Series: New Television
Program: New Television
Episode: 401
Date: 1988-01-01
Subject: Drama; Documentary films; Communities; Corruption investigation; Parodies
Copyright Holder: WGBH Educational Foundation; Dan Boord and Greg Durbin

Clip Description
This episode of "New Television" features Dan Boord and Greg Durbin's "The Going Away Party."

Going Away Party, The "The Going Away Party" is a dramatic work, with a touch of mock documentary thrown in. It is based on the true stories of incidents of corruption amongst Oklahoma's elected county commissioners. News clippings from the Daily Oklahoman detailing the scandal, which came to light in the spring of 1981, tell the story of a web of bribery and kickbacks between county commissioners and area merchants. It was billed as the nation's largest public corruption case. Interspersed with these quotes is footage of the Oklahoma landscape, from weather surveillance laboratories. The work segues into a dramatic "reenactment," showing friends and supporters of Burrows, a commissioner sentenced to serve a jail term, at a going-away party. The impression is of a tight-knit community, perhaps willing to turn the other cheek to abuses of power. Helping themselves to drinks and hors d'oeuvres, the guests dispute Burrows' guilt, at the same time gossiping and reminiscing about the scandal and their own involvement. At one point, the party is interrupted by the news that another man, considering running for public office and embroiled in the scandal, has suffered a heart attack. Sometimes the guests speak directly to the camera, as if being interviewed. At other times they converse with each other, and the camera seems to "overhear" their conversations. These dialogues and monologues were written by Mike Mullin and Rea Baldridge. Dianne Kahal sings a version of "Your Cheating Heart" that opens and closes the piece. The work is about 30 minutes long.

Program Description
This episode of "New Television" features Dan Boord and Greg Durbin's "The Going Away Party."

Going Away Party, The "The Going Away Party" is a dramatic work, with a touch of mock documentary thrown in. It is based on the true stories of incidents of corruption amongst Oklahoma's elected county commissioners. News clippings from the Daily Oklahoman detailing the scandal, which came to light in the spring of 1981, tell the story of a web of bribery and kickbacks between county commissioners and area merchants. It was billed as the nation's largest public corruption case. Interspersed with these quotes is footage of the Oklahoma landscape, from weather surveillance laboratories. The work segues into a dramatic "reenactment," showing friends and supporters of Burrows, a commissioner sentenced to serve a jail term, at a going-away party. The impression is of a tight-knit community, perhaps willing to turn the other cheek to abuses of power. Helping themselves to drinks and hors d'oeuvres, the guests dispute Burrows' guilt, at the same time gossiping and reminiscing about the scandal and their own involvement. At one point, the party is interrupted by the news that another man, considering running for public office and embroiled in the scandal, has suffered a heart attack. Sometimes the guests speak directly to the camera, as if being interviewed. At other times they converse with each other, and the camera seems to "overhear" their conversations. These dialogues and monologues were written by Mike Mullin and Rea Baldridge. Dianne Kahal sings a version of "Your Cheating Heart" that opens and closes the piece. The work is about 30 minutes long.

Series Description
The New Television Workshop originated at WGBH, a public broadcasting station in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1974 to support the creation and development of experimental video art. This experimental programming included dance, drama, music, performance and visual arts on video and film. As early as 1968, WGBH was committed to the development of video art through residency programs, with artists such as Nam June Paik, and the "Rockefeller Artists-in-Television" project. Many of these early works (pre-1974) were broadcast both locally and nationally.

As an umbrella for arts related programming, the Workshop included "Artist's Showcase, " "Frames of Reference, " "Dance for Camera, " "Poetry Breaks," and "New Television," as well as acquired arts programming. Individual works were created for "Visions," a series produced by WNET (New York), and "Alive From Off Center," a series produced by KTCA (St. Paul - Minneapolis). The Contemporary Art Television (CAT) Fund was co-founded by the Workshop and Boston's Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA) in the 1980's, to commission works by video artists. In 1993 the Workshop ceased production at WGBH.

See also: http://main.wgbh.org/wgbh/NTW/FA/TITLES/New236.HTML