Television Genres Quotes

I think cable TV in the United States is amazing right now. It's reinvented television, really. What's going on in the States with some of these cable shows like 'Breaking Bad' and 'Mad Men' is amazing stuff.

I do love TV as a medium.

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.

I think Desperate Housewives is a pretty good show, I watch it, I like it and I don't love reality tv that much. I do watch some, I've got three daughters so we'll watch the good stuff, the fun stuff.

I'm a big fan of TV.

For me, TV had always been a medium for entertainment.

I'm the 'Scandal'-'Nashville' kind of TV watcher.

I don't know if TV is where I see my format working.

New platforms are emerging: Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and Xbox. And film actors are gravitating towards television, because there are basically better roles there. Television is making the kind of epics and genres that the movie studios used to make, and often doing it better with more complex narratives and corresponding budgets.

The nature of television - it's quicker than both a play and a movie.

On television, there isn't much scope to do different roles. I try to bring some new shades to my roles, and I try to play them differently. I think I have been able to manage that pretty well.

When we started with 'Big Brother' and created the reality genre, no one could ever foresee that there was so much space in the genre that it could deliver so many formats. There will be periods where there is not enough new stuff to keep the genre alive. But it will never die.

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.

Often with television, particularly with lifestyle entertainment, they really try and box you in.

TV's been good to me.

If I write a cop show, it's not up to me to decide how different it is from 'Law & Order.' I had screenwriters go on and on and on about how their cop show isn't like any other cop show on TV. They made very good points, and it absolutely doesn't matter. It's entirely up to the audience to decide.

I would like to have a go at TV. I think, especially when you have kids, that you spend a lot of time watching telly, and you think, 'How come I'm not doing that?'

It's been an interesting progression, going from soap to a sitcom with 'How I Met Your Mother' and now being a series regular on 'Homeland.'

I like to watch all those shows that shouldn't be on the air - reality shows.

You know, we've got so much on Bravo and coming up on Bravo, and I think we have so much more going on than 'The Real Housewives.' And I think 'The Real Housewives' is a great, you know, great addition to the portfolio. I think it brings a lot of viewers under our umbrella. And I think they stay and sample other shows.

Generally, I am losing faith in telly, as we do have good dramas but not as many as there should be.

TV isn't like films; you can't rest on your laurels.

Well, certainly I think American television is - that's proper TV.

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

You feel a little weird, as a writer of scripted television for many years, to say you're a fan of reality TV. You feel like a traitor. But I am a total fan.