Image via Wikipedia

In my former life as a Buffalo News TV critic, I became the unofficial biographer of TV history-making Buffalo State College graduate Tom Fontana.
I met the Buffalo native in 1982. It was my first year as a critic and the year that he started his TV career as a story editor on “St. Elsewhere,” which became one of my all-time favorite TV series.
He eventually became the lead writer and producer of the show with John Masius (who later produced the NBC hit “Providence”) and was so vital to the success of “St. Elsewhere” that many people erroneously believe he created the series rather than saved it.
The series was executive produced by the late Bruce Paltrow, who was best known for his involvement in the basketball series “The White Shadow” and is the father of actress Gwyneth Paltrow. Little-known fact: If my memory is correct, Fontana is her godfather.
Fontana went on to write and produce, “Homicide: Life on the Street,” another show that many people think he created. As he did with “St. Elsewhere,” Fontana just made “Homicide” work after the writer credited with creating it left early in the series run.
Fontana did create the HBO prison series, “Oz,” and has a tattoo on one of his arms to show for it. His last network series was “The Philanthropist,” a series about a very rich guy who was an adventurer and did good deeds. It was a good show that NBC didn’t give a chance to succeed.
I bring this all up because Fontana is about to make some more TV history to add to his biography
BBC America announced during the recent television critics tour in Los Angeles that he is the co-creator of its first scripted series, “Copper.” The cable channel has commissioned 10 episodes, which are expected to be ready by next summer.
The series is about a young Irish cop and is set in the immigrant community of New York City in the late 19th century. It is being shot in Canada, which I hope means Fontana will be around to speak to one of my courses at Buffalo State College that deals with scriptwriting.
*Mike Igoe, the former Channel 2 reporter, called before he headed back to teach in China to express how he felt about the way the Muscular Dystrophy Association ousted long-time Telethon host Jerry Lewis: Igoe had been the host of Buffalo’s portion of the Telethon when he worked at Channel 2 and last was involved in 2009:
“After all that he’s done for the Telethon that was very poor,” said Igoe. “They definitely should have at least given him the opportunity to say goodbye.”
* Old Bills never die, they become TV announcers first. NBC (7 Notre Dame games) and its cable partner Versus (21 games) announced a 28-game college football schedule with coverage that will feature three ex-Bills.
Doug Flutie (see above), who had worked at ABC and ESPN, will be involved in NBC’s new College Football Studio Show. Glenn Parker is the analyst on Versus’ Pac-12 schedule. And Ross Tucker is the analyst on Versus’ weekly college football show at 5 p.m. Mondays during the season.
* I caught Carolina Panthers Owner Jerry Richardson on “The Charlie Rose Show” on PBS telling the host that he told the NFL’s No.1 draft choice Cam Newton that he didn’t want him to get a tattoo or grow his hair long. Seriously? What century are we in? Is the No Fun League becoming the Army?
I hate tattoos and actually think you make a bigger statement about individuality these days by not having one.
But everyone is a different and I know people (Tom Fontana for one) disagree with me on that. Listening to Richardson, it’s a wonder the Panthers can field a team.
* I watched the video available on the internet of Christine O’Donnell walking off her interview with CNN’s Piers Morgan and find her defense more laughable than Richardson’s tattoo policy. Morgan was a perfect gentleman asking legitimate questions about what was in her book.
However, O’Donnell claimed that she walked off the set because of an “inappropriate, creepy line of questioning” before the questions I saw on the video clip posted on the internet.
Puh-lease. If that was the case, she should have walked off earlier when was offended. Morgan’s questions were legitimate ones that spoke to O’Donnell’s public statements and what she had written in her book.
The controversy can only help Morgan, who has hardly been thought of as a tough interviewer since replacing Larry King.
pergament@msn.com

Be Sociable, Share!

•