TVTV MEMBER INTERVIEWS
In the run-up to the 2020 Republican and Democratic National Conventions and the 2020 presidential election, BAMPFA’s former video curator Steve Seid interviewed some of the core members of TVTV. Chip Lord, Hudson Marquez, Allen Rucker, Michael Shamberg, and Megan Williams gave insight into the process of making guerrilla television and shared their reflections on what has changed (and what hasn't) from the media landscape of the 1970s.
Livestream conversation with Megan Williams and Allen Rucker
In conjunction with BAMPFA’s Fall 2020 Alternative Visions series, Kathy Geritz, Steve Seid, and Michael Campos-Quinn organized a streaming program featuring TVTV’s documentary on the 1972 Republican National Convention, Four More Years (1972). [. . .]
Interview with Chip Lord
On September 4, 2020, former BAMPFA Video Curator Steve Seid interviewed Chip Lord, one of the founding members of TVTV, and of the radical architecture collective, Ant Farm. [. . .]
Interview with Hudson Marquez
On August 21, 2020, the day after the 2020 Democratic National Convention closed, former BAMPFA Video Curator Steve Seid interviewed Hudson Marquez, one of the founding members of TVTV. [. . .]
Interview with Michael Shamberg
On August 18, 2020, the second day of the 2020 Democratic National Convention, former BAMPFA Video Curator Steve Seid interviewed Michael Shamberg, one of the founding members of TVTV. Shamberg revealed the origin stories behind TVTV and their experience producing guerrilla coverage of the 1972 conventions [. . .]
Interview with Megan Williams and Allen Rucker
On August 10, 2020, just days before the first of 2020’s virtual presidential nominating conventions, former BAMPFA curator Steve Seid spoke with Megan Williams and Allen Rucker. Rucker and Williams were among the founding principal members of Top Value Television, and part of the TVTV crew that infiltrated the 1972 Democratic and Republican conventions to produce the guerrilla television documentaries The World’s Largest TV Studio and Four More Years. The pair, who have since moved on to distinguished careers in media, steered the conversation from the origin story of TVTV, to insider tales of the ’70s video scene, to the current whereabouts and goings-on of other TVTV-ers. Watch the interview here: [. . .]
Chip Lord
After a stint with TVTV, Chip Lord continued as a member Ant Farm and maintained his own art practice. He is currently an active media artist and professor in the Department of Film and Digital Media at UC Santa Cruz.
Hudson Marquez
Alongside TVTV, Hudson Marquez and the rest of the Ant Farm continued making conceptual-architectual art. Marquez has remained an active video artist and painter. He is currently based in Los Angeles.
Allen Rucker
Allen Rucker later became known for his writing, including the mockumentary series The History of White People in America (with Martin Mull) and The New York Times bestseller The Sopranos Family Cookbook, and has also become an activist for disability rights.
Michael Shamberg
After TVTV dissolved in 1977, Shamberg remained a film producer in Hollywood with successful films ranging from Pulp Fiction (1994), to Erin Brockovich (2000), to Django Unchained (2012).
Megan Williams
After TVTV Megan Williams became an Academy Award-nominated producer and recipient of the Alfred I. duPont Columbia Journalism Award, and has taught at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts.