented on his ...
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Question: What was the first prime-time cartoon?
Answer: Assuming you mean the first prime-time animated network series, Ralph, that would be ABC's legendary Flintstones, which ran for six years beginning in September 1960 (and has been repeated in more places and at more times than I could begin to count). The show pioneered the half-hour animated comedy on network TV, and enjoyed a wave of merchandise sales decades before anyone ever threw on a Bart Simpson "Don't have a cow, man!" T-shirt.
The Flintstones was the fourth animated series created by William Hanna and Joe Barbera (after Ruff and Reddy, Huckleberry Hound and Quick Draw McGraw, all of which were either Saturday-morning or syndicated offerings). And according to Barbera,
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I was very excited to be able to write about attending tonight's West Coast season-premiere live broadcast. I've been anticipating this for weeks, ever since I knew I was going. A good friend works on the show, so I've been to approximately 40 tapings. But I was extremely nervous, so you know I was really looking forward to this night. Due to the multiple takes, normal tapings take about four hours. The writers often rewrite the scenes to make them funnier, so the actors flub their lines and director Jimmy Burrows is a perfectionist. So knowing this was live, I wondered how they could possibly do it ,since they couldn't do scenes over and over and only had a half hour — twice — once for each coast. Truth is, they've been rehearsing this for four weeks to get it down pat, and the script had gone through so many changes, it had to be perfect. Well, you didn't have to be in the live studio audience to be able to enjoy it, but it certainly made it even better. I c
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