experience. no, seriously, just recently in an episode of "celebrity apprentice," you, mr. trump, recognized that the real problem was a lack of leadership. and so, ultimately, you didn't blame little john or meatloaf. you fired gary busey. and these are the kind of decisions that would keep me up at night. 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 there was a funny idea. >> what is wrong with you? >> there's 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. >> incoming! >> 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, is there were no commercials. >> we are dependent on sponsors. there is so much we can do in terms of language, in terms of violence, in terms of sex. >> to a large degree, a lot of executives were just 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 a [ bleep ]. >> i think what we learned through shows like "the 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, uh, 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. >> have some eggplant. >> i told you. i'm not hungry. >> now you won't even accept food from your own mother. >> "the sopranos" was david chase's invention about this mob family, something that people hadn't seen before. the idea that a mobster is

seeing a therapist. >> what ever 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. see, what they didn't know is once they got gary cooper in touch with his feelings, they wouldn't be able to shut him up. and then it's dysfunction this, dysfunction that. >> you have strong feelings about this. >> every decade, you get somebody like peter falk as columbo or carroll o'conner as archie bunker. somebody you just can't imagine anybody else afterwards. and james gandolfini is that as tony soprano. >> i think it's supposed to be a mafia story, but -- i mean, it's like i say -- >> it's also about everyday life. >> did you know that an italian invented the telephone? >> alexander graham bell was italian? >> you see? you see what i'm talking -- antonio maucchi invented the telephone and he got robbed. everybody knows that. >> who invented the mafia? >> what? >> "the sopranos" took the mystery out of being a mobster.

♪ i'm a fool to do your dirty work oh yeah ♪ >> 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 soprano isn't going to become a sensitive, nurturing, mellowing man? >> yes. >> oh, good. >> oh, my god. >> it's all right. i'll be home in a couple hours. don't worry. >> i'm graduating tomorrow. >> carmela was a wife and a mother. i think first and foremost, i

think as long as she kept going to church, she felt, all right, i'm taking care of my soul. >> where's the rest of the money? >> it's everywhere. >> she goes home to her husband who's got blood on him. there was no way to reconcile the two things. >> towards the end, when their marriage is falling apart -- >> i used to [ bleep ] your husband. >> you have made a fool of me for years with these whores. >> her performance in that fight is stunningly good. >> because she's jealous! [ bleep ]. let go of me! >> 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 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. almost immediately after that, the two mediums diverged. >> i know what i must do. i'm afraid to do it. >> movies became much more focused on big tentpole things that could bring in as much of an audience as you possibly can. meanwhile, tv, which had always been a big tent medium, started going smaller and more interior and saying, all right, we want to tell stories for grownups that maybe don't get the biggest audience but get a really 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. >> i'm not. no, i'm not. >> look, forget you'll give yourself cancer and die a slow and horrible death. you should not be stinking up that new hearse. >> i met with carolyn and she said, i'd like to do a show about a family that runs a funeral home. and something in my head just went, click. i thought, what a brilliant idea. >> i'm quitting right now. i promise. okay? i'll see you tonight. ♪ i'll be home for christmas ♪ >> alan ball comes up with a show with a perfect structure. 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. >> excuse me. >> this was one of my first -- maybe it was my first binge show, which was long enough ago that it was all on somebody had recorded it on vcr. >> have you been watching mrs. romano? >> yeah. i'm watching her all night. are you thinking what i'm thinking? >> casket climber. >> i want to go with you! >> mrs. romano, mrs. romano -- >> i want to go with you! >> whoa, whoa -- >> there's 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 watch "sex and the city" but you 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 guys who were lifelong friends who could [ bleep ] with each other and say horrible things to each other but be tight and be good friends. >> they want to throw 4 million at you. >> you're kidding. >> are you smiling? >> yeah, yeah, i'm smiling. >> can you hear me smiling? you got my balls tingling, man. >> they drive that way in tiananmen square, bitch? >> ari gold became the breakout character, willing to be ruthless, yet also a family man with a line in the sand. and you don't really 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 like the [ bleep ] they got out here. >> you read "the times," huh? >> no. >> you read "the new republic"? >> i've heard of it. >> i was reading that. it's interesting. it says you don't know what the [ bleep ] you're talking about. even if you got ppp and it only takes eight minutes to qualify. i went on their website, uploaded everything, and i was blown away by what they could do. getrefunds.com has helped businesses get over a billion dollars and we can help your business too. qualify your business for a big refund in eight minutes. go to getrefunds.com to get started. powered by innovation refunds.

