“Because I tend to kind of hide under the sheets when it comes to reality television. I've seen probably one episode of maybe five different shows, and that's about it.” KindDifferentShowsRealityFiveTelevisionEpisodesSheetsReality Television Author:Diane Lane
“I had been on another procedural show, 'Cold Case,' for seven years, and I certainly respected the legacy of 'Law & Order,' even though I had only seen a handful of episodes. Being a dad meant the reality was that I probably knew more about Dora and Diego. But I saw the show with fresh eyes, and I wasn't coming in with a bunch of baggage.” YearsShowsRealityEyeLawOrderCasesSawsColdDadSevenBunchLegacyEpisodesSeven YearsHandfulBaggageBeing A DadCold Case Author:Danny Pino
“I directed an episode of 'Party of Five' toward the very end of that show. It was a great experience.” EndsShowsPartyFiveEpisodesGreat Experiences Author:Matthew Fox
“I still feel driven to try to make great shows and to make each episode great.” FeelsTryingStillsShowsDrivenEpisodes Author:Shawn Ryan
“One of the tricky things about running a TV show is that you just never know how good the guest stars you cast on a weekly basis, how good they're going to be in the episode. Sometimes they surprise you in good ways and sometimes they surprise you in disappointing ways.” KnowsWaySometimesShowsRunningStarsKnow HowTvsBasesSurpriseCastsGuestsEpisodesTv ShowsTrickyGood WayDisappointingGuest Stars Author:Shawn Ryan
“There are certain economics involved in making a network TV show that you want to amortize the costs of that, so the more episodes you make, the cheaper they all are individually.” WantShowsCertainTvsInvolvedCostEconomicsEpisodesTv ShowsCheaper Author:Shawn Ryan
“Well, it was very interesting to play a character and stretch it over such a long time - 12 episodes. I had never done a TV show before, so week to week it was unclear what we would be asked to do.” WellsLongDonePlayCharacterShowsWould BeInterestingWeekTvsLong TimeEpisodesTv ShowsVery InterestingUnclear Author:Nick Stahl
“But 'Hey Dude' was shot in Arizona, and that took me to the West Coast. We did 65 episodes. It was not a show that a ton of people saw, so it was like doing acting classes and getting paid for it. At that point I had the acting bug. So I went to L.A. to give it a try and never left.” PeopleGivingTryingShowsLeftActingClassSawsShotsPaidWestHeyEpisodesCoastBugsArizonaWest CoastActing Classes Author:Christine Taylor
“I read the papers, I surf the Web. At the beginning of the year, I try to see at least two episodes of every show on our network. Am I surfing? All the time. I'm aware of the landscape. I'm a competitor, so I have to know whom I'm competing with.” KnowsTryingYearsTwoShowsPaperLandscapeEpisodesCompetingPapersCompetitorsSurfingSurfSurfing The Web Author:Leslie Moonves
“I still run into people in the business who skip over any other credits I have and say, 'I loved 'Hey, Dude!'' This was back in '88, '89, '90. It was a goofy show about kids working at a dude ranch in Arizona. We did 65 episodes; I wrote 13 of them. We didn't know what we were doing, but it was writers' boot camp. It was great.” PeopleKnowsStillsShowsRunningKidsCreditHeyCampsBootsEpisodesSkipArizonaGoofyBoot Camp Author:Graham Yost
“People watch three or four episodes at a time of their shows.” PeopleShowsThreeWatchesFourEpisodes Author:Idris Elba
“Maternity leave is over for Tina Fey of Saturday Night Live. She'll be back behind the Weekend Update anchor desk for this week's episode, her first show since giving birth to daughter Alice on Sept. 10. I had to get back to work, .. NBC has me under contract; the baby and I have only a verbal agreement.” GivingFirstsShowsNightBehindsWeekBabyBirthDaughterAgreementGet BackContractsWeekendEpisodesDesksSaturdayAnchorsSaturday NightGiving BirthBack To WorkSaturday Night LiveNbcUpdatesMaternityFeyMaternity Leave Author:Tina Fey
“A lot of American shows don't last for as long as 12 episodes. They get cut after one. But certainly one of the great things about The Office in particular was that there was a beginning, a middle and an end.” LongEndsShowsLastsCuttingMiddleParticularOfficeGreat ThingsEpisodes Author:Matt Groening
“We did an episode on Good Times which came out of a newspaper article about the incidence of hypertension in black males being higher than whites, and increasing. So we did a show in which James, the father on Good Times, had hypertension.” ShowsFatherBlackHigherMalesNewspapersGood TimesArticlesEpisodesIncidenceBlack MalesHypertension Author:Norman Lear
