Ten Seconds To Air

When I heard about the death of legendary TV director/producer Don Mischer a few weeks ago, I picked up a copy of “:10 Seconds To Air — My Life In The Director’s Chair,” the autobiography he published in 2023.

A sucker for stories about process, I reveled in the behind-the-scenes details Mischer shared about what it was like to cover major events like the Olympics, the Oscars, the Kennedy Center Honors, 9/11 memorials, and Obama’s Inaugural Celebration.

One of the stories Mischer shares goes back to Motown’s 25th Anniversary Concert in 1983, in which all the artists performed hits from their years on that record label, and no one was allowed to do any solo stuff. That meant turning down, among others, Marvin Gaye’s request to sing his 1970 anthem, “What’s Going On.”

An exception was made for Michael Jackson, who — after appearing with his brothers in The Jackson Five — took the stage without them to perform “Billie Jean,” one of the monster hits from his “Thriller” album (which was on the Epic label). As Mischer recounts it, Jackson was really good during rehearsal, with the hat and the single glove and the dance moves.

But he kept an ace up his sleeve. He didn’t do the moonwalk until that evening’s performance in front of an audience. Everyone who witnessed it — including Mischer — was blown away. After all, this was the first time we’d seen anyone do that move, which Jackson executed to perfection. In an era two decades before social media, it was still the number one topic of discussion for days afterwards as at least half the country tried to copy the moonwalk at work, school, and everywhere else.

Another great story is about how Mischer, executive producer Dick Ebersol, and their team kept secret Muhammad Ali’s appearance as the final torch bearer at the 1996 Summer Olympics. He didn’t even tell the two announcers in NBC’s broadcast booth, Bob Costas and Dick Enberg, who both thought it would be another boxing champion and Atlanta native, Evander Holyfield. Bill Clinton, who was in the stadium that night, said the stunned crowd’s reaction was the loudest hush he’d ever heard. It was a major water-cooler moment for everyone the next day.

Mischer also wrote about directing Super Bowl Halftime shows by The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, and Bruce Springsteen, as well as Prince’s 2007 performance in a downpour, which had the producer/director worried about dancers losing their footing and musicians or technicians being electrocuted.

That’s just a sample of some of the behind-the-scenes stories Mischer told in “:10 Seconds To Air.” I read the whole thing in just a few hours, and highly recommend it to anyone interested in a real TV insider’s memoir.