Cynthia Littleton On The Air

This and that: WGA benefits; "Anatomy of a Script" seminars; a 400-seg milestone

The strike may be over, but the Writers Guild of America fundraisers to fill the coffers of its industry strike fund continues.

The next event, hosted by Writers Theatre LA, is set for Saturday at the Lyric Theater (520 N. La Brea Ave.) and will feature perfs of five one-act plays. The last one in the rotation is  WGA board member Howard Rodman's take on "How the Writers Strike Ended," which is billed as "a savage (and savagely funny) look inside the moguls' executive dining room, where food is made, decisions are eaten." (Rodman pictured left)

There are more perfs and readings set for Sunday March 9, and on March 31 there'll be a perf of Jennifer Maisel's "The Last Seder," about how a Passover dinner allows a family's to heal its past and move on. Play recently earned a grant from the Kennedy Center's Fund for New American Plays and was commissioned by the Foundation for Jewish Culture...

Meanwhile, the Writers Guild Foundation is reviving its "Anatomy of a Script" seminar series examining film and TV scripts, starting March 11 for six consecutive Tuesdays at the WGA's HQ on Third Street.
Seminars, moderated by scribes Winnie Holzman and Robin Schiff, begin with a dissection of "Traffic" with Stephen Gaghan; followed by "Lars and the Real Girl" with Nancy Oliver; "Friday Night Lights" with Jason Katims (pictured right); "Ghost" with Bruce Joel Rubin; "The Bernie Mac Show" with Larry Wilmore; and "Grey's Anatomy" with Shonda Rhimes....

And finally, what does ABC's "America's Funniest Home Videos" have in common with "Gunsmoke," "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet," "Law & Order," "Bonanza," "Lassie," "Death Valley Days" and "The Simpsons"? Four-hundred episodes, that's what (at least half of them included the clip of the cat flushing a toilet). "AFHV" was YouTube when YouTube wasn't cool (or invented yet), and "AFHV" czar Vin Di Bona (pictured far left with "AFHV" host Tom Bergeron) has been there for all of them. Di Bona banked seg No. 400 last week; it's set to air April 20.

Vin Di Bona's star turn

The turnout was pretty good today for the presentation of producer Vin Di Bona's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, near Hollywood and Vine and around the corner from the old KNXT-TV studios where Di Bona once produced pretty cool documentaries, back in the days when local TV stations spent money on such things. (The ceremony coincided with Thursday's publication of Variety's "Television Groundbreaker" salute to Vin.) The post-ceremony luncheon at the Hollywood Roosevelt was a lot of fun, packed with Vin's industry pals, his mom, Jean, and a full complement of ABC execs, including ABC Entertainment chief Stephen McPherson and exec veep Jeff Bader. "America's Funniest Home Videos" is one of TV's longest-running shows and has been a staple on ABC's air since the first Bush administration. ABC crunched the numbers in preparation for the ceremony and found that, among other impressive stats, that a whopping 120 million people checked out a clip or two of the series during the 2006-07 season. Not bad for a TV show that's almost old enough to vote.

(Pictured: Vin Di Bona, right, with "AFHV" host Tom Bergeron)