In his 1989 autobiography "It Would Be So Nice If You Weren't Here...",
Charles Grodin talks about directing this special and actor
Broderick Crawford in particular. Grodin says he made the mistake of telling Crawford at the start that the character he was about to play was very disgruntled about being there. After that, Crawford became so disgruntled towards Grodin that it seemed like he could only growl back at him during any conversation.
