Bob Schroeck? Wrote:I still haven't heard back on the proposal. The submission guidelines have an explicit "no prodding the editor" clause, so I am being a good boy and waiting patiently to hear something, anything, back.
I figured it was something like that, and that you'd update us when you had something to update with. I assume you still don't, but I've been mulling over ideas for that thread, and I wanted to address that paragraph before I posted anything else. And with that said, my actual contribution as it currently stands (to go in a box accompanying the 1964-1975 section):
"Communism, Telepathy and the Beatles" (1964): Reverend Daniel J. Noble's self-published tract, denouncing the four lads from Liverpool as actually being sinister Soviet psychics brainwashing the youth of America to reject Jesus and embrace Karl Marx, was typical of a whole genre which warned against that newfangled "rock and roll" music as either a Communist plot or a Satanic one. It wouldn't be any better remembered today than the rest, except that Noble was a member of the far-right Fred Birch Society, and the media picked up on the ludicrous attempt to demonize the squeaky-clean mop-tops, tying it to earlier Bircher hyperbole (such as the statement that then-President Eisenhower was "a dedicated, conscious agent of the Communist conspiracy") and craziness (their continued wish that Joe McCarthy had been allowed to continue hunting for Reds under everyone's bed). The letter backfired on the Society, making them a national punchline. [Possible connection to Goldwater defeat. Is Reverend Noble an uncle of President Kenneth Noble?]
"Psi in the House" (ABC, 1972-1976): I don't have an *exact* OTL counterpart to work with, only 60s supernatural sitcoms, but here's my current rough draft: [Mike Brainard's life revolved around secrets -- his own attempts to keep his telepathic powers secret from nosy neighbors, and other people's attempts to keep their secrets out of his head. ("Can Becky keep Mike's surprise party a surprise?") Mike's power level and skill fluctuated as the plot, and particularly the comedy, demanded.]
"M*A*S*H" (CBS, 1972-1983) and "AfterMASH" (CBS, 1983-1995): The 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital's resident psychic, Walter Eugene "Radar" O'Reilly, originated in much the same mold as Mike -- in the original novel and movie, his telepathy, clairaudience and precognition had served mainly as a means for zany antics, and he had even been the sort of person who would use his esper abilities to cheat at poker. Gary Burghoff, the only member of the movie's cast to carry over to the TV series, saw how the new actors were putting their own stamps on the established characters and felt freed to re-imagine Radar as basically innocent; his earlier raucousness was eventually explained as the result of him redacting his own personality to fit in with his squad-mates. [Or just reading their expectations from surface thoughts. Does he eventually leave the show as in OTL? Regardless, he's presumably a presence on the follow-up series.]
"Communism, Telepathy and the Beatles" (1964): Reverend Daniel J. Noble's self-published tract, denouncing the four lads from Liverpool as actually being sinister Soviet psychics brainwashing the youth of America to reject Jesus and embrace Karl Marx, was typical of a whole genre which warned against that newfangled "rock and roll" music as either a Communist plot or a Satanic one. It wouldn't be any better remembered today than the rest, except that Noble was a member of the far-right Fred Birch Society, and the media picked up on the ludicrous attempt to demonize the squeaky-clean mop-tops, tying it to earlier Bircher hyperbole (such as the statement that then-President Eisenhower was "a dedicated, conscious agent of the Communist conspiracy") and craziness (their continued wish that Joe McCarthy had been allowed to continue hunting for Reds under everyone's bed). The letter backfired on the Society, making them a national punchline. [Possible connection to Goldwater defeat. Is Reverend Noble an uncle of President Kenneth Noble?]
"Psi in the House" (ABC, 1972-1976): I don't have an *exact* OTL counterpart to work with, only 60s supernatural sitcoms, but here's my current rough draft: [Mike Brainard's life revolved around secrets -- his own attempts to keep his telepathic powers secret from nosy neighbors, and other people's attempts to keep their secrets out of his head. ("Can Becky keep Mike's surprise party a surprise?") Mike's power level and skill fluctuated as the plot, and particularly the comedy, demanded.]
"M*A*S*H" (CBS, 1972-1983) and "AfterMASH" (CBS, 1983-1995): The 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital's resident psychic, Walter Eugene "Radar" O'Reilly, originated in much the same mold as Mike -- in the original novel and movie, his telepathy, clairaudience and precognition had served mainly as a means for zany antics, and he had even been the sort of person who would use his esper abilities to cheat at poker. Gary Burghoff, the only member of the movie's cast to carry over to the TV series, saw how the new actors were putting their own stamps on the established characters and felt freed to re-imagine Radar as basically innocent; his earlier raucousness was eventually explained as the result of him redacting his own personality to fit in with his squad-mates. [Or just reading their expectations from surface thoughts. Does he eventually leave the show as in OTL? Regardless, he's presumably a presence on the follow-up series.]