I link to Mark's blog every day and, this small world being as tiny as it is, I'd like to add a note to two of his recent posts.

(1) He recommends the book Son of Harpo Speaks! -- as do I. But some might be intrigued to know that my daughter, Valerie Thompson, handled the book design for the Bear Manor volume. (And just between us, she says Bill Marx was wonderful to work with.)

(2) Mark also provides links to two articles about Richard Beals, and I was delighted to read them. Valerie and I first met Beals at a Friends of Old Time Radio convention in Newark years ago and have always been impressed with his magnificent performances and professionalism. Not only is he the voice of Speedy Alka-Seltzer, he's also the voice of countless cartoon and radio children (Ralph Phillips in two Chuck Jones cartoons, two of Roger Ramjet's American Eagles, etc.). Valerie had the opportunity to play a bit part in a re-creation of a Suspense show in which he starred decades ago; I played Lois Lane to his Jimmy Olsen in a Superman re-creation. He's one of the world's best examples of turning a seeming disability into a triumph by determination and hard work.

It's only with Episode 19, ".07%," that a commentary opens with the speakers identifying themselves clearly. Thanks, folks! Not only that, but it's also the first commentary in which it's pointed out that there have been a series of online comic-book stories that provide background for many of the characters and that show motivation. For example, in the story arc "War Buddies" (starting with Chapter 24 of the online comics) readers will learn that Linderman's philosophy was first articulated by Peter and Nathan's dad years earlier.

Thanks to voice similarities, I'm still not clear which of the commentators says, "I wonder if people on the boards realize we read them," but you can take it as a given -- especially for this series, which is so multi-media-involved.

If you're curious about the online comics (and I still haven't found a convenient format for reading them; print is easier for a while yet), you can start with the first installment and go on from there. (At the moment, the total has reached Chapter 50: "Blackout" Part Two.)

This commentary is fun for the insights into production of the show, including the ways scripts can be modified during filming and even when the commentators are seeing a pre-effects cut.

I was surprised to find that there were chunks of Episode 20, "Five Years Gone," that I didn't remember until rewatching. Perhaps I had the feeling that, as a possible future, it was something that wasn't going to happen? In any case, the commentary was fun, consisting as it did in the three actors making fun of each other in a relaxed chat. We learn that Sendhil Ramamurthy took three and a half weeks to grow his beard out to the "future" length -- and that the Oval Office set was the one used in the film Dave and was correct to scale. And that Jack Coleman says, "I think I look younger five years in the future." Fun.

With a weekend relatively free, perhaps I can wrap up commenting on the Heroes comment tracks. We shall see. In any case, I'm back at it. In an earlier post today, I've identified the speakers on the two episodes, but I must say that, even with the information, it's not always a slam dunk to identify who's saying what.

I think most of the remarks on the 17th installment ("Company Man") come from the director. At least, there's an extensive discussion of influences in how the script was shot: a discussion that could have been led by the episode writer but that tends to focus perhaps more visually. Really, folks, such occasional remarks as, "As the director, I found it helpful to recall The Desperate Hours," or, "As the writer, I took Cape Fear as a guide," would have been a big help. Other influences in the filming: Out of the Past and Dog Day Afternoon.

One scene that was dropped from the final filming was a sequence in which HRG rescued baby Claire from the burning building in which her mom had been assumed to have died. The information that he was the one who had saved Claire would have been a nice addition to the story.

Comments included that by this point special effects were being put together at a nightmare pace and that the burning house sequences had been carefully set up, repeatedly rehearsed for blocking, and painstakingly (literally) produced. (Matthew Armstrong as Ted Sprague did his own stunt work in the scene, and Jack Coleman remarks, "I'm here to tell you it was warm in there.")

With the 18th episode ("Parasite"), an amusing aspect of these commentaries is that the commentators play coy for a time about the identity of the performer playing Linderman -- whereas, as a viewer when the show aired, I'd figured it out as soon as the opening credits were shown. And people shouldn't be watching the commentary until they've seen the episode without it, anyway. Hee.

Commentary on "Parasite" ended up a bit more focused on the technical details of writing, casting, directing, and special effects -- including the comment that "Company Man" had wrapped up only shortly before it was broadcast. Appreciative remarks include that Jessica has much better posture than Niki and that, even if the camera isn't on her, Hayden Panettiere will cry, if the scene calls for her to be weeping. Influences on the final edit of the episode: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Constant Gardener.

An estimate of the number of people who work on each episode of the show: 250.