♪ announcer: from our studios in new york city, this is "charlie rose." charlie: dalton trumbo was the highest paid screenwriter during the 1940's. he was blacklisted by hollywood for nearly a decade after being accused of having communist ties. this did not stop him from writing the oscar-winning films, "roman holiday," and "the brave one." bryan cranston takes on the role of the famed screenwriter in the new film, "trumbo." the wall street journal said trends -- said princeton attacked the part.

here is the trailer. bryan: i love our country, it is a good government, but anything could be better. >> you talk like a radical, but you live like a rich guy. >> the radical might find the purity of jesus, but the rich guy wins with a cunning of satan. >> your next deal is going to make you the highest-paid writer in hollywood. >> where do i sign? >> are you not, or have you been a member of the communist party? bryan: many questions can be answered yes or no only by a moron or a slave. >> no studio will employ a member of the communist party. >> decent americans feel that hollywood is a haven for overpaid traders. >> i have nothing to say to you. bryan: we do it everybody says we can't -- we write. >> are you out of your mind? bryan: congress has no right to

investigate how we think or make movies. >> you do not want your name on it? bryan: you do not want my name on it. perpetually. >> the blacklist is alive and well and sold to the black market. bryan: we should all be prepared to go to prison. >> i do not know if you're going to lose this by doing the right thing. >> phone for you. bryan: who is it? >> there is a good story in there about one man who tried to take on the world. >> "spartacus." >> if we get one big movie, we can get all the big movies. >> if there is another writers' name on it, do not believe it. >> fire dalton trumbo. >> i do not think you and me are going to be pals. >> do you have to say everything like it is going to be chiseled into a rock?

>> whisper a movie you have written in secret. maybe i have heard of it. bryan: maybe you have. ♪ charlie: it is great to have you back at the table. bryan: good to be here. thank you. charlie: who was dalton trumbo -- beyond what we saw in the trailer, why he is a name that somehow stands for principle, resistance to efforts to shut him down? bryan: well, he was, as you mentioned at the top, the highest-paid screenwriter in hollywood in 1947. he was a nonconformist. he was aggressive, prolific, brilliant, a wordsmith. he loved holding court. he was a raconteur he enjoyed . it. he was flamboyant.

he smoked constantly, always through a cigarette holder, just speculated a lot, and he loved life. he was also the person you want on your side to fight for injustice. he would write letters to the school board, the power company if the bills were too high. he would constantly be doing what he did best, write and express himself. he was also irascible and irritable, and short with people, and kind, and generous -- charlie: and arrogant and cocky. bryan: all of those things. brilliant, fun-loving. so he is a complex, deeply faceted character. charlie: you are suggesting somebody bigger than life. bryan: yeah, he was. he was a big, big man. when he walked into a room he wanted to -- charlie: suck the air out of it? bryan: not suck the air, he

wanted to stir the air, stir the informed,volved, stimulate others into conversation. charlie: and you want people to leave this film with what big idea? bryan: well -- charlie: having a good theatrical experience first? bryan: enjoying the film. charlie: and then? bryan: i think it would be great if people left and even argued a point, saying it was a very genuine scare at the time of insurgence of communism and ideology. other people would say it was just a person's thought, how can you persecute someone for their thoughts? so, if we can stimulate that conversation, that is really a victory, for not just us in the movie business and this particular film, but i think

for, in, society. this was a time when, i feel, there was an overreach of a branch of government that became the judge, jury, and executioner of suspending first-amendment rights. and sentencing dalton trumbo and nine other men to prison. committed no crime. contempt of congress. they were not pleased with the effort. charlie: this was also before the time of joe mccarthy, and the time of edward r morrow, and all of that -- where people of conviction had to step forward, knowing that they faced an onslaught against them. bryan: yes. charlie: dalton trumbo was one. bryan: oh, yes, and not just in entertainment or news-gathering entities. educators were also targeted in a variety of different colleges. there were really thousands of people that were targeted and put on the blacklist or gray

list, depending, and there was a lot of innuendo, suspicion. charlie: any reason to believe we could fall back into that kind of -- bryan: i do not see why not. i think it is up to the citizenry to stay vigilant and protect these first-amendment rights that were fought over and blood shed to establish that as a foundation of our government, and the checks and balances were specifically initiated in the branches of government to prevent any one branch of government from being too powerful, and it works. at this point, they push that aside and took it upon themselves to be all-powerful, and that is a dangerous position. charlie: what can you make of the debate -- which is a different debate, a very different debate -- that exists today between privacy and security? the debate between knowing and

