Extra is an American entertainment television news program covering events and celebrities which debuted on September 5, 1994 in syndication. It is produced at Victory Studios in Glendale, California by Telepictures Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television Distribution. From 1995-2003 it was distributed by Time-Telepictures Television a joint merger between Time Magazine and Telepictures. Extra also had a spinoff show called Celebrity Justice, which ran for only three seasons from 2002-2005. Extra is one of two Warner Bros. Television shows to be syndicated to NBCUniversal television stations, the other being The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Extra is also one of two WBTV entertainment programs, the other being TMZ on TV.

History[link]

Victory Studios, where Extra is produced

The series was developed in 1993, for a fall 1994 launch, under the working title Entertainment News Television. However, the E!: Entertainment Television cable channel filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros. and Telepictures over the title, claiming it too closely mirrored its own name; though E! lost the lawsuit in a summary judgment hearing allowing Warner Bros. to continue to use the ENT title for the series, Warner Bros. decided to change the name of the program to Extra: The Entertainment Magazine in May 1994, four months before the series debuted, with Warner Bros. executives citing that the ENT name was too similar to Entertainment Tonight (which is commonly known simply as ET) and could have possibly led to viewer confusion and hurting ratings in the process.^[1]

It was announced on January 29, 2007 that Extra has been renewed through the 2011-2012 season. The staff of Extra also produced a Sunday night program for The CW called CW Now from September 2007 to February 2008, when it was cancelled; the show continues to produce interstitial segments for that network.

On July 28, 2008 it was announced that Mario Lopez would become solo host replacing current co-hosts Dayna Devon, who will become a correspondent, and Mark McGrath, who leaves the show to return to a music career.

On September 13, 2010, the series' seventeenth season premiere, Extra became the fourth American syndicated newsmagazine to be broadcast in high definition, after Entertainment Tonight, The Insider and Access Hollywood; the series also abandoned its Victory Studios set and moved its taping location to The Grove at Farmers Market, a well-known shopping and entertainment venue in Los Angeles.^[2]

On August 4, 2011 it was announced that Maria Menounos is joining Warner Bros.' Extra, where she will co-host the show with Mario Lopez. She'll also have on-air duties at Dr. Drew's Lifechangers, and will develop new projects.^[3]

Current on-air staff[link]

Anchor[link]

• Mario Lopez – weekday & weekend anchor (2008–present)
• Maria Menounos - weekday co-anchor (2011–present)

Correspondents[link]

• Renee Bargh - weekend co-anchor & correspondent (2010–present)
• A.J. Calloway – New York correspondent (2006–present)
• Michael Corbett – Lifestyle, Home & Real Estate correspondent (2000–present)
• Adrianna Costa – correspondent (2010–present)
• Ben Lyons - correspondent (2012–present)
• Jerry Penacoli – correspondent (2000–present)
• Steve Santagati - guest correspondent (2011–present)
• Terri Seymour – correspondent (2004–present)
• Michael Yo - special correspondent (2012–present)

Former on-air staff[link]

