JMS: TNT/PTEN/WB/etc

[B5JMS Poster]

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From: Blair Leatherwood <bleatherwood at ibm.net>
Date: 20 Oct 1997 00:23:39 -0400
Lines: 29

Given the fact that TNT is putting much more into supporting and
promoting the show for the final season, do you regret that this kind of
support has not been there for the previous four seasons?  I know that
you have had minimal trouble with WB creatively, but they really didn't
*support* the show as well as they could have.

Do you think that the hands-off approach made the show better by making
you work harder?

I do have to say that I think this show has had, despite all the bumps
along the way, a charmed existence.  You've managed to work around cast
changes (planned and unplanned) and, I'm sure, a myriad of backstage
traumas without losing the story.  I consider us very lucky indeed.  I
hope when all this is over that you'll be very proud of the past decade.

I want you to know that my heart is always with the storyteller.  Tell
me a good story and I'm yours; I will forgive errors and omissions,
flaws and gaffes.  I want to be taken to somewhere new and be forced to
think.  I am in awe of those who can create worlds and people to inhabit
them (as an actor, I get to inhabit them frequently and I love the
opportunity).

Thank you for this wonderful ride; I am looking forward to the final
chapter.

Blair

I hope this hasn't come across as *too* much--I do have a practical
side....

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From: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
Date: 20 Oct 1997 06:20:10 -0400
Lines: 28

In Which our Correspondent Swallows His Fists....

>Given the fact that TNT is putting much more into supporting and
>promoting the show for the final season, do you regret that this kind of
>support has not been there for the previous four seasons?  I know that
>you have had minimal trouble with WB creatively, but they really didn't
>*support* the show as well as they could have.
>Do you think that the hands-off approach made the show better by making
>you work harder?

This is about as much a deal with the devil as I can imagine.

But on the whole, without getting into specifics...the truth is that this show
 is going to be around for 20, 30, maybe even 50 years, if I did it right.  30
 years from now, it won't make any difference if we got good PR or we didn't,
 if we were well received when we first went on or not...the story is the
 story, and I was allowed, most remarkably, to tell it my way, with virtually
 no creative interference, and that will be noted in years to come, not the
 rest.

I'd take that deal again in a hot second.


 jms




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