least for now american optimism has proved to be a renewable resource. and perhaps the most important tool on the road to our recovery. television on. >> hbo did a lot of its best work when it was bending a genre. take something that's familiar and give it some chili pepper. >> advertising is based on one thing, happiness. >> is there any taboo that you wouldn't break? >> not if it was a funny idea. >> what is wrong with you? >> there is so much different storytelling and so many different stories being told about so many different people. >> i don't think dramatic series television has ever been stronger. >> there's no longer this theory of what popular entertainment must be. >> who are the heroes? the people who watch this show.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> this is the week when the major broadcast networks unveil their fall lineup of shows. and every executive in hollywood knows how well the sopranos is doing on cable.

which is a network problem. >> i think hbo altered everything for this reason alone, there were no commercials. >> we are dependent on sponsors. there is scotch we can do in terms of language, in terms of violence and in terms of sex. >> to a large degree executives were sanding off the edges of what was interesting. >> i think hbo is looking at the world and going, okay, how can we matter? for quite a long time, movies and boxing were the bread and butter of hbo. >> people watch a show because you're partly [ bleep ]. >> and i think what we've learned through shows like larry sanders show, or oz, is that we could do serious television. >> there's something in the air. and it ain't love. >> oz was cutting edge in what it was willing to share with the audience. >> hit me. hit me. hit me in the face, brother. >> complicated characters.

complicated issues, and the way it was presented was so unique. >> sentence, nine years. up for parole in six. >> what they were doing at hbo was exactly what the network wasn't doing. they were breaking barriers. you get to "the sopranos" and all of a sudden the villain is the hero. >> and some egg plant. >> i told you i'm not hungry. >> now you won't even accept food from your own mother. >> the sopranos was the invention about a mob family, something people hadn't seen before, the idea that a mob roadster is seeing a therapist. >> whatever happened to gary cooper, the strong, silent type? that was an american. he wasn't in touch with his feelings. he just did what he had to do. once they knew once they got gary cooper in touch with his feelings, they wouldn't be able to shut him up. function this, function that and

function -- >> you have strong feelings about this. >> every decade you get somebody like peter falk as columbo or ar archie bunker. james gandel feni is about that >> it's everyday life. >> did you know alexander graham bell invented the telephone? >> he invented the telephone? >> you see what i mean? everybody knows he invented the telephone and he 2k3w09 robbed. >> who invented the mafia? >> what? >> the sopranos took the mystery out of being a mob roadster. ♪ do your dirty work, go yeah" >> and it was somehow more mundane than we guessed it would be. and yet every bit as riveting as "the godfather." >> you were like a brother to

me. >> the debate raged at hbo about whether you could have a guy like this as your lead. and david chase was adamant that you have to -- this is who he is, and he was right. >> can you assure me that tony sparano isn't going to become a sensitive nurturing mellowing man? >> yes. >> oh, good. [ laughter ] >> oh, my god. >> it's all right. i'll be home in a couple hours. don't worry. >> i'm graduating tomorrow. >> carmelo was a wife and a mother, i think first and foremost. as long as she kept going to church, i'm taking care of my soul. >> where's the rest of the money? >> it's everywhere. >> goes home to her husband. he has blood on him. there is was no way to reconcile the two things. >> towards the end where their marriage is falling apart -- >> i used to [ bleep ] your husband. >> you have made a fool of me

for years with these whores. >> she is stunning in that. >> it mattered to people what this couple was going through and i remember feeling a real sense of responsibility about that. and giving the weight to the scene that it deserves. >> what? >> you know what i don't understand, tony? what does she have that i don't have? >> suddenly here is this tv show that everyone is talking about, but you have to pay to watch it. you know, that's how good "the sopranos" was. people were paying just to see that show. >> the sopranos came along and completely re-established what the bar was. i honestly couldn't quite believe it, that television was communicating something that you don't might only see in the darkest moments and accurate

moments in cinema. >> you look at the year that american beauty won the oscar, which is also the year that the sopranos debuted, and almost immediately after that, the two mediums difficult verged. >> you know what i must do? i'm afraid to do it. >> movies became much more focused on big tent things that can bring as much of an audience as you possibly can. meanwhile, tv, which had always been a big tent medium started going smaller more interior, all right, we want to tell stories for grown ups that maybe don't get the biggest audience but get a passionate one. ♪ i'll be home for christmas ♪ >> i had an idea of doing a show about death. >> are you smoking? >> no. >> yes, you are. i heard you. >> no, i'm not. >> look, forget you'll give

yourself cancer and die a slow and horrible death. you should not be sticking up that new hearst. >> i met with carolyn. she said she'd like to do a show about a family that ran a funeral home. something in my head just went, click, what a brilliant idea. >> i'm quitting right now. i promise. okay? i'll see you tonight. ♪ i'll be home for christmas ♪ if only in -- >> each episode starts with the death of a character, and then that character's death is dealt with in a local family funeral home mortuary. [ screaming ] >> excuse me, this was one of my

first -- maybe it was my first binge show, which was long enough ago that it was all somebody had recorded on vcr. >> have you been watching "mrs. romano?" >> yeah, i've been watching her all night. are you thinking what i'm thinking? >> casket climber. >> casket climber. >> i don't want to go with you. i want to go with you. >> mrs. romano. >> there is a whole level of something going on on television. it was grittier than most shows you'd ever seen before, and yet something magical about it. >> i think what our strategy at hbo was in terms of audiences, not everybody has to watch a show. but if we have different shows for different people, there is something that makes you want to come back and sign up month after month. maybe you don't want to watch section in the city, but maybe you'll watch entourage. >> entourage was originally

based on mark wahlberg's life, and the appeal of the show is not so much about show business. it was these four gaze who were like lifelong friends who could [ bleep ] with each other and say horrible things with each other, but be tight and be good friends. >> they want to throw 4 million at you. >> are you kidding? >> are you smiling? >> yeah, i'm smiling. >> can you hear me smiling? you got my bald thing with men. they drive that way in tiananmen square? >> he became the break out character. willing to be truthless, also a family man with a line in the sand. and you don't know where that line in the sand is which makes him a morally much more interesting character. >> i read an article in the times, the new york times, not -- >> you read the times? >> no. >> you read the new republic? >> i've heard of it. >> i was reading it. it's interesting. what it says, you don't know what the [ bleep ] you're talking about. so this is their big idea? people? i think human interaction is overrated, but this makes

quite a bit of sense. they literally just put real cpa people in their software. why didn't i come up with that? why are we still clapping, by the way? i don't know. but if i stop, people are going to think i'm jealous. you get a cpa! you get a cpa! you get a cpa! i like this guy's style! [applause continues] turbotax live now with cpa's on demand. ♪iere... isn't the best present being present? stella artois. joie de biere.