• Dana Adams – correspondent (1994–1997)
• Doug Bruckner – correspondent (1999–2004)
• Michael Bryant – correspondent (2000–2005)
• Jamie Colby – correspondent (1999)
• Idalis DeLeon – correspondent (2003)
• Dayna Devon – anchor/correspondent (1999–2009)
• Carlos Diaz – correspondent (2005–2010; now at HLN)
• Leeza Gibbons – anchor/correspondent (2000–2003, now co-host of America Now)
• Brad Goode – anchor/correspondent (1996–1997; now at KING-TV in Seattle)
• Bo Griffin – correspondent (2001; deceased)
• Samantha Harris – weekend anchor/correspondent (2003–2004; later at E! News, The Insider and Entertainment Tonight)
• David Jackson – correspondent (1995–1999)
• Ben Patrick Johnson – senior correspondent (1994–1995)
• Jon Kelley – weekend anchor/correspondent (2000–2006, now at KNTV-TV in San Francisco)
• Sean Kenniff – medical correspondent (2000–2001; later at WFOR-TV in Miami)
• Kurt Knutsson – correspondent (2000)
• Elaine Lipworth – correspondent (1994–1999)
• Holly Madison - Las Vegas insider (2011)
• Charlie Maher – correspondent (2003–2004)
• Jeannie Mai – weekend anchor/correspondent (2009–2010; now host of How Do I Look?)
• Mark McGrath – anchor/correspondent (2004–2008; later host of Don't Forget the Lyrics)
• Terry Murphy – correspondent (2003–2004)
• Dave Nemeth – weekday anchor/correspondent (1994–1996; now at WFLA-TV)
• Arthel Neville – weekday anchor/correspondent (1994–1996; now at Fox News Channel)
• Barry Nolan – correspondent (2000–2004)
• Maureen O'Boyle – anchor/correspondent (1997–2000; now evening anchor at WBTV-TV in Charlotte)
• Christina Olivares – correspondent (2004)
• Scott Rapoport – correspondent (1998–2000)
• Tanika Ray – weekend anchor/correspondent (2004–2009; later at TV Guide Network; now host of HGTV Design Star)
• Lauren Sánchez – weekend anchor/correspondent (1997–2000, 2009–2010)
• Rick Schwartz – correspondent (1996–2000)
• Phil Shuman – correspondent (1996–2003; now at KTTV-TV in Los Angeles)
• Gina Silva – correspondent (1997–2000)
• Tava Smiley – correspondent (2003–2004)
• Larry Stern – correspondent (2003–2004)
• Les Trent – correspondent (1998–2000; now at Inside Edition)
• Alison Waite - Las Vegas insider (2010)
• Libby Weaver – anchor/correspondent (1996–1997; now at KDVR-TV in Denver)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official site
• Extra at the Internet Movie Database

Look up extra or extra- in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Extra, extras or xtra may refer to:

• Extra (actor), a performer who appears in a nonspeaking capacity
• Extra (cricket), a term in the sport of cricket
• Extra (gum), a brand of chewing gum
• Extra (sailing), a sail that is not part of the working sail plan

Internet and computers[link]

• Xtra (ISP), the largest Internet service provider in New Zealand, subsidiary of Telecom
• Xtra (Macromedia), a plug-in framework for some of Adobe Systems' (ex-Macromedia) products
• EXTRA!, a brand of terminal emulators produced by Attachmate
• Yahoo!Xtra, web portal operating from 2007
• XtraMSN, former web portal operating from 2001 to 2007

Media[link]

Film and television[link]

• Extr@, an educational TV series in English, French, German and Spanish
• The Extra, a 2005 Australian comedy film
• Extra (Australian TV series), a current affairs TV program
• Extra (Norsk Tipping AS), a television lottery game in Norway
• Extra (TV series), a US tabloid TV program
• Extras (TV series), a British comedy program
• Xtra (see Telugu films of 2004)
• Xtra HOT, an Israeli cable television channel

Publications[link]

• Extra!, a magazine
• Extras (novel), a 2007 novel in the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld
• Xtra!, a gay magazine published in Canada
• Extra (newspaper), a newspaper owned by Brazilian conglomerate Organizações Globo (Globo)

Music[link]

• Extra (Gilberto Gil album), a 1983 album by Brazilian singer and composer Gilberto Gil
• Extra, Vol. 1, an album by KMFDM
• Extras (The Jam album), an album by rock group The Jam
• The Extras, a musical novelty act, noted for their song 'Circular Impression'

People[link]

• Walter Extra (born 1954), German aerobatic pilot and aircraft designer

Telecommunications[link]

• EXTRA, a former branding used by SmarTone, a mobile phone operator in Hong Kong

Transportation and vehicles[link]

