Quentin Tarantino and Television
Thom Szol and Nick Averill

Quentin Tarantino has not only been a significant contributor to the big screen, but he has had a significant part in the small screen also. He has acted, directed and written for, and appeared as himself numerous times on television. Tarantino has been a guest writer and director for highly acclaimed shows. Considering his success and controversies he is constantly under the limelight and discussed/interviewed on television programs. Also because of his success, his speeches from award ceremonies have been aired. His portrayal on television is a large contribution to who people think Tarantino is. This is where his personality is seen, whether accurate or not.

Tarantino started in Hollywood as an actor, beginning with many small roles in movies, and then progressing towards larger more significant ones. This is true for his television acting career also, just at a slightly smaller scale. In the time span of 1988 to 1990 he acted as an Elvis impersonator on the hit show “The Golden Girls”. The part was insignificant and Tarantino did not have any lines. He then went on to act in “All American Girl” in 1995, as Desmond in the episode titled “Pulp Sitcom”. The Largest role yet was when he acted for four episodes of “Alias” from 2002 to 2004. He has since done a voice over for “Duck Dodgers” in 2004, and acted briefly in “66th Grand Prix of Monaco” in 2008. Although his roles in television have not been that extensive, they are enough to recognize that Tarantino is not just a director/writer that has been asked to play a guest part on television shows.

As for directing, Tarantino has had some large projects for the small screen. In 1995 he was asked to direct an episode of “ER” titled “Motherhood”. After that he was going to direct an episode of “The X-Files” ironically entitled “Never Again”. The Director’s Guild of America said that he could not do it because he was not a member and failed to pay dues for his filming of “ER”. However in 2004, he somehow directed an episode of the late night show “Jimmy Kimmel Live”.

For season 20 (1994-95) of “Saturday Night Live” Tarantino directed the skit “Welcome Back Kotter” which was a hybrid of the hit 70’s show and “Reservoir Dogs”. John Travolta was the guest, who had parts in both the original show and movie that was combined. Tarantino also hosted an episode of SNL in season 21 (1995-96).

SNL: Welcome Back Kotter
http://www.jibjab.com/view/129552

The largest project that Quentin Tarantino had for television would be his writing and directing for “CSI: Crime Scene Investigator”. He wrote and directed two episodes, the finale for the fifth season (2005). It aired in May of 2005 under the title “Grave Danger” and was about one of the main characters being buried alive. This situation is very similar to what Tarantino does in “Kill Bill”. This episode was delayed in broadcasting in the UK for it coincided with the terrorist attacks of 7/7. The plot and characters were said to be too closely related to the attacks, and that it would be best to delay the broadcast. Tarantino was nominated for an Emmy for his role with this project.

CSI: behind scenes with interview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbDKk3XX6_4&feature=related

CSI: Grave Digger selection
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmZY0soCdf4&feature=related

Numerous times Quentin Tarantino has been interviewed and has appeared on late night shows (as himself). Some such occurrences have been: The Charlie Rose Show in 1994, Saturday Night Live in 1995, Late Night with Conan O’Brien for 7 episodes from 1997 to 2007, Jimmy Kimmel Live for 8 episodes from 2003 to 2007, The tonight Show with Jay Leno in 2003 and 2007, The Late Show with David Letterman in 2005, The Tyra Banks Show in 2006, Iconoclasts in 2006, Last Call with Carson Daly for 4 episodes 2004-2007, Center Stage in 2007, and The Late Late Show with Craig Fergusson in 2007.

One of the most recent and memorable of his appearances is when he was a guest on the popular prime time television program “American Idol”. He was a guest judge on the third season, and was said to qualify because of his ‘memorable movie soundtracks’.

Quick judging clip “alright”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmBnQ4skXQQ&feature=related

Whether it be acting, directing, writing, or appearing as himself, Quentin Tarantino has definitely had a part in the small screen business. Most of his involvement with television comes with his success as a movie maker. Television broadcasts play a large role in portraying Tarantino as who he is, through guest appearances and interviews. As television projects have not been his focus, lets hope that he continues to play guest to the small screen world as his contributions are continually found to be successful and creative, or interesting and funny.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quentin_tarantino

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000233/

www.jibjab.com
http://www.jibjab.com/view/129552

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com

www.youtube.com:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmBnQ4skXQQ&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmZY0soCdf4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbDKk3XX6_4&feature=related