>> this week on "q&a," amc network president and officer jeff sapan talks about his book, entitled "the big picture -- america in panorama." >> josh sapan, what impact do you think television has on the political system and political culture.>> a big impact in many ways.a lot of people get their news from tv.a lot of people get their point of view and opinions and analysis from tv.and tv has many stories on the dramatic

front the have some connection to politics.so i think it has a pretty big impact.>> of all the programs you produced over the years, which had the most impact on politics, on the pop-culture scene?>> i will answer with a movie we distributed.we distributed a movie several years ago called in the loop.it was done by a guy named armando and it was a british take on politics.armando went on to do a beautiful show on hbo called "veep."it was the lighter side of politics.i don't know if you've seen it.i'm not sure it is the most profound effect but it has caught some attention.not our show.a wonderful show done by hbo.

what impact do you think television has on the political system and political culture.>> for those that don't watch everything that you do, what do you do?>> i work at amc networks.>> you run it.>> yes.i will name some of our shows.i don't want to bore you or anyone watching this.we have "mad men was quote and "breaking bad" and "walking dead."we have a show call "hell on wheels," "wetv," which is a channel for women.we have a bunch of shows specifically targeted for african-american women.it is very popular was something we put together called "braxton family values."we have a channel devoted to independent film.and we have taken a left turn and made a lot of comedies.one of them is called "portlandia."and a couple of other new ones coming up, and is sent -- in addition to "company bang bang" and "stars about le bon -- "stars of babylon."and a couple of wonderful dramatic series and miniseries.>> so the sundance channel, the we channel, afc.ok,

here is a piece of video from 1993, 20 years ago.>> 00.-- oh oh.>> i want nothing that i say to mitigate the fact that there is too much violence in television and films.i think it comes from the news organizations, from the news collectors on any local station in my town.the first five or seven stories every evening are of her rape, murder, a mass murder, child abuse -- never the national or international stories of significance, but the violent stories.a great goal of harm is done that way.but i hasten to say that i think the greatest piece of violence done to the american people has been done by omission by the congress of the united states, by the fact that they have not managed over these years to find a gun control law that will prevent children will years of age from finding guns.>> norman lear, 20 years ago, people for the american way, former television producer and your on that board of able for the american way.fit it all together.he is talking about some of the violence on the shows you have on pimp i haven't seen some of them.i saw one episode of "breaking bad bad."where does that fit in?that was 20 years ago.have things change?>> that was 20 years a . ago.people for the american way is, among many things, meant to protect freedom of speech and i am a proud long time twenty-year plus board member.and i admire the work that norman set up and that able for the american way carries on because they are vigilant -- and that people for the american way carries on because they are vigilant.they do wonderful work.the question of television balance, it is

interesting that that is the clip he cousin -- because it will be a complicated answer on my part.we do have some shows that, in a narrative sense portray violence.and i don't know what impact they have on people's behavior.there may be experts to understand it better than i do.i have a personal opinion and a question about it that is actually -- happens to be somewhat similar to that that

was expressed by norman lear in that clip 25 years ago.which is -- his reference was not to the portrayal in narrative of violent acts and i'm not enough of an authority of what impact that may or may not have, but he talked about news, in particular local news, and what leads local news so frequently.i must say that i have share the same perception and the same concern about its influence on behavior in the name of news and i am not enough of an expert if it either -- expert of it either to definitively say but i watch it and wonder and worry and i share the view that he expressed.about the availability of guns.so your question is a rich one and my opinion is i hope a reasonably humble one and a personal one, not necessarily an authoritative one.but it is -- and i have much more concerned about the availability of guns and what is portrayed in and on news than what is portrayed in fictio fiction.there could presumably be a rich discussion on what violent fiction has a vocations on -- violent fiction has implications on the american people.>> the united way.how did you get involved with that?>> it appealed to me personally because i think america is a wonderful country and freedom of speech is in my view central to what is wonderful about america along with a bunch of other things.people for the american way was born to protect freedom of speech and to watch out for

where freedom of speech is being compromised.and i thought working in the tv business that was central to what makes tv, media intimidations great so i could lend a hand.and people for the american way does a whole lot more than that in terms of their overall agenda, which is more broadly civil rights, first amendment rights and protection and they have a whole bunch of activist programs.so they go on beyond the scope.>> there is something on your website, people for the american way, called white winged watch.>> yes.

