TV series development Quotes

Fred Silverman, the head of ABC, he offered me a lot of comedy series but I told him I'd already been the best comedy series around, "The Odd Couple," and so when he saw that I did Quincy he called my agent and said, Jack turns me down? All my good series and he ends up playing an undertaker." And this was the HEAD of ABC series.

Actually, I find it great fun to develop family series with lots of characters.

It's hard to tell what an entire series is going to be based on the first few episodes, or even on the first season. And it's sad because you see great casts and good ideas that don't get that opportunity to grow and show what it could turn into.

I feel like my experience on 'Community' was that I saw just how important that first year is for a series. That is where you work all the pieces out, and that means honing the characters' voices, setting that tone, finding your angle.

I was working with Peter Tolan, who was my writing partner on those two [Rescue Me and The Job], and he did The Larry Sanders Show with Garry Shandling, and he always said that the second season is better because you know the actors.

And so out of the blue the call did come and said, you know, "Would you be - would you consider turning this [The Starter Wife] now into a series?" And so obviously that was a shock. And all the conversations began. And, you know, and now we're here. Now we're finishing up our last episode right now.

TV [series] is a six-year decision. It's not four or five weeks. If a filmmaker and I don't get along, it's four weeks of your life, so whatever.

We're gonna play a little bit of a game here [Person of Interest movie]. Greg and I felt like we had responsibility when we wrapped up the pilot, to have a roadmap for where the show went. When we pitched the pilot, we knew what we wanted the last episode to be, the last image, I think we even know what the last song is.

I was quite interested to do television series and I started exploring an idea of a longer commitment, a new idea, a new TV show that would've meant a longer commitment but I opened my mind up.

The hardest thing about doing a series and having it stick is that you've never performed with each other, and the pilot is kind of a dress rehearsal, and you don't know the tone until two or three episodes in.