TVC 652.1: Ed welcomes Joel Thurm, former Vice President of Talent and Casting for both Paramount Television and NBC, and one of the most accomplished and most respected casting directors in the film and TV industry. Joel's memoir, Sex, Drugs, and Pilot Season: Confessions of a Casting Director, provides both a backstage look at the boardrooms of New York and the executive suites in Hollywood (particularly during the 1970s, '80s, and '90s) and a history of how TV casting decisions were often made during the era of the three-network universe. Topics this segment include how Joel recognized, before anyone else, that John Travolta was more than just another teen idol; how Joel and Travolta helped convince Olivia Newton-John to play Sandy in the movie version of Grease (after Newton-John had voiced her reluctance to do the part); and how Joel first became involved in casting after working for theatrical director David Merrick in New York City.

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