• Xtra (automobile), an English cyclecar built from 1922 to 1924
• Extra Flugzeugbau, a German manufacturer of aerobatic aircraft such as the Extra 200, Extra 300, etc.
• Kolb Mark III Xtra, an ultralight aircraft
• XTRA Lease, a semi-trailer rental and leasing company

Stores[link]

• Extra (service areas), a chain of motorway service stations in the United Kingdom
• Extra (supermarket), a retail store chain
• Extra Hipermercados, a Brazilian supermarket chain
• Extra (convenience store), a Mexican convenience store chain owned by Grupo Modelo

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2011)

A television program (usually television programme outside North America), also called television show, is a segment of content intended for broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series. A single program in a series is called an episode.

A television series that is intended to comprise a limited number of episodes is usually called a miniseries or serial. Series without a fixed length are usually divided into seasons or series, yearly or biannual installments of new episodes. While there is no defined length, US industry practice tends to favor longer seasons than those of some other countries.

A one-time broadcast may be called a "special", or particularly in the UK a "special episode". A television movie ("made-for-TV movie" or television film), is a film that is initially broadcast on television rather than released in cinemas or direct-to-video, although many successful TV movies are later released on DVD.

A program can be either recorded—as on video tape or other various electronic media forms—or considered live television.

Program content[link]

Television programming may be fictional (as in comedies and dramas), or non-fictional (as in documentary, news, and reality television). It may be topical (as in the case of a local newscast and some made-for-television movies), or historical (as in the case of many documentaries and fictional series). They could be primarily instructional or educational, or entertaining as is the case in situation comedy and game shows.

A drama program usually features a set of actors in a somewhat familiar setting. The program follows their lives and their adventures. With the exception of soap operas, many shows especially before the 1980s, remained static without story arcs, the main characters and the premise changed little. If some change happened to the characters lives during the episode, it was usually undone by the end. (Because of this, the episodes could be broadcast in any order.) Since the 1980s, there are many series that feature progressive change to the plot, the characters, or both.

Common television program periods include regular broadcasts (like news), series (usually seasonal and ongoing with a duration of only a few episodes to many seasons), or miniseries, which is an extended film, usually with a small predetermined number of episodes and a set plot and timeline. Miniseries usually range from about 3 to 10 hours in length. In the UK, the term "miniseries" is only usually used in reference to imported programmes, and such short-run series are usually called "serials".

Older American television shows began with a title sequence showing opening credits at the bottom lower third of the screen during the beginning, and included closing credits at the end of the show. However, beginning in the 1990s some shows began with a "cold open", followed by a title sequence and a commercial break. Many serial-type shows begin with a "Previously on..." (such as the series 24) introduction before the new episode. And, to save time, some shows omit the title sequence altogether, folding the names normally featured there into the opening credits. The title sequence has not been completely eliminated, however, as many major television series still use them.

While television series appearing on TV networks are usually commissioned by the networks themselves, their producers earn greater revenue when the program is sold into syndication. With the rise of the DVD home video format, box sets containing entire seasons or the complete run of a program have become a significant revenue source as well. Many of the prime-time comedy shows and Saturday morning cartoons were digitally remastered for United States television around mid-May 2008, as there are more original and reissued DVD sets of television programs containing either entire seasons or complete series to come. Typically, a DVD of a series or TV movie may contain extended or additional scenes not shown during the broadcast, scenes not allowed for broadcast (due to censorship rule), or additional background information/documentaries.

Television has changed throughout the years, from wholesome family sitcoms and dramas of years ago, to the reality shows of today. When watching television became popular in the mid-20th century, the whole family watched one set together. Also, many channels have deviated from their original programming focus throughout the years because of channel drift.

Most television networks throughout the world are 'commercial', dependent on selling advertising time or acquiring sponsors, broadcasting executives' main concern over their programming is on audience size or eyeballs. Once the number of 'free to air' stations was restricted by the availability of channel frequencies, but cable TV (outside the USA, satellite television) technology has allowed an expansion in the number of channels available to viewers (sometimes at premium rates) in a much more competitive environment.