>> and i have the copy in my hand. it's going be old when people see this, it's back in october. but it looks like that the people for the american way track right wingers. you actually call it right wing watch? >> yes. >> does that make you a left winger? >> i don't think so. i think the -- the -- the

intention of right wing watch was to be a monitor. and my own view is is it good we all monitor one another and express views about what we're all up to, i really mean that. you can like it or not. and i think it's good to sigh it whether you like it or not, soem people won't like my views. i probably won't like to hear them not like my views but they should monitor. monitor is to monitor people of import who have importance and who are saying things that should be heard and conveyed and expressed and questioned. i think it's a worthwhile and virt without effort. >> who are some of the people besides norman larry and alec baldwin and, oh, trying to think of so many others on the list that are on the board? >> mary francis barry, long-time

and well-known civil rights leader. >> michael keegan? >> the president of people for the american way. there have been and are a number of people from the clergy on people from the american way. i think happily and proudly from the baptist church. from the jewish religion. and there have been -- there have been a catholic priest. >> kathleen turner, the actress. >> people from the arts, people from the politics. people from the clergy. a wide range and wonderful group of people. >> how effective do you think you've been? >> i would say them, not me. they do the work. i'm on the board. i should be -- i wish i was a

little more active. i would like to take credit for all their work. i think at times they've been terrificically effective. at times, less so. i think the existence of the people for the american way is wonderful, important, maybe even profound. so i think very important, not necessarily effective every day, but over the long term, very effective. >> let's play this -- there are people watching saying with hear it on the air all the time that the media is controlled by left wingers. who have an agenda who are doum dumbing down the society by bringing more and more violence to television, more language to television, more sex to television. what do you say to them?

if your worst critic was in front of them, then you add to that, we have this thing called the first amendment. >> yeah. well, i have a really quite a different view. i think that the media world is largely in the interest of the free market today. which i think is terrific and the free market in the u.p.s. operates better than anywhere else in the world. the free market brings to the american television screen on cable television literally as you know hundreds hawneds and hundreds of channels of immensely diverse views and they're best seen in the news spectrum because they're the most on the nose and you can watch cnn or msnbc or fox news and now you can watch al jazeera or you can watch business news or two forms of business news.

but in those alone, you get views that are somewhere on the left, the right, from the center, somewhere else. what a phenomenally rich dialogue. it's all operating in -- in a commercial world in which the market is guiding a lot of what happens. i think that's fantastic. >> let's go back to anc and a program that you've been given many awards for called madmen. i want to run a clip of it. explain -- it hits me right between the eyes because it's my era. but let's watch this. >> sure, good. >> advertising space. happiness. >> a little sex appeal. >> so your mother and father are responsible for all of this? >> you are okay? >> damn it, i know you're having an affair.

>> what do women want? >> who cares. i could do anything i could to make you happy. >> this is delicate, but potent. >> move forward. >> starting a new agency. >> what's the program about and when did it start? the program started about six years ago. the program takes place in over a six-year period now or so. it takes place in new york city on madison avenue and the backdrop is the world of advertising in what some consider to be the golden age or the glory days. but it's really a character study. >> 1960s. >> yeah, yeah. it's really -- it's a social study but more a character study. it's done by the brilliant net whooiner who created it and created all of the wonderful characters in it and struck a responsive chord. >> do you watch it?

>> yeah, love it. >> what impact has this had on your company? >> it's been a great help to our company. we operated something called the american movie classics before it was amc. we made the determination to go to original programming and we had done a couple of shows before that. but madmen represented probably the most successful and first of what i would call it the new era of amc. it put us on the chapter. >> people back in the '60s as bad as the program portrays? smoked all the time. drank at the office. lots of affairs. i could go on. >> well, my father was a copywriterer and creative director on madison avenue. and in 1962 would have been 42 years old. he didn't go to college.

he was born in brooklyn. he squeaked his way through high school and he was well-dressed. so to protect the legacy of the sapan family, i'm going to restrain myself from asking more specifically and say, it seems to have created some sort of a portrait that rings true. >> why did it catch on? >> i think it really caught on because what matt whiner did in constructing it and the way it was cast and directed. incredible work of everybody who is involved, scott horn beck, all of the actors, a great study of characters and relationships. >> when did you know it was having an impact, besides just numbers. >> yeah. it was probably two or three seasons in when -- when -- it was first parodied, i think, on