an invasion of your lives, sometimes argued on security grounds? bryan: i think anyone who does not believe that the world, and certainly our country, changed drastically from 9/11, is a fool. so, yes. that is the major concern. the main responsibility for any government is to protect their citizens, absolutely. no question. what i am feeling, what i am saying, is that the first amendment needs to be paramount discussion in developing the policy of the government. so if we're talking about extensive wiretapping without, you know, checks and balances -- charlie: safeguards. bryan: i think it is wrong. those are in place for those reasons and it works. charlie: there are some any great actors here.

this shows you being subpoenaed to appear before the house un-american activities committee. >> of course, you realize this means war. >> i have a very unusual mother. bryan: translation, stage mother. >> the misspent youth of a child acrobat. >> how long were you in show business? >> until i was but it was more 15, show-forced labor. [laughter] [applause] >> mr. dalton trumbo? bryan: yes? >> i will see you in washington. enjoy your picnic. let's go, boys.

charlie: we saw in the trailer, it is kirk douglas. bryan: kirk douglas, yeah. in real life kirk douglas did a , very heroic thing, much like the parallels of spartacus, where a man stands up for what is right, and by doing so others will stand with him. it is a noble thing, and kirk, who risked a lot, because he put his own money in his own reputation at risk. charlie: and a lot of lives were financially destroyed. bryan: he could have been ostracized easily if it did not work. at one point, he just felt that it was not right. it was not fair. he would not be who he thought he was as a man, i'm talking about douglas, if he allowed, a different name, a phony name, to be on "spartacus," of all things

-- how can you allow a hidden name to be on that movie? for those principles. he said no, dalton trumbo's name is going to be on it. and it was the first time in 15 years that dalton trumbo saw his real name on a screen. when i think of the movies i am done, so many of the characters i played were part of me. i think of "spartacus," this fight for freedom -- after the battle is over and he is saying , i am free, but i know nothing -- i want to read. , i want to know everything. i want to know why a star falls and a bird doesn't, why the move -- why the moon changes shape, where does the wind come from? when spartacus was asking those questions, i thought those are the questions i would ask when i was a kid. charlie: still do.

bryan: he was a great guy. you saw the movie. it had some wonderful comments but he said he had one criticism. he said, i don't understand why the filmmaker did not select him to play kirk douglas. charlie: that is a good point. lbj -- what have you learned from this deep dive into lyndon baines johnson? it is an important period of american history -- the voters right act of 1965, civil rights act of 1964. it was landmark legislation that changed how we live, and it also forced us to look at ourselves in the mirror and say, "look at what we have been doing to a cross-section of american citizens. look how we have been treating them." how dare us.

the unmitigated disgust of how we were treating other human beings. it was not a pretty picture to look at. there was a lot of resistance to it. he did it, not because he thought it would leave a legacy of greatness. i truly believe he thought it was the right thing to do. he had an experience when he was a young man, fresh out of college, and got a job at an elementary school. these kids, who did not have shoes, did not eat very much, but they were so eager to learn. they were attentive and desperate to break out, and he loved these children. and in the town, this little texas town, there was a lot of prejudice against them, simply because they are brown, or their economic status, or their legal status, or whatever the case was. he just felt that was fundamentally wrong, and at some point i would like to see that change, and if i can do it, so

much the better. he had the advantage of being in the house of representatives for, like, 12 years, and then in the senate, rising to senate majority leader, before he became vice president and president. he knew the important players, and he also knew their wives names, and some of their kids names. charlie: he also knew their weak points. the argument that would get them to see the world as he sees it. bryan: yes, that is true. it is interesting i went from playing -- from lbj to dalton trumbo back to lbj, and there are a lot of similarities between the men. if you drew a venn diagram, the comparisons are remarkable. charlie: larger than life. bryan: larger-than-life. they are both big storytellers. they both have hearty laughs. they love to indulge.