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who could have possibly guessed, a show about a bunch of back stabbing people with body odor on an island off borneo would become the tv hit of the summer. >> "survivor" was really the first true competitive reality for matt. >> go. >> i started to really understand what the show was going to be about the first 20 minutes into day one. >> let's see what we got. see what we got. >> what do you want -- >> might be a blow torch in there. >> we need a bathroom.

>> you guys all done talking? >> richard hatch was sitting in a tree, lecturing about what they should do as their group. >> nobody is working toward a particular goal, not the silly little stuff about who is going to sleep where, what are we going to do, but why are we here. >> and underneath him was this woman sue hawk, a truck driver. >> i'm a red neck and i don't know corporate world at all. corporate world ain't gonna workout here in the bush. >> that was the show. >> he walked around naked quite a bit. i think it bugged the guys. >> whatever it takes to win here is the point. >> it's a game. call it machiavellian, sure. >> we had no idea that richard hatch would be the best thing to ever happen to "survivor." >> all around the country, people were on the edge of their seats, waiting for the final vote to be announced. >> the winner of the first "survivor" competition is --

>> "survivor" sort of legitimatized the genre. simon fuller came into my office and his vision was one long audition. >> like a -- touch this time. >> i've never, ever heard anything like that in my life. >> she baze -- >> thank you. ♪ ♪ >> what was that? [ laughter ] >> that is what you think we're looking for? >> the network was saying, we don't think we can put simon on the promos. >> no, no, no, no, no. no, no, no. >> he'll scare little girls and we think that's our audience. >> the worst auditions i've ever heard in my life. >> well, that's the whole show. so, you know, without him it's not going to work. it was a big fight internally. we got him on and that's what sparked the show. >> well, here they are. [ cheers and applause ] >> the judges have made their

choices. now, america, it's all up to you. >> "american idol" reunited the family audience in front of the tv. ♪ respect ♪ >> it hadn't been done before, but the way the producers of the show could manipulate trauma, the way they could find stories, that was the core of making those shows successful. >> this is the weakest romance i've ever seen. this romance is pathetic. was there a romance? >> well, i think we just decided we were meant to be he have close friends. >> very close friends, that's right. >> good, i've had some close friends, too. >> me, too. me, too. >> it's cost me a lot of money, i'll tell you that. >> the apprentice has its lasting effect even today. donald trump becomes a star. >> you're fired. >> all of it kind of reality show fake, people who worked on it came forward and said we kind of made the whole thing up, and

yet it sells. and then there's just this explosion. are you interested in tattoos? weight loss? plastic surgery? >> breast augmentation, tummy tuck, facial surgery. >> hoarders, substance abuse, flipping your house? that's a big one. there's literally a reality show for everyone now. >> the networks would be out of business without reality tv. if you have to fill 40 hours of television with scripted shows, it would cost you an arm and a leg. you'll be out of business because those scripted shows most likely will do no better most likely than the reality show did. >> they aimed at gay viewers and women. and so, you know, you have like queer eye for the straight guy. >> bad taste kills. >> and project runway. >> this is a search for the next big fashion designer. >> project runway was not an

instantaneous hit. we sort of had this crisis, we're like is anyone going to want to sit around watching people sew? >> i am in a race against time now, yes. >> bravo played three or four episodes over the christmas holidays, and all of a sudden it just caught on like wildfire. >> make it work. >> people have come into runway and top chef, and they know that this can change their lives. >> one of you is about to win the title of "top chef." >> rock and roll! >> it could be the osbournes. it was fun. the whole idea of the guy who bit the heads off of bats, being domestic, his wife and teenage kids. >> please don't get drunk or stoned tonight. >> that's what sparks this movement of, we can put celebrities on tv and let them do what they do. >> i've always heard of people that hang out at walmart. >> why? what is walmart? >> it's like they sell wall stuff? >> no.

>> what is it? >> it's like -- >> of course, that reaches its peak depending on your opinion, with the kardashians. >> i hate you all. >> welcome to my family. >> there's something about watching someone who is maybe slightly like yourself, but more obnoxious. >> so evil. there's a lot of baggage that comes with us. but it's like louis vuitton baggage. you always want t. >> or more of a disaster. >> prostitution who are [ bleep ]. you [ bleep ]. [ bleep ]. >> there's something about watching that and going, yeah, god, at least i'm not that. >> i look over, and i see like hair being pulled and all [ bleep ], oh, my god, how do i get in? >> you get the critics asking me, why are people watching that reality show? why are they watching the show? because they're entertained.

you are never going to meet someone that's going to say to you, you know, i was watching "the bachelor" last night, i loved it. but i wish i was watching a great drama. >> karen. >> i thought you'd never ask. >> don't call it a guilty pleasure it's a pleasure. it could be a reality show, documentary. whatever it is. great tv comes in many forms.

you want to know what the best thing about it is? the best thing it stops. >> in the year 2000 we get malcolm in the middle. a pivotal show not the least of which because it gives us brandt granlund son. this is a single camera comedy. >> around here being smart is exactly being radioactive. >> single camera comedies were funny and the fact you could shoot them like movies and they could be terrific every week -- >> yep, class president felt really good. later that night i had a dream. >> you know, critics loved that because it was something new. it was something that they weren't expecting. >> you should see the traffic. the only thing moving is the car pool lane. >> hey, daddy, you on a date with mama?

>> get in the car. >> curb came because larry wanted to do a special. it was his -- but he would only make it with the stipulation that if he didn't like it, he could buy it back. lucky for us, he liked it. >> are you trying to act like you're not with me? >> i'm not fryitrike to act likm not with you. don't you dare do that. >> the actors wouldn't get an outline for the show. they wouldn't even read what the scene was about. >> judy! judy! >> judy. >> oh, my god. >> by the way that's correct shelf coming down was not planned. that shelf really did come down, and larry and jeff just acted their way through it. >> what do i do? >> sit here. >> jeffrey! >> it's too big. >> do something. >> she's coming up. >> i think curb in many ways is the ultimate descend ant of

seinfeld. truth and reality is a gray area. >> where is the [ bleep ] head? >> and everybody is redefining it all the time. >> the kid is home hysterical because her doll judy has been decapitated. because you two sickos took the head for god knows what reason. so voodoo [ bleep ] you're doing. >> larry and i would play a game of worst case scenario. >> i was talking to a friend of mine, and he's a survivor. and he would love to meet you. would it be possible? i mean, for me to bring him to dinner? >> of course. >> you would take the basic premise from something that actually happened and then exploit it. >> where is this survivor? >> he's the survivor. from the television show. >> the guy from the survivor tv show and the holocaust survivor get into an argument about who had it worse. >> i'm saying we spent 42 days