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first truly competitive reality format. >> go! >> i started to really understand what the show was going to be about the first 20 minutes into day one. >> we'll see what we've got. before we make any decisions, we'll see what we've got. there might be a blow torch in there. >> we need a bathroom. >> are 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's going to sleep where, what are we going to do? but, why are we here? >> underneath him was a woman sue hawk who was a truck driver. >> i'm a redneck, i don't know corporate world at all. corporate rules ain't gonna work out here in the bush. >> that was the show. >> he walks around naked quite a bit. i think it probably bugs some of 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 legitimized the genre. simon fuller came into my office. and his vision was, one long audition. ♪ like a virgin touched for the very first time ♪ >> i've never, ever heard anything like that in my life. ♪ she bangs she bangs ♪ >> thank you, thank you. [ unintelligible singing ] >> what was that? 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.

>> he'll scare little girls, and we think that's our audience. >> one of worst auditions i've ever heard in my life. >> i'm like, well, that's the whole show -- so, you know, without him it's not going to work. it was a big fight internally. of course we got him on, and of course that is what sparked the show. >> well, here they are. 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. ♪ r-e-s-p-ec-t ♪ ♪ find out what it means to me ♪ >> 9-year-olds to 90-year-olds could root for somebody on "american idol." it's not like it hadn't been done before. but the way the producers of these shows could manipulate drama, 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 very close friends. >> very close friends. that's right. >> good, i've had some very close friends too. >> yeah, me too.

me too. >> it's cost me a lot of money, i'll tell you that. >> "the apprentice" has its lasting effects even today. donald trump becomes a star. >> you're fired. >> all of it kind of reality show fake. people who worked on it have come forward and said, you know, we kind of made the whole thing up. and yet it sells. then there's just this explosion. >> 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 had to fill 40 hours of television with scripted shows, it would cost you an arm and a leg. you would be out of business because those scripted shows most likely will do no better and probably worse than the

reality show did. >> we also started seeing things aimed at gay viewers and women. and so, you know, you have "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 feeling the 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! >> then you have "the osbournes." it was fun. because, you know, the whole idea of, you know, the guy who bit the heads off of bats being domestic, and his wife and his teenage kids --

>> please do not get drunk or get stoned tonight. >> that sort of sparks this movement of, we can put celebrities on tv and just let them do what they want to do. >> i've always heard that people hang out at walmart. >> why? >> i don't know. >> what is walmart? do, like, they sell wall stuff? >> no. >> what is it? >> it's like, uh -- >> of course that reaches its peak, or nadir, depending on your opinion, with "the kardashians." >> i hate you all. >> welcome to my family. >> there's something about watching someone who's maybe slightly like yourself but more obnoxious -- >> you're so evil. >> there's a lot of baggage that comes with us. but it's like louis vuitton baggage. you always want it. >> or they're, you know, more of a disaster. >> prostitution whore, you are [ bleep ] engaged 19 times? you [ bleep ] stupid bitch! [ bleep ]! you [ bleep ] bitch!

[ bleep ] whore! >> 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 the [ bleep ], i'm like, oh, my god, how do i get in? >> i used to get the critics asking me about, well, why are people watching that reality show? why are they watching the show? because they're entertained. you're 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 would never ask. need to call it a guilty pleasure. just call it a pleasure. it's something you love watching. it could be a reality show, could be a drama, sitcom, documentary. whatever it is, you know, i think great tv comes in many forms.

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want to know what the best thing about childhood is? at some point, it stops. >> in the year 2000, we get "malcolm in the middle." and this is a pivotal show for a lot of reasons. not least of which because it gives us bryan cranston -- but because this is a single-camera comedy. >> around here, being smart is exactly like being radioactive. >> single-camera comedies were funny. and the fact that you could shoot them like movies and they could be terrific every week. >> yep, class president felt really good. but later that night, i had a

dream. >> critics loved that because it was something new. it was something that they weren't expecting. >> i used to see the traffic. the only thing moving is the carpool lane. >> hey, danny, you want a date with mama? >> get in the car. >> "curb" came because larry wanted to do a special. it was his -- you know, just -- "oh, film my life." 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 ain't with me? >> no, i'm not trying to act like i'm not with you. what are you saying? >> i will pull a [ bleep ] out in this thing, i will pull a [ bleep ] out -- >> 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! oh, my god! >> by the way, that 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? >> stick it in your jacket. >> jeffrey! >> it's too big. >> do something, she's coming up! >> i think "curb" in many ways is the ultimate descendant of "seinfeld." it's in a much more real, truthful place where morality is a gray area. >> where's the [ bleep ] head? >> and everybody's 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, some voodoo [ bleep ] you're doing. >> larry and i would play a game of worst case scenario. >> i was talking with 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 just exploit it.

