On one of the trucks I was EIC (Engineer‐in‐Charge) on, a company named Mizlou was E.J. Stewart's biggest client. Just as Steely Dan is a thing, not a person (look it up), E.J. Stewart is a made‐up name. Now, one could have deemed Mizlou an experiment to see if top‐to‐bottom nepotism could work. Most businesses are family‐run. When I was involved with the company, family, close friends, and hangers‐on ran and staffed it. Many were brothers, sisters, cousins, and fathers. The Schwing brothers, Roger and Bill, produced and directed most of Mizlou's work.

E.J.Stewart camera on a cart covering the Bluebonnet Bowl at the Astrodome on News Years Eve 1984

Mizlou was started in 1968. It operated as an ad‐hoc independent TV Network. Vic Piano founded The Network to offer the Peach Bowl to independent stations. The success of the December 31, 1968 telecast made Mizlou a top indie TV network in the 1970s and 1980s. Mizlou televised college bowl games, including the Fiesta, Bluebonnet, Hall of Fame, Peach, Liberty, Freedom, Cherry, Garden State, Tangerine, Holiday, California, All American, Blue Gray, East West Shrine, and Senior Bowls. Piano also produced NASCAR, NIT Basketball, ABA Basketball, WCT Tennis, Pro Track, and Pro Bowling while at Mizlou. Vic was the executive producer on most Mislou productions.

Many involved were descendants of the same matriarch, Miz Lou, the grandmother. Hence, the name. While a lot of the family, honorary ones included, were good at doing TV, they did have a few that were dead weight. They had one who wasn’t even a good gofer. They sent him once to get lunch, actually dinner. The crew worked into the night on pre‐production for a game. It was for a dozen crew members. He came back with eight hamburgers, seven French fries, and ten Cokes. Looking at the food deliverer, "You give assholes a bad name!" was Roger's response when he looked over the "pickens."

The filibuster!

We were covering the Dodgers and the Phillies. The producer and director from LA who showed up, soon made it clear that, over the intercom, they'd refer to most of the crew by some body part. One of the two brothers who ran Mizlou, Roger, was a replay operator on the truck that day. As a principle of a production company, why would he be working as a regular member of the crew? "I just like doing TV" he would say.

The entertainment industry is like this: If you work in the biz in New York or LA, you think you're special. Those two were in that club. At some point in the game, the director called for a replay on Roger's VTR, and nothing happened. The director's frustration grew into anger as he received no response from him. A profane tirade ensued, directed at Roger. When the director paused, Roger said, "Oh, were you referring to me?" The producer replied, "You'll never work in this business again." Very calmly, Roger started what I call the filibuster. To be clear, I am paraphrasing here: "Oh please, Mr. Producer, I have a dozen kids to feed. They all need new shoes. My car needs a new transmission. I'm behind on my rent. My shorts are too tight. And I have a short attention span." He went on in this vein for about a minute. Since he was monopolizing the intercom, the director couldn’t call the game. So, we sat on the same camera. I remember looking at a couple of the camera monitors. The shaking of a couple of them showed the crew enjoyed Roger's performance.

When Roger was finally done, he said, "By the way, you I could buy and sell you ten times over." They were a meek pair for the rest of the night. When the postgame was over, they quietly disappeared.