trying to survive, very little rations, no snacks. >> snacks? >> you talking snacks. they didn't eat, sometimes for a week, for a month. they ate nothing. i learned -- >> it didn't work out when i was over there. certainly didn't have a gym. i wore my sneakers out. next thing you know i have a pair of flip-flops. >> that was larry david at his best. he managed to take a subject no one would really find fun and i make it hilarious and palatable. >> i'm a survivor. >> i'm a survivor. >> i'm a survivor. >> i'm a survivor. >> is there any taboo that you wouldn't break? >> no, not if it was a funny idea. >> it's all about funny. >> yeah. >> so, this is the magic trick, huh? illusion, michael. >> trick is something for money. >> this development was absolutely firing on all cylinders from the first episode to the last. >> don't you judge me. you're the selfish one. you're the one who charged his own brother for a blooth frozen

banana. i mean, it's one banana, michael. what could it cost, $10? >> you never actually set foot in a super market, have you? >> you assumed the audience was as smart as the writers. >> what have you got there? don't be afraid to make -- eye not going to beat myself up over that. >> it was so clever. and more meta than just about any show that's ever been on television. >> your average male is in perpetual state of adolescence. >> that's the show. >> you could break all these rules and have a lot of characters on a comedy who were extremely unlikable. ♪ ♪ >> there are a lot more important things than jokes in comedy. jokes aren't the most important thing in a comedy. >> what's the most important thing? >> the character. >> take control. >> the body. all that. >> busy? >> yeah, keeping up morale.

>> can we have a chat? >> yeah. >> ooh. >> i watched the british show "the office." it's one of the greatest cringe shows of all time. >> no, i don't have a great many ethnic employees, that's true. it's not company policy. i haven't got a sign that says "white people only." i don't care if you're black, brown, yellow, orientals make very good workers. >> what's up. >> don't do that. >> when the decision was made to make an american version -- >> what's up. >> what's up. >> what's up. >> there was a lot of head shaking. on american tv, they're going to ruin it. >> are they breathing? >> no, rose, they are not breathing. and they have no arms or legs. >> that's not part of t. >> where are they? >> it used the same mockumentary

show the british film had. >> we search for the organs. where's the heart, the precious heart? >> that show works. everybody you go to in that cast is hilarious. >> oh, my god. >> the mockumentery for matt was different and all of a sudden it became something that you just realized the audience was very comfortable and very conversant. >> hey, park lady, you suck. >> hear that? he called me park lady. >> the office parks and rec, "modern family," they can see it making a documentary. >> i'm okay, i'm good, i'm good. >> the idea of the shows, they sit down on the couch, they catch them in a separate part of the office, and everybody does a confessional like reality television. >> i've gained a few extra pounds while we were expecting the baby, which has been very

difficult, but apparently your body does a nesting, very maternal primal thing where it retains nutrients, some sort of molecular physiology thing. but that's science. you can't, you can't fight it. >> we didn't need to explain that there is a documentary. it's a documentary. we don't need to know what he he's talking about. we got it. >> 30 rock was the nominee. >> 30 rock is having the last laugh again. last year's best comedy winner pulled in 17 nominations, the most in that category. >> why are you wearing a tux? >> it's after 6:00. what am i, a farmer? >> tina fey, i always felt, was the best joke writer in america. >> would you describe yourself as competent? >> oh, yes, i love cats. i used to have two cats. but then i moved to this place with hardwood floors, so we had to put them down. >> so here comes 30 rock. it's probably the densest show

ever, joke wise. >> no, no high-def. >> 30 rock was a critical success from minute one. a desirable audience watching it from a advertiser standpoint. but it was not a highly rated show. >> television on. pornography. >> but critical success was a marker for, we're doing something right there. >> all of my summer replacement shows were big hits. america's top pirate, are you stronger than a dog, melf island. >> melf island? didn't one of those women turnout to be a prostitute? >> that doesn't mean she's not a wonderful caring milf.

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>> i had a particular connection to the band of brothers. my father served in the second world war and was in many of the places where airborne ended up. and what he felt was real about it was the emotions were utterly true. [ gunshots ] >> it was a bunch of ordinary guys who, by way of training and

volunteerism and sacrifice, both saved the world and were forever changed by what they did. >> a lot of those veterans were still alive, so we got to meet them. we got to talk to them. >> i've seen my friends, my men being killed. and it doesn't take too many days of that and you change dramatically. >> the show premiered september 9, 2001. two days later, everything changes. people were concerned, should we stop airing it? because it's a war story, and now the country is at war again. >> it turned out to be something that was necessary because now almost every american, i think, felt as though they had enlisted in something that they had not enlisted in before. after 9/11, we were all part of something. >> we deserve long and happy lives and peace.

>> historical dramas of the founding of the nation have been overly rosy. >> when i go to the cupboard and i find no coffee, no sugar, no pins, no meat, and i'm not living politics. >> one of the things amazing to me about john adams was it was done as realism. >> they fight for what is rightfully theirs. >> a brutal and illegal act to enforce a political -- >> just the grittiness of founding a nation. >> and liberty will reign in america. >> and trying to figure out what a president is. >> god bless george washington, president of the united states. >> it's a gift to be given 12 hours on hbo. god help you if you don't have something to say. >> let's understand each other.

i'm in the western district. i don't dirty people because i don't give a [ bleep ] about a possession charge. i'm a murder police. i'm here about the bodies. >> david simon was a newspaper reporter in baltimore. he spent a year embedded with the baltimore homicide unit to write a book. he and ed burns, who was a police officer, got together and said, well, what if we tell the whole story of the death of the american city, the futility of the war on drugs through the eyes of cops. [ laughter ] >> drug dealers. >> i got the best territory and no kind of products. i got the best product. i could stand a little more territory. >> of teachers. of politicians. just make the entire city into the character itself. >> you follow drugs, you get drug addicts and drug dealers. but you start to follow the money and you don't know where the [ bleep ] it's going to take you. >> the wire broke down systemic racism and the cycle of poverty

like no other television show had. >> come on, get up. school day, y'all going to be late. >> it wasn't about, hey, look at these black kids chilling drugs on the street. you were in the apartment with them where they had no parents, where they were taking care of their siblings, where they were trying to skrocrounge for food. >> where's your book bag? >> i didn't get no homework. >> you start to get a much more three dimensional picture of what poverty looks like in the city. >> one of the things about the wire that was so interesting is, it didn't rely on this traditional representation of gangsters. it didn't rely on this traditional representation of cops. it was like reading a great novel or a great series of novels. [ whistling ] >> i think "the wire" showed the architecture of a full city and the way it layered its characters, particularly omar.