>> where's the survivor? >> what -- he's the survivor. from the -- 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. we had very little rations. no snacks. >> snacks? what are you talking, snacks? we didn't eat sometimes for a week, for a month. we ate nothing. >> i couldn't work out when i was over there, certainly didn't have a gym. >> a what? what are you -- >> i wore my sneakers out and the next thing you know, i've got a pair of flip-flops. >> flip-flops! >> we slept on the ground. >> that was larry david at his best, because he managed to take a subject no one would find funny and make it hilarious and palatable. >> i'm a survivor! >> 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. a trick is something a whore does for money. >> "arrested 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 bluth frozen banana. i mean, it's one banana, michael, what could it cost? $10? >> you've never actually set foot in a supermarket, have you? >> if you got it, it's the funniest thing you ever saw. it assumed its audience was as smart as its writers. >> what do you got there? don't be afraid to make a -- i'm 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 american male is in a perpetual state of adolescence, you know, arrested development. >> hey, that's the name of the show! >> it was really smart that you could break all these rules. and also have a lot of characters on a comedy who were extremely unlikable. ♪

>> there are a lot more important things than jokes in a comedy. jokes aren't the most important thing in a comedy. >> what's the most important thing? >> character. >> take control of the body -- >> busy? >> yes, keeping up morale. >> can we have a chat? >> yeah. >> ooh! >> i'd 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. but it's not company policy. i haven't got a sign on the door that says "white people only," you know. i don't care if you're black, brown, yellow. orientals make very good workers. >> whazzup! >> don't do that! >> when the decision was made to make an american version -- >> whazzup!

whazzup! >> whazzup! >> there was a lot of head shaking. like, oh, god, 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 it. >> where are they? >> it used the same mockumentary format that the british show had. >> dwight! >> dwight! >> what are you doing! >> we search for the organs. where is the heart? the precious heart. >> that show works. everybody you go to in that cast is hilarious. >> oh, my god! >> dwight! >> the mockumentary format 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," the conceit is they're making a documentary. >> i'm okay. i'm good. i'm good. >> the idea of these shows is you know, they sit down on a couch or 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 fight it. >> we didn't need to explain that there's a documentary. yeah, it's a documentary, we don't need to know who he's talking to, i got it, and it's funny. >> this year's emmy nominations have been announced. the comedy series "30 rock" was the top nominee. >> "30 rock." >> "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 cat 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, jokewise. >> no, no high def. >> "30 rock" was a critical success from minute one. it had a very passionate, very desirable audience watching it from even an advertiser's 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 next top pirate." "are you stronger than a dog?" "milf island." >> milf island? >> 25 super-hot moms, 50 eighth grade boys, no rules. >> oh, yeah. didn't one of those women turn out 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" mini series. >> let's go! >> my father served in the second world war and was in many

of the places where airborne ended up. >> incoming! >> and what he felt was real about it was the emotions were utterly true. >> 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 9th, 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, am i not living politics? >> one of the things amazing to me about "john adams" was it was done as realism. >> would you approve a brutal and illegal act to enforce a political principle, sir! >> just the grittiness of founding a nation. >> and liberty will ring 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 a western district. i'm not a narco. 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, 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? of drug dealers? >> i've got the best territory and no kind of product. >> i got the best product but 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. it's a school day, you're going to be late. >> it wasn't just 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 scrounge for food. >> where's your book bag? >> teacher ain't give no homework. >> so you start to get a much more realistic, three-dimensional picture of what poverty looks like in a 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. >> 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. >> yeah, the cheese stands alone. >> but he had this code that he lived by that made him very touchable and very human. >> hey, yo, mike. hook a sister up, y'all. >> he was openly gay, but people were also 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 heroin, it's going to get sold.

[ bleep ] is strong, we're going to sell it [ bleep ]. [ bleep ] is weak, we're going to sell twice as much. you know why, because a fiend, he's going to chase that [ bleep ] no matter what. >> is it the greatest tv show of all time? people always argue about that. 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, po-pos. >> good night, po-pos. >> at the time, hbo was in about 33 million homes. well, fx was going to 110 million homes. 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 soprano. that ultimately was found in the script that was vic mackey, who was a cop.

>> good cop and bad cop lesson for the day. i'm a different kind of cop. >> the pilot of "the shield" is fascinating because you think that the show is being set up as a cat and mouse game. vic mackey is secretly in bed with all the gangs and all the drug dealers, making lots of money. then you're introduced to terry crowley, this undercover cop who's sent to bring him down. you think, oh, that's the show. i've seen that show before. i've seen that movie before. >> we're talking about making the case that puts mackey behind bars for a long time. >> then you get to the end of the pilot and vic 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 of 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."

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the current crop of 18 to 25-year-olds is the most politically apathetic generation in american history. >> we had a lot of difficulty getting "the west wing" on the air. part of that was because of a not unreasonable belief on the part of nbc that 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 so different than any other show i'd worked on was the richness of character and words and thoughts and images that aaron sorkin wrote. >> i would love for people to think that i'm as quick and clever as the characters that i write. but you'd be disappointed if you met me. >> josh? >> yeah? >> six pages on english as the national language. >> meetings don't just take place. sitting down and talking to people. >> and as for a damn social studies paper -- >> josh? >> donna?