“My approach to 'Star Trek' was, 'I know science fiction, and I know screen writing.' That was very arrogant of me, but you really need to be a little bit arrogant to think that what you have to say is good enough to justify the expense of hundreds of thousands - now millions of dollars - to make an episode of the TV show.” ThinkingKnowsNeedsWritingLittlesEnoughShowsStarsBitsFictionMillionsTvsApproachLittle BitScience FictionDollarsScreensJustifyExpensesGood EnoughArrogantEpisodesTv Shows Author:David Gerrold
“The interpretive element of "Lost," the fact that you immediately need as soon as the episode is over to seek out a community of people to express your own thoughts about it, understand what they thought about it and form an opinion, that's the bread and butter of the show.” PeopleNeedsFactsShowsFormLostCommunityOpinionElementsBreadEpisodesBread And Butter Author:Damon Lindelof
“I was embarrassed when a businessman friend asked, 'What's the yearly budget of your talk show? What's the per-episode budget?' And I looked at him with these blank, typical-model eyes and said, 'I don't know.' I call myself a businesswoman and I don't know that? So that is my goal next year - to really dissect the budget.” KnowsYearsSaidShowsEyeNextGoalModelsBudgetsEpisodesBlankEmbarrassedTypicalBusinessmanNext YearTalk Shows Author:Tyra Banks
“I’ve never watched an entire episode of "American Idol." It’s too mean. Why would anyone want to go on a show to be ripped apart? I don’t want to be tough with my singers, but I do want to tell them on "The Voice" that if you really want this, you’ll be kicked when you’re down. You have to be willing to roll with those punches. You have to really want it.” IfsWantMeanShowsVoiceWillingGoes OnToughSingersIdolsEpisodesRippedAmerican Idol Author:Christina Aguilera
“Seventeen years after its intial release, The Empire Strikes Back is still as thrilling and involving as ever. Because of the high quality of the original product, it doesn't show a hint of dating. Neither [Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope nor Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi] were able to match the narrative scope of Empire, which today remains one of the finest and most rousing science fiction tales ever committed to the screen.” YearsStillsWarShowsTodayAbleStarsFictionQualityProductsReturnDatingOriginalsRemainsScience FictionCommittedStrikesScreensTalesReleaseNarrativeEmpiresEpisodesFinestScopeThrillingHintsInvolvingSeventeenHigh QualityNew HopeStrike BackEmpire Strikes Back Author:James Berardinelli
“The economics of television syndication and DVD sales mean that there's a tremendous financial pressure to make programs that can be watched multiple times, revealing new nuances and shadings on the third viewing. Meanwhile, the Web has created a forum for annotation and commentary that allows more complicated shows to prosper, thanks to the fan sites where each episode of shows like 'Lost' or 'Alias' is dissected with an intensity usually reserved for Talmud scholars.” MeanShowsLostFansTelevisionProgramEconomicsThirdsPressureFinancialComplicatedThanksIntensityScholarEpisodesMultipleSiteRevealingReservedCommentaryNuanceDvdsForumsAliasesAnnotationFinancial Pressure Author:Steven Johnson
“I made a point to not read too far ahead with the first six or seven episodes of any show. I would read the outlines, but I didn't really want to read scripts too far in advance because I didn't really want to get ahead of myself, at all. To be honest, I don't have the time to come up with theories.” WantFirstsMadeShowsHonestTheorySixSevenScriptsCome UpBeing HonestEpisodesOutlinesGet Ahead Author:Simon Baker
“There's something inherently more appealing about the idea that you could reveal and tell stories about characters over the course of a TV season - 13 or 26 episodes, whatever it might be - than in the course of one two-hour movie. You can do so many more novelistic kinds of things on a TV show - with time, with gradual development of relationships, and so on - than you could possibly do in a movie. And that is very appealing.” KindTwoIdeasCharacterStoriesShowsMightCoursesCan DoHoursTvsDevelopmentSeasonsEpisodesTv Shows Author:Michael Chabon
“As for Supernatural, I had seen many episodes and enjoyed the show before my audition.” ShowsEnjoyedEpisodesAuditions Author:Julie McNiven
“Its tricky to do a serialized show and not lose viewers along the way because you really have to watch every episode.” WayShowsLosesWatchesEpisodesViewersTricky Author:Nestor Carbonell