I was actually on two reality shows, which is crazy. Just to think that, out there, there was some guy, like flipping through the channels, being like, 'Hey, I 69'd her on a cruise ship.
NBC's priorities are Jimmy Fallon and Jay Leno, and then there's me.
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.
In the old days you could do re-runs, and people would have to watch that because there's nothing else. But with Netflix and Amazon, Hulu, Xbox, as well as premium and regular cable, it's very hard to do that.
I think the good thing about 'Take Me Out', which is kind of a compliment to us really, is that when it started doing well round about the second series and people started getting into it, all of a sudden every time you turned over a channel there's a new dating show on.
It wasn't the first reality show, but 'Survivor' was the first big network hit, and I'm proud to have played a part in that history as the winner of season six, 'Survivor: Amazon.'
I think no one would dispute that 'Chopped' is a highly athletic television show.
I'm at a point in my career, I've been around a long time now, over 35 years in broadcasting. I don't worry about much. I respect what America's Got Talent is. It is a family show. It is a show that I love.
It's ridiculous that we let broadcast and cable shows compete against each other at the Emmys. They are not the same animal.
USA does such a great job sort of branding and packaging their shows and you know, they move and they sort of you got to keep up, you've really got to keep up with the train.
It's funny - I was a big fan of 'The Sopranos.' It became kind of a threat to 'The X-Files' in a way because they could play with language, character, and story in ways that we never could because of the limitations of network television.
There are many things clogging the television waves. You've got to fight for every bit of television households you can get.
Not every show has to work equally well. It just has to work better than any competitor because then we can outbid for the content.
What I didn't want to do is get into a ratings race with television because really, for them, it matters. For me, it doesn't.
Television has always been our No. 1 competition. But I know firsthand that you can create an experience you can't get on television. I also know that the social experience has an appeal.
Who needs drugs when you have Takeshi's Castle?
If you're a serious actor, you wouldn't put yourself up for one of those shows in case you got bumped off the first week and all your colleagues saw it.
I'm not getting an Emmy.
Just know this, if that day does come where I do win this mirrorball, know that I didn't just win it for me, but I won it for all of us with MS.
