I think I’ve said here somewhere that Mary Tyler Moore was my first TV crush. On reflection, she wasn’t. An extraordinary lady named Shari Lewis was. I was heavy into puppets and ventriloquism in my youth and there on my TV was Shari — an adorable female who could do both. For a time, she had a very clever show for kids on the NBC Saturday morning schedule and I was heartbroken when it went off.

Like anyone who’s worked in TV, I’ve had a number of projects that came close to getting on the air but fell just short. One that I really regret didn’t make it was an idea that Shari Lewis had for a new CBS Saturday AM series. CBS optioned it and paired me with her to develop it and write the pilot. It should have gone. It was a good idea and working with her on it was a joy. She was a very smart lady and, once again in this silly life of mine, I found myself working with someone whose work I’d loved when I was a kid. There’s a new documentary coming out about her and I’m pissed that my pal Ken Levine got to be in it to tell the world about her and I didn’t…