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Burbank, California Hi. My name is Frank – and I am a TV-aholic. I haven't watched TV now for – oh who am I kidding? I'm watching TV as I write this, flipping around the dials on a plane to New York, no less. I stopped flying American out of Los Angeles and started flying JetBlue from Burbank just because JetBlue has 36 channels of Direct TV – in coach. No food, but TV. I'll make that trade any day. Anything to get my fix. Look, there's Kelly Tilghman on Golf Central. I love her! Almost everything I do revolves around the tube, including making my living by feeding it programming. I keep one in my office, four in our house, three hooked up to DirectTV, and I wouldn't think of hitting the Stairmaster unless a TV screen were head on. Gosh, do you think I'd miss COPS on FX or Hogan Knows Best on VH1? Oh good, Disney is up a point. I'm glad I didn't sell. I have had a life-long addiction to TV, starting with Howdy Doody and The Lone Ranger. My first crush was on Sky King's niece Penny, but that's another story. Growing up for me, TV was Yankee baseball with Mel Allen, Scooter Rizzuto and Red Barber mikeside at the big ballpark watching Maris, Mantle, Yogi, Moose and The Bombers win pennant after pennant. TV was never missing an episode of The Andy Griffith Show, pining for any glimpse of Ernest T. Bass. On Monday nights it was Rowan and Martin's ground breaking Laugh-In. Sock it to me? Later on the Smothers Brothers would tweak authority with their controversial comedy hour.  When the author watches chef Emeril Legassi cook, it's like BAM!!! Hey, it's the World Series of Poker. How in the world do they show the hole card face down through the table? Call, call – don't fold. So what if I know all the words to the Mr. Ed and the My Mother the Car theme songs? So what if I would cut my Friday nights short or stay up late any school night Rickles was scheduled on The Tonight Show? Mike Douglas, Merv, Dinah? The best. Dean Martin roasts Frank Sinatra – you can't beat that. My TV has never let me down. What put me on the moon with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin? TV. What offered what little comfort there was on 9/11? When I was single, my TV was there for me. When I didn't have two nickels to rub together I had Walter Cronkite, and life was good. Even in the days when we only had four channels, and we relied on tin foil wrapped around the rabbit ear antennas to get a ghost of a picture, TV was there. In those days I was my dad's remote. "Frank, get off your behind and change the channel from 2 to 7." Rumsfeld resigned today...Whaddya know, the system works! TV also provides other services. The TV is the first thing that goes on when I check into a hotel room, and it stays on when I leave the room for the evening to let burglars think the room is occupied. When I can't sleep at night, I can tune in any Ken Burns documentary. Between the gentle piano underscore, the soft voice of the narrator and the soothing blue glow of the tube, I'm asleep in minutes. Cable came around in the late 1970s and changed the way we all watched. Broadcasters became narrowcasters specializing in boutique programming. First there was CNN and ESPN, next channels for cooking, business, history, game shows, anything. I love them all. After all, could you really function not knowing the rest of the story about the impending nuptials of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes? Hell, I even watch Glenn Beck and Masterpiece Theatre. Chef Emeril's back at home in Fall River, MA. So that's what a chop suey sandwich looks like. Bam! And now I've reached the Promised Land – TIVO. Hooked up to my 150-channel DirectTV unit, never again will I miss another episode of Boston Legal, House, CSI, CSI Miami or CSI New York. I can see them all. I can even retrace and monitor my professional career. I've been watching re-runs of Head of the Class on Nick-2 lately, and the episodes really hold up. It's hard for me to believe that show premiered 20 years ago. I can program in George Lopez, and not only does my TIVO digitally record our show each time it airs, it records George every time he appears on TV, be it Leno, HBO, The View, you name it. Wow. What a great catch by Chad Johnson. I have struggled a little lately getting access to the TIVO as our daughter Erin is back in town having graduated from the University of Kentucky. Somehow episodes of The American Experience and To Tell the Truth (a rediscovered favorite – Kitty Carlisle is fabulous) have been replaced by shows like The OC and Lost – but what the heck – it's nice knowing where she is. Safe at home, in front of the TV. The apple didn't fall far from the tree after all. Frank Pace has produced nearly 500 episodes of network television, including Murphy Brown and Suddenly Susan. He is currently the Producer of the ABC Series George Lopez.
He can be reached at
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