"saturday night live." when you're parodied on "saturday night live," you know you've arrived. >>. >> there's more to this than just a television show. you're talking about all of the blogs that have been devoted to breaking down the plots and all that stuff. you mentioned the importance of video on demand and people catching up with it later? >> right. >> where did -- explain that. and whiner is connected to the sopranos which some people think is one of the great things that's ever been made? he feels a producer on the sopranos and a writer on the sopranos. and i think that my opinion, brian, is that great stories and great characters affect people. they affect them sometimes deeply. and not to be haifa luting about it, but if you read the novel and the novel is great and 300 years later, people are still

reading it, it has staying power and the character have staying power. they read something beyond the little story they were written in. they become permanent. i think mad men in the television space, it has impact. as no the technology question which is interesting to me working in the business, i think we benefitted and the show benefitted at least two a degree through the emergence of cable on demand. and the people to have the ability to go to the server and say i'm going to watch that later. and internet services on demand, you can catch up and be current so you don't have to be limited to a linear schedule of sunday night at 9:00 or 10:00 p.m. you can find it, give it the

attention. from the commercial point of view, get hooked and watch "live" with us. >> what role does twitter play and facebook and dvds? all of this technology when you started in the university of wisconsin didn't exist. >> i think they all helped. the most profound one is the most profound of all of the technological changes for serialized dramatic tv is the ability the go find the show when you want in sequence for stories that are ongoing. if they require more attention -- some of our shows on showtime and fx and hbo, they do, they require more attention. people can go there when they're ready and with partner, spouse, friend, and watch when they're not distracted. i think that helms. and then all of those social

media opportunities act as axel rants because they allow you to play, engage, discuss. like a permanent book group with a tv show occurring indigiting endly. >> i want to run "the walking dead" a clip. one of the main reasons i want to show this is because it blew the ratings right off of the charts a couple of weeks ago. the opening episode was 16 million viewer s? >> 16 million viewers. >> does that ever happen in -- >> you don't -- i want to be careful about identifying records to make sure i've got stats right. but i think it was a record for -- i think it won the season, if i'm not mistaken. there's some question that the football game on that night, on a delayed three-day basis, it

won the season -- highest rated show of the season. >> this is violent. >> yes. yes. >> there are people walking that use supposed to be the walking dead. they get their heads bashed in. we'll ask you about it. sure.[video clip]>> docto doctor.doctor.>> the walking dead, on the episode sunday night at nine only on nbc -- only on amc.>> i have only watched one episode, i will admit.i have watched people bash other people's heads in.

what is the point? [laughter] why do we like? >> i will give you my opinion. it will sound like a pretty answer. i don't mean it to sound like a pretty answer. but i think it begins with it is a great character study set against a backdrop of a post apocalyptic world. in this case, a zombie apocalypse. but i think the post apocalyptic world is very interesting. they are interesting because of the world we live in and because of all the things that a lot of us are occasionally afraid of. all of which could have the effect of making the world not quite as we know it. and i think it is also phenomenal so-called theater. it is a great backdrop for what happens when people are together and alone in a world that they no longer new -- separated from their loved ones, reconstituting relationships with one another

with this lingering threat caused by the apocalypse. what a wonderful set up. and it is executed beautifully and the characters are great and surprising and actually pretty subtle among notwithstanding the violence. the makeup is spookily good. so you believe it and you immerse yourself in it and you are invited in and your captured and your heartthrobs. and i think it throbs occasionally with fear and a little bit with sympathy and a little bit with love and a little bit hoping for someone to have a good life. so i think it is a great story. >> how did you get that many people to watch it? in numbers today, that is a huge number for anybody to watch any television show except a sports television program or to stay couple of others. 16 million people. >> yes. we are in season three. it has been building. the technology, things i mentioned earlier, people can find their way to it not only when it is on our schedule on amc. so they are inviting and

suggesting their friends to it. >> go back to the violence thing. if this is so successful with this heavy violence, does that mean that the american people love violence? this is an old subject. you look in the movies. it is constant boom, boom, boom, what hollywood puts out. >> one can judge for themselves. i don't think it is the violence. i really don't think it is the violence that makes the show of attractive -- the show

attractive. it is obviously caricature. that has been a zombie apocalypse. so far, there has not been a zombie apocalypse. so it is sensible -- so it is fanciful and extreme and creative. i think it creates drama and it is a great construct. it is fundamentally about survival and fundamentally about how people organize with one another and actually how they fall in love and have babies and all the good stuff of life that is set against a very dramatic backdrop. >> let's talk about josh say pan -- josh sapan for a moment. where does the pronunciation come from? >> i will take anything. anyone who says my name in any vague way, like a dog, i will just respond if it is close. >> where does the name come from?

>> at ellis island, we lost the ifty. >> where did you grow up? i grew up in brooklyn and went to college in the midwest. >> why did you find your way from queens, brooklyn area to the midwest to the university of wisconsin? >> i went to visit it and i thought it was the most beautiful and unlike anything i had ever seen. i had never actually been to the midwest in my whole life. i was attracted to all of it including the university. >> what year did you graduate? >> 1970 -- i took a little time to graduate so i think it was 19 76 or eight i the time i graduated. >> one of the things that i saw when looking at your background, you started out reading roughly smith's "wired nation."

