Neil Simon play captures TV's golden age

Are television's best days behind us? Whether you think so or not, big-time personalities like Jackie Gleason and Bob Hope are tough acts for today's stars to follow.

The Auburn Players will give audiences a chance over the next two weeks to relive what some call television's glory days. On Friday, the theater troupe kicks off its run of “Laughter on the 23rd Floor,” a Broadway comedy by Neil Simon.

Based on Simon's experiences on Sid Caesar's “Show of Shows,” the play is a witty, fast-paced look at the life of a show business writer. It follows a man named Lucas, who works in the writers' room for a popular NBC program and competes with the other writers for accolades from the host, Max Price. Executives tell Max that the show's humor is too sophisticated for the average viewer, and the entire staff is asked to dumb the content down for the sake of ratings.