Bill O'Reilly Quotes

Certainly 'Survivors,' when we put that series out, the second series dipped below 5 million for one of the episodes - all of a sudden, there's no recommission, and I think that's dreadful.

We're going to try to create some programs that are going to generate viewer interest and appointment viewing. We still will have news on Headline News.

We had more viewers on the broadcast network than we did on the cable channel.

Typically, only about 2 percent of the American populace tunes in to PBS's 'Nova' series - the most successful science show on the tube. 'Survivor' and 'X Factor' get twice the ratings.

While 'Teachers' may have had its following, it was on late-night Channel Four, whereas 'EastEnders' was seen by millions and millions of people. I certainly don't have the cache to sell a programme like that, and certainly nobody's coming up and asking me to.

Thank you... 'Real Housewives of Atlanta,' for demonstrating a universal truth: Idiots like me will always watch idiots like you fight on TV. You will forever be in my TiVo.

TV producers want ratings and are willing to do nearly anything to get them. They gin up artificial conflicts and create an urgency for even the most minor of economic data points.

I only watch MSNBC for the news.

Television is a golden goose that lays scrambled eggs; and it is futile and probably fatal to beat it for not laying caviar. Anyway, more people like scrambled eggs than caviar.

In our first season we had a 22 rating. Today Seinfeld, a hit show, gets a 15. Lost in Space actually had a bigger audience than Star Trek got at that time.

It's a strange thing to have a successful television show because if it's too interesting... people don't really pay attention when they watch TV. It has to be good, but not so interesting that you really have to pay attention because people multitask. So, if a show demands your entire attention, it has a tough time making it.

I think most people who were involved with television will tell you, if given a season or given a 13-episode order and getting those episodes on the air, and if viewers don't come, I think most people will tell you they'd walk away. They feel they were given a fair shake, and if viewers didn't come, they didn't come.

Every show on television has a downward trend because there are so many more things to watch. You can only deal with what is the benchmark of a hit series and 'Survivor' clearly remains a hit series.

There's not a lot of light on television.

A lot of people watch 'Community,' but DVR viewings only count if you watch within a certain time.

I barely watch TV apart from the news. Most of it is rubbish. There's all this reality nonsense and dross. I think there's a market for a well-produced, well-written melodrama like 'Dallas.' It's pure entertainment.

I think any show after the Super Bowl will have huge numbers.

It's funny: We have so many shows and so many channels and so many things to occupy people as entertainment, especially with a show like 'Scandal,' which is clearly a hit, with a lot of heat around it - but every once in a while, people will say, 'What are you doing?' and I'll say 'Scandal,' and they'll have no idea what I'm talking about.

'Parks and Rec' is definitely a mainstream show - the group that watches it on TV on Thursday night is small, but the audience that watches it on things like Hulu, Netflix, and Tivo is enormous.

My goal was always to take a talk show to the network. I never wanted to be on MSNBC.

They don't have a lot of appointment viewing. What television depends on, one thing 'Larry King Live' was - whether you liked it, didn't like it - it was appointment viewing.

I can't create magic, where all my serials will have the highest ratings.

Have I ever presented a programme I don't watch? Well, I've done loads of programmes that no one else watched!

Rarely, if ever, has a cable news channel employed a host who has previously campaigned for the business goals of the channel's parent company. But as channels like MSNBC have moved to more opinionated formats, they have exposed themselves to potential conflicts.

We handle it from both sides of the coin: from the sport aspect and the entertainment aspect. You gotta have both because we're if not doing solid ratings, we're not going to be on TV.