David's Reviews > Get In The Car, Jane!: Adventures in the TV Wasteland

Just finished reading “Get in the Car, Jane!: Adventures in the TV Wasteland” by Billy Van Zandt (2020). Another fun look behind the scenes into the making of television sitcoms from Billy Van Zandt, who, along with his long time partner, Jane Milmore, created and/or developed such shows as “Daddy Dearest” (with Don Rickles, 1993), “Bless This House” (with Andrew Dice Clay, 1995-1996), “The Wayans Bros.” (1995-1998), and “Suddenly Susan” (with Brooke Shields, 1996-2000). Chapters of the book also detail Van Zandt’s and Milmore’s tenures as staff writers on the last season of “Newhart” (1982-1990), their first jobs in television after starting our as off Broadway playwrights, “Anything But Love” (1989-1992) with Jamie Lee Curtis, consulting on “Sydney” (1990) with Valerie Bertinelli and a very young Matthew Perry, supervising producers on the first season of “Nurses” (1991-1994), co-executive producers on the first season of “Martin” (1992-1997) with Martin Lawrence, and as consultants on “The Hughleys” (1998-2002) and, briefly, “Yes, Dear” (2000-2006).

Of all of the shows mentioned above, I will admit that I didn’t really watch any of them (except for “Newhart”), but I still found Van Zandt’s experiences working on each of these shows to be fun to read about. Being a comedy writer, he makes humorous his struggles to get scripts ready, parts cast, network and studio executive notes addressed (or not) and shows shot all in time to air or to be considered for the following season, oftentimes under very trying circumstances (whether from working with a verbally abusive Martin Lawrence, being told that he and Milmore can also act in the series they are producing then having that taken away from them, or working to produce pilots which they somehow manage to get finished by crazy deadlines and actually quite good ones only to have the network either A) decide to pass on the pilot, or B) decide to replace Van Zandt and Milmore with other producers.

Three television pilots that Van Zandt and Milmore worked on that ultimately didn’t get turned into regular series which make for interesting chapters of his book are “Staten Island, 10309” with David Krumholz and Kaye Ballard; an American version of the British sitcom “Waiting for God” that would have been titled “Alive and Kicking”, starred Olympia Dukakis and Richard Mulligan, and produced by Van Zandt, Milmore, and Penny Marshall; and a Disney Channel kids show titled “Jake and Janet Save the Planet” starring eleven year old China Ann McClain (who would star in the Disney Channel series, “A.N.T. Farm” (2011-2014), instead).

As a classic tv (1950s to 1970s/80s fan), though, my chapters of most interest are Van Zandt’s getting in 1986 to meet his idol, Lucille Ball, watch her shoot an episode of her short lived series she was starring in at the time, “Life With Lucy”, and even appear in a brief scene as a flowers delivery guy.

Then, in 1990, (“ten months after Lucille Ball’s death”), a copy of the long thought lost pilot episode of “I Love Lucy” is found (a story in and of itself), and Van Zandt and Milmore get to produce “I Love Lucy: The Very First Show”, a TV special incorporating both the unearthed pilot episode and also interviews with “I Love Lucy” writers Bob Carroll Jr. and Madelyn Davis, hosted by Lucie Arnaz. The special would go on to be nominated for an Emmy for “Best Informational Special”.

Again, I very much enjoyed this book and recommend it to anyone interested in reading funny stories of working with television stars, writers, and producers in getting television shows made in the 1990s, and with the studio and network executives pulling the strings (and oftentimes making the process all the harder).

(Checked out from the Tampa/Hillsborough County Public Library. Learned about from hearing Van Zandt interviewed on Ed Robertson’s “TV Confidential” radio show/podcast.)