>> yes. >> tell us who that was and why did that matter to you? >> yeah. i don't know how i got the book. i was interested in tv and studied it in college and came upon "a wired nation" in which he offered a view. at the time, there were few tvs wired to cable television. and he offered a view of every tv set in america hoped up to a hardwire where, if you recall, not only a diversity of national channels, but he was really focused on local and cut that there would be this robust local editorial television opportunity that the sort of -- if one can analogize -- something like an electronic newspaper. it seemed actually that his vision was grand and i thought

perhaps exaggerated who knew that he would be right on the money. then the entire nation would be absolutely wide and along the way there would be satellite alternatives and a second wired alternative. the unthinkable at the time is that, along the side -- alongside all of it, there would be a worldwide internet. question one of the stories often told about you leaving college, getting two 16 milliliter projectors, having put them in your automobile and going from campus to campus showing your films. how did that happen and expand more about that. >> the university wisconsin, we had a film society and showed movies. we show them from -- we showed them for profit. it was a fun experience.

my friend and i hatched a plot that we would not have a movie theater but a mobile movie theater. so we had a natural rambler station wagon and we had two 16mm projectors. we began to tour the midwest, setting up in college towns. we began in ohio and showing movies that we thought would be of appeal to university communities. but it worked ok. >> you charged money? >> oh, yeah, it was a for-profit venture. in each town, we would find a location. it was an odd notion. it was an itinerant alternative movie theater on 16mm in towns before there was the diversity on television when there was only broadcast television and one most of these college towns didn't have our theaters. so we should french films and the bicycle thief and "duck soup." and we showed alternative cinema, if you can pardon the

word. >> would you charge? -- what did you charge? >> i can't remember. it was two dollars probably. >> did you make money? >> yeah. >> what year did you start? >> i am bad with chronology. i think it was 1976 because i graduated surely thereafter. 1975. a little earlier. we did for not all that long. maybe getting toward a year. but it worked economically. we figured out how to do it. we remitted some of the money to the companies that owned the films. we split the gate with them. it was a fun business. >> were you political back then? the university of wisconsin is known as a fairly liberal

school. >> yes. that is in part the reason i went there. i was interested in the politics. >> how active were you? >> i was active periodically. i was in and out of political activism. ? >> what does that mean -- >> what does that mean? >> i was active for a while and then i was engaged in theater. so i was in and out of politics. there were more people more consistent. >> use but how many years with the goal/amc -- you were how many years with the dolan/amc company? >> i worked at a local cable system in nearly days of cable television called "what was then -- called what was then teleprompter. >> why were you attracted to cable tv? it was a very dominant or prominent than.

-- prom and then -- prominent then. >> i had read "the wired future" and i found my way to teleprompter manhattan. >> let's run this and see what they can tell us about it. [video clip] >> tonight's guest has received an academy award, golden globe and broadcast film critics blocked the stern attainment and screen actors guild awards for her performance "girl

interrupted." >> the new school where that was done is a school where you had been on the board. are you still on the board? >> yes. >> again, a very liberal school. there seems to be a theme here. [laughter] >> i got to the new school because of "inside the actors studio," which is the show that we just such -- we just saw. it is a show that was on bravo. it still is on bravo. but the new school operated that

as their theater program. >> you haven't done much politics. in other words, you have gone to the creative side and why? have you missed of that? or is that where people for the american way comes in? >> yeah, i got all the time. >> have you had any urge to do political programs? >> i have a lot of interest in it, brian. i watch a lot and a listen a lot -- and i listen a lot, but i don't think i have found my way to it. >> we have an unusual looking book. it is a nine usually size the book. your name is on it and so is another gentleman. >> luke sant. >> tell us about it. >> i had been collecting for 30

plus years these big photographs. when people see them, they are often of sports teams were a church which group -- or a church group. i couldn't resist him. i would put them on my wall, somewhat to my wife's chagrin because they don't necessarily always portray a happy picture. but i felt that they were intriguing because they told a little bit of a sort of random story about american history and about moments in america and about style and culture and belief and community and war. i always wanted to put together

a book so i finally found a overture -- found a publisher. it came out a couple of weeks ago. >> this is a world war i transport, a location and date unknown. what got your attention here? >> you know, the people look -- in that photograph -- a look so hopeful happy. i don't know exactly where they are going or what they are doing. but it looks like people on their way to something they thought would be better. it was dramatic. >> here is a picture called "mohawk peace conference, lake mohawk new york, 1915." you have some lighter notes here written by mark halperin and you had several others write notes for you. >> right. when i was discussing the book with the publisher, we together hatched the notion that, in order to make these photographs that were historic in little

