Back when you could pause the picture on a good six-head VCR and still be able to clearly see the picture (and read the text), I discovered Chuck Lorre\u2019s Vanity Cards<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Chuck Lorre is a TV producer who\u2019s known for Cybill, Grace Under Fire, Rosanne, Dharma & Greg,<\/i> and Two And A Half Men<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Starting with Dharma & Greg<\/i>, Lorre wrote stream-of-consciousness \u201cVanity Cards\u201d<\/i> and inserted them for two seconds into the closing credits of each show. <\/p>\n Two seconds.<\/b> <\/p>\n Flashed on the screen, then “poof.” <\/p>\n Gone. <\/p>\n Here\u2019s a typical Chuck Lorre Vanity Card<\/i>:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n CHUCK LORRE PRODUCTIONS #50<\/b> “I was recently asked by a journalist why I write these vanity cards. It seemed like a simple enough question, but the truth is, I was stumped. Why do I write them? Not for money certainly, although I continue to hold out hope. Is it a creative exercise from which I derive great pleasure? Not really. I’ve always felt that the act of writing isn’t nearly as enjoyable as the feeling that comes from “having written.” So why do I do it? Well, after careful consideration I’ve come to believe that had I been even a moderately successful communicator in my formative years, I would feel little compulsion to communicate now. This leads me to wonder, would it have been appropriate to have told the journalist that I write these vanity cards because I was incapable of expressing myself as a youngster, a situation which caused me unbearable anguish and is only now beginning to dissipate? Maybe. But I didn’t. I told him I write them because it’s fun. And this leads me to a question: if he’s writing about my writing, what kind of miserable childhood did he have?”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n An interesting thing happened as fans of Dharma & Greg<\/i> (and later Two And A Half Men<\/i>) became aware of those cards. Fans of the shows fired up their VCRs and taped each episode just so they could freeze the frame at the end and read Lorre\u2019s latest musings.<\/p>\n We all felt like part of a club.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cWe\u201d got it.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u201d didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n Poor “they.”<\/p>\n Of course, the advent of Tivo \u00ae <\/sup>made it much easier to freeze the screen and read the Vanity Card<\/i><\/a>.<\/p>\n Tivo \u00ae <\/sup>is also how I found GE\u2019s One Second Theatre<\/i>.<\/p>\n Last May I was flipping my Tivo \u00ae <\/sup>from live TV to recorded programming I noticed a change in the menu. There was a new choice called One Second Theatre<\/i>. Being perpetually curious I clicked.<\/p>\n “We” got it again. We even called a few friends and helped spread the word. (Viral? Word-of-Mouth?)<\/p>\n Then last Sunday morning, during one of the network talking heads programs, a sponsorship ID stated \u201cBrought to you in part by GE\u2019s One Second Theatre. Inside every GE commercial there\u2019s another dying to get out.<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n
February 8, 2000 <\/p>\n