Spelling's Dynasty Lives

MW: Let's start at the beginning. How did you get into the business?

Spelling: I directed a play in a little theater on Cahuenga [Blvd. in Los Angeles] over a bus station. And every time the bus would come in, the sets would shake! This is a true story. We did this play and we ran for a weekend, and then we got this great review in the L.A. Times and decided to run another weekend.

I did this because the mailroom boys at KTTV wanted to do something. I was at KTTV--well, let me start at the beginning. Before that I was selling airline reservations. For a guy who doesn't fly, I was working for Western Airlines, making reservations. A guy walks in, talks to me and makes reservations for his all-lady orchestra, Ada Leonard and her All Lady Orchestra, and asked me if I wanted to be the band boy. And I said, "Hell, yes! I'll be in show business."

MW: And this stranger asks you to work on a show?

Spelling: Right. Asked me if I wanted to be a band boy for his group, because they also had a show on KTTV out here. That was "Ada Leonard and her All Girl Orchestra," and it was a contest. They had amateurs come in, all ladies, and they would perform, and a winner would be declared. The winner got a dress.

MW: So that was your first stint in show business?

Spelling: Yeah. I was doing that, and then I got promoted. First of all, I went on tour with them to some surrounding little cities here, and I was carrying drums and cellos and everything. But I got promoted to casting, so then I went to every baton-twirling school, every tap-dancing school, every vocalist school, and all the ladies that I interviewed all sang.

I was in casting, and from there I met somebody, a manager whose client won every show, and he became a friend. I said to him, "Golly, I don't have an agent. I don't have a manager. Can you handle me?" And he says, "No, this is the only client I have." I said, "Well, how do you make a living?" And he said, "Well, when she wins the dress, we sell the dress and split it." His name was George Schlatter [who later created Rowan & Martin's "Laugh-In"], believe it or not.

And then after that they asked me to write this one-act play, and we did that, and we won an award. So then I did a three-act play. "Live Wire" was the name of the show, and, you know, after you directed, you sat out in front and took tickets. There was nothing else to do. So this man walked in with this huge hat and said, "I would like to see Aaron Spelling." And I said, "I'm Aaron Spelling." And he said, "I will talk to you after I see your show." And he walked in, and all I could think of was, he didn't buy a ticket. He came out and said, "You will open up in my theater in two weeks."

MW: So, what was your goal?

Spelling: All I wanted to do was write. I came out here to be a writer. I didn't want to be an actor. I was a bad actor. [My appearance on "I Love Lucy" in 1953] was really the last thing I did as an actor, although I was hired for a big movie to act in, and I had three weeks on that movie. It was called "Kismet." You know what I did? I walked around the entire movie with one line.

MW: Here you are doing what you want to do--you're now writing. Can you give me an idea of how you kept moving forward in that direction?

Spelling: Well, I was very lucky. I wrote these things for Dick Powell and he said to me, "Gee, these are great. Why don't you write a script for us?" I said, "Well, I pitched an idea to your producer and he turned it down." He said, "What was the idea?" and I told him, and he picked up the phone and called the producer and said, "I like Aaron Spelling's idea. Let's do it." So I wrote a script for the Zane Grey Theater, and you're not going to believe the rest of this. One day, in the second year, Dick Powell said, "Hey, Skinny"-that's what he called me--"You're going to produce this show someday, aren't you?" I thought he was crazy, but you know what? The next year he made me the producer.

Man, I never wanted to be a producer. But then, later on, I did "The Lloyd Bridges Show." I produced The June Allyson Show. I was a producer on The Dick Powell Theater. Are you ready for this one? I produced a half-hour comedy that a friend of mine wrote, and it introduced two guys I thought were fascinating. They were called the Smothers Brothers. I had Tommy killed in a car accident, and he came back as an angel living with his brother and screwing up his life--the way Tommy always did to Dick.

MW: Where did you go after Dick Powell passed away?

Spelling: I was out of a job until I went to dinner at La Scala one night and this guy rushes up to me and says, "Hello, partner." And I got a hug, and it was Danny Thomas.

MW: And what was the first show you worked on with him?

