B-TV: Behind the Scenes

B-TV is live on the air for a telethon to save a failing TV station, and the show's topic is unity - but backstage, nobody is getting along. Bernard can't get a word in, Connie and Wooton fight over the controls, Edwin demands more lines, and penny-pinching manager Feldstein has cut the budget so far that the tapes are stored in his car trunk. Then the trouble really starts: a melted tape gets swapped for a farmers' video about okra, Wooton's cheerful piano tune wrecks Edwin's dramatic soliloquy, and the lights go out mid-show. Fed up, Bernard stops everything and admits on camera that the B-TV crew hasn't shown an ounce of the unity they're preaching. The team prays, pulls together, and delivers a sketch about a body whose squabbling parts - ear, eye, foot, even the belly button - must cooperate to cross the street. Just when all seems lost, one big donation saves the station... from the Gumbo Farmers of America, thrilled that someone finally aired their okra video.

Found on Out of Control Album 40 · 12 episodes

The run See every episode

2 of 2 0509 The American Revelation When Marvin joins the exhausted defenders of Bunker Hill, he must find his own courage while discovering the forgotten Black patriots who fought for a freedom not yet their own.

0510 For the Fun of It A wealthy teenager, forced to spend a week with her eccentric mailman uncle to escape etiquette school, sets out to prove her father can't control her - and finds far more than a way to rebel.

1 of 2 0511 The Pact At Hillingdale Haven, an elderly woman with a failing memory becomes convinced she made a long-forgotten promise that must be kept on a fast-approaching date - if only she can remember what it was.

2 of 2 0512 The Pact When Agnes vanishes on the anniversary of a secret childhood promise, Tom and his friends race to decode her journals and paintings before six o'clock.

0513 Do or Diet When Connie's shot at a personal training scholarship depends on coaching Whit, Bernard, and Wooton to each lose ten pounds in five weeks, her biggest obstacle isn't the diet plan - it's her clients.

0514 Room Enough for Two When Liz's beloved older brother returns from the Army with a surprise fiancée in tow, she sets out to protect her place in his life - until a crisis forces the two women who love him most to face what they have in common.

0515 B-TV: Behind the Scenes A behind-the-scenes look at a live TV broadcast about unity that threatens to fall apart because the crew can't stop fighting long enough to save their own struggling station.

0516 Bassett Hounds A grieving-support trip to Alaska turns out to be something else entirely, as Bernard discovers Wooton's family is far more - and far wealthier - than he ever imagined.

0517 It's All About Me When Connie casts Mitch as the host of a Kids' Radio advice show, the credit for its success lands in exactly the wrong place - while a mysterious "Prank Man" turns the school upside down.

0518 The Case of the Disappearing Hortons When a classmate's family vanishes overnight, a pair of kids and two elderly ex-magicians launch an investigation that leads somewhere none of them expected.

0519 The Defining Moment After a costly error in right field, a young ballplayer chases the perfect comeback moment - only to learn that redemption rarely looks the way we imagine it.

0520 The Mystery at Tin Flat A family's free getaway to a historic ghost town turns into a night of century-old secrets, pointing boots, and a mystery that tests where one boy truly belongs.

0521 Hindsight When Whit's new backward-running Room of Consequence shows Liz a frightening possible future, she must travel in reverse through time to uncover the single small choice that set it all in motion.

Featured characters

Minor characters & crew 16 more roles

16 supporting roles

Walter Shakespeare Corey Burton B-TV Announcer Corey Burton Guy Feldstein Corey Burton Woodchuck Bob Luttrell Tom Brokejaw Corey Burton Narrator (h) Phil Lollar Commercial Actor Marshal Younger Mr. Bellybutton Travis Tedford Mr. Brain Corey Burton Mr. Ear Dave Madden Miss Eye Aria Curzon Mr. Foot Earl Boen Mr. Grayhair Jess Harnell Mr. Hand Travis Tedford Cooking Show Host Jess Harnell Mr. Nose Corey Burton

Made by

Chris Anthony Host John Fornof Writer Nathan Hoobler Writer Marshal Younger Director · Producer Jonathan Crowe Sound Designer · Producer Bob Hoose Producer Paul McCusker Executive Producer

The story

Read the full synopsis 3 min

Alex Jefferson records everything he hears during a visit to the local television station for a careers-class assignment. B-TV is broadcasting as part of a telethon intended to save the financially troubled station. Bernard Walton hosts the program, Connie directs, Mandy operates the video switcher, Wooton prepares several jobs he hopes to perform, and Edwin Blackgaard and Shakespeare wait to act. Their subject is unity, although almost no one behind the scenes is working together.

Station manager Guy Feldstein has made extreme budget cuts. The videotape library has become rented office space, tapes are stored in the trunk of his car, the green room is now a stall in the men’s restroom, and he continually asks for a program that is both high quality and cheap. He also interrupts Bernard with not-so-subtle ideas for showing viewers that the station is in danger.

Everyone else has a different plan for the broadcast. Connie wants to change the order of the sketches, Wooton wants to run the controls and direct, Edwin objects to having too few lines, and Bernard cannot get anyone to be quiet long enough to begin. Alex observes the bitter irony of a team arguing while preparing a program about unity.

The first major disaster comes when a prerecorded segment has melted in the hot car trunk. Alex finds another tape, and Connie plays it without time to check the contents. Instead of material about unity, viewers receive a detailed presentation from gumbo farmers about okra. Connie refuses to stop the video abruptly and feeds Bernard lines through his earpiece, helping him compare plants growing together to people living in unity. Bernard accidentally repeats some of her instructions aloud but carries the program into a commercial.

The telethon total remains painfully low. Feldstein promises donors no expensive prizes, only a firm expression of approval. Edwin then replaces the planned music for his dramatic soliloquy with a difficult piece he supplies at the last second. Wooton claims he can play piano but cannot read the new music, so he chooses his own cheerful tune. Edwin’s serious speech collapses beneath the ridiculous accompaniment, and Connie cuts away while he declares himself permanently scarred by the indignity.

Feldstein darkens the control room to save money and hands out candles. Edwin demands a larger part, Wooton continues offering unrelated ideas, equipment fails, and Bernard trips over extension cords. Frustrated, Bernard orders everyone to stop. Then he goes before the cameras and admits that the people making B-TV have not demonstrated the unity they are teaching.

Bernard remembers beginning as a janitor with a squeegee and recognizes that working on B-TV with this team has changed him. Instead of abandoning the broadcast, he decides to work harder with them to create something worthwhile. During the break, the group pulls together, prays, and prepares the final sketch as one team.

In the Body Parts War Room, the parts of a human body debate who should lead an important street crossing. The ear claims everyone should listen to it, the eye praises its own vision, the foot points out that it carries everyone, and even the belly button insists on its importance. Their argument threatens to split the body apart before the mission begins.

An old gray hair reminds them that every part belongs to one body and that they need one another. The nose abandons its own bid for power and cites the Bible’s teaching that God has arranged each part as He desires. The body keeps its head, combines the different members’ abilities, and crosses the street safely. Their success reflects the cooperation the B-TV team has finally begun to practice.

After the broadcast, Feldstein announces that one large donation has saved the station. Bernard hopes his honest speech inspired the gift, Connie credits the final sketch, and Edwin assumes his damaged soliloquy deserves the glory. The donor is actually the Gumbo Farmers of America. They sent their okra presentation to stations everywhere, and this struggling station was the only one that put it on the air. Even the accidental tape becomes useful once the team is willing to keep working together.