The actors from THE COSBY SHOW. . .

. . .were on the Today Show yesterday.  It was interesting seeing them, how they had changed or stayed the same.   Of course, Bill was his irascible self, dressed in a bright sweater and wearing his omnipresent shades.  Theo was there and little Rudy, who is now a gorgeous grown-up women.  One of the interviewers asked them if THE COSBY SHOW was a show about a black family.  They all agreed that it wasn't about a family of any color, just about a family.

     Then Cliff/Bill began to talk about the need to make your writing universal, at least, he suggested, when writing good scripts for TV.  A writer has to be careful not to use current slang or too many pop cultural references for fear of making their story too specific to a certain time. That makes sense, and I try to do it as much as I can.  For example, it's better to say "they were watching a reality show," than to say, "they were watching THE BACHELORETTE."  Your modern characters can safely read MOBY DICK or TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, because those titles will always be recognized.  It's probably best not to use THE SHACK or TWILIGHT in a story you hope will remain unfettered by time, even for 8 or 10 years.  I wrote in TISHA AND THE GIANT that they were watching one of those romantic, "Lifetime Network" movies.  I'd probably be better off changing to "one of those sappy, romantic cable channels."

     When I wrote my first play A GIRL OF TWO WORLDS, I had a bunch of cultural references.  One character told another character, who was acting like a little bitch, "that 90210 auditions were over."  If I were to rewrite GIRL, I'd certainly change that reference and a bunch of others.

     An example of a specific cultural reference in a classic plays comes from the comedy ARSENIC AND OLD LACE.  A AND OL was written in the early 40's, but is still performed all around the country.  A line that drama critic Mortimer Brewster says is, "He was feeling a little Pirandello."  People of the 40's, who attended Broadway plays, were familiar with the works of playwright Luigi Pirandello.  But now that line falls flat.

      I suppose that this ties in with yesterday's post.  I wonder if Bill Cosby would think that  mentioning twittering or instant messaging in a story would hurt its universal appeal.

P.S. to Jake:  How'd you like that subtle shot at TWILIGHT!