Spelling: Oh, God, I think "The Guns of Will Sonnett." I was the producer. In those days you only had one. Danny was a partner, and we talked all the time. He was still doing his comedy half-hour and was still touring and playing in clubs. Vegas and everything. But he became a dear, dear friend, and we were very lucky.

MW: And what did you do after that?

Spelling: I remember a comedy we did. I don't remember the name of it. It was a Western comedy with Tim Conway, about a screwed-up group in the Civil War. And we did "The Danny Thomas Hour. " "Rango" - that was the one with Tim Conway. Then we did a show [with Danny Thomas] that I love dearly and that you may remember called "The Mod Squad." 100 hours of it. From 1968-72.

MW: I remember "The Mod Squad" because I used to watch that on Thursday nights until "The Waltons" began in 1972. If you had to pick your first big hit, would you say "The Mod Squad?"

Spelling: I would say "The Mod Squad." Well, I would say "Burke's Law" was the first one, the big one, and then "Mod Squad" was huge, because nobody was doing a young show like that at that time.

MW: Whose idea was it for you to do that kind of a show? Did you come up with the concept?

Spelling: A buddy of mine who was a policeman that I saw at a club that a lot of people went to told me that the police department was recruiting younger people so they could go to clubs and everything. From that we took the idea and went on to develop the show. Then I started my own company because I was exclusive to ABC. They wanted me to do some shows with them, and I signed a contract with them. And then I was doing my own shows for ABC, and I met a friend there named Leonard Goldberg and went into partnership with him. Before that, on my own, we did "Friends,"[ABC series from the 70’s] we did "San Pedro Beach Bums."

MW: On these shows that you did with Leonard Goldberg, were you producing and writing, or just producing?

Spelling: Mostly producing and rewriting and meeting with writers and everything.

MW: But how did the concepts come up? How did the idea of doing "The Rookies" or "Starsky and Hutch" come up? Did ABC come to you and ask for these shows?

Spelling: No. They never came to us. As a matter of fact, "Charlie's Angels" they didn't buy at first at all, and then Fred Silverman took over at ABC and said, "Hey, I read that "Charlie's Angels" script. Why didn't you ever shoot it?" I said they wouldn't let us shoot it. So he said, "Let's shoot it. I like it. Let's see what comes of it."

MW: Where did the idea for "Charlie's Angels" come from?

Spelling: "Charlie's Angels" was submitted to us by a writer whose name I forget. But it only ran for five years. "Family" came across in a strange way, because nobody was doing a family show, and Leonard and his wife and Candy, my wife, were having dinner in my house one night, and he was very upset because his uncle had been fired due to his age. And we started talking and said, "Golly, you know, it would be interesting to do a show to see what happens to real people." And that's how "Family" started.

MW: When you say a show like "Family" starts so simply, how did the concept of your upcoming show "Titans" come up? Did NBC come to you and say they wanted to work with you on a project, or did you go to them?

Spelling: They came to us because I worked with Garth Ancier on "7th Heaven" and "Charmed," so he asked me to come over and meet him, and he asked me if I thought it was time for a serial. He wanted to do a serial. So we thought about it, and I talked to Chuck Pratt, who deserves a lot of credit because he did "Melrose Place" all these years. And we hit him with the idea of "Titans," and NBC loved it.

MW: How do you have the uncanny ability to always capitalize on what people want to watch on television? What kind of an instinct is it?

Spelling: Well, I'll tell you. You're going to laugh at this. I don't fly, so when my wife and I go anywhere, we go by train. I talk to the people on the train. I ask, "What do you like? Don't say any of our shows! What do you look forward to?" And I kept hearing from normal people on a train who said, "I want to come home after a hard day's work and enjoy myself watching television." And what they were saying was, they like to be entertained, and I think our shows are entertaining. I still talk to people on the tour buses to get their input on what they want to see on television. I wave to them, pose for pictures with them. I'm thrilled to do that. It makes me feel good people care.

MW: When you started "Love Boat," did you stop and think that CBS had lost its once-winning grip on Saturday and you had an idea to put ABC on the map? "How about a fun, escapist show about people on a cruise ship?" Was that your thinking?

Spelling: Yeah. Plus one other thing. We started--and I will take full credit for this--with "Burke's Law." That was the first show to use stars as guest stars.

