Day: November 17, 2019

Ludwin: the “kind” guy who saved “Seinfeld”

As “Weekend Update” ended on “Saturday Night Live,” this memorial photo of Rick Ludwin was shown.
That must have confused viewers. Who, exactly, was Rick Ludwin? And why didn’t he look like the sort of people – musicians and actors and such – that “SNL” usually memorializes?
Ludwin was an NBC executive for 32 years, including key decades as head of latenight and variety shows. He left in 2012, after a falling-out with Jay Leno, and died of organ failure on Nov. 10 at 71.
He was the one permanent force at a network that kept changing. He was, after all, the guy who had saved “Seinfeld.” Read more…

Best-bets for Nov.19: Agony in Syria and at home

1) “Frontline: For Sama,” 10-11:30 p.m., PBS. As Russian bombers destroyed the Syrian city of Aleppo, a young journalist sent reports over the internet. She married the doctor who led a makeshift hospital; years later, they pondered taking their baby to safety. Eventually, Waad Al-Khateeb (shown here) took her films and linked with a British director, weaving a five-year story that has it all – love, death, youthful idealism, war-weary pain, lifesaving and lives lost. The result is simultaneously painful and bracing. Read more…