they did not take care of their bodies. they were hyper-focused on their profession. they were extremely good at it, both of them. they were both very prolific, both ambitious as hell. both had a lot of downside. charlie: insecurities. bryan: insecurities -- an emptiness, a desire to be respected and loved, and exceedingly talented. charlie: what part of you misses walter? bryan: i do not miss walter white. charlie: even though it changed your life. bryan: i miss the people connected to it. the reason i do not miss walter white is that "breaking bad" had a beautiful beginning, middle, and end. it is like if you had a great

meal, and then somebody brought you more dessert -- no. it kind of ruins it. it was good where it was. leave it at that and walk away proud. charlie: thank you for coming. bryan: my pleasure. thank you, charlie. charlie: --"trumbo" opens november 6. ♪

♪ charlie: sarah silverman is here, and she has been a standup comedian and an actor for more than 20 years. she takes on her first major dramatic role in the new film "i smiled back." she plays a woman suffering from alcoholism and depression. peter travers called the performance "acting of the highest caliber." here is the trailer for "i smile back." >> rise and shine, beautiful. sarah: how much do you love me? oh, good. oh, good. promise you will never leave me. >> she turned around and gave a -- gave the kid a huge smile. whatever it took, he was going to marry that girl. sarah: and did he? >> i would marry you 100 times.

sarah: nobody tells you that it is terrifying to love something so much. why didn't you call me? >> you were in the hospital? >> the 30 years before that. >> why did you stop taking your meds? sarah: they were making me fat. >> so you would rather be insane? rise and shine, beautiful. >> i just want you to be happy, like you used to be. sarah: i can't breathe. >> don't you want to be happy? >> what do you want? sarah: i would love to smile like that again. charlie: what are they saying

about you? tour de force, monster performance. sarah: i guess i am pretty great. charlie: welcome to the table. welcome to the show. sarah: i cannot believe i am here. i cannot believe this is it. this table is everything i want it to be. charlie: we have been waiting 20 years for you. once this a challenge for you? -- was this a challenge for you? sarah: yes. charlie: because? sarah: i think mostly because my -- i don't have easy access to my emotions. they are very tightly packed and compartmentalized in the deep recesses inside me, and, so, i had to -- i needed them all on the surface of my skin to do this. charlie: you needed to be able to access them. sarah: yeah, and then also she feels everything so much. she is covering it, kind of expertly, but it all has to be there.

you know, i thought it would be fun, and we could have laughs and stuff in between shots, but what i did not understand is i am not -- i do not think i am experienced enough in this to be able to access it and put it away and access it. you always hear tom hanks is a big laugh riot, then they call action, and he is captain phillips. i am not there yet. i do not have my 10,000 hours in of dramatic acting to have that kind of access. so, it was, kind of, all on my lap in between scenes, and it made it difficult for me because it was attached to me like a flu. charlie: what is your history with depression? sarah: it came over me as fast as a cloud covering the sun when i was 13, getting off a bus from an eighth grade camping trip that was -- where i cried the

whole time, and i remember when i -- when one of my teachers asked why i was upset, i could not tell her the truth, which was i was homesick, i was a dead letter, and i had pampers hidden in my sleeping bag when i was in eighth grade, and i told her i was worried about my mom being alone. i got off the bus, and my mom was taking pictures of me. i already felt so much, kind of humiliation from the trip. she was paparazzi-ing me, and i was begging her to stop, and, you know, i love her -- she wanted to remember the moment. she did not know what my stance had been. i've been her to stop. it is very hard to be ignored by someone that is taking pictures

of you but it was in that , moment, and it came over me that fast, and it stayed for three years, and it was, i guess, clinical depression. charlie: so, did you go do something about it immediately? sarah: well, i wouldn't go to school. you know, i was a really social girl, i was a class clown. i had my best friends. we hung out every day. and, suddenly, it was, like, -- it was, like, my perspective on everything changed, like, three degrees, which, like, changes everything. so, i did not see any point in hanging out with friends. it felt like a burden hanging out with friends. i was so jealous watching them from afar just existing in life. i was so envious of that because it was like they did not even care that we are all going to die, or that we are totally alone behind our eyes -- all of us. none of that bothered anybody else. charlie: how much of yourself did you see in laney?

sarah: you know, luckily we are very, very different, but the bones of depression i share and i understand, so i was able to use myself, certainly, as a resource, to a degree. charlie: tell me about her. sarah: laney -- so, this character -- i am doing everything that actors do i am , calling laney her, and talking about her in the third person, and later i will talk about what a generous actor josh was, where tommy, the things i used to roll my eyes at, or that i stayed in character, but it all turned out to be true. charlie: that is exactly what happened. sarah: anyway, laney -- laney is a suburban housewife and mother married to a wonderful -- charlie: questions whether she is any good at it at all -- whether she is a good mother. she asks the question.

sarah: she has a perfect life on paper. she is a drug addict. she suffers from depression. she is probably a drug addict because she is self-medicating that depression. charlie: and she feels abandoned. sarah: charlie, you know, we are trying to survive our childhoods. we learn survival skills to get through childhood. that is why comics become funny. that is why all comics come from such a dark place. i am touching on your upcoming questions. i know. charlie: because of you and what you became, was it, in some way, an escape from pain? sarah: totally. charlie: totally? sarah: well, not totally. not totally. i know why i am funny. charlie: yes, you are. i know that because i have had to dissect it over the years doing press, but it is a gift because it made me realize so many things about myself and my life. my dad taught me swears when i

was a toddler, and i knew if i yelled out swears in the middle of boys market, i would get wild approval from adults despite themselves. it was a drug. charlie: you felt loved. sarah: i felt loved, and it was an incredible reward being able to present an element of surprise to people. that was a positive thing. comics usually come from -- i was a bedwetter, a hairy jew. i grew up in new hampshire. there are not many jews in new hampshire. we were not raised in any religion. we were just jewish in that it oozed out of our pores, but i did not feel so different, until maybe, like, around third grade. kids started blaming me for my people killing jesus. i remember, even then, thinking

it is not like we killed baby , jesus. i mean, man, he had quite a run. he was 33. 33 is young. if someone dies now at 33, it is terrible, but back then, in the oldyhe -- in the oldy timey-times, 33 was elderly. dying at 33 was like he had a full life. by the way, you are welcome. if we did not kill him, he would not be famous. charlie: you always had the ability to joke about taboo stuff. sarah: yeah, that is interesting to me. one, because it is surprising the adults with swears, and two, i love the notion -- one of my heroes, mr. fred rogers, like he would say, if it is mentionable, it is manageable, and that is what i think about the things

that are taboo. i am very much a product of my parents. i grew up with them not having boundaries in lots of good and bad ways. my mom -- charlie: no boundaries. box waser jewelry filled with not jewelry, i think , she had one feather earring, but it was all buttons -- "question authority." "we have met the enemy, and it is us." "why doesn't the military had a bake sale and the school get funded by the government?" charlie: who influenced you at that time when you started in comedy? joan rivers? sarah: i grew up loving joan rivers. we're not incredibly alike in that -- but we are alike in that -- i think she is a taboo-buster, totally.

she never stopped being a comedian. you know, she never stopped being vital. she died at 81, and she died before her prime. she reinvented herself -- she was far from "can we talk?" charile: she loved to reinvent herself, loved being relevant, engaged. sarah: it does not have to become just reinvention -- what will i do next, where a whatever, costume, but it is about letting yourself be changed by new information. charile: all right, let me take a look at this. this is a scene from "i smile back," where you are speaking with a therapist in rehab. here it is. >> where would you like to start? sarah: really? >> really. sarah: what is more interesting for you, the daddy issues, or the drugs? >>i would like to start with the daddy issues as it is a very

organic segue into the drugs. sarah: mine is boring. my dad left when i was nine. that is the whole story. he kissed me good night, and that is the last time i saw him. so, drugs? >> we will get to that. can you tell me why you have not spoken again? sarah: he did not call me. >> why haven't you called him? sarah: because i did not know where he lives. >> oh. charile: what did you do to make sure your emotions were accessible, what you talked about at the beginning of this conversation? i mean, was that -- sarah: i do not know. charile: you just acted. sarah: well, i had a lot of resources, including myself. you know, i do not struggle with addiction, but i am a comedian, and i am surrounded by it. i had a lot of very -- not a

lot, but a couple of very generous friends to have suffered from addictions and who really took me through it and were very detailed and i worked on the script, like actors do. then i pretended, like it was real. charile: so, what did you learn at "saturday night live." sarah: i learned so much at "saturday night live." what a great opportunity to have -- to have, so young. i was 22. it is such a boot camp. i have no idea what lorne michaels saw in me. i do not feel like i knew who i was or i was particularly hilarious at 22. charile: did he bother to tell you what he expected of you? sarah: no.

