The show's board of directors plan to run a short 10 week season rather than risk losing $ 25, 000 a day in a shaky post-war economy.

One of the show's directors, Terry Higgins, was diagnosed HIV positive in 1993 and died of AIDS in 1994.

The show's studio directors were Peter Benardos and Brian Phillis.

As Lee H. Katzin, one of the show's directors, remarked, " The show is written for an MTV audience, which is more interested in images, emotions and energy than plot and character and words.

Michael Mann, who served as executive producer for the majority of the show's five-year run, is often credited with being one of the most influential Neo-noir directors.

By 1999, the show's animation department consisted of Palmer, 20 animators, 11 digital designers, and 5 art directors and model makers.

The show's directors and supervising animators included many veterans of the DePatie-Freleng cartoon studio including Gerry Chiniquy, John Gibbs, Norm McCabe, Warren Batchelder and Tom Ray.

Prince Gasket was voiced by Douglas Sloan, one of the show's directors, writers, and its producer.

The show's directors were:

After the show's first two seasons, American Masters began producing most of its episodes ; in those cases, it hires directors, arranges for funding, manages the budget, and supervises the editing ; the show reserves the right to make the final cut on every film it produces.

The programme's subjects complained about the way they were portrayed due to the editing carried out by the show's producers and directors, which included Spencer Campbell.

In the show's early episodes, Mrs. Johnson had been recently elected to the board of directors of the PTA and this was the source of most of the show's plots ; later it was decided that this idea had been carried about as far as was practical and the PTA aspect was dropped from the show, which was then retitled Harper Valley.

The show's various directors were Arthur Forrest ( who directed the pilot ), Booey Kober, Bob Loudin, Jerry Kupcinet, Paul Forrest and Bob Levy.

" A Streetcar Named Marge " posed a challenge to the show's animation directors.

Though 18-year-old Sally Field defeated 75 other teenage girls for the title role, she exaggerated her surfing experience to the show's casting directors, when in fact she had none.

According to Gerard Baldwin, one of the show's directors, the name " WABAC " is a reference to the UNIVAC I.

Also featured were two music videos (" Long Hard Road Out of Hell " by Marilyn Manson and " Criminal " by Fiona Apple ) not included in any of the show's regular episodes.

Other storylines included Leanne Battersby becoming a prostitute and the show's first bi-sexual love triangle ( between Michelle Connor, Sonny Dhillon, and Sean Tully ).

This included the nation's and the writers ' favourite episodes plus a documentary of the cast and creators that revisited the show's locations.

Previous attempts have included Piece Of My Heart, which was to star Renée Zellweger or Brittany Murphy ; The Gospel According To Janis, with director Penelope Spheeris and starring either Zooey Deschanel or P! nk ; and an untitled film thought to be an adaptation of Laura Joplin's Off-Broadway play about her sister, with the show's star, Laura Theodore, attached.

The series was originally set to run for 52 episodes but was cut down to 39 by the show's sponsors, which included the original toymakers for the series.

Ancient members of the show's cast, like the Devil and Punch's mistress " Pretty Polly ," ceased to be included when they came to be seen as inappropriate for young audiences.

His design for the show's catalog included " found ", rather than posed, photographs of the artists.

The show's finale included a special appearance by Naomi Judd, who joined Wynonna in performing The Judds ' single " Love Can Build a Bridge ", to which everyone eventually joined in.

Another episode included an April Fools ' prank played on Tom Bergeron in the show's fifth season, featuring E. E. Bell as an obnoxious contestant who kept pushing his overly emotional opponent until she broke down in tears, in addition to testing Bergeron's patience.

This sequence was used as the opening of a 1975 documentary on the success of the series in schools that was included in The Best of The Electric Company Volume 2 DVD boxed set ; however, the music from the show's opening was used for the documentary.

Factory and Sony BMG Music Entertainment, released a DVD boxed set on February 7, 2006, called The Best of the Electric Company that included 20 uncut episodes from throughout the show's run, including the first and last episodes, plus outtakes and introductions and commentary by Rita Moreno and June Angela.

Most of the underwriters throughout the show's tenure included: Martin Marietta, Lockheed ( soon to merge long after stopping their share of funding ), Prudential Securities ( and its precursor, Prudential-Bache Securities ), Primerica Financial Services, Hilton Hotels Corporation ( and its subsidiary, Conrad International Hotels ), Sperry Corporation, CSX, Enron Corporation, Enron Foundation, Hanson Trust, Unisys, Travelers Insurance, Ameritech ( before the big switch to SBC, which merged AT & T ), MFS Investment Management, Oppenheimer Funds, A. G. Edwards, The Kaufmann Fund, Deloitte and Touche, The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and all local PBS affiliates and their viewers / contributors.

After the show's second season, NBC sold the series off into syndication with the Good Morning, Miss Bliss episodes included to pad out the syndication package, despite the plot-continuity problems and production changes.