omar was, by all other facets of his life, pretty awful. >> she stands alone. >> but he had this code that made him very touchable and very human. >> yo mike, hook a sister up, yo. >> people were very afraid of him. and his sexuality was not necessarily weaponized against him. and for me, i didn't see black gangsters portrayed that way a lot. >> no matter what we call hea , heroin, it's going to get sold. we're going to sell twice as much. you know why. because a theme, gonna chase that [ bleep ] no matter what. >> it was the greatest tv show of all time. it's the greatest tv show to have black people on it ever. >> what's the highest compliment

someone could pay you about the show? >> you didn't lie, that would be it. you didn't cheat. >> good night, stars. >> good night stars. >> good night, cocoa. >> good night, cocoa. >> at the time hbo was in about 33 million homes. well, effects was going to 110 million homes, so that's a lot of people who i think would like programming like this who do not have hbo. and then we just said, well, there's got to be a different version of tony sparano, and that ultimately was found in the script vick mackie who was a cop. >> good guy cop left for the day. i'm a different kind of cop. >> the pilot of "the shield" is fascinating. because you think it's being set up as a cat and mouse game. vick mackie is secretly in bed with all the gangs getting money. you're introduced this this under cover cop sent to bring him down. oh, that's the show.

i've seen this show before. i've seen that movie before. >> we're talking about making a case that puts mackie behind bars a long time. >> then you get to the end of the tie lot and vick shoots terry in the face. >> there was some thought that hbo shows did well because they had no commercials. so when a basic cable show like "the shield" that did have commercials found an audience, all 6of a sudden it just opened the door and other original programming sprung up, like nip/tuck. >> when you stop striving for perfection, you might as well be dead. >> and "rescue me." >> you son of a bench. >> and it was a whole new playing field.

piere... ♪ isn't the best present being present? stella artois. joie de biere.

they have businesses to grow customers to care for lives to get home to they use stamps.com print discounted postage for any letter any package any time right from your computer all the amazing services of the post office only cheaper get our special tv offer a 4-week trial plus postage and a digital scale go to stamps.com/tv and never go to the post office again!

the current crop of 18 to 25-year-olds is the most politically apathetic generation in american history. >> we have a lot of difficulty getting the west wing on there. part of that not unreasonable belief at nbc the people didn't want to deal with politics. >> running for president of the

united states, without putting social security front and center, is like running for president of the walt disney corporation by saying you're going to fix the rides at epcot. >> i think what made it different than the shows i worked on was the richness of character and words and thoughts and images aaron sorkin wrote. >> i would love people to think i'm as quick and clever as the characters i write. but utd be disappointed if you met me. >> josh, six pages on english is the national language. >> meetings don't take place sitting down and talking to people. >> the social studies paper -- >> josh -- >> donna -- >> look at the memo. i gave you what you asked for. don't snap at me. >> so we knew that was the essence of the show, this movement. >> what's wrong with everyone today? >> the challenge of doing that is, number one, lighting. >> what was the question? >> if you look at that set on the wrest wing, there is a lot f glass. glass is reflective. so there were a lot of technical

challenges that existed. but the biggest challenge by far was the performance challenge. >> 802, 5 votes jumped the fence. >> the beginning, middle and end of the scene sometimes in one take, it was liberating and also intimidating. >> what the hill happened? >> we don't know. >> give me names. >> we're finding out. >> i love the west wing because it's a complete fantasy of a political world that is so healthily bipartisan and it shows people intensely and emotionally grappling with the hard questions. >> 40% of americans have a gun in their home. >> only 16% believe gun ownership is an absolute right. only 9% believe it's an absolute wrong. there's a middle. we can win them. >> it presented both sides as real human beings that cared. >> not easy being vice-president, is it? >> no, sir. >> this was a valentine's towards public service that i think people were hungry for, and so this was a group of people just trying to make the

world better. >> alexander hamilton didn't think we should have political parties. neither did john adams. they thought political parties led to divisiveness. >> day number 52 of the socialism that you've been waiting for. >> the manturian critic couldn't destroy us faster, barack obama. >> certain disabled veterans to, quote, hurry up and die. >> what you saw in the media in the universe of the 2000s, was the splintering of the audience. in news, it splintered largely along political lines. >> you're watching fox news, real journalism. >> roger ailes had the brilliant idea of creating a network for conservatives. thus, fox news. >> the controversy over john kerry and his vietnam war medals has just gotten worse. >> msnbc kind of stumbled into the idea of a liberal counterpart. >> people watch fox news thinking there's news in it. our tin foil hatters paranoid

racist, loons and pin heads. >> there was no longer a shared factual basis for our political views. we didn't all go home and watch walter cronkite. >> cross fire. on the left, james car ville. on the right, robert novak and tucker carlson. in the cross fire -- >> i remember when john stewart went on cross fire, it was 2004. john kerry was the democratic presidential nominee facing george w. bush. and i thought, you know, watching it, this is going to be a funny show. >> why do we have to fight? >> the two of you, can't we just -- >> say something nice about john kerry right now. >> i like john. i like john kerry. >> something about president bush. >> he'll be unemployed soon. >> anything anyone who enjoyed paying attention to the news and watched the daily show will forever remember john stewart going on cross fire and reading those guys the riot act.

>> you're doing theater when you should be doing debate, which would be great. it is an not honest. it is not honest. what you do is partisan hackery. and i'll tell you why i know. >> you had john kerry on your show, you sniff his throne and you're accusing us of partisan hackery? >> yes. >> you have got to be kidding. you're on cnn. pup et cete puppets making prank phone calls. what is wrong with you? >> comedians and satire when done right will take on hypocrisy no matter where it comes from. >> i think the vice-president and his wife love their daughter. i think they love her very much. and you can't have anything but respect for the fact that they're willing to talk about the fact that they have a gay daughter. >> yes, we admire your love for your gay daughter. >> if they stepped in it, a trusted comic will bring that to the forefront, and i think that

that's what people like about the daily show. >> there's an upcoming election evidently. i didn't know that. [ laughter ] your chief political correspondent, steven. every two years we elect a brand-new house of representatives, a third of the senate. it's called the midterm elections. >> i only vote when the big kahunas are up, you know? el presidente, i can't run around every two years voting. i've got a life. >> i could not have lived without the dadely show. >> kolbert then becomes the companion show. it is so compelling to watch. this hilarious pseudoconservative dumb guy. >> and who are the heroes? the people who watch this show. >> average hard working americans, you're not the elites. you're not the country club crowd. i know for a fact that my country club would never let you in. >> one of the things about being on the kolbert report and steven would say it himself was, he was

playing a character. >> inside the secret spooky world of the supreme court. >> steven had to respond in real-time to the guests as his character, not as himself. which was an incredible feat of acting as well as kind of quasi-journalism. >> that's a big part of the book. how much did the justices political views play a role in how they decide cases. >> why would political views go into it? these guys are supposed to be -- except the activist judges. the four liberal activist judges, i can understand why their liberal bent would affect them because they're activist judges. >> right. >> but the conservative judges are not activists, they're inactivists. >> they -- yeah, i guess you're exactly right. >> the moment i remember is the

moment that barack obama was named president of the united states. >> cnn projects that barack obama is the next president of the united states of america. it is now official. he has passed the 270 electoral votes. [ cheers and applause ] >> when you watch the tape, you can see that kolbert begins to cry. that's not what that character does. john stewart loves kolbert so much as a human being, he covers for kolbert. 297 for barack obama. 137 for john mccain. ed! ♪ ♪ at t-mobile get the unlimited plan and the latest phones included for $40 dollars. feels so good to be included.

