Lawrence O'Donnell Quotes

I think 'Celebrity Big Brother' is one of the most important shows on TV because we get to see people for who they really, really are and you've only got to look at.

It's supposed to be entertainment. It's not supposed to be a documentary.

I don't trust novels with points, do you? If a novel is only about a point, the writer should just say it in as few words as possible so we can take it in and go back to watching 'The Bachelor' on television.

Just because it's in a movie doesn't mean it's real.

A mockumentary is supposed to be real, and we were frustrated with mockumentaries on TV, which are so rampant because of the success of 'The Office.' It's not real. You watch and ask why is there even a crew there. They never set it up in the narrative. You have a documentary crew following families for reasons we don't understand.

I love 'Game of Thrones' and 'Breaking Bad.'

I don't remember titles of books or authors from when I was young. I remember the title of only one book, which was 'The Timber Toes.' I remember it was a family of little wooden people who lived in the woods, and for some reason that stayed with me.

You have to take some dramatic license just to make it entertaining sometimes.

Movies aren't just supposed to be a representation of reality. They're supposed to be an art.

All of business and all of politics is essentially fiction to those who live them. I have more experience with fiction than most senators because I do it all day, so their world didn't seem that foreign to me.

There are life lessons that can be derived from reality television.

Reality TV finds talented people. There are no scripts. The editing is what it's all about. Great editing makes those shows.

When I set out to write 'Sanctus,' all I wanted to do was craft a piece of high quality entertainment.

I think 'Westworld' and 'Hap and Leonard' are two of the greatest things that you can do with this oversized pool of the television medium.

I'm not working on the Great American Novel. All I am doing, I hope, is entertaining readers.

For 'Gender Studies,' I wrote that story in May and June of 2016. People have said to me, 'Oh, it's a political allegory,' and I think, 'Sure.' The political stuff is definitely there. But that's why I like fiction; there can be lots of different things going on, and it's all intertwined, and you can't separate out what's in what category.

I love fiction and read novels constantly.

I think that every book that's in a bookstore should entertain in some way.

Whether it's 'The West Wing' or anything else, my first thought is always, 'What's a good story?'

For me, choosing between fiction and nonfiction is really only about picking the right tool for the job.

Cake Boss, I guess, has been made aware of my impression and finds it amusing and recognizes that it's not a completely accurate impersonation of who he is in his daily life. He seems to be a good sport about it.

When people are telling stories on screen, you can show the reactions of people, play it off those reactions, and it can be fun. But when it's someone just giving an opinion on things, even if the opinion is kind of interesting, that is potentially deadly. It has to be really quick.

It could be sci-fi, love story, historical drama what counts for me is the fact that they're made by great directors with a great point of view who bring the audience to be elevated and at the same time entertained. That's what cinema is.

I don't approach my movies with a target audience in mind. I try to make something that's true to the subject matter as much as possible, while still being entertaining and fun.

I can't imagine soaps will ever stop, because people will always watch as long as they have great stories and characters. But the soaps will have to keep evolving, won't they?