more accessible, it would be nice to have captions from people whose lives or work connected to the subject in the photograph. so we were fortunate enough to get 20 people. and it is a great list of people. i cannot come up with them all but martha wrote a range of norman lear and actually kathleen turner was kind enough to write a caption and con john lewis was kind enough to write a caption. >> here's one. ariana huffington wrote this one. location unknown. 1908. she -- there are some tidbits in there. she goes on to mention the electronic media and the change in cable television and all of that. did you tell them what to write? >> no, they wrote themselves. i gave them a selection of photographs to write about and they made their own choices. >> this is one written by the

clothes designer joe abboud. it is a photograph from new york city in figure 23rd of 1906. -- in february 23 of 1906. it has something to do with the tuxedo. what is this photo about? >> i just thought it was sort of exquisite in its own way and celebratory and a little bit about men's fashion. joe was kind enough to write about it and talk about tuxedos. >> what did you hope to a compass with this book? >> well, just to finish it. [laughter] i actually wanted to -- i thought it was fun to have a little view of history, of a time in america that wasn't instructional first and

foremost. it was a little bit more anecdotal and a little bit more archaeological, meaning random. so you sort of take a look at them and you see bunches of where it photos and then the captions explain them. i had an image of high school students flipping through it and loving it if they flipped through it. >> maryland, date unknown, infantry division. the liner notes say that there's a mailing 25,000 people in this photograph. >> yes. >> where did you find that? >> the source of that i don't recollect. i drew from my own collection of the library of congress and from the collection of a guy named bill hunt who lent me a bunch of

his photographs and he has a vast collection. >> here's one of the liberty bell that also has thousands of soldiers in it. why did they do that? do you have any idea? >> i think it was a thing. i think people would gather. my wife's relatives are hanging in what was her parents house, a picture in a flag. they were in a fight formation. it was to create an impression. >> this is from 1931, brooklyn, new york, the wallace circus annex. what you have done with this is that you have a broad ensure for you can see everybody. then in the next slide right next to it, you show, i assume, the fat lady and the door for the midget and all that.

would we allow this in our society today? >> that is a good question. i think yes, under certain circumstances, because i am familiar with the circumstances under which it is allowed. but i hope that it would be treated sympathetically and it would be treated just as an expression of differences. and i mean it. >> what circumstances? >> we did a tv show called "freak show," which was about a guy in venice beach who has a boat who has extreme characteristics. i am making it sound really kind, but it is. he sort of celebrates their differences with wonder and not with any derision or judgment. really with wonder. >> in your experience, looking at americana and your private

collection, what is that about? [laughter] please tell us. and how many lightning rods do you own? >> i think that if you have over 100, you have the world's largest collection. you can call it a private collection but you can have 1, 2, because they are so formal. -- me you can have one, too, because they are so affordable. they have these beautiful globes on them. so there is a little bit of a marriage of industrial art and folk art and function. i was intrigued by them so i started to collect them. >> you are married.

>> yes. bikes kids? >> yes. -- >> kids? >> yes. >> women or men? >> older boy, younger girl. >> what are their interests? >> the boy, not surprisingly, nate is interested in all things story, machine, device and virtual. and the girl, claire, has a wide range. she is a high school senior and she has a wide range of interests. she likes to write. she likes history. she likes her friends. she likes tv shows. >> i want to bring you back to the family but first show another clip on another successful program that ended its run," they -- program that

ended its run, "breaking bad." >> he is a high school coach who gets terminal cancer and turns to meth dealing. >> when did you decide to do this and how successful was it? >> we decided to do it six years ago. it began modest daily and became -- it began modestly and became extraordinarily successful. if anyone is a television genius, it is vince gilligan. he created a complete world and series of characters that captured somebody people. >> let's watch a little clip of this. [video clip] >> this is not an f. >> are you nuts? >> want to find out?

>> you call this slowburn tv. what does that mean? >> it generally refers to tv shows the take a longer time to move people through the story. and a longer time to carry on the story and for characters to develop. >> could you do that on network television? i mean, the over the air networks? >> historically and pretty much to date, there has been very little of it on network television. >> why?> >> i think it is largely an economic consideration. at least historically, network

television is or has more urgency to get ratings quickly. it doesn't have from a pure business structure point of view and of patients or does not allow as much patience to develop and build. a needs to perform more quickly and shows that are a slowburn are slower. so it has the starkly not on the -- so it has historically not been on the schedