Network Executives Quotes

What I do know is how difficult it is in this industry to get a show on the air. There's so many different stages: getting a script bought by the network, then getting a pilot made and having that pilot go to series, and then, when that series gets on the air, having people watch it.

What I can say that's different in American television... in Britain, they wouldn't cancel something after a couple of episodes. In the States they would. They would just decide it's not working, take it off and put something else in on the fall schedule.

I left 'The Bob Newhart Show,' which was my decision. CBS wanted it to go on. But I could see television changing; I could see the tastes were changing.

Pilot season can be maddening. You're basically putting yourself and your talent out there to be scrutinized several times a day for months by network executives who have probably never acted in anything since their junior high school production of 'The Wiz.'

We've talked about a sitcom and a comedy drama. It's getting the right project and working with the right people.

The cavemen are still in charge at the networks. They're all white males, and you can't get away from that.

On 'Frasier,' a network executive once suggested that one week we have John Lithgow play Frasier and Kelsey Grammar play Lithgow's role on '3rd Rock From the Sun;' I've been deeply afraid of the idea of a crossover ever since.

I had a traditional interview based on a phone call from an agent. He says there's a show and they would like to see you and its called Dallas. With very little knowledge I go over to this meeting at Warner Brothers.

The lifespan of any show is to end in cancellation.

I have a couple screenplays that are done, and I'm looking for the right people to help me make them. I do a lot of television writing to develop new ideas for shows.

No one can tell you the rules of 'Celebrity Apprentice.' No one. Donald Trump just does what he wants, which is mostly pontificating to people who are sucking up to him, while the network people try to manipulate him into making the highest-rated show they can.

The first sales meeting I made was for the television movie 'Farrell for the People.' I walked into a conference room at NBC that I had built. It was my memorial conference room. There were 10 people at the meeting, and by habit, I sat at the head of the table.

I found myself trying to work within the Los Angeles system. I had an agent and a manager, which I still do, and going to meetings with networks about game shows and reality shows and projects that weren't mine. It was fun, but it wasn't what I'd set out to do.

I think maybe the most important thing that we have to say is that people don't often talk about network executives being brave. You don't talk about them as having integrity and a higher purpose, because it's a job... except for Bob Greenblatt. He is a theatre person. He loves and understands it.

There was no real controversy with All In The Family. That came from the people on the business end.

I've been trying to get into comedy for years. I had a meeting with one of the networks a couple years ago, a general meeting, and when they asked what I was looking for and I told them I'd prefer to do comedy, it was as if I had two heads.

I've sold shows based on my standup twice to CBS, but they've never gone past the script stage. TV is very competitive.

'Emeril' came on the air right when a new president of NBC was taking over, and there was just a big shift going on. And then 9/11 happened, and that really pretty much killed it, because the show was already having a hard time finding an audience. I don't regret it. I had a really good time.

What's more important to 'SNL': comedy or buzz? To the writers, players and guest hosts, it's probably the former; to Lorne Michaels and the suits at NBC, it's ultimately probably the latter.

I've had a pilot every single year that didn't sell for the past four years, that'll smack you in the back of the head. I had a really good one last year; I wouldn't have done the play in New York if I had gotten that one.

A show needs time to find an audience, and they're very quick to pull them off the air now.

I did a pilot for Nickelodeon that didn't end up going to series.

Anybody who has spent time with the networks - in fact, you don't even have to spend time with the networks, all you have to do is just watch primetime TV - and you think, 'What the hell are they doing? I could run the network better.' And I think everybody feels that way.

The network shows tend to be run, in general, in my experience, by committee, and it's hard for actors and writers to do their jobs.

The whole MS stuff put the kibosh on my career. And I sort of let it go. I even have a friend who went to CBS and said, 'I want Teri Garr to be in this series,' and the head of the network said, 'Oh no, she's got MS.'