TV show longevity Quotes

I'm feeling very lucky to be on 'GH.' It's kind of cool to be part of the fight to keep the show on the air. I hope I can help contribute to that.

What I've learnt from 'Friends' is don't let the characters get together because then it won't be as good afterwards.

Most people, you do a TV series, it ends three, four, five years later; it's a relic.

Ratings experts say the best way to get people to watch during sweeps is to leave the audience with a question that won't be answered until the next time the show is on. You know, like Who shot J.R.? I like to think I do this every night - the question is, Is this show still on?

That's the thing that continues to blow me away and just never ceases to amaze me. Younger people continue to seek out this show and find it, and we get approached by 11-year-olds who say, 'Oh, my God, 'Psych' is my favorite show.' It's like, 'You weren't born when we started making that!' It's fascinating - and also awesome and humbling.

I never really imagined a show about a sponge going past our first season. I thought maybe we'd have a cult following, and we'd be gone after one season.

A show that's been successful that been on a while, chances are it's going to stay that way. At least it's going to maintain some kind of standard. But when a show begins, there's no telling. Even after 13 shows or a whole year, you don't know what will become of it.

I've never done a show for more than one season, in my entire life.

It's often the case with successful TV shows that they kind of inadvertently live on past their prime. It's best to leave the audience wanting more.

I'm so grateful that the Internet and the DVD came along because, otherwise, something like 'Freaks And Geeks' would have been dead. At the time we made the show, those avenues weren't really available, and the idea of the show carrying on after it was canceled was something that didn't really happen.

When you get to the fourth, fifth and sixth years of a show, it's really good to have held back, so that you have somewhere to go. That also applies to levels of violence, levels of humor, levels of production value.

One of the tricks that you have to learn, with episodic TV, is you don't know how many years you're going to be blessed with.

We are not really privy to all that crazy stuff that goes on in the show. I go to work, eat, and talk about food. The wild things happen when we aren't around. I expected Top Chef to last three or four seasons and we are now shooting season ten.

The happy medium is television. And if you find a good suitor, you can do it for years. With movies, you roll the dice. If people don't show that weekend, you're doomed. TV allows you to percolate a little bit, and it gives you a chance for people to find it.

Most actors in my position, at 47, you want your annuity show. You want your Marg Helgenberger role on 'CSI.' But that's like winning the lottery. So you try and keep yourself sane.