>> look at the memo. i gave you what you asked for. don't snap at me. >> we knew that was the essence of this 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 west wing," there's a lot of 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. five votes jumped the fence. >> because they could go beginning, middle, end of a scene sometimes in one take, and it was liberating and also intimidating. >> what the hell happened? >> we don't know. >> give me names. >> we're finding out -- >> i love "the west wing" because it's a complete fantasy >> 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 little we can win them. >> it presented both sides as a real human beings that can. >> it's not easy being my vice president is it? >> no, sir. >> this was a valentines for public service, and so a group of people, just trying to make the world better. >> alexander hamilton didn't think we should have to go to cool parties. and john adams led to divisiveness. >> the number 52 of the divisiveness. >> couldn't destroy us faster as barack obama. >> critics now say that pressuring certain disabled veterans to hurry up and die. >> what you saw in the media universe was the splintering of the audience and in news, it splintered largely along political lines. >> you're watching fox news.

>> roger vallas had the brilliant idea, creating a network for conservatives that is fox news. >> his war medals have gotten worse. >> and that msnbc stumbled into the idea of a liberal counterpart. >> you watch fox news, our tinfoil hat and paranoid racist and pinheads. >> there was no longer a shared factual basis for our political views. we didn't all go home and watch crawl walter cronkite. >> on the left, james carville. and on the right, robert novak and dr. carlson. and in the crossfire. >> i remember when jon stewart would on crossfire it was 2004, john kerry was the democratic bench facing george w. bush. and i thought you know watching him, this is going to be a funny show. >> can i say something very

quickly. why do we have defied? the two of you, can't we just -- say something nice about john kerry right now. >> i like john kerry, i care about john kerry. >> something about president bush. >> i think anyone who paid attention to the news and watched the daily show will forever there jon stewart going on crossfire and reading those guys the riot act. >> you are doing theater when you should be doing debate. which would be great. but it's not honest about what you do is not honest what you do is partisan hackery and i will tell you >> you go on his show and you are using is a partisan hackery? >> you have got to be kidding me. >> you are on cnn, puppets making prank phone calls. what is wrong with you? >> comedians and satire well take on hypocrisy no matter where it comes from. >> i think the vice president and his wife love their daughter. and i think they love her very

much. and you can't have anything but respect with the fact that they are willing to talk about the fact that they have a daughter. >> yes, we admired your love for your daughter. >> if they stepped in it, the trusted comic will bring that to the forefront, and i think that's what people like about the daily show. >> there's an upcoming election evidently. i didn't know that. >> you are the chief political correspondent every two years, we elect a brand-new house of representatives, a third of the senate, and it's called the midterm elections. >> i only vote when the big donors are up, i can't be running around every two years of voting. i have got a life. >> i could not have lived with the daily show and colbert becomes the companionship. and see four bear. and it is so compelling to

watch. and this hilarious pseudo- conservative dumb guy. >> and who are the heroes? the people who watch this show. >> average hard-working americans, you're not the elite, you are not the country club crowd. i know for a fact that my country club would never let you win. >> one of the things about being on the colbert report and stephen would say it himself was he was playing a character. >> the book is the nine, inside of the secret spooky world of the supreme court. >> stephen had to respond in real-time to the guest. as his character. not as himself. which was an incredible feat of acting as well as kind of journalism. that is a big part of the book. you know, how much did the justices political views play a role and how do they decide cases. >> why would political views go into it, i said before liberal

activist judges, i could understand why their liberals would affect them because they are activist judges but the conservative judges are not activist they are in activist. >> they, i guess you are 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 united dates of america and it is now official. and he has passed the 270 electoral vote. >> when you watch the tape. you can see, the colbert and that character can cry. because that is not what the character does. and jon stewart he loves colbert so much as a human being, he covers for colbert. >> 297 for barack obama. >>

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increasingly serialized would lose viewership over time. because if the audience misses an episode and they would be inclined to stop watching it because they would feel like i missed one and now i don't know what is happening. >> there had been amazing shows that had been serialized but they never had a syndication value because you couldn't revisit them. but almost no butter hook and like a book you can't turn down, i'm going to watch a little bit more. 24 was set to debut in and the pilot climaxes with an assassin blowing up a passenger jet in midair. and fox orders this and fox schedules this. 9/11 happens. and suddenly, the show would seem like a stupid thing about chasing after middle eastern extremist terrorist becomes the most timely show on television because that is all that anyone in america can talk about after

