TV Writer Richard Raskind Crosses Into Stage Success With 'The Bridge Club'

On the evening of Tuesday, October 19, 1982, millions of NBC television viewers tuned in to watch the World Series as the St. Louis Cardinals were facing elimination on their home field if they didn't defeat the visiting Milwaukee Brewers. But what viewers got when they tuned in was rain, as the game was delayed twice for over two hours. 

Meanwhile, on ABC, as the rains poured in St. Louis, an episode of the show Hart to Hart starring Robert Wagner aired. It was the very first episode of television that Richard Raskind had ever written for the air, and the rain gods were smiling on him that night. "Million Dollar Hearts," his episode, became the show's highest rated to date, and a future in television writing for him was secured.

Thirty years later, Raskind recalled this story to me as we were sitting on the covered, outdoor patio of in Valley Village as a massive thunderstorm . I remember how he commented that he loved the rain when we sat down outside. After hearing his story about the rain-delayed World Series, I remembered the comment from an hour prior.  

"That must be why you like the rain," I said, joking.

"Huh," he replied, first smiling, then looking serious. "I never thought of that. You may be right."

The success of his Hart to Hart episode led to a career top as a top TV writer in the 80s and 90s, and Raskind wrote memorable episodes of Family Ties, Hunter, Coach, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, and Webster, among many others.

In recent years he has transitioned into writing for the stage and his second play, The Bridge Club, made its West Coast première Friday at the in North Hollywood. The windy, gray, cold outdoor patio at Marie et Cie actually made a fitting location to talk about the play, aside from his World Series story, as The Bridge Club takes place on the Golden Gate Bridge on a cold, windy night as two strangers coincidentally meet up at the same time preparing to jump and end their lives. The play was well reviewed in Philadelphia and received a "Critic's Choice" award from the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Raskind started off his writing career in Boston doing some radio comedies, then moved to Hollywood with no connections. So he said he wrote a spec script for the show Lou Grant, which starred Ed Asner (in the same role he played on the Mary Tyler Moore show) as an editor at a Los Angeles newspaper. He then mailed his spec script and a letter to the executive producers of the 22 one-hour dramas that were on television at the time. With the letter he included a self-addressed post card, which he called the "bright idea" part that led to his first big break.

"The reply card was a post card that had four or five boxes to check," Raskind said. "The first one said, 'You caught me, Richard, I'm not really looking for quality new writers.' The second one said, 'I read your Lou Grant script and frankly I didn't think it was that good, but thank you.' The third box said, 'I read your Lou Grant script and I really liked it. Why don't you call me at — and here's the phone number.' The fourth box said, 'Send me 26 weeks of Sports Illustrated, bill me later.'"

He got 11 responses out of the 22 letters he sent. Nine of the responses were from shows that were soon cancelled, but one of them was Hart to Hart. That initial episode led to a long career in television writing where he penned many memorable episodes. His episode of Coach was about Craig T. Nelson's conservative character coming to grips with the fact that one of his player's was gay, and it was the show's highest-rated episode when it aired. 

In television, Raskind worked primarily as a freelancer, which is a concept that doesn't exist in network television anymore. Practically all television writers now are on staff, but Raskind was one of the last to be able to bounce from show to show, writing both comedies and dramas. One would think with such proven success and versatility his TV career would have kept going, but that wasn't the case, and it had nothing to do with his ability, he said. He simply hit an age that is death to the TV writer — 40.

"That's the culture. And it comes from the networks," he said. "The target audience is 18 to 34. There's been lawsuits, you may know about them, ageism lawsuits, which have been won, but it's just the culture. In the end you can't legislate morality. So you move on, that's all."

So Raskind moved on to writing for films but found the process very frustrating.

"I like movies, I like writing movies, but what I discovered is I don't like the move writing business," he said. "I didn't realize how spoiled I was. When I wrote for radio, when I wrote for television, I had a period of about 13 years maybe where everything I wrote was produced. But the movies, it's such a horrible business. You sell something, but then someone else comes in on the project and you've got to write another draft for them and most of the time you don't get paid. But then they option your property, and yeah they've got it, they pay you $5,000, but that doesn't pay that many bills for that long. I realized after awhile, this is just not going to happen."

So Raskind decided to dedicate his skills to writing for the stage. The genesis of The Bridge Club actually began for Raskind when he was in college on a cross-country road trip with his roommate and stopped on the Golden Gate Bridge.

"I got out there and looked down and thought, 'Man, this is cold.' This was June, and it was actually kind of a warm day, but out on that bridge it was so cold," Raskind recalled. "The other thing that struck me was how frightening that bridge was. It was really kind of scary. All bridges are scary, but I remember thinking as I was looking down at the waters below, they were angry, and I thought, 'Wow, this place is scary.' I'm not an easily scared person, but I kept thinking, 'What is it about this place?'"

Nine years later, Raskind said he was back in San Francisco for business as the San Francisco Chronicle was running a series of stories on all the known suicides that have taken place on the bridge. At the time it was close to 1,000 — today it is over 1,500 — and he said his fascination with the bridge's dark side was reborn.

I have read The Bridge Club, and Raskind's experience in television translates very smoothly to the stage. Good TV writing is often about having a big, meaningful impact on a wide audience, and I believe The Bridge Club will do that. It's a very accessible play and is one that just about anyone can walk into and be deeply moved and disturbed by. It is also full of suprises. Just when you think you've got a handle on what is going on, things turn on their head.

Raskind speaks of his blossoming theater career with great excitement and enthusiasm. He also feels he is a better writer today than he was during his heyday in television. Getting theaters to produce original plays from a new playwright is no easy task, but he has again broken through and is sure to see more of his plays performed around the country. With having found success in radio, television, film and now live theater, I asked him what advice he may have for a young writer trying to break in.

"To make it in pro sports, you can't look at it as, 'I can hold my own.' That won't do it. You can't just be kinda good. You have to establish something special," Raskind said. "So, in other words, as a writer, my feeling is, to get to level where you can say, 'Oh, this is very good. It's professional. I could see you making it. This is as good as...' — That will probably get you a cup of coffee. But it might not get you where you need to go. You're probably going to need something where somebody says, 'Jesus, this is really, really good! I haven't read something this good in quite some time.' It's got to be fresh."

The Bridge Club is scheduled to run at the Deaf West through May 13. To purchase tickets go to www.plays411.com/bridgeclub or call (323) 960-7711.