the very interesting statistic, people, their favorite shows, be it c.s.i., be it e.r., the most faithful fans still only watches that show two out of four weeks. >> at the time there was just a general fear and anxiety, and they had the data to back it up, that shows that became increasingly serialized would lose viewership over time. >> let's go. >> because if the audience misses an episode, then they would be inclined to stop watching it because they'd feel like, i missed an episode and now i don't know what's happening. >> there have been amazing shows that had been certificate serialized. they didn't have syndication value because you couldn't

revisit them. there's no better hook. i'm going to watch a little bit more. >> 24 was set to debut in november of 2001. the pilot climaxes with an assassin blowing up a passenger jet in mid-air. >> fox orders this. fox schedules it. 9/11 happens. suddenly this show which seemed like this goofy thing, kifa sutherland chasing after terrorists becomes the timely show on television because that is all anyone in america could talk about after september 11. >> the name for the series comes from the idea that it's 24 episodes in a season. each episode is one hour in a day, and jack bauer just has the worst days. >> we are running out of time. pull the trigger. >> please don't make me do this. >> i know how hard it is for you. if you care about me at all you'll pull the trigger. >> i can't.

>> pull the trigger! pull the trigger! dam you! >> the commercial breaks in that show were almost welcome so that you could catch your breath. >> 24 was really the first binge show, if you think about it. there were a lot of people in the later years of "24" that would only buy the dvds. >> do you think he'll come after you. >> yeah. >> a lot of subtleties and complexities the story tellers had been doing, my god, this is blowing my mind, i can see it now because i just watched three in a row. >> battle star glallactica was show made in the 1970s. it was a good idea. civilization had been destroyed, humanity is on the rung. what happens next? years later sci-fi channel said what if we take it seriously? >> madam president, we have to eliminate the olympic carrier immediately.

>> there are 1300 people on that ship. >> "star wars" feels like fantasy and fable in the best possible stenson. this felt like war. >> do it. >> the photography was shot very much like world war ii combat cameraman work. >> okay. fire on line mark. >> no fracking way, lee. lee! come on! >> it was as if someone was floating in space with an old world war ii film and, oh, here comes sylon, i want to get this shot. really, it was riveted by it. >> it's classic sci-fi in that it's about using the robots and the space ships and the clones to comment on the world we live in right now. >> i can't die. when this body is destroyed, my memory, my consciousness will be transmitted to a new one. >> the sylons look and act and feel just like humans. and by time you get to the

middle, you don't know who you're rooting for any more. >> what other secrets are rattling around inside that mechanical brain? >> it was like sort of west wing in space. >> madam president, without you, we wouldn't have made it. >> it was just a very rich world. it felt lived in. it felt real. and the stakes could not have been higher. >> i think "lost" is the first huge cinematic tv show i saw. i remember gathering at a friend's house to watch. and it was long enough ago and the internet was still young enough and social media was -- i mean, friends? >> j.j. abrams' ambition for the "lost" pilot was grandiose. he always talked about making it

a movie every week. when we say the word cinematic, what we mean is opening it up a little bit more, but also the ambition of an action set piece. j.j. was very aggressive. he was like, if you want me to do this pilot, you're going to need to give me the resource in order to do it and i want to shoot it as a movie and we've got to keep that bar up. >> you start off thinking, this is just a survival drama. here are these people whose plane has crashed. how are they going to get by, how are they going to find food, et cetera? >> we hunt. >> and on top of that, there is this whole mystery, where are we, why can't we get a rescue signal. why is there a polar bear, what is going on here? >> the show averages more than 15 1/2 million viewers each week and spawned countless web locations where millions of avid fans can obsess. >> the fan base is saying, when are you going to answer these mysteries? personally, i started feeling

ham strung story wise almost instantly because we had to do 25 hours of "lost" in the first season. so we started communicating to abc. we're going to run out of flash back stories. >> call it, jack. >> you call it. >> and abc was adamant in saying, no, like, the show is a hit show. people love the flash backs. don't worry, you guys are great at it. just keep it up. >> are you okay, freckles? >> at the beginning of the third season of the show, we had our characters locked in cages. and i think looking back on it now, it was metaphorically how we felt. we felt we were locked in cages. >> around half way through the third season, abc says, okay, we will let you end the show. we're like, yes, thank god. they said, after ten seasons. >> desperate housewives launched the same year. it really was a huge boost for the network. they had two shows that

everybody was talking about. >> in truth, i spent the day as i spent every other day, quietly polishing the routine of my life until it gleamed with perfection. >> i had a lot to say about women who go into the iconic roles of wife and mother and they're unfulfilled. >> i think the good news it brought is women who are not perfect, who are not young, are viable. and the fan base was amazing, you know. there were t-shirts. i remember going into a store and there was "i am lynette." >> ma'am, you need to get back in your car, please. >> i am gaby. >> i am suzanne. >> i am bre. >> are you at a bar? >> we stood on the shoulders of those who came before, you know, strong women characters in

television, but in the wake of desperate housewives, a lot more shows with older women came on the air. >> what you doing? >> locked myself out. naked. >> oh. >> and then i fell. so, how are you? everything, so we improved everything. we used 50% fewer ingredients added one handed pumps and beat the top safety standards the new johnson's® choose gentle

(mixed chatter) (distant chatter outside) (heavy breathing) (weapon clicking) (silence)

it is game day, people, and

i have never felt this kind of electricity, not in years. this town of dylan, texas, is on fire! >> i loved friday night lights. i grew up in colorado. it's set in texas, but i knew every single person who was on that show. and they weren't on the air anyplace else. >> amen. >> amen. >> clear eyes, full heart. let's get 'em. >> the pilot of "friday night lights" is one of the best pilots of television ever. >> it introduces you to the fact that jason street is the best quarterback they had. >> i was at notre dame 27 years. your son 345made me the best i' ever been. >> 25 minutes into the episode -- >> fumble on the play. >> jason street is hit and he's paralyzed. it is devastating because you get just far enough into the

episode to think that maybe the bad thing will not happen to this person. but then the show wouldn't be the show. >> i'm going to stay in dylan. i'm going to be a father to this baby and to this family. i am going to coach high school foot ball and you and i are going to stay together. and that's the way it is. yes? >> no. >> what do you mean no? >> you've got to go to austin. this is your dream. >> that's what i'm telling you. >> what we wanted it to feel like was the audience was just being invited in to a very small town, very intimate setting. >> that's why -- >> i don't want to be responsible nor do i want to have this baby be responsible for you not living out your dream. >> that's what i'm saying. you are my dream. >> i have walked with you all these years to get to this place. you and i together.