september 11th. and the name for the series come from the idea that it is 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. i don't know how this is for you but if you care about me you will pull the trigger, don't do it, pulled the trigger. >> i can't do it, i'm not going to do it. >> pull the trigger! >> the commercial breaks and that show were almost welcome. so that you could catch her breath. 24 was really the first to binge show if you think about it, there were a lot of people in the years that would only buy the dvds. >> you think that he will come after you? >> and a lot of subtleties and complexities that they have been doing, my god this has been blowing my mind i can see it because i have just watched

three in a row. battle star galactica was a show made in the late 1970s, not a very good show but show with a really good idea which is civilization has been destroyed and humanity is on the run, what happens next wax years later, the sci-fi channel looked at it and said what if we to take it seriously? >> madam president, we have to deal with the carrier immediately. >> there are 1300 people on that ship. >> star wars feels like fantasy and fable but this felt like war. >> do it. >> the photography was shot like world war ii, combat cameraman work. >> okay, fire on my mark. >> no 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 the side lawn and we are going to get the shop. and it was riveting.

>> it is a classic sci-fi in that it's about using the robots and the spaceships and the clones to comment on the world that we live in right now. >> i can't die, when this body is destroyed, my memory and consciousness will be transmitted to a new one. >> the silence look and act and feel like humans and by time you get to the middle of the battle star galactica you don't really know who you are rooting for anymore. >> what other seekers are in that mechanical brain? >> it was like west wing in space. >> madam president without you we wouldn't have made it. >> it was such a very rich world that felt lived in and real. and the stakes could not have been higher. >> i think lost is the first huge cinematic tv show i saw. and i remember gathering at a friends house to watch.

and it was long enough ago and the internet was still young enough and social media was i made it was friend stir? >> jj abrams ambition for the pilot was grandiose. he always talked about it as making a movie every week. i think when we say the word cinematic what we really mean is opening up a little bit more but also the ambition of the action set piece. and jj was very aggressive and he said if you want me to do this pilot you will need to give me the resource in order to do it and i want to shoot it as a movie. and then we have to get that bar up. >> you start off, this is a survival drama, the people's plane crashed, how are they going to get by and find food, and et cetera?

>> we hunt. >> on top of that there is the 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 million half viewers each week and spawned countless web locations, where millions of avid fans can obsess. >> the fan base is seeing what are you going to answer these mysteries? personally i started feeling hamstrung story wise instantly because we had to do 25 hours of lost in the first season. so we started communicating to abc. we are going to run out of flashback stories. >> call it, jack. >> you call it. >> abc was adamant in saying, no, the show is a hit show. and people love the flashbacks and don't worry, you guys are great, just keep it up. >> you okay, freckles. >> at the beginning of the

third season, we had our characters locked in cages and i think looking back on it now, i think that is metaphorically how we felt, we felt we were locked in a cage. >> around halfway through the third season abc says okay we will let you end the show and we are like thank god. and they said after 10 seasons. >> desperate housewives and lost launched the same year and it really was a huge boost for the network and they had two shows that everybody was talking about. >> i spent the day as i spent every other day. quietly polishing the routine of my life until it gleamed with perfection. >> i have a lot to say about women who go into the iconic roles of wife and mother. and are unfulfilled. >> i think the good news it brought was women who were not perfect who are not young. are viable. and, the fan base was amazing and you know there were t-

shirts and i remember going into a store and there was you are saying i'm a bad mother. >> mamie need to get back your car please. >> i am gabby. i am susan. i am berea. >> are you at a bar? >> we stood on the shoulders of us that came before, strong women characters in television but in the wake of desperate housewives, a lot of shows with older women came on the air. >> what are you doing? >> i knocked myself out. naked. >> oh. >> and then i fell. so how are you? new truly vodka seltzer yeah, there's vodka in this!

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i loved friday night lights. i grew up in colorado it was in texas but i knew every single person on that show. and they weren't on the air anyplace else. >> there eyes and full hearts. let's get them. >> the pilot of friday night lights is one of the best pilots of any television show ever. the energy was almost instantly to the fact that jason street is the greatest quarterback

that dylan high school ever had. >> he was squat scouting the quarterback for 27 years and he was the best we had ever seen. >> about 35 or 40 minutes, while trying to make a tackle. >> fumble on the plate, fumble. >> jason street is hit and he's paralyzed. and 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 would not be the show. >> i am going to be a father to this baby and to this family. i am going to coach high school football. and you and i are going to stay together and that is the way that it is. yes? >> no. you have to go to austin. this is your dream. >> that is what i am telling you. >> we wanted to feel like that

the audience was being invited in. to a very small town. and a very intimate setting. >> i don't want to be responsible nor do i want this baby responsible for you not living out your dreams. >> >> i have walked with you all of these years, to get to this place. you and i together. >> this is about a couple trying to actually be in a marriage and make it work instead of just what we always see on television. and then i felt a very strong deep desire to not just have her be the sideline supporting wife. >> it looks like you missed yourself to biology exams. and what looks like a pretty important term paper in your english class. let's start there. >> i don't know what the sojourn is. >> the sojourn is what is going