Genres[link]

Scripted entertainment[link]

• Animated
• Award shows (partially scripted)
• Drama—which includes:
  • Action-adventure or Thriller
  • Comedy-drama
  • Family drama
  • Legal drama
  • Medical drama
  • Police procedural
  • Political drama
  • Science-fiction / Fantasy / Horror / Supernatural drama
  • Serial drama
  • Soap opera
  • Teen drama
• Miniseries and Television movies
• Comedy
  • Mockumentary
  • Satire
  • Sitcom
  • Sketch comedy

Unscripted entertainment[link]

• Game shows
• Reality
• Talk shows

Informational[link]

• Infomercials—paid advertising spots that are up to an hour long
• News programs
• Documentaries
• News magazines—dealing with current affairs

Development[link]

United States[link]

When a person or company decides to create a new series, they develop the show's elements, consisting of the concept, the characters, the crew, and cast. Then they offer ("pitch") it to the various networks in an attempt to find one interested enough to order a prototype first episode of the series, known as a pilot.

To create the pilot, the structure and team of the whole series must be put together. If the network likes the pilot, they pick up the show to air it the next season (usually Fall). Sometimes they save it for mid-season, or request rewrites and further review (known in the industry as Development hell). Other times, they pass entirely, forcing the show's creator to "shop it around" to other networks. Many shows never make it past the pilot stage.

If the show is picked up, the network orders a "run" of episodes—usually only 13 episodes at first, though a season typically consists of at least 22 episodes. (The last nine episodes are sometimes called the "back nine"—borrowing the colloquial golf term).

The show hires a stable of writers, who usually work in parallel: the first writer works on the first episode, the second on the second episode, etc. When all the writers have been used, episode assignment starts again with the first writer. On other shows, however, the writers work as a team. Sometimes they develop story ideas individually, and pitch them to the show's creator, who folds them together into a script and rewrites them.

United Kingdom[link]

In contrast to the US model illustrated above, the UK procedure is operated on a sometimes similar, but much smaller scale.

The method of "team writing" is employed on some longer dramatic series (usually running up to a maximum of around 13 episodes). The idea for such a programme may be generated "in-house" by one of the networks; it could originate from an independent production company; it sometimes is a product of both. For example, the BBC's long-running soap opera EastEnders is wholly a BBC production, whereas its popular drama Life on Mars was developed by Kudos in association with the broadcaster.

However, there are still a significant number of programmes (usually sitcoms) that are built around just one or two writers and a small, close-knit production team. These are "pitched" in the traditional way, but since the creator(s) handle all the writing requirements, there is a run of six or seven episodes per series once approval has been given. Many of the most popular British comedies have been made this way, including Monty Python's Flying Circus (albeit with an exclusive team of six writer-performers), Fawlty Towers, Blackadder and The Office.

Production[link]

The executive producer, often the show's creator, is in charge of running the show. They pick the crew and help cast the actors, approve and sometimes write series plots (some even write or direct major episodes). Various other producers help to ensure that the show runs smoothly.

As with filmmaking or other electronic media production, production of an individual episode can be divided into three parts. These are:

Pre-production[link]

Pre-production begins when a script is approved. A director is chosen to plan the episode's final look.

Pre-production tasks include storyboarding, construction of sets, props, and costumes, casting guest stars, budgeting, acquiring resources like lighting, special effects, stunts, etc. Once the show is planned, it must then be scheduled; scenes are often filmed out of sequence, guest actors or even regulars may only be available at certain times. Sometimes the principal photography of different episodes must be done at the same time, complicating the schedule (a guest star might shoot scenes from two episodes on the same afternoon). Complex scenes are translated from storyboard to animatics to further clarify the action. Scripts are adjusted to meet altering requirements.

