Robin Williams, 63, died of suspected suicide last night in Marin County.What are your favorite moments of his career? How do you feel about his passing? Also, credit scoring revisions could make millions more Americans creditworthy. Then, how to live and cope with noise in Los Angeles.
Our industry town remembers Robin Williams' dazzling talent, big heart
His comic energy burst into America's living rooms nearly 40 years ago as the alien Mork on planet Earth learning a range of human emotions.
Director Garry Marshall recalls crafting "Mork and Mindy" to accommodate the awesome breadth of Robin Williams' range: "[I] knew immediately that a three-camera format would not be enough to capture Robin and his genius talent. So I hired a fourth camera operator and he just followed Robin. Only Robin."
The brighter the light, the darker the shadows is an apt saying to describe Williams, who was known to battle addiction and depression. He will also be remembered for his compassion.
The creator of charity organization Comic Relief, Bob Zmuda, told the LA Times, "The first time we went to one of the shelters in downtown L.A., on skid row, when he got up in front of the homeless folk, he froze. He was so taken aback. The director of the homeless shelter came back and asked Robin, 'What happened? They love you and they expect you to be funny.' So he went back out and killed it."
Rick Morse, an entertainment attorney who went to high school with Williams, shares how he saw some of Williams' talent starting as a drama student as well as encountering him years later:
"There, you saw a really gifted actor. Shakespeare was his passion, also Russian literature. You saw someone really special emerging. Years later I saw a concert with Steve Martin and Martin Mull, it just so happened that this unknown named Robin Williams was the fourth bill at the bottom, and he stole the show. It was just amazing, it was like 'Oh my God, my old buddy from high school!' The next day, I'm at poolside and I look over and he's sitting right next to me, smiling. I hadn't seen him in years, since I'd gone away to school, and he tells me 'I gotta tell you something, it's about this show, Mork and Mindy, it's in the can and it's going to be coming out and I'm kinda worried about it.' He told me the premise, and I said, 'Oh my God, Robin, it sounds horrible! You gotta get out of it, I'll break your contract, I'm a second-year law student, I'll get you out if this!"
"He started laughing and he goes, 'No, it's not going to be that bad, don't worry about it. Come into my show tonight and we'll have fun.' And of course, it went to number one in the first season. That shows you why I'm not a network programming executive and why Robin was Robin."
Williams, 63, died of suspected suicide last night in Marin County. If you ever met Williams, what do you remember? What are your favorite moments of his career? How do you feel about his passing?
Credit scoring revisions could make millions more Americans creditworthy
FICO and the major credit bureaus have announced significant changes in assessing consumer debt. FICO will lessen the impact of bad medical debts on credit scores.
Additionally, the widely used scoring formula will ignore old debts that have been paid to zero. Another move that could help would-be borrowers comes from Experian and TransUnion. They have started including rental-payment history into credit files.
Most credit scores increase when rental data is incorporated, making mortgage lenders more willing to work with a potential homebuyer.
Why are these changes happening now? How soon until they impact a large number of consumers? What else should be ignored or included in credit reporting?
Guest:
John Ulzheimer, a credit expert at CreditSesame.com - a credit education website - and a former manager at FICO
Why ESPN is stopping its hosts from discussing domestic violence
There’s been a curious trend of ESPN silencing its hosts when it comes to the case of Ray Rice, the NFL football player who was suspended for 2 games after security camera footage caught what appeared to be the aftermath of a physical altercation between Rice and his fiancee.
Steven A. Smith, host of ESPN’s First Take, was taken off the air for a week after his on-air comments about the incident implied that women are sometimes partially responsible for provoking domestic violence.
Now, Max Kellerman, host of ESPN LA’s Max and Marcellus, is off the air until this Thursday after he talked about drunkenly battering his then-fiancee and now wife of 20 years. ESPN quickly took down the podcast including the comment, and won’t say why Kellerman is off the air, but the series of events raises the question of whether there are certain topics that should or should not be off limits. Which ones and why?
ESPN has built a brand recognized for its sports news but also for its pointed commentary and some argue that even if what’s being said is offensive to some, there should still be space opened for even the most uncomfortable conversations.
Guests:
Tom Ley, staff writer at Deadspin.com who’s been following the story
Daniel Durbin, Ph.D., Director, USC Annenberg Institute of Sports, Media and Society
The Roommates: Stories about the joys and horrors of cohabitation
In just a few weeks, college freshmen will move into their dorm rooms and begin a new chapter in the way they live: cohabitating with a roommate. Roommates are not just for college — just look to the shows that explore and rely on roommate dynamics ("Friends," "New Girl," "The Golden Girls").
Everyone has stories to tell about current and former roomies, whether they be nightmare-ish, epic or nostalgic. We deal with food pilfered from the fridge, hair in the drain, roommates who are loud or who hog the shower. We live with friends and sometimes with strangers, we learn people’s quirks.
In her book “The Roommates: True Tales of Friendship, Rivalry, Romance, and Disturbingly Close Quarters,” author Stephanie Wu examines roommate relations through the lens of real roommates.
The stories from sleepaway camps and colleges, apartments and retirement homes, beach houses, reality show mansions, and yachts.
How do people learn to cohabitate? What are the best ways to live alongside your friends (or even your enemies)?
Guest:
Stephanie Wu, author of “The Roommates: True Tales of Friendship, Rivalry, Romance, and Disturbingly Close Quarters”
Chief Beck to serve second term as head of LAPD
Los Angeles Police Department Chief Charlie Beck has been reappointed for a second five-year term by a 4-1 vote of the L.A. Police Commission.
The single no vote came from Commissioner Robert Saltzman. Police Commission President Steve Soboroff credits Beck for the city’s record low crime rates, but acknowledges that officer moral needs to be improved to improve trust in the police department.
The Police Commission’s vote came a day after the LAPD faced questions over an investigation that found some 12-hundred violent crimes last year may have been downgraded to minor offenses in statistics reported to the government. Department officials claim it was inadvertent.
How will Chief Beck handle his second term? What does his reappointment say about the current state of police affairs in Los Angeles?
Guests:
Erika Aguilar, KPCC crime reporter who joins us from City Hall where she was covering Chief Beck’s press conference
Frank Stoltze, KPCC politics reporter