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After creating TV hits like “The Big Bang Theory,” “Two and a Half Men,” and “Young Sheldon,” legendary producer Chuck Lorre looks back on his milestones and missteps in a new memoir called “Sitcom.”
“I started out, I didn’t want to do this,” Lorre admits of the decision to write his book. “I didn’t see any reason to do it. A dear friend kept pushing me that the story of this journey to where I am now was worth telling.”
In the end, that enthusiasm led to a very cathartic experience for the exhibitor. “Writing down your experiences gives you distance and perspective,” Lorre said. “It allows you to laugh about the past and maybe understand it a little better.”
In an interview with The Associated Press, Lorre opens up about the personal introspection that led to “Sitcom,” and shares his thoughts on where television comedy is today, and offers a pragmatic view of the Paramount Skydance-Warner Bros. deal.
The answers have been condensed for clarity and brevity.
LORRE: I thought it might be interesting for people reading the book to see what a sitcom script looks like from the inside. The handwritten marks were my attempt to communicate how I felt about these scripts when we were making them, as well as how I feel about them looking back now. I wanted to give a little realistic insight into the process of making these shows rather than just talking about them in the abstract.
LORRE: Before there’s comedy or a joke, the audience has to care about the characters. It’s not even about making them “popular.” Danny DeVito in “Taxi” or Carroll O’Connor as Archie Bunker played very angry people, but you enjoyed watching them. If the audience cares, a character falling down the stairs becomes funny because they were running somewhere important. A great sitcom like “Cheers” or “The Big Bang Theory” becomes a surrogate family where people gather around a table, eat together, and bond. That emotional connection is much harder to build today because getting people to sit down for a half-hour comedy in a crowded market is a big challenge.
LORRE: There’s no need to look back with regret, but I actually got a second chance with “The Big Bang Theory,” which was a miracle. We wrote and produced an original pilot that didn’t work, but Johnny Galecki and Jim Parsons were in that pilot and they had this amazing chemistry. We got a second chance to retool it, and it worked beyond my wildest dreams. With failed presentations, you either learn from the failure or become cynical and bitter as a result. Learning from him is the best option.
LORRE: None of that physical shenanigans ever filter down to where I am. When I first came here, the company was merging with AOL in 1999, then Time Warner, then AT&T, who wanted me to write shows for cell phones, and I told them, “No, I don’t write for phones” – and then Discovery.
I met Mr. Ellison recently, and he seems like a nice guy, but basically, we have a “new dad.” My job is to try to make something that makes people laugh. It has nothing to do with a corporate superstructure or $80 billion in debt. There is no sitcom in the world that is going to clear that up.
LORRE: Oddly enough, I watch a lot of dramas rather than comedies. I enjoy watching things I don’t know how to do with amazing action sequences. Right now, I’m loving “Slow Horses” by Gary Oldman. He plays this horrible, horrible person, and yet you really love watching him. When I open at night, that’s the kind of story I’m looking for.
LORRE: If you want to write, you have to read. Everything from Ray Bradbury’s “The Martian Chronicles” to “Moby Dick” shaped me as a child. Creation is always about standing on the shoulders of those who came before you. The Rolling Stones don’t exist without the Chicago blues, and there aren’t comedy writers without the big shows that preceded them.