Some shows have a small stable of directors, but also usually rely on outside directors. Given the time constraints of broadcasting, a single show might have two or three episodes in pre-production, one or two episodes in principal photography, and a few more in various stages of post-production. The task of directing is complex enough that a single director can usually not work on more than one episode or show at a time, hence the need for multiple directors.

Principal photography[link]

Principal photography is the actual filming of the episode. Director, actors and crew gather at a television studio or on location for filming or videoing a scene. A scene is further divided into shots, which should be planned during pre-production. Depending on scheduling, a scene may be shot in non-sequential order of the story. Conversations may be filmed twice from different camera angles, often using stand-ins, so one actor might perform all their lines in one set of shots, and then the other side of the conversation is filmed from the opposite perspective. To complete a production on time, a second unit may be filming a different scene on another set or location at the same time, using a different set of actors, an assistant director, and a second unit crew. A director of photography supervises the lighting of each shot to ensure consistency.

Post production[link]

Once principal photography is complete, producers coordinate tasks to begin the video editing. Visual and digital video effects are added to the film; this is often outsourced to companies specializing in these areas. Often music is performed with the conductor using the film as a time reference (other musical elements may be previously recorded). An editor cuts the various pieces of film together, adds the musical score and effects, determines scene transitions, and assembles the completed show.

Budgets and revenues[link]

In the United States, the average broadcast network drama costs $3 million an episode to produce, while cable dramas cost $2 million on average.^[1] The pilot episode may be more expensive than a regular episode. In 2004, Lost's two-hour pilot cost $10–$14 million, in 2008 Fringe's two-hour pilot cost $10 million, and in 2010, Boardwalk Empire was $18 million for the first episode. In 2011, Game of Thrones was $5–$10 million, Pan Am cost an estimated $10 million, while Terra Nova's two-hour pilot was between $10 to $20 million.^[2][3]

Deficit financing is the term used to describe how many scripted network television shows in the Unites States are financed. A studio finances the production cost of a show and a network pays a license fee to the studio for the right to air the show. This license fee does not cover the show's production costs, leading to the deficit. Although the studio does not make its money back in the original airing of the show, it retains ownership of the show. This ownership retention allows the studio to make its money back and earn a profit through syndication and DVD and Blu-ray disc sales. This system places most of the financial risk on the studios, however a show that is a hit in the syndication and home video markets can more than make up for the misses. Although the deficit financing system places minimal financial risk on the networks, they lose out on the future profits of big hits, since they are only licensing the shows.^[4]

Costs are recouped mainly by advertising revenues for broadcast networks and some cable channels, while other cable channels depend on subscription revenues. In general, advertisers, and consequently networks that depend on advertising revenues, are more interested in the number of viewers within the 18–49 age range than the total number of viewers.^[5][6] Advertisers are willing to pay more to advertise on shows successful with young adults because they watch less television and are harder to reach than older adults.^[7] According to Advertising Age, during the 2007–08 season, Grey's Anatomy was able to charge $419,000 per commercial, compared to only $248,000 for a commercial during CSI, despite CSI having almost five million more viewers on average.^[8] Due to its strength in young demos, Friends was able to charge almost three times as much for a commercial as Murder, She Wrote, even though the two series had similar total viewer numbers during the seasons they were on the air together.^[5] Glee and The Office drew fewer total viewers than NCIS during the 2009–10 season, but earned an average of $272,694 and $213,617 respectively, compared to $150,708 for NCIS.^[9]

Distribution[link]

After production, the show is turned over to the television network, which sends it out to its affiliate stations, which broadcast it in the specified broadcast programming time slot. If the Nielsen ratings are good, the show is kept alive as long as possible. If not, the show is usually canceled. The show's creators are then left to shop around remaining episodes, and the possibility of future episodes, to other networks. On especially successful series, the producers sometimes call a halt to a series on their own like Seinfeld, The Cosby Show, Corner Gas, and M*A*S*H and end it with a concluding episode, which sometimes is a big series finale.

On rare occasions, a series that has not attracted particularly high ratings and has been canceled can be given a reprieve if DVD sales have been particularly strong. This has happened in the cases of Family Guy in the US and Peep Show in the UK.

If the show is popular or lucrative, and a number of episodes (usually 100 episodes or more) are made, it goes into broadcast syndication (in the USA) where broadcast to the program rights are then resold.

[edit] Seasons/series

The terminology used to define a set of episodes produced by a television series varies from country to country.

North American usage[link]

The term "series", in North American usage, refers to a connected set of television program episodes that run under the same title, possibly spanning many seasons. A new series is often ordered (funded) for just the first 10 to 13 episodes, to gauge the audience interest. If it is "picked up", the season is completed to the regular 20 to 26 episodes. The term "midseason replacement" usually refers to an inexpensive short-run (10–13 episode) show designed to take the place of an original series that failed to garner an audience and has not been picked up. The term "series finale" can lead to confusion outside of North America. A series finale is the last show of the series before the show is no longer produced. (In the UK, it means the end of a season.)

In North America the term "television season" is used inconsistently. A "full season" typically runs from September through May, with a hiatus between December and February. This broadcast programming schedule typically includes 20 to 26 episodes. A full season is sometimes split into two separate units (confusingly also termed seasons) with one before and one after the hiatus. These smaller "seasons" usually contain half the number of episodes (10–13).^{[citation needed]}

Since the 2000s, these shorter seasons have been referred to as ".5" or half seasons, where the run of shows between September and December is labeled "Season N", and the second run between February and May labeled "Season N.5". This is typically done to increase DVD sales of the show.^{[citation needed]} Distributors release the first half of the season in stores just before the second half first airs to increase interest in the season's second half.^{[citation needed]} Examples of this include the 2004 incarnation of Battlestar Galactica, ABC's FlashForward, and ABC Family's Make It or Break It.

UK and Australia usage[link]

In the United Kingdom and other countries, these sets of episodes are referred to as a "series". In Australia, the broadcasting may be different to North American usage, however, the terms "series" and "season" are the same. For example, Battlestar Galactica has an original series as well as a remake, both are considered different series with their own number of individual seasons. It helps to avoid much confusion when talking about a TV Series.

Australian television does not follow "seasons" in the way that US television does. So there is no "Fall Season" or "Fall schedule", for example. For many years popular night time dramas in Australia would run much of the year, and would only go into recess over the summer period (December–February) where ratings are not taken. Therefore popular dramas would usually run February–November each year. This schedule was used in the 1970s for popular dramas including Number 96. Neighbours and other dramas continue this routine as of 2011. Australian situation comedy series usually have seasons of about 13 episodes, and might premiere at any month between February and November.

British shows have tended toward shorter series in recent years. For example, the first series of long-running science fiction show Doctor Who in 1963 featured forty-two 25-minute episodes, which had been reduced gradually to fourteen 25-minute episodes in 1989. The revival of Doctor Who has comprised thirteen 45-minute installments. However, there are some series in the UK that have a larger number of episodes, for example Waterloo Road started with 8–12 episodes but from series three onward, it increased to 20 episodes, and season seven will contain 30 episodes. Recently, American non-cable networks have also begun to experiment with shorter seasons for some programs, particularly reality shows such as Survivor. However, they often air two seasons per year, resulting in roughly the same number of episodes per year as a drama.

This is a reduction from the 1950s, in which many American shows (e.g., The Twilight Zone) had between 29 and 39 episodes per season. Actual storytelling time within a commercial television hour has also gradually reduced over the years, from 50 minutes out of every 60 to the current 44 (and even less on some networks), beginning in the early 21st century.

Japanese usage[link]

The Japanese have sometimes subdivided television series and dramas into kūru (クール^?), from the French term cours for course, which is a three-month period usually of 13 episodes. Each kūru generally has its own opening and ending image sequence and song, recordings of which are often sold. The number of episodes permitted per season ranges from three to 65. (See also Japanese television programs.)

[edit] Running time

In the United States, in general, dramas usually last 44 minutes (an hour with advertisements), while sitcoms last 22 (30 with advertisements). However, with the rise of cable networks, especially pay ones, series and episode lengths have been changing, with 55–60 minutes per episode, and shorter seasons overall.

See also[link]

• Category:Television schedules (by country and year)
• List of animated television series
• List of television programs by name in alphabetical order
• Lists of television programs
• Network programming (television)
• Radio programming
• Television advertisement

References[link]

External links[link]

• FCC

v t e Lists of television series by country Africa Algeria Burkina Faso Cameroon Egypt Kenya Ivory Coast Libya Moroccan Nigeria Senegal South Africa Asia Bangladesh Cambodia China Georgia Hong Kong India Indonesia Iran Iraq Israel Japan North Korea South Korea Lebanon Malaysia Mongolia Nepal Pakistan Philippines Singapore Taiwan Vietnam Australasia Australia New Zealand Europe Albania Andorra Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bosnia-Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Czechoslovakia Denmark East Germany Estonia Faroes Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Kosovo Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Moldova Montenegro Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Soviet Union Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom Yugoslavia North America Canada Quebec Cuba Dominican Republic Haiti Jamaica Mexico Puerto Rico United States South America Argentina Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia Ecuador Guatemala Honduras Nicaragua Panama Paraguay Peru Uruguay Venezuela

Look up series in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

series (singular/plural) may refer to anything of a serial form:

Mathematics and science[link]

• Series (botany), a taxonomic rank between genus and species
• Series (mathematics), the sum of a sequence of terms
• Series circuits, a kind of electrical network
• Seriation (archaeology), a method of dating objects
• Seriation (semiotics), a concept in interpreting phenomena
• Series (stratigraphy), a stratigraphic unit deposited during a certain interval of geologic time

Media[link]

• Book series
• Film series
• Television series
• Video game series
• Comic book series

Music[link]

• Serialism including the twelve-tone technique
• The ordered sets used in serialism including tone rows
• The harmonic series (music)

See also: sequence

Other uses[link]

• Series (United States currency), referring to the year that a bill's design was adopted
• A book series
• A sequence of competitive sports events, sometimes to decide a championship; see also World Series (disambiguation)
• Serial (radio and television), series of television programs and radio programs that rely on a continuing plot that unfolds in a sequential episode by episode fashion
• "Television series", the Australian, British, and a number of others countries' equivalent term for the North American "television season", a set of episodes produced by a television serial.
• Land Rover Series, early Land Rover workhorses (forerunners to the Defender)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

R.K.Laxman
Born	(1921-10-24) 24 October 1921 (age 90) Mysore, India
Occupation	Cartoonist, Illustrator
Signature

Rasipuram Krishnaswamy Iyer Laxman^[1] born 24 October 1921^[2], Mysore, India) is an Indian cartoonist, illustrator, and humorist. He is widely regarded as India's greatest-ever cartoonist^[3] and is best known for his creation The Common Man.

Birth and childhood[link]

R. K. Laxman was born in Mysore, in a Tamil Iyer family.^[1] His father was a headmaster and Laxman was the youngest of six sons.^[4] One of his siblings is R.K. Narayan, English language novelist.

Laxman was engrossed by the illustrations in magazines such as Strand Magazine, Punch, Bystander, Wide World and Tit-Bits, even before he could read.^[5] Soon he was drawing on his own, on the floors, walls and doors of his house and doodling caricatures of his teachers at school; praised by a teacher for his drawing of a peepal leaf, he began to think of himself as an artist in the making.^[6] Another early influence on Laxman were the cartoons of the world-renowned British cartoonist, Sir David Low (whose signature he misread as "cow" for a long time) that appeared now and then in The Hindu.^[7] Laxman notes in his autobiography, The Tunnel of Time:

Laxman was the captain of his local "Rough and Tough and Jolly" cricket team and his antics inspired the stories "Dodu the money maker" and "The Regal Cricket Club" written by his brother, Narayan.^[9] Laxman's idyllic childhood was shaken for a while when his father suffered a paralytic stroke and died around a year later, but the elders at home bore most of the increased responsibility, while Laxman continued with his schooling.^[10]

After high school, Laxman applied to the JJ School of Arts, Bombay hoping to concentrate on his lifelong interests of drawing and painting, but the dean of the school wrote to him that his drawings lacked, "the kind of talent to qualify for enrollment in our institution as a student", and refused admission.^[11] He finally graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Mysore. In the meantime he continued his freelance artistic activities and contributed cartoons to Swarajya and an animated film based on the mythological character, Narada.^[12]

Career[link]

Beginning[link]

Laxman's earliest work was for newspapers and magazines such as Swarajya and Blitz. While still at the Maharaja College of Mysore, he began to illustrate his elder brother R K Narayan's stories in The Hindu, and he drew political cartoons for the local newspapers and for the Swatantra. Laxman also drew cartoons, for the Kannada humour magazine, Koravanji. Incidentally, Koravanji was founded in 1942 by Dr M Shivaram who was a allopath and had a clinic around Majestic area in Bangalore. He started this monthly magazine, dedicating it to hilarious/satirical articles and cartoons. Dr Shivaram himself was an eminent humourist in Kannada. He encouraged Laxman quite a lot. He held a summer job at the Gemini Studios, Madras. His first full-time job was as a political cartoonist for the The Free Press Journal in Mumbai, Bal Thackeray, was his colleague. Laxman later joined The Times of India, beginning a career that has spanned for over fifty years.

Other creations[link]

He also created a popular mascot for the Asian Paints group called Gattu. Laxman has also penned a few novels. His cartoons have appeared in Hindi films such as Mr. and Mrs. 55 and a Tamil Film "KAMARAJ".

R K Laxman Chair at Symbiosis International University[link]

There is a chair named after R. K. Laxman at Symbiosis International University.^[13]

Personal life[link]

He was first married to Bharatanatyam dancer and movie actress Kamala Laxman (also known before marriage as Baby Kamala and Kumari Kamala). After a divorce, he married again and his second wife's (a children's book writer) name was also Kamala. He lives both in Mumbai and Pune. In a cartoon series named "The star I never met" in film magazine Filmfare he painted a cartoon of Kamala Laxman, with the title "The star I only met!".

In September 2003, Laxman was affected by a stroke which left him paralysed on his left side. He has partly recovered from its effects. On the evening of 20 June 2010, Laxman was admitted to Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai after being transported by an air ambulance from Pune. His condition was said to be stable.^[14]

Awards[link]

• B.D. Goenka Award - The Indian Express
• Durga Ratan Gold Medal - Hindustan Times
• Padma Bhushan - Govt. of India
• Padma Vibhushan - Govt. of India
• Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication Arts - 1984
• Lifetime Achievement Award for Journalism - CNN IBN TV18, 29 January 2008.

Bibliography[link]

• The Eloquent Brush: A Selection of Cartoons from Nehru to Rajiv
• 50 Years of Independence through the eyes of R.K.Laxman
• The Best of Laxman series
• Hotel Riviera
• The Messenger
• Servants of India
• The Tunnel of Time (autobiography)
• His autobiography Lakshmanrekha is published in Marathi.
• The Reel World [cartoons]published by Marwah Studios
• Brushing Up The Years- A Cartoonist's History of India- 1947 to the Present- Penguin Books

Multi-media[link]

• India Through The Eyes of R. K. Laxman - Then To Now (CD-ROM).
• Laxman Rekhas-A TOI Publication

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Laxman, R. K. (1998). The tunnel of time. India: Penguin Books. 
• Laxman's-eye view Frontline Magazine - 18–31 July 1998