You want to know about our pilot? Our pilot was called "Who Killed Julie Greer," and it was a movie pilot. I thought, you know, we have a lot of cameos here. Why don't we see if we can get some guest stars to really do something different? And I was told it was a great idea and was asked how much that would cost. Well, when I broke down the script, each guest star works one day. So, let's see if we can get them for $1,000 per day, we'll pick them up in a limousine and take them home in a limousine.

MW: Was "The Love Boat" the first show that you had after "Burke's Law" that incorporated the weekly guest stars?

Spelling: Yes. And then after that it was "Fantasy Island" that did it. But I can tell you we had a guy in the pilot of "Burke's Law." You may have heard of him. His name was Ronald Reagan. We had Nick Adams. You remember Nick? We had Mickey Rooney. We had Edgar Bergen. We had Jack Carson, who had just won the Oscar. We had Dean Jones. It was amazing, and Caroline [Jones] did me a favor and was in it. So that started that, and we thought, why don't we do the same thing on "The Love Boat?" We will have a regular cast, but we'll have guest stars.

My heartbreak was, we did "Life With Lucy." It was sad. I'll tell you what happened. Lucy went to a friend of mine named Marvin Davis--you know, who owned Twentieth [Century Fox] at the time--and said, would I be willing to produce a show for her? I thought, My God, I was an actor in her shows. Good God! But we made a mistake. You know all the funny things she used to do, she would climb up a ladder. Well, we had one of those same scenes, and the audience didn't laugh. They were afraid for her.

MW: When you did "Beverly Hills, 90210," I remember you telling me that Fox had approached you about doing a high school drama.

Spelling: That's my favorite story. Barry Diller called me. He was in charge of Fox, and he said, "Hey, how would you like to do a high school show?" And I said, "Barry, at my age, what the hell do I know about high school?" And he said, quote, "You have two kids, you idiot. One's in high school, and one is getting ready to go into high school." I said, "Hey, Barry, you're right." Now, none of us thought it would last 10 years. By the way, it didn't work at first. Early on we were picked up for 13 episodes, and instead of giving us a back nine, they picked up three at a time. Last year was the last year, but we hit 300 episodes. That is amazing, and I'm very thrilled about it.

MW: Was there ever a time in your long career when you never had a show on the air?

Spelling: I'll tell you what happened. After "Dynasty" was canceled, I was really hurt because one of the big trade papers ran the headline "Spelling's Dynasty Dead." But "Dynasty" wasn't in quotation marks! And it was the first time I hadn't had a show on. Then I got the call from Barry Diller, and we began to go again with all these shows. I was hurt from that.

MW: How do you compare yourself to somebody like a David E. Kelley or a Steven Bochco?

Spelling: I think it's different. I have to be honest--outside of shows like "Family" and "7th Heaven" and "Any Day Now" they do shows that say more than our shows do. We mostly entertain, like with "Love Boat" and "Fantasy Island," although we did tons of issues, thank God, on "90210." But I revere Bochco and Kelley. They do some great things, but we're different, I think.

MW: If you had to pick one reason why you do these types of camp shows, is it to entertain?

Spelling: You have to remember, I was born in a house in Dallas that cost $6,000. The street wasn't paved. We had one bathroom and wall-to-wall people in it. You know, I had my sister, my two brothers and me, my parents, and we even had a boarder to make ends meet. And we didn't have a TV set, so my dad would walk me down to a store where they sold TV sets. We would watch the TV through the window.

MW: As you were watching TV, did you think to yourself, this is really what I want to do?

Spelling: Yeah, I did. I drove out here in a four-year-old Plymouth from Dallas, and that's what I wanted to do. Hey, I never, never, never dreamed--dreamed!--of having this kind of luck. I never dreamed of it.

MW: What do you think of all the reality shows? Obviously it's the hot ticket. Do you think that will continue?

Spelling: I remember when variety shows were the big thing. Variety shows, variety shows, everyone wanted variety shows. Now everyone wants reality shows. I think very few of them are going to work. Obviously "Millionaire" is working, and "Survivor" is working. Fox just canceled their reality show, I read today.

