Television Writers 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.

Judd Apatow, together with me and Lena, we're all the showrunners of 'Girls.'

I'm a big fan of TV.

I was in Los Angeles in 1968, and I was fortunate enough to be a writer on 'Laugh-In' and a couple of other television shows.

I think it's good news that cable television is so, so supportive of the Louis C.K.s, the Lena Dunhams, the Matthew Weiners, and the Vince Gilligans. There's just so many people fearlessly making their stuff, you know?

I always felt that it was easier to take a funny person and teach them to write television than to take somebody who was a television writer and make them funny. And I discovered a lot of great writers that went on to do a lot of great shows like 'Seinfeld,' 'Friends,' you know, 'Three and a Half Men.'

A lot of writers dream of feature films, but television - by way of TNT, CBS, Lifetime, and Hallmark Hall of Fame - has always called my name. And after seeing 'True Detective,' can there be any doubt that the storytelling on TV is as genius as it gets?

The writers led by Mike Scully are fantastic. And they're creating original stories that not only don't repeat what we've already done, they also don't repeat anything I've seen on television.

Movies, particularly the big hit movies, are all just special effects. But on television, the writers are in control of the shows, and they control the scripts.

It's how the '70s were for movies, the 2000s are for TV. I think it's a phenomenal time for TV and to be involved in it.

It gets kinda monotonous, but that's television. There are plus sides and down sides. The positive side is that you have steady work for nine months of the year for however many years your show is on TV,.

American television is very much created by the writers, just the volume of it. The writers are so key. You're just trying to do something that serves that script. And in general, film isn't all about the script, really.

I've seen, and liked, 'Insecure' and 'Atlanta.'

I've met big-name actors doing Hollywood films, and they've said that all they want is an in at HBO and their own show.

On cable now, the writer is king. Any actor chases that.

It's incredible to be going from the Shondaland universe to 'Big Bang' creator Chuck Lorre.

I think that what 'Oz' did is it spawned a great generation of television production. But people know its place in television and just in great dramas. It's the foundation of my career. Most producers, show runners, directors, and casting directors put me in movies based on my performance in that show.

It's funny, because 'Arrested Development' is tied to Andy Richter in a few different ways. For me personally, after I did Andy Richter, one of the next things I did was a show called 'Quintuplets' for a season for Fox, and this was while 'Arrested Development' was on. I used to go over and hang out on their set.

I don't watch much British television at all. I mean, it's ironic because I used to work in it for years.

Television is a huge industry, and actors down south are aware of it.

'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia' I did an episode on, and that's one of my favorite television shows ever, and there are these shows that I watch so regularly.

Amy Sherman-Palladino and Dan Palladino gave me such a gift with 'Bunheads,' and to give me this gift of going on 'Gilmore Girls' was beyond. It was awesome.

I freely admit I know nothing about television or writing for the screen.

It is harder to get adult, character-driven material on television than it used to be, but there are lots of other places that you can go to sell it. If you can do it for basic cable or pay cable, we have those outlets.

I wrote on the fourth season of 'Arrested Development.'