Michael Russnow started in the business with a plea to Earl Hamner, creator of The Waltons, figuring any show whose main character longs to be a writer would take heart. And he was right. After doing a number of episodes, he continued his career with major credits such as Streets of San Francisco and Little House On the Prairie, before moving into comedy and Barney Miller.

He has been a story editor on sitcoms three times, interspersed with episodes for Family Ties, Dynasty, Knots Landing, and Diff’rent Strokes, numerous other series, as well as a stint on Santa Barbara. He has also sold material in Latin America and Germany, and in 1998 spent almost 6 months in Europe helping to set up a new soap in Budapest.

He was twice elected to the Board of Directors of the Writers Guild of America, west. He is equally proud of his campaigns orchestrating Honorary Oscars for Myrna Loy and Deborah Kerr, additionally helping to secure a royal honour (CBE) for Miss Kerr in 1998.

Politically, he was involved in major political campaigns as a teenager in New York, working as a volunteer on presidential, mayoralty and gubernatorial/senatorial campaigns. After moving to California and while going to school at UCLA, he worked in the press office for the senatorial campaign of Alan Cranston, wrote his Master's Thesis on the broadcast elements of that campaign and later served on Cranston's staff in Washington.

Afterwards, he returned to Los Angeles to begin his entertainment career.

His web site is at www.ramproductionsinternational.com

Blog Entries by Michael Russnow

The Frenzy About White House Gatecrashers: Did the Media Overreact?

28 Comments | Posted November 28, 2009 | 05:34 AM (EST)


Should the Salahis be boiled in oil, mercilessly flogged or has the media made it much more than it really was?

After hearing about Tareq and Michaele Salahi, the brazen pair who crashed the White House State Dinner, I was alternately intrigued and worried, especially the way the media reported...

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Windows 7 Not so Great as Advertised and Has Compatibility Issues: Is Microsoft in Collusion With Manufacturers Like HP?

53 Comments | Posted November 6, 2009 | 07:18 AM (EST)


A few weeks ago, I had a horrifying PC moment. For the first time in twelve years of Internet surfing, a terrible virus oddly named Total Security disabled my computer. No programs would open. Total Security left me in a total mess.

The price for excising the virus was $200....

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Barack Obama, Nobel Peace Laureate: Whatever Happened to Awarding for Deeds Actually Done?

343 Comments | Posted October 9, 2009 | 06:12 AM (EST)


I am generally a supporter of Barack Obama. I voted for him and campaigned in print for his election. However, as I turned on CNN early this morning and saw the news that he'd been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, I actually gasped in disbelief. Twitter, Facebook and YouTube videos...

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Obama's Big Question: To Go or Not to Go, Copenhagen That is

22 Comments | Posted September 29, 2009 | 07:59 PM (EST)


To paraphrase William Shakespeare's renowned query, made more appropriate since it took place in Denmark, the big question is why there is so much furor posed in the Main Stream Media citing Obama's mostly Republican critics over the president's decision to help Chicago win its bid for the 2016 Summer...

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Letterman's Running Gag About Crashing Obama/Oprah Dinner on Martha's Vineyard: Hasn't Dave Heard Teddy Kennedy Died?

47 Comments | Posted August 28, 2009 | 05:07 AM (EST)


I'm a huge fan of David Letterman's and think he's the best of the current breed of talk show hosts, even though his monologues often hit and miss. Indeed I sometimes wonder if Dave realizes he's not doing a nightclub act in front of a different audience (nationwide that is)...

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My GE Dishwasher Tragedy, Manufacturer Parts, Car Repairs and Doctor Visits: Let's Be Mad as Hell and Not Take it Anymore!

24 Comments | Posted August 23, 2009 | 03:54 AM (EST)


I had some experiences recently I thought I'd share that may have happened to you. Experiences that cost time and money and seem designed to screw us, while perpetuating a steady flow of income for other parties. In the first case, before you remind me, I will readily admit I...

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Citigroup Proposed Reverse Stock Split: Didn't They Learn Any Lessons from AIG?

16 Comments | Posted August 8, 2009 | 05:37 PM (EST)


A couple of months ago, I wrote about my dismay concerning the proposed reverse stock split of AIG to a ratio of twenty to one. What was on the table was a drastic diminishing of stockholder shares to one twentieth of what they owned in order to prop up the...

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Obama Backtracks Calling Police Action Stupid: Was It Moderation or Is Obama Becoming the First Wimp?

623 Comments | Posted July 25, 2009 | 06:29 AM (EST)


While watching the president's rambling press conference Wednesday, I was jolted out of a near snooze when he made a sharp comment, saying the Cambridge, Massachusetts police had behaved stupidly. I was excited, because Barack Obama usually plays to the middle ground. Not because he's a political centrist -- he's...

