Network Shows Quotes

Television is a completely different industry now. It's just extraordinary. It's so wonderful, because there's more interesting product. It attracts the best writers and directors. And one thing that's really interesting about it is that it used to be, if you were on a big network show, like it or not, you were a household face and name. And believe it or not, not all actors like that. That's not their goal. They just like being actors. And there are so many actors that are on hit shows that I have never seen, I've never heard.

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.

Cable series have more time to focus on characters, and a structure that allows for a development in character as you go along. Network shows have a pressure of time and space that is completely different.

I've done network shows. A director will call me and say, 'Do you want to do this with me?' and I'll say, 'Sure,' but I couldn't do it forever because there's no real expression. That's not how people talk.

I feel that 'Person of Interest' is the same quality as 'Brotherhood.' I think it's one of the smartest network television shows on the air today. The audience is a wide range of individuals.

Flip through the channels, and there is no denying it: The world of cable news - and their network chat-show brethren - is very, very white.

The network shows have this very commercial voice that you have to adhere to, and the cable shows, it's kind of like winning the lottery. The independent film world is a world you can actually get to. You can get the under-a-million-dollar film by finding a good cast and financing.

In the U.S., there are around 300 shows in different networks, so there's a lot of work here.

I've been offered quite a few network shows, over the past couple of years, and always turned them down because I never wanted the commitment. The way that it works in America, you do a pilot and then you wait, and I just thought that wasn't really what I was interested in doing, in that moment.

We're always pitching ideas and being told "no thank you." No offense taken, because I would so much rather be told the truth that they're not interested and be able to find the right show for that network down the line.

I will admit I am a little bit of a line fudger. I will change the line a bit to make it feel better in my mouth. That is something they'll allow you to do on 'Veep' unless it's a particular joke where they're like, 'No, it just sounds better like this.' But with a lot of network shows, the script is law; you cannot change it all.

I've avoided doing network shows because I don't think they're true to real families.

Network shows shoot so fast, so you kind of have to just go with your instinct.

With network shows, writers can be so protective of every syllable.

There's a thrill in flying by the seat of your pants - trousers, actually: 'pants' in English means underwear - because most shows don't operate that way. Network shows are repetitive.

I think, a lot of times, network shows are under a lot of mandates. There's a lot of moving pieces. There's a lot of money. There's a lot of people who are going to be disappointed if anything goes wrong.

There's a certain order to network shows that doesn't exist so much in cable, which is, you know, if you want to change a line you've got to talk to the writer.

With any video you see online, like with YouTube, you gotta watch an ad, and that's gotta stop. And I think it'll stop by...the shitty network shows they put out will just have the ads in the shows. The characters will be eating Cheetos or whatever.

Before Disney, I did other shows so I was aware of the business. They're all the same in that they're a professional environment. The only difference between a Disney show and other network shows are in the age of the actors you're working with and the age of the intended audience.