it is like being thrown in a pool and learning how to swim. it was amazing. i was there for one season, and i was let go, but i believe everything happened for a reason. "saturday night live" is like new york city -- if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere. after that, everything is easy. charile: is writing easy for you, or hard? sarah: hmm. it is -- i do not mean to keep having analogies, it is kind of, like, working out, the hardest part is putting your sneakers on. charile: putting the sneakers on is your -- the hard part. like sitting in front of a typewriter. sarah: typewriters don't exist anymore. charile: how long has it been? sarah: it has been a couple of years. [laughter] what are the -- what are the typewriters companies doing? charile: i do not know.

here's a clip when you are talking to your son. "i smile back." here it is. sarah: i was having some trouble where they were making me do things i should not have done. >> why did you do them? sarah: it is complicated, but i saw a doctor, who was really, really smart, and he helped me sort through my problems. now i am better. [indiscernible] sarah: no. no, no, no. charlie: so, tell me about how you see the next few years of your life -- more stand up? sarah: i never guess. something great that will blow

pinhole. -- that will blow your mind -- we are looking through a pinhole. have you ever been able to predict anything that is happening in your life? what makes you think you can now? charlie: i do not want you to predict. now that you have this movie behind you, these monsters reviews -- and some people say the performance is even better than the movie. you are not necessarily thrilled by that, but they do. the one thing that stands out is your performance in this film. sarah: ok. charlie: therefore we have established that you can do this enormously, serious dramatic acting. this is not established before. sarah: yeah. charlie: this was a departure for you. sarah: yeah, i know. charlie: you can go on television and do stand up like that. sarah: yeah. charlie: are you going to do more movies, go back to stand up tomorrow? sarah: i will always go back to stand up. charlie: because you need it?

sarah: because that is why am. i was born this way. that is who i am. but i like doing also something. i have always loved our jobs. i like making videos on my couch. charlie: videos on your couch -- whatever you see? sarah: i did the great schlep, sell the vatican, feed the world. which i feel this pope would do. you could sell three pieces of art and feed the world. charlie: you could select the art for him. sarah: i think he would love to do that. i love this guy. charlie: thank you for coming. sarah: thank you for having me. charlie: stay with us. ♪

charlie: nina tassler is here. she is the president and chairman of cbs entertainment. she will step down from those positions in december at 18 years -- after 18 years. les moonves says working with her has been one of the most proud undersides of her -- his professional life. in her 12 years as president of cbs entertainment, the network has produced hit shows such as "how i met your mother," "the big bang theory," "the good wife," and "the late show with stephen colbert." >> why? >> you would have to go to every party city in southern

california. >> sounds like you on secret -- you on cinco de mayo. >> people were still talking about that party. on siete de mayo. >> if that swedish team beats us, i will never enjoy anything from the country again, which is a shame because swedish meatballs are my favorite too thick-delivered meatball -- meatballs. >> i am the calmest, sweetest man on the earth. there are times, and there are people that sometimes do not listen to reason. >> do i need to worry about you? >> yeah. ♪ very superstious writings on the wall

very superstitious not about to fall ♪ stephen: you said this weekend, recently, if you do not -- you not know to our emotionally prepared to run for president. vice president biden: look, i do not think any man or woman should run for president unless, number one, they know exactly why they would want to be president, and two, they can look at the folks out there and say "i promise you, you have my whole heart, my whole soul, my energy, and my passion to do this," and i would be lying if i said that i knew i was there. ♪

charlie: so, the last one was "supergirl." nina: yes, it was. charlie: take that show and give us the history of it. nina: sure. "supergirl" comes from marvel, and we heard a pitch. greg is now the wonder can't in terms of being able to execute on these big dc brands. greg is a terrific writer, show runner, so on. they brought the pitch in, which means you get a call on the studio and swift warner bros., and everybody comes in. they had prepared for weeks in advance.