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AIG Plummets: Didn't the Reverse Stock Split Cause it?

19 Comments | Posted June 30, 2009 | 06:00 PM (EST)


For those who commented that I didn't know what I was talking about in my recent article about the AIG Reverse Stock Split of 20 to one, here's what Jeanine Poggi of Street.com said today of the split action, which has apparently gone through:

Meanwhile, investors are awaiting...
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AIG Proposed Reverse Stock Split: Shareholders Should Vote This Down as a No-Brainer

22 Comments | Posted June 27, 2009 | 05:42 AM (EST)


As I mentioned in another article, I returned to the stock market in March after a long absence to take advantage of the very low stock prices of large companies. So far so good with my choices, Citigroup and AIG, as both have produced good results. In spite of...

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David Letterman Apology Redux: Shame on Dave for Buckling Under to Palin's Lies

185 Comments | Posted June 16, 2009 | 06:21 AM (EST)


I feel sad for David Letterman, because in spite of the reasons he put forth in his latest mea culpa Monday night on The Late Show, he caved in, I believe, out of misplaced fear that he might be banished from his late night throne.

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Palin Accuses Letterman of Seeking PR: Then Hypocritically Skews What He Meant All Over the Media

147 Comments | Posted June 13, 2009 | 06:10 AM (EST)


Are you as amazed as I am Sarah Palin is still invited on mainstream talk shows? I'm not talking about Rush Limbaugh or the cable religious shows, but respected venues like CNN's Wolf Blitzer's Situation Room and to chat with NBC's Matt Lauer on The Today Show.


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Racial Advancement on TV: Is the Progress Depicted Well-Intentioned Fantasy?

12 Comments | Posted June 8, 2009 | 05:28 AM (EST)


I've been noticing over the past several years a tendency for the Media to depict racial togetherness in a manner that doesn't come close to representing reality. For example, almost every prime-time television show features romantic inter-racial relationships, most notably between its Caucasian and African-American continuing characters. While there are...

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Susan Boyle Placed Rather Than Won: Hollie Steel Cried Her Way into the Finals

30 Comments | Posted May 30, 2009 | 09:31 PM (EST)


It was a surprise, though not completely shocking, that Susan Boyle didn't win Britain's Got Talent. Her performance in the finals held today in London surpassed her original rendition of the same song she sang in her introduction to the world, I Dreamed a Dream from Les Miserables and was...

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Susan Boyle Made it to the Finals But Wasn't Great in the Semis: A Case of Nerves and the Wrong Song Choice

72 Comments | Posted May 25, 2009 | 05:18 AM (EST)


I was captivated by Susan Boyle when we all first saw her in the auditions for Britain's Got Talent and eagerly awaited her progression to the next tier of competition.

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I'm still a fan, but felt her song choice in the semi-finals,...

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The Amazing Race - Still the Best of its Genre: But the Itinerary's Not as Amazing as it Once Was

13 Comments | Posted May 11, 2009 | 06:36 AM (EST)


I love The Amazing Race, though reality shows reduce work for me and my entertainment colleagues. It's far more special than a recycled talent contest like American Idol (think Major Bowes, Ted Mack's Amateur Hour or Star Search) or a program like Survivor featuring repetitive stunts and ad nausea confabs...

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Susan Boyle's Phenomenal Ride Just Won't Stop: And Yes, It Mattered That She Could Sing

Posted April 19, 2009 | 05:36 AM (EST)


It's been a week and I still can't get enough of the Susan Boyle phenomenon.


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I've watched her video countless times and sent the link to others who might not have known. It was amazing and almost historic, because there've...

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Lou Dobbs and His Ilk are Wrong: Why I Bought Stock Friday for the First Time in Years

Posted March 16, 2009 | 05:41 AM (EST)


I'm not an economist, though I did get a "B" in one course at CCNY. I submit, however, that Lou Dobbs, employed on and off at CNN for many years, is an inveterate right-wing naysayer and appears to be no more knowledgeable about the subject than I am.

He and...

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Airline Service is a Sham: Memo to Doug Parker of US Airways, Your Company Tops the List

Posted February 26, 2009 | 04:49 AM (EST)


P.R. brouhahas regarding our airlines are now legend. First, most of them instituted a fee on domestic flights if we checked more than one bag and then, having gotten away with that, doubled the ante in only a few months by charging for the first bag as well. Soon after,...

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Tea and Sympathy's Robert Anderson Was a Class Act: The Great Playwright Lured Deborah Kerr to Broadway

Posted February 11, 2009 | 05:38 AM (EST)


At lunch today, a friend told me he'd just heard on the radio that Robert Anderson died at the age of 91. He knew that I knew the renowned playwright and wanted to make sure I was aware.


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For those...

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