to keep you back to your if you don't get it together. change your attitude the rest of it you can look up. >> ♪ ♪ >> it was a really interesting show because it was about high school. and the take pop songs that are already out there and make them part of the story. >> ♪ ♪ >> and it was about these misfits out of high school. >> ♪ ♪ >> and they are in the glee club, there are a lot of themes about not fitting in. but homophobia. >> ♪ ♪ >> it was so 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 lee and ryan murphy

really got the general public understanding that oh, there is a person behind this and there is a person's sensibility driving the show. >> i love you 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. >> is at the drama and story that comes first and the medicine later quench >> the theme of every episode or the drama comes first and then we try to find medicine that relates to or reflects that. >> mr. and mrs. claus i understand how difficult this is. >> no disrespect but like -- you do. >> you are going to have to make a decision as to how you want to proceed. >> you mean my baby's life are my own? >> yes. >> grays anatomy revealed what a good storyteller is. >> i love you. in a really big pretender like

your taste in music let you eat the last piece of cheesecake, hold the radio over my head outside of your window. in an unfortunate way that makes me hate you love you, so pick me. >> people like, the people who are just the lifeblood of ron cast networks, and in this case, it is fantastic because a woman and a person of kaiser color is doing this. >> anybody that opens doors for more diverse casting and more diverse group is a good thing. >> sheesh stood up and said yes, i am going to be a show runner and i am going to be a juggernaut. >> and this is i will put 20 on a total meltdown. >> 50 says he pulls the whole thing off. >> that is one of us down there. the first one of us. >> where is your loyalty? >> above and beyond the cultural aspect which is important and rate we need to

remember that she created a bunch of shows that are terrific and fun to watch. >> you can do this. price promi. hi, i'm lauren, i lost 67 pounds on golo. i got picked on as a child. it really got to me, so i tried everything there was. golo and release has definitely shown me that there is hope out there. back when i had a working circulatory system, you had to give your right arm to find great talent. but with upwork, there's highly skilled talent from all over the globe right at your fingertips. it's where businesses meet great remote talent and remote talent meets great opportunity. ♪

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right. >> this is it, unless we are on a break. >> [ laughter ] >> don't make jokes now. >> by the time fraser 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 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. >> we write a four camera show and we write and direct it and

perform it like a plate in front of 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. >> it's an abstract. >> not abstract enough. >> you've done an amazing job. >> it looks like something though, what does it look like? >> if you get close you can even touch it. >> [ laughter ] >> this is bugging me, where have i seen this. >> we started studying what he did with everybody loves raymond and he was embracing the very best of what the genre could do. which was interesting characters. he provided me with a very loud reminder that i didn't need to

fix anything or knock any boundaries or walls over. i just needed to embrace what was there. >> i have been in so many shows that failed spectacularly that i became known as the show killer. >> and that is not a great thing to be known as. in show business. >> and on the sly, i had him come in and read for me. and he was brilliant. >> how much is a ? >> what are you going to do with a ? >> i would like to pay her to have with me. >> how much are you looking to spend. >> as you know i am a bargain hunter. >> and i'm don't think they stock at the $.99 store. >> well what can i get in the $200 range? crabs? >> and carjacked.

>> i have an enormous sense of pride to have people related to their hearts for 12 years. >> okay let's start first jake, do you know first position. >> is that like missionary position quench >> that was the longest that had been on broadcast television in the history of rock has television at the time. i think the big bang will be needed but still that is amazing. >> two people talking is the essence of a four camera sitcom. and the lighting is not an issue, there is no music that is going to help the material. >> there is no special effects. it is hopefully good words with good actors. >> and must be humbling to suck on so many different levels.

>> big bang had this weird hurdle of not only finding the natural fight that every show does by getting an audience and trying to stay on the air and your job. >> weight or it to smell alive. >> oh no. >> this is what i wanted to have a costume meeting. >> there was a weird wave of energy that you are in a genre that is we are done with this and we don't want to see this anymore. >> and jim parsons, the big bang theory. >> obviously we didn't go away. and i believe very strongly that the multi-camera, the way they are shot in front of the studio audience to hear the other people laughing. i think it ignites something that is in all of us that is very primal which is that desired together as a group and hear a story. >> hey, look. live from new york it is saturday night. >> so every generation has

their favorite saturday night live. 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 2000 won the jackpot. >> because over the course of that decade, you can see some of the most extraordinary people come to that show. >> we should mention that although the waters above appear calm. we know that below the surface there is a frenzy of activity. >> one of the hallmarks is that 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 lifesaver here. is that a good idea? >> that i get those antlers, too? >> here you go, son. >> i like these. and of course.