>> this is about just a couple trying to actually be in a marriage and make it work instead of just like we always see on television. and then i felt a very strong, deep desire to not just have her be the sidelined supporting wife. >> it looks to me like on your little sojourn, tim, you missed two biology exams and what looks like a pretty important term paper in your english lit class. so let's start there. >> i don't know what a sojourn is, mom. >> a sojourn is what's going to keep you back a year if you don't get it together. >> that's right. >> change your attitude. that's what a sojourn is. the rest of it you can look up. ♪ ♪ >> glee was a really interesting show because it was about a high school. and they take pop songs that are already out there and make them part of the story. ♪ i'm dancing with myself

♪ >> and it was about these misfits at high school. and they're in the glee club. there's a lot of themes about, a, not fitting in, but, b, homophobia. ♪ i'm through with playing by the rules if someone else is game ♪ ♪ >> it was specific to my childhood. whoever thought that, you know, a bunch of misfit show choir losers would become a global thing? i never did. ♪ ♪ >> i think "glee" and ryan murphy really got the general public understanding that, oh, there is a person behind this, and there is a person sensibility that is driving this show. >> now be like a sister. >> this is the point at which the show runners are almost as famous or more famous than some of the people on their shows because we care so much about the creative process. >> so is it the drama and the

story that used to come first, and then the medicine later? >> the theme of every episode, the drama of every episode come first. then we try to find medicine that relates to or reflects that theme. >> mr. and mrs. glass, i understand how difficult this is. >> no disrespect, but like hill you do. >> you're going to have to make a decision as to how you want to proceed. >> you mean my baby's life or my own? >> yes. >> gray's anatomy revealed what a good story teller shonda rhimes is. >> i love you. in a really, really big, pretend to like your taste in music, let you eat the last piece of cheesecake, hold a radio over my head outside your window. unfortunate way that makes me hate you -- love you. so, pick me. >> people like shonda rimes, these are people who are the lifeblood of cast networks.

in shonda's case it's fantastic because finally a woman, finally a person of color is doing this. >> anything that opens doors for more women and more african americans and more diverse casting and more diverse crew is a good thing. >> shonda stood up and went, yes, i am going to be a show runner, and i'm going to be a juggernaut. >> 10 bucks says he messes up. >> 10 bucks says he cries. >> total meltdown. >> 50 says he pulls the whole thing off. >> that's one of us down there. the first one of us. where's your loyalty? >> above and beyond the cultural aspect, which is important and great, we need to remember that she created a bunch of shows that are terrific fun to watch. >> you can do this. hey! yeah!? i switched to geico and got more! more savings on car insurance!? they helped with homeowners, too!

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my name is mike, i'm in product development at comcast. we're working to make things simple, easy and awesome. i don't want to mess this up again. >> me neither. okay? we're done being stupid. >> okay. [ laughter ] >> you and me, all right? this is it. >> this is it. unless we're on a break. [ laughter ] don't make jokes now. >> by the time frazier and friends went off the air, there was a feeling among the networks that the multi-camera format filmed in front of a live studio audience -- >> i guess this is it. >> -- was getting kind of tired

and getting kind of stale. >> you guys play the most important part, the live studio audience. >> now, there is no form of television that makes as much money for the networks as multi-camera tv shows. [ laughter ] >> we write a for-camera show, we write it, direct it, form it, rehearse it like a studio audience. when someone gets a laugh on that stage, they actually hold as you do not in real life, as you do not in single camera. you are holding for that laugh. [ laughter ] >> it's an abstract. >> not abstract enough. >> you've done an amazing job. >> it looks like something, though. what does it look like?

[ laughter ] he you can get close. you can even touch it. >> i'm trying. >> this is bugging me. where have i seen it before? >> they started studying what phil rosenthal was doing with "raymond." he was embracing the very best of what the genre could do. which was interesting characters. he provided me with a very, very loud reminder that i didn't need to fix anything. i didn't need to knock any boundaries or walls over. i just needed to embrace what was there. >> i had been in so many shows that had failed spectacularly that i became known as the show killer. ♪ ♪ >> and that's not a great thing to be known as in show business. >> on the sly, i had him come in and read for me. and he was brilliant.

>> how much is a hooker? >> what are you going to do with a hooker? >> well, i'd like to pay her to have sex with. >> how are you looking to spend? >> as you know, i am a bit of a bargain hunter. >> unfortunately, they don't stock hookers at the 99 cent store. give me a number. >> okay. well, um, what could i get in the $200 range? >> crabs. [ laughter ] and carjacked. >> i have an enormous sense of pride to have done a multi-camera sitcom that people really took to their hearts for 12 years. >> okay, let's start in first position. jake, do you know first position? >> is that like missionary position? >> i mean, that was the longest that a sitcom had been on broadcast television in the history of broadcast television at the time. i think big bang is going to beat it, but still, that's amazing. [ laughter ]

>> two people talking is the essence of four-camera sitcom. [ laughter ] >> lighting is not really an issue. there's no music that's going to help the material. >> check mate. >> there's no special effects. >> again? >> hopefully good words with good actors. >> must be humbling to suck on so many different levels. [laughter] >> big bang had this weird hurdle, it seemed, of not only you fighting the natural fight that every show does about getting an audience trying to stay on the air and keep your job, yada yada. >> the fastest man alive. >> oh, no. >> this is why i wanted to have a costume meeting. >> but then there was also this weird wave of energy coming, like you're in a genre that's pase. we don't want to see this any more. >> and the emmy goes to --

>> jim parsons, the big bang theory. >> obviously we didn't go away, and i believe very strongly that the multi-kamm, the way they're shot in front of the studio audience, you hear the other people laughing. i think it ignites something that's in all of us that's very primal almost, which is that desire to gather as a group and hear a story. >> hey, lauren, look. live from new york, it's saturday night! >> so, every generation has their favorite saturday night live, right? and it's usually the one that was on when they were in high school. so, the people that were in high school during the 2000s won the jackpot. >> what are you saying? >> because over the course of that decade you see some of the most extraordinary people come through that show. >> we should mention that although the waters above appear

calm, below the surface there is a frenzy of activity. >> one of the hallmarks of snl is you need somebody to play the president and wills w was stellar. >> will ferrell's george bush was sort of a lovable dummy. >> how about a life saver here? >> can i get those antlers, too? >> here you go, son. >> i like these. >> and, of course, mark elbow was also a will ferrell high point. >> it was fantastic. not only because it was a great concept, but will gets to be will. >> the last time i check, we don't have a whole lot of songs that feature the cow bells. >> i have my own cow bell, baby. >> i'd be doing myself a disservice and every member of this band if i didn't perform the hill out of this. >> snl in the 2000s is also a great time for women.

