Matt Groening Quotes

One of the ingredients that made Cheers work so well was the great ensemble of actors we had. That's the case with any good series.

'The Sopranos' all came down to the writing. I wouldn't have been on for as long as I was if the writing weren't so good.

Things that go on at Happy Times are very funny this year, and if you were watching last year, some of the people you saw then as basically extras emerge as real characters in their own right this season, at least to some degree.

I would really like to do a really cool one-hour show, maybe on, like, HBO or something like that; or something that I've spent a couple of years developing so it would be exactly the character and exactly in with a huge push behind it; or I would maybe want to do a sitcom; something light and funny.

Through eight years, 'How I Met Your Mother' has mastered the art of leading-edge comedy, emotional water-cooler moments, and pop culture catch-phrases.

Actually, I find it great fun to develop family series with lots of characters.

It's funny, I used to say on 'That 70's Show', you could really put us in any decade, and it was about the people and the characters and that we cared about each other.

You know what I would really like to do? I'd like to do a half hour drama with comedy in it.

I quite like some of the movies that have many characters in them.

I'm a huge fan of 'Community'; it's, I think, one of the most brilliant comedy on television and has been for a long time.

'Longmire' is more of a show about the characters, and you couldn't pay a bigger compliment than to want to know more about my character, or the characters on the show.

Actually, I think that 'Seinfeld' tackles the same kinds of issues as 'Six Feet Under,' just in a different way.

There's something about the alchemy of the show - the actors, the writers, the directors, the editors - that makes 'Parenthood' unique. You get so deeply embedded with these characters because you go through life with them, and that's our priority.

One of my favorite things about 'Star Trek' wasn't just the overt banter but the humor in that show about the relationships between the main characters and their reactions to the situations they would face; there was a lot of comedy in that show without ever breaking its reality.

I've always liked shows that have a strong cast of secondary characters. One of the greatest examples ever I would say is 'The Simpsons.' If you think about it, you could name 100 characters recognizable from that show. I think 'Scrubs' has done a good job of having a strong team coming off the bench.

I enjoyed the drama of 'One Tree Hill,' and the opportunity to be one of the comedic aspects, initially.

I like shows that are ensemble-based, that explore the humanity of every character.

I sort of was inspired by 'Friday Night Lights,' where it was a very different show, but similar in that they were both large ensemble dramas where you had many stories going on at once. I wanted to do a show that shared that element, and that's really why I wanted to develop 'Parenthood' as a series.

I think on 'Third Watch' that I was the comic relief on a lot of that. I mean, I definitely had dark moments, but people tended to think he was funny even if the character himself wasn't having a fun time.

It's always comedy first on 'Will and Grace.' There was never any other agenda.

What I always got excited about with 'Arrested Development' was the element of surprise.

In the second season, usually television shows are running with the characters; they really get them. And then, the third season, they can push characters and really explore secondary storylines and things like that. And so I tend to like third seasons of most shows.

I don't know what to say about Jill Marie. The girls on 'Girlfriends' were all my babies.

I'd run the gamut of emotions on 'Falcon Crest.' When the show folded, I was ready to move on.

'Modern Family' is unique in that it's telling the story of three different families, which is a huge amount of characters to service.