also will ferrell high point. >> cowbell was fantastic because it's a great concept but because will ferrell really gets to be will ferrell. >> the last time i checked we don't have a lot of songs that feature the cowbell. >> i got to have more cowbell. and i would be doing myself a disservice and every man of this band if i remember warm the out of this. >> s&l in the 2000 is also a great time for women. >> it is my birthday. >> because there is a strong group of women that play off each other really well. >> what are you part indian and cherokee? >> look at those cheekbones. what is that, you have soup in your? >> you have a little bit of soup? >> i believe that diplomacy should be the cornerstone of any foreign policy. >> and i can see russia from my

house. >> i like waterfalls. >> like >> i like chasing cars. >> you are seeing creativity. and wacky left field things that you wouldn't have seen before. >> a lazy sunday. wake up in the late afternoon. >> andy samberg and the lonely island guys really helped make the transition for s&l into the digital era and that is when things started to go viral for s&l. >> i'm on a boat. i'm on a boat. >> ♪ ♪ >> you know, on a boat, or forget -- in a box. come on. >> ♪ ♪ ru solterra electric suv.

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welcome to deadwood. >> david said i have a great idea about ancient rome. >> comps in ancient rome. >> and we say okay, because we are already doing a show about

rome. >> deserters will be crucified. >> david basically took the underlying theme of his rome show and put it within deadwood. >> no law at all in deadwood, is that true? >> at the time of nero, there was a lot of order and no law. >> maybe you value keeping your guts inside of your belly or not. >> those are the days behind us. >> no those are the days to your left. >> and he just steals the show just lock stock and barrel from everybody else. >> you kind of want to go into that saloon and tried to engage him in conversation. will that be a good idea if i say something wrong. is a fascinating character in that he scares you and a

tractor at the same time. that is kind of a rare thing. >> i thought that he hated vampires. but we don't. >> i think true blood was an enjoyable be treated with blood all over it. you can say that it wasn't meant to be taken seriously and it wasn't taken itself seriously except that it was such a big allegory. for what was going on with the community and with a.i.d.s., and with political backlash. >> used her tax-exempt as an anti-vampire terrorist enclave. >> there is monsters all over. but, the scariest most deadly characters in the whole show. are the human beings. showtime looked at tony soprano and they said you want an

antihero, how about you. who is the hero of our show. there is based on a series of novels about a blood spatter expert who is secretly a serial killer. >> soon, you will be packed into a few neatly wrapped and my own small corner of the world. and it will be a neater and happier place. >> he was raised by a police man to channel his sociopathic impulses to only kill other killers. so he is a bad guy but also a good guy. >> i kill reprehensible people. i made the idea of the show is that you are invited to identify with and maybe even root for a serial killer. he kills horrible people and if i were just killing people willy-nilly. i think all bets would be off. >> where is the fun in that?

>> in the 2000's, the antihero really rose to prominence. >> that is a bb gun. >> don't point at that. i would hate to see you. >> i think they were popular because they were surprising. >> you are 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. >> it really was about following the twisted relationship of patty and ellen. >> what are you looking at her for? >> brought in conspiracy, obstruction of justice. >> mr. nye tells us that you might have reasons of your own for one of his take downs. >> 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 peter to have you killed. >> it was sort of the beginning of a real emergence of rich women on television. >> sure, take my last one. >> this will help. >> is the cab free? >> are you nuts? >> i have heard nurse jackie refer to as an antihero, at the mercy of her addiction, that always got her fullest attention. but beyond that. i think she really cared that

there wasn't money in the budget. for extra blankets. for someone who came in off the street and she would go and steal it from another department or whatever. 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? >> and there was no way she could do all of them. >> edie falco for me can do no wrong. here she is as the female antihero, that has her own show, and she is the one whose morals are questionable. >> because you know she is having an affair. >> can't talk. love you. >> she is stealing drugs and is she an unfit mother and yet you feel for her, so i love that women get to be the antihero

and not just the villain or the good girl. >> i want to know have you ever seen the rain? >> i think that is something that the decking gave us, a move towards television and really reflecting what america looks like. across town or across the country. pods, your personal moving and storage team. out here, you're more than just a landowner. you're a gardener. a landscaper. a hunter. because you didn't settle for ordinary. same goes for your equipment.

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amc, people forget that amc, and then suddenly, they kinda figure out, let's stop paying and 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. and a manager said okay i have this great script set in the advertising world within new york and it's been around for eight years and nobody has spotted everybody has passed. >> advertising is based on one thing. happiness. >> don draper is a master of the universe and executive in the early 1960s manhattan but he's actually secretly stolen

the identity of the real don draper due to an incident during the korean war, so living another man's life but he's battling his own demons at the same time and we are seeing him rise and fall over the course of the 1960s. and in a lot of ways the most interesting mark of the show is peggy olson's career. she goes from this little church mouse terry to a really tough and bold confident career woman. >> i like the way that she's heading out the pops. >> and she's going to try to get it even during the really sexist. of the industry even when it was so hard for a woman to get anything. >> can you get me some. >> the female characters within madmen are great because they each represent different aspects of what women were going through at that time. >> you glide around that office like some magnificent ship. >> i have the incredible experience and in the same week. and i said this is my show.

