TV Guidance Counselor Episode 355: Tim O’Donnell

This week Ken welcomes writer, producer, showrunner and childhood hero Tim O'Donnell (Growing Pains, Clueless, Uncle Buck, Just the Ten of Us) to the show.

Ken and Tim discuss The Mommies, being on the #1 show and the #100 show, Gloria, working in TV News, adapting movies into TV shows, basing a show around a stand up comedian, the Sandy episode of Growing Pains, Matthew Perry, Very Special Episodes, Valerie/The Hogan Family, working in radio, P.A. ing on The Carol Burnett Show, working on The Glenn Campbell Show, the pitfalls of multi-cam shot on video shows, how film look took over, Newhart, Cheers, Clueless, Paul Rodriguez, warm up comics, the writers' room system, watching actors learn to be writers, pitching jokes, Dog Weddings, being an ex-Seminarian, Just the Ten of Us, Catholic Jokes, breaking the 4th Wall, Rich Reinhart, Rock N Roll Fantasy, The Lubbock Babes, Mr. Belvedere, Ken's college age anthrax shield job, Dick Van Patton as a bigot on Growing Pains, Heather Graham, The Dewy High Hooters, Dance Fever Part 1, clip shows, Free Spirit, busted pilots, high concept shows, Brad Pitt, I Married Dora, Exporting Raymond, translating American sitcoms into Russian sitcoms, how Growing Pains became the first American sitcom to air in China, being mistaken for Alan Thicke, John Candy being the greatest guy ever, Clueless, James at 15, how great "Action" with Jay Mohr was, being told "there's nobody in America who wants to be Latino who currently isn't", stand up comedy showcases, network notes, why stand up comics are pre-disposed to not be great actors in an ensemble, being a showrunner, an alternate universe where Joss Whedon writes for Growing Pains, and the long discussed definitive origin of clip shows.