they are prepared to tell you a story, introducing to the character, the pilot story, what other characters are in the show, and we listen. charlie: we is you and -- nina: myself, the drama department at the time, and we began to hear the story of cara, the character in "supergirl," and we also heard a story of coming of age -- a strong woman who is going to come into her own, realize her powers, or capacity, and i felt in love. -- fell in love. i said this kind of character is not on television right now, yet oddly, if you look at other female heroines on cbs, she is a younger version of those characters. charlie: you like it so far. what do you do next? nina: what i do -- at that moment, they got to a particular scene in the story, and i welled up.

it was emotional. i started to cry. it was about a mother -- it was about a mother telling her daughter how much she believed in her, and how much her dream was to -- for her to realize her potential. i personalized it and i was touched. i bought it in the room. i said we have to do it. we had to do it. we knew it would be competitive, but sometimes the business is competitive. charlie: this is a sellers market for this kind of character because they had something special. anybody other than networks competing for this? nina: sure. the whole market is competitive. cable is a competitor. streaming outlets are competitors. we all competitors. we -- there is still no business like show business, which is the big broadcast business. charlie: in terms of reaching a broader audience. nina: reaching a bar under audience -- broader audience. charlie: i mean, you like the

pilot, you put it in the network schedule, or decide you want to support the program and then when you have a slot you will go into production? nina: usually what we do, we go into our scheduling process, which happens every spring, and we screened all of the pilots. on average, we are shooting between nine and 12 pilots. charlie: how many will be selected? nina: statistically, over the last couple of years, we have launched five shows. five new shows every season. our needs have been less than other networks because we have been so successful, so we buy less products, but we commit and stand behind it over a longer period of time. charlie: les moonves -- he says one of the proudest professional partnerships. he is credited for having a nose for the right type of program at the right time.

what have you learned from him? nina: leslie and i have a special relationship. i worked as an agent for five years before i met leslie. he was at lorimer. i was in the agency business for five years. i was hired by leslie to go to work and laura mark in long-form television. lorimar became warner bros. they kept all of the people. and we developed a very close relationship it we had similar backgrounds -- i come from the theater. leslie comes from the theater. i had admired leslie tremendously. there is a very funny story -- when i knew i was going to have ace -- a meeting with leslie -- i lobbied every person i knew in hollywood. i called every person that knew him. i had them call leslie.

charlie: a competitive place. nina: oh, yes. so, i knew, when i was sitting out of his office, i am not going to stop talking until i know i have the job. i went in there and i sat down and i did not stop talking until i could feel a shift in the room. we had a lot of friends in common, business acquaintances in common, but i knew in my gut i have the job, so i started working for him in longform television at warner bros. charlie: and as has been a hugely successful run for both of you. nina: has been a great time. charlie: so, why are you leaving? nina: you know, i come from the theater. i was trained in the theater at boston university. i worked off broadway in new york for three years. i loved it. it is my first love. i'm a creative person. i never imagined, in a million years, that i would have had the career that i had, and i/o so much of it to -- i/o so much of it to leslie. -- i owe so much of it to

leslie. my father worked at warner bros. in 1965. it was a special thing to come to cbs. i am blessed, likely. -- lucky. i have been married for 31 years. i have two kids. i would love to see them. [laughter] charlie: what is television right now -- what is the moment? nina: i think the moment right now is about choice. the quality of the content is extruded night. you ask anyone, actors, producers --the place to be is television. charlie: television in its broadest sense -- cbs to hbo to netflix. nina: correct. what you have is a chance to expose it, especially at cbs, in the broadest sense of the word. you reach millions and millions of people every week.

what is also happening now is people have the opportunities to watch when they want to watch, how they want to watch, where they want to watch, and we realize if you look at a show like "supergirl," "criminal minds," "the good wife," it is a local families. they will follow the show wherever it is. they have to stay connected. they have to be a part of the characters' lives. television is about ownership, people developing characters -- relationships with characters and making long-term commitments. the fact that there is as much flexibility to watch when and where -- it means people can stay engaged and stay current. charlie: and there is no reason cbs cannot create that kind of content. nina: we do it every day. charlie: part of you -- if you look at the audience for hbo, is it a different audience than the audience for cbs -- first of all, they can do more things