>> it's my birthday! >> because there is a strong group of women that play off each other really well. >> are you part indian, are you cherokee? look at those cheek bones. is that sioux? are you chippewa? >> i believe that diplomacy should be the cornerstone of any foreign policy. >> and i can see russia from my house. ♪ i like waterfalls ♪ i like butterflies ♪ i like chasing cars ♪ >> you are seeing creativity and wacky left field things that you wouldn't have seen before. ♪ >> andy sandberg and the lonely guys akita norma really helped make the transition for snl into the digital era.

that's when things started to go viral for snl. >> i'm on a boat, everybody look at me because i'm sailing on a boat. >> on the boat or who could forget [ bleep ] in a box. come on. ♪ holding a box. >> two. ♪ there's a joke in that box. >> three. ♪ open the box, that's the way you do it ♪ [ cheers and applause ] gentle means everything, so we improved everything.

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welcome to [ bleep ]. >> david said, i have a great idea about ancient rome. >> cops in ancient rome at the time of knnero. >> okay, t.o.t.o.t.o., we're already doing this show about rome. >> thieves will be strangled. desserters will be crucified. >> david basically took the underlying theme of his rome show and put it in "dead wood." >> no law at all in dead wool. is that true? >> at the time of nero, there was a lot of order and no law, and deadwood was a similar environment. >> maybe you don't value keeping your [ bleep ] cuffs inside your belly enough. >> those are the days behind us. >> no, those are the days to my

[ bleep ] left. >> ian mcshane's character al swearingen steals the show lock, stock and barrel from everybody else. you kind of want to go in the slosa loon and have a drink and engage him in conversation. would that be a good idea? if i say something wrong, i'm going to get my guts cut out with a buoy knife. he scares you and attracts you at the same time. that's a weird thing. >> can we see your -- >> my stepdad i hated vampires, but we don't. >> i think "true blood" was an enjoyable beach read with blood all over it. >> suck it. >> oh. >> you say, it wasn't meant to be taken seriously. it wasn't taking itself seriously, except it was such a bigg big allegory with what was going

on with aids and political backlash. >> you use it as an antivampire terrorist enclave. >> there's monsters all over. >> the scariest, deadliest characters in the show. >> we have a dead vampire in our trailer. >> are the dead human beings. >> showtime looked at tony sparano and they said, you want an anti-hero? how about a mass murderer who is the hero of our show? >> dexter is based on a series of novels about a blood spatter expert who worked for the miami p.d. who is secretly a serial killer. >> soon you'll be packed into a few neatly wrapped hefties, and my own small corner of the world.

it will be a neater, happier place. >> he was raised by a police man to channel his sociopath i can impulses to only kill other killers. so he is a bad guy, but also a good guy. >> i kill reprehensible people. i mean, the idea of the show is that you're invited to identify with and maybe even root for a serial killer. >> that's right. >> he kills horrible people. if i were just killing people willie nilly, i think all bets would be off. >> where is the fun in that? >> yeah. >> in the 2000s, the anti-hero really rose to prominence. >> [ bleep ]. don't point that there. >> that was nice work. i'd hate to see it -- >> i think they were popular because they were surprising. >> you're a free woman. >> you struck a deal? >> the d.a. dropped the charges. >> thank you.

>> a show for me that was incredibly memorable was "damages." >> now, where's the tape? >> it really was about following the twisted relationship of patty and ellen. >> what are you looking at it for? >> fraud, conspiracy, obstruction of justice. >> mr. nye tells us you might have reasons of your own for wanting to take down miss hughes. >> yes. i do. >> i was just so taken with the fact that there was this incredibly dark unapologetically morally compromised lead character who was a woman. >> i told pete to have you killed. >> it was sort of the beginning of a real emergence of rich women on television. >> all right.

sure, take my last one. this will help. >> is this cab free? >> are you [ bleep ] nuts? >> i have heard nurse jackie referred to as an anti-hero. she was at the mercy of her addiction that always got her fullest attention. >> what are you looking at? >> beyond that, i think she really cared that there was presideant money in the budget for extra blankets for someone who came in offer the street. and she would go and zael it from another department or whatever. you know, she really wanted to be a good nurse, and she wanted to be married and she wanted these kids and she wanted to be a good wife and mother. >> why do you always have to work? >> yeah. >> and there was no way she could do all of them. >> mommy!

>> edie falco for me could do no wrong. she is the anti-hero w.h.o. has her show and she's the one whose morals are questionable. because, you know, she's having an affair. >> can't talk. love you. >> she's stealing drugs and, is she an unfit mother and all those things? yet you feel for her. i love that women now get to be, get to be the anti-hero and not just either the villain or the good girl. ♪ i want to know, have you ever seen -- >> that is something that the decade gave us, which is a move towards television really reflecting what america looks like. are you a christian author with

a book that you're ready to share with the world? get published now, call for your free publisher kit today! ♪ ♪ amc, people forget amc stands for american movie classics. suddenly they figure out, let's stop paying for these other movies. let's make our own content. >> i was called in 2005 to come in and meet with the head of amc because they were looking to do scripted programming for the first time.

a manager said, oh, i have this great script set in the advertising world in new york. it's been around for eight years, and nobody has bought it. everybody's passed. >> advertising is based on one thing, happiness. >> don draper is a master of the universe ad executive in the early 1960s, manhattan. but he's actually secretly a man named dick whit man. he has stolen the identity of the real don draper due to an incident during the korean war. he was living another man's life, but he's battling his own demons at the same time and we're seeing him rise and fall over the course of the 1960s. >> in a lot of ways, the most interesting ark of the show is peggy olson's career. she goes from this little church mouse secretary to a really tough and bold and confident career woman. >> i like the way she's handing out the pops. >> who knows what she's going to do and can try to get it during

a sexist period for the industry when it was so hard for a woman to get anything. >> peggy, can you get me some coffee? >> no. >> the female characters in mad men are great because they each kind of represent different aspects of what women were going through at that time. >> you glide around that office like some magnificent ship. >> i had this incredible experience of reading the feminine miss teak and seconds and the single girl in one week. i said, oh, this is my show. >> daddy clm >> the heroes of mad men were the women. and the men who were all obstructions of one kind or another. >> i'm here all day, alone with him, outnumbered. >> what about carla, doesn't she count? >> it's not her job to raise our children. >> it was incorporating the music of the times, the images of the times, the history of the times, and the attitudes of the times. >> tell me, about to find out. what color panties are you