The show's writers included Howard Harris, Hal Fimberg, Parke Levy, Don Prindle, Eddie Cherkose ( later known as Eddie Maxwell ), Leonard B. Stern, Martin Ragaway, Paul Conlan, and Eddie Forman, as well as producer Martin Gosch.

According to Mirkin, many of the executives struggled to understand it and objected to the darkness and surrealism of the show's humor, which included the frequent death of Elliott's character, and regularly threatened to shut down production.

Other products advertised on Sabado Gigante have included AC Delco, Allstate, American Airlines ( for the show's travel segment " La Camara Viajera "), AutoZone, Cap ' n Crunch, Coca-Cola, Colgate, Dog Chow ( alternates with its Puppy Chow counterpart ), Domino's Pizza, Ferrero Rocher, M & M's ( alternates with its sister brands Snickers, Skittles and Starburst ), Mazola, Miller ( for the musical segments ), Pampers, Payless ShoeSource, Pepto-Bismol, Polaroid ( for the car games ) Quaker Instant Oatmeal ( most often for El Chacal de La Trompeta ; alternates with Aunt Jemima ), Secret Deodorant and Sprint.

Scout's Rest Ranch included an eighteen-room mansion and a large barn for winter storage of the show's livestock.

In 1969, Van Dyke and Moore reunited for a one-hour variety special called Dick Van Dyke and the Other Woman which included a never before seen alternative take from one of the show's episodes in which Van Dyke breaks down and cries after being dismissed from a film role instead of just being disappointed.

The final episode also included the original tag line, with some revision, printed on the screen with the words " There is a destiny that makes us FAMILY " ( replacing the word ' brothers '), as well as quick clips of each of the show's title cards and announcers over the six decades it was on television, leading to the show's former long-time opening announcement: " And now, The Guiding Light ".

Similar to a soap opera, the show's story was presented in a serial format and included melodramatic plot elements such as alien abduction, demonic possession, murder, and kidnapping.

The new main cast included Eliza Coupe returning to the recurring role of Denise " Jo " Mahoney from season eight, Dave Franco as Cole, a charming, confidently stupid and incredibly entitled medical student whose family donated the money to build the school, Kerry Bishé as Lucy, who shared the starring role with Braff in the beginning of the season and eventually became the show's new narrator, and Michael Mosley as Drew, a 30-year-old med student on his last attempt at school.

The show's final months in 1977 included a range of shock storylines including the exploits of a group of Nazi bikers and a psychopathic blackmailer.

Similar series also included Soul Train ( 1970 – 2006, featuring R & B artists ), Club MTV ( 1986 – 92, featuring Dance Music acts ; hosted by Downtown Julie Brown, an alumnus of TOTP as part of the show's last dance troupe Zoo ) and Solid Gold ( 1980 – 88 ; like the early TOTP, it also used dance troupes ).

In 1978, Stone and Singer produced and wrote the show's first special, the " triumphant " Christmas Eve on Sesame Street, which included an O Henry-inspired storyline in which Bert and Ernie gave up their prized possessions — Ernie his rubber ducky and Bert his paper clip collection — to purchase each other Christmas gifts.

" While writing, he says, the show's creators imagined Ted and Dougal as " just two people who happen to be ".

The show's title was parodied in the comedy series Father Ted, in the episode " The Old Grey Whistle Theft ".

Among the show's many recurring roles, Richard Lewis and Ted Danson play versions of themselves as old friends of Larry's with whom he frequently butts heads.

Erica herself would face an uphill struggle with untenable directives from her superiors at the Department of Corrective Services, represented by bigwig Ted Douglas ( Ian Smith ; who was also the show's script editor for most of its run and often contributed scripts ).

In the storyline, Valene was married three times to husband Gary Ewing ( played in the series by Ted Shackelford ), and had two other marriages during the show's run.

As originally conceived, Lurch was to have no lines, but in the show's pilot episode, Ted Cassidy ad-libbed the line " You rang?

" Executive producer Ted Robinson has said that the show's humour is usually less genteel than Have I Got News For You as the British series is aimed at an older, over-fifty audience whereas Good News Week is most popular among the 18 to 39 age group.

USA Network released her mid-way through the show's third season, stating they " decided to go in a different creative direction with some of its characters "; MSNBC reported that " some members of the series ' supporting cast, including Schram, Ted Levine and Jason Gray-Stanford, attempted to renegotiate the terms of their contract " and cited Schram's departure as evidence of the industry's " hard line against raise-seeking actors who aren't absolutely essential to the show.

He lives for three things: his beloved chair in front of the TV, his unsuccessful racing greyhounds Repco Lad & Gae Akubra and his worshipped Holden Kingswood car ( late in the show's run Ted traded-in the Kingswood, which had gone out of production around the time the series began, for Holden's replacement mid-range family car, the Commodore ).

In late 1985, several changes were made before further episodes were produced, including changing the show's title to The Ted Knight Show ( not to be confused with the short-lived 1978 CBS show of the same name ).

" Ted Cox of the Daily Herald was less positive about the episode, reporting that this episode " looked like more of the same ", recounting the show's past story lines, and past NBC programs.