because it is not over the air, and therefore you are paying to watch it. nina: correct. charlie: therefore, there is more freedom in terms of the scripts. nina: yes, and no. unfortunately, people think -- charlie: the language is different. nina: the language is different, but ultimately the quality of the writing is not determined by the language you can or can't use. "good wife," "madam secretary," these are powerful characters, well-written scripts and shows. you cannot quality television, engaging television, and not worry about the language. quality television, and not worry about the language. charlie: "big bang theory." nina: yes. charlie: was that yours? nina: yes. it is very interesting about "big bang." it has interesting origins. it was a pilot written by chuck and bill pradee, who is a rocket

scientist. he has a background in the sciences. we shot it pilot. we had a different actress playing penny. the other characters were in the pilot, too, but the pilot just did not work. great chemistry between jim and johnny, but there were elements that did not work. traditionally, if something does not work, you pass on it, and you move on, but i asked leslie if he would give us another chance. i said give us a shot. let's recast, reshoot. charlie: because you believed in it. nina: yes. well, it is a belief, and it is probable. i mean, you can feel when there is chemistry between actors.

you felt that with these guys. they were so funny, and chuck lori is truly the gold standard in our industry. he is one of the great, great comedy writers of our day. he knew, i knew when we saw the pilot, if we can have another shot -- really, we have to think chuck for accepting doing another project because not every writer would. chuck said yes, i thank you for this shot. i can do better. we shot another pilot. kaley cuoco joined the cast as penny, and the rest is history. charlie: you listen to all of these pages and then you pitched -- pitch to les? nina: leslie has been kind enough over the years -- i buy all of the shows, i was buying all of the shows, and i read all of the scripts for all of the films, and that is a couple hundred scripts every season, and then i would pass along to him the projects that i was passionate about, and he and i would have conversations about what and why i like certain things, and healthy debate.

then we would make a decision about which pilots we were going to shoot. charlie: late-night. you are in a very good place now. i mean, david decided he wanted to go away. everyone always wondered who would succeed him, and once they said it was stephen, every once and of course, it is. how brilliant is that. was that easy? nina: i cannot think about anything in our business being easy. it all has its respective challenges. i think a lot of it was -- you know, the logistics. i mean, stephen, i think, was born ready for this. i really believe that he was born ready for this. the question everybody cap task was who is the real stephen colbert, and ironically --

charlie: he had been doing a character. nina: he is an actor. one of the things i did early on was googled the commencement speech at northwestern, and i thought there is stephen colbert. charlie: what was it about that speech? nina: he was real, direct, pointed, honest, and was able to tell the stories about his life at northwestern, and i just found him so engaging and so real. charlie: so based on the commencement speech, you said he is the guy for "late night." charlie: james cordon. nina: unbelievable. fresh, real, and they brit, and he is introducing partner, they have been friends for years. ben is an excellent and her talent. he is a deep bench of smart, funny people.

charlie: what will happen with the advent of hbo doing their own subscription, you doing your own discretion, netflix -- will there be a fallout from all of that, or does it mean more opportunities for more talented writers and actors to show their stuff? nina: that is exactly right. we like to say the tide will rise to float all boats, and that is where we are right now. the beauty is there is so much talent out there. there are so many young writers, young actors. there is opportunity for everybody. i think right now, especially with cbs having our own, you know, streaming service, it gives us such a great way to reach our viewers, the available for them, to them, whenever they need us. i think it is -- it is just about, again, creating more choices and chances for people to watch cbs' great content. charlie: what is the name of the book you will write?

nina: "what i told my daughter" -- lessons from leaders. charlie: it is about empowering women? nina: it is a collection of essays from mothers, everyone from whose bader ginsburg, gloria stephan, former first lady laura bush. how they raise their daughters, what kind of effort and energy they put into helping their daughters create their own narrative. charlie: thank you for being here. nina: thank you, charlie. charlie: thank you for joining us. see you next time. ♪

angie: i'm angie lau in hong kong. china's consumer data waned in the fourth quarter. policy makers may need to add more stimulus. cpi rose 1.2% from a year earlier, while ppi dropped 5.9%, the 45th straight month in the red. japan's current account was in the surplus for a 15th consecutive month in september. the wiki and lifted income from overseas. the ¥1.5 trillion access was about $12 billion and was narrower than expected and assign companies are hoarding cash. the oecd cut its global forecast