>> the heroes of madmen were the women. and the men were all obstructions of one kind or another. >> i am here all day alone with them outnumbered. >> what about carla does she count? >> and is not her job to raise our children. >> incorporated the music of the times the images of the time the history of the times. and the attitudes of the times. >> you can tell me or i can find out what color panties are you wearing? >> why? >> oh, blue. blue, who had blue? >> can i walk you home? >> madmen had no nostalgia for the period. it showed that people were jerks and adulterers and connivers and even back in the glory days of the 1960s.

>> what are you doing? >> how they communicated the assassination was actually exactly as it came to pass. >> they drew their pistols but the damage was done. >> everything stomped but nothing seemed important ever again. and it just so happened to be the weekend that roger's daughter was getting married. and that was a big wedding. >> i would put madmen and the sopranos in the position of the most important shows in the history of television. >> i was about to turn 40 years old and this is about 2004, two years after the end of the x- files.

>> i wasn't sure what to do next. frankly i was having trouble getting employed. my buddy tom, had been on the x- files too and he said i think we should put a mudslide live in the back of an rv. and you know, see america and make some and he's got a warped sense of humor. but at any rate, 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 need money really bad. why would i need money? >> lung cancer, and operable. we pitched breaking bad do not delete some people liked it and some people not so much. and it had been dead for about six months or a year or something like that and suddenly i hear, would you like to go meet the folks at amc, they are interested in breaking bad.

>> when we were making the decision to do breaking bad, we have been for the hero show. and we wanted a guy that was going against the grain. >> come check this out. >> come on, take it. >> they always tell you that you always need to got have a pitch. and i came up with that we will take mr. chips and turn them into scarface. >> what we were really going for was change, walter white says it in the first hour of the show. >> electrons, they change their energy levels, molecules. molecules change their bonds. >> breaking bad was a study in the change. the change that happens to one character as he does all from good to bad. >> you know the business and i

know the chemistry. >> there was definitely a shift, after madmen and breaking bad, that the phone started ringing and a ton of teacher people wanted to make tv shows. >> could you pass the butter please? >> bad , dad. >> and now it really has taken over what the indy feature was. now it is being made in the tvs fear. >> walter, you have the been busy. and enjoy a two year warranty. shop appliances now backed by the lowe's price promise. to finally lose 80 pounds and keep it off with golo is amazing. i've been maintaining. the weight is gone and it's never coming back. with golo, i've not only kept off the weight but i'm happier, i'm healthier,

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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. ♪ strangers waiting ♪ >> we were wondering, was tony going to survive this? was tony going to be shot? what was going to happen? >> [ bleep ]. >> they're cutting to meadow parking the car. you know, all these things that are completely normal, but they're imbued with this dread. ♪ don't stop believing hold on to that feeling ♪ >> nothing's happening. they're enjoying a family meal, listening to journey. ♪ street lights people ♪ >> and it's building and it's building. ♪ don't stop ♪

>> the long black in which everybody said, did i just lose my hbo signal? what's going on there? i actually thought was kind of like the chord at the end of "sergeant pepper" in which nine pianos just hit this long, long major boooonnng, and it goes on and on and 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 carlton and i were in new york talking to a couple of television critics about how amazing it was. and they're like oh, there's a lot of controversy about the "sopranos" finale. and we're like, what? they're like oh, yeah, some

people just absolutely hate it. the whole cut to black, it's pretentious, nobody knows what it means. they're all discussing whether tony is alive or dead. we're like, those are all the things that make it brilliant! 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 ride with you. and the viewer has a through line for every character and 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. if you don't do a really good finale to a really good series, the series can sort of lose its luster.

but "six feet under" comes up with a perfect ending, and the show is even enhanced a little bit. the end of "six feet under" has the daughter just driving away in the car, and music starts to play. it's sia's "breathe me." and she looks up in the rearview mirror. so she's looking backwards. but then the show looks ahead. ♪ ouch, i have lost myself ♪ ♪ 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 said bull [ 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. >> no! >> no! >> oh, yeah, you can't sit there. >> why not? >> that's where sheldon sits. >> he can't sit somewhere else? >> oh, no, you see, in the winter that seat is close enough to the radiator so that he's warm yet not so close that he sweats. in the summer it's directly in the path of the cross-breeze created by opening windows there and there. it faces the television on the angle that isn't direct so he can still talk to everybody yet not so wide that the picture looks distorted. >> perhaps there's hope for you after all. hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from the united states