wearing? >> what? who had blue? >> can i walk you home? >> mad men had absolutely no nostalgia for the period. it showed that people were jerks and adulterers and connivers, even back in the glory days of the 1960s. >> what are you doing? >> what? >> how they communicated the kennedy assassination was actually exactly as it came to pass. >> they drew their pistols, but the damage was done. the president was -- in the back seat of a car. >> everything stopped. nothing seemed important ever again, and it just so happened to be the weekend that roger's daughter was getting married. it was a big wedding. >> i would put mad men and

sopranos in a position of the most important shows, the history of television. ♪ ♪ >> i was about to turn 40 years old, and this was about 2004, two years after the end of the "x files." i was kind of at sea, i wasn't sure what to do next. i was having trouble getting -- frankly, i was having trouble getting employed. my buddy tom snouse had been on the x files, too. he said, i think we should put a meth lab in the back of an rv, see america, make some dough on the side. he's got a warped sense of humor. when i heard that idea, i thought to myself, you know, what if i really did that, what would it take?

and then i thought, well, i'd need money really bad. why would i need money? >> lung cancer, you're not purple. >> we pitched "breaking bad" to not even a handful of places. some people liked it, some not so much. it had been in bed for six months, a year. suddenly i hear, would you like to see the folks at amc? they're interested in breaking "breaking bad." >> surprise! >> when we were making the decision to do "breaking bad" we absolutely were looking for an abat this-hero show and we wanted a guy that was going against the grain. >> dad, come check this out. >> yeah, i see it. >> come on, take it. >> well -- >> they always tell huh-uh need to have a good one sentence pitch. we're going to take mr. chips and turn him into scar face. what we were really going for

was change. walter white says in the first hour of the show. >> they changed their energy levels. molecules, molecules change their bonds. >> "breaking bad" was a study in change. ♪ ♪ >> the change that happens to one character as he devolves from good to bad. >> you know the business, and i know the chemistry. >> there was definitely a shift. after "mad men" and "breaking bad" the phone started ringing and people started wanting to make feature tv shows. >> would you pass the butter, please? >> and it now really has taken over what the indy feature was. now it's being made in the tv sphere.

>> walter, you've been busy. included for $40 dollars! wits we're included? included! ♪ ♪ at t-mobile get the unlimited plan and the latest phones included for $40 dollars. feels so good to be included. most can tell the continent or country that your ancestors are from, but ancestrydna showed me the specific places they called home. 20 million members have connected to a deeper family story. order your kit at ancestry.com.

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while it's tempting to play it safe, the more we're willing to risk, the more alive we are. in the end, what we regret most are the chances we never took.

>> there is an old show biz axiom, you better get off the stage before somebody says you better get off the stage. ♪ ♪ >> endings are hard in general, and i think the sopranos was able to accomplish this thing that everybody in television is always trying to accomplish, which is do something that no one has ever seen before. ♪ ♪ tony is meeting the family at a restaurant and we're listening to a journey song and watching as one by one the family members come in and there's these sinister people lurking around. ♪ ♪ >> you were wondering, was tony going to survive this? was tony going to be shot? what was going to happen? >> [ bleep ]. >> you're cutting to the meadow,

parking a car. all these things that are completely normal, but they're imbued with this dread. ♪ ♪ >> nothing is happening. they're enjoying a family meal, listening to journey. and it's building and it's building. ♪ don't stop -- >> the long black in which -- did i just lose my hbo signal? what is pap going on there? >> it was kind of like the cord at the end of sergeant pepper in which nine pianos just hit this long, long major. bong. and it goes on and on and on and on and on and on. that black was sort of like what the series needed in order to communicate the fact that it is now officially over. >> as for sopranos' creator david chase, he got whacked in the headlines. he got whacked by the new york

post cartoonist who showed fans getting whacked. and chase literally got whacked online. >> three or four days later carl ton and i were in new york talking to a couple television critics about how amazing it was. they were like, oh, you know, there's a lot of controversy about the sopranos finale. we were like, what? oh, yeah, some people just absolutely hate it. like the whole cut to black, it's pretentious, nobody knows what it means. they're all discussing whether tony is alive or dead. those are all the things that make it brilliant. and right then we realized we were completely and totally [ bleep ]ed. ♪ ♪ >> if you've been fortunate enough to be successful, they've gone along for a long, long ride with you. and the viewer has a through line for every character in the show that you could never possibly have. >> you know i love you, right, more than anything? >> of course, honey.

>> so it is a fool's errand to try and please anyone but yourself when you're writing a series finale. >> finales have become increasingly more important, you know. if you don't do a really good finale to a really good series, the series can sort of lose its luster. but "6 feet under" comes up with a perfect ending and the show is actually enhanced a little bit. the end of 6 feet under has the daughter just driving away in the car and music starts to play. it's "breathe me." and she looks up in the rearview mirror, like she's looking backwards. but then the show looks ahead. ♪ ouch, i have lost myself

♪ ♪ >> that season ended and everybody died. and i thought it was brilliant. >> the work on tv is as good as any work that's on a big screen. and so that hierarchy of film and television, i think, has been changed dramatically. partially because of the great work that people did at hbo and also because of the work they did at a lot of other places. >> i've waited a long time for this. >> coming up as an actor, film was the thing, tv was like less than. >> i say [ bleep ]. >> so, to suddenly be in an era

where we could tell these rich stories -- >> entrance has been gained. >> -- and really create the suspense of them and the trajectory of them. >> get over whatever it is and do your job. >> in ways that maybe we couldn't necessarily in film. i do think that led to where we are now where everybody wants to do tv. >> sit down, you guys. [ laughter ] >> oh, yeah, you can't sit there. >> why not? >> that's where sheldon sits. >> he can't sit somewhere else? [ laughter ] >> oh, no. you see, in the winter that seat is close enough to the radiator so he's warm yet not so close that he sweats. in the summer it's directly in the cross of a cross breathe created by opening windows here and there. he can still talk to everybody, yet not so wide that the picture looks distorted. [ laughter ]

>> perhaps there's hope for you after all. we're reevaluating the best way to achieve the president's objective. >> will president trump slow the withdrawal of u.s. troops from syria? he promised a rapid pullout, but a leading republican senator says the plan may change. it is about to get rough for 800,000 federal workers. remain unpaid through the new year as both sides refuse to budge. we are ringing in 2019 today. expect big security if you are heading out. will the weather cooperate? welcome to "early