MW: What if a network came to you and said it wants you to do a reality show? Would you ever consider it?

Spelling: No. You want to know why? I love writers. I love actors. I know what actors and writers go through. I would never do a show where you don't employ actors and writers.

MW: Do you think scripted programming is in danger because of reality?

Spelling: I don't think so. I think it's just something that's happening now. You and I will talk two years from now, and I doubt if there will be any "Survivors."

MW: How is your relationship different with the networks now than it was in the 1970s and 1980s, with all the opportunities created by the new networks and cable channels?

Spelling: Back in the1970s, remember, there were only three networks, and we were exclusive to only ABC for quite some time. Now we have shows on the WB ("7th Heaven," "Charmed"), Lifetime ("Any Day Now") and one coming up on UPN. And we have other projects going elsewhere. It's a real bonus to have all these outlets. For us, for everyone.

MW: Does the WB, UPN and cable offer more creative freedom?

Spelling: Well, because Lifetime is targeted to women, we can do the stories we really want to on "Any Day Now." "90210" was really targeted to Fox. I couldn't really see that elsewhere. "7th Heaven" is a show we could do anywhere. But, yeah because you have so many good places to shop your shows, you do feel like there is more freedom.

MW: Let's talk about "Titans." What's your feeling about that time period? Are you concerned that you are running opposite "Millionaire?"

Spelling: I'm always concerned, but we have another show, "Charmed," that is against "Millionaire" on Thursday, and we're still doing fine. It depends on how long these shows last. On the other hand, I still watch "Jeopardy."

MW: Do you have any say in when your shows are going to air?

Spelling: No, not necessarily. Sure, I have preferences, but I let the networks do their job, and we do ours and provide the kind of product we think people will watch.

MW: Let's talk about "Titans." Is it a show much like "Dynasty?"

Spelling: Well, I think it's much younger than "Dynasty."

MW: More like a "90210?"

Spelling: Well, we just signed Ingo Rademacher to be in it, and we have Victoria Principal with two daughters on the show.

MW: Is there anything you have not tackled yet that you would like to? I mean, you have dramas and the fantasy shows, and "Lucy" was one of the few comedies you have done, right?

Spelling: Yes. I know very little about comedy, and I admit it. I would love to do another family show like "7th Heaven." I think--I'm not saying this because Joe Lieberman is saying this--but I think there is a scarcity of family shows on the air. I think that's wrong. The amazing thing about "7th Heaven" is it runs on Monday night, and we do repeats on Sunday and it does numbers. I don't know…..I'd like to keep a balance. I'd like to do more shows starring women, because I remember how tough it was, even on "Charlie's Angels." Hearing, "Aw…..three women can't carry a show."

MW: With four shows this fall and one coming up in midseason, how do you keep up with all of the shows? How involved are you in all of them?

Spelling: Now you sound like my wife. What I do is surround myself with some great talent. And I want to say it's not something we do alone here. I have great people like Duke Vincent and Jonathan Levin, and we work with writers that we've known and we care about.

MW: You're obviously very involved in casting.

Spelling: Totally involved. That's one thing I love more than anything else.

MW: When Garth Ancier came to you and said maybe it was time to get the serial drama going again, did you initially build the show around Victoria Principal or Yasmine Bleeth?

Spelling: We hadn't cast anybody. We went in and pitched it and listened to some of their concerns and everything, but we hadn't even considered casting until we had the script. I must tell you, they came up with Yasmine. I had never worked with her. And I think she's marvelous. We came up with Casper Van Dien, and we came up with Ingo Rademacher, Perry King and Jack Wagner. They went to talk to Victoria, NBC did, and then she called me to ask what I thought. I said I thought she should do it. I still cast--you won't believe this--but I still cast the guest spots on "Charmed" and our other shows, except "Any Day Now." There's nothing like meeting actors, reading actors, taping actors there is nothing like it. Having been one, I know the way they feel, but I tell you, they are treated when they come to see us like real people and not actors coming to look for a job.

MW: What do you watch on television? What are you favorite shows?

Spelling: I like "Providence." I like that political show "West Wing," "Millionaire," "Survivor." When my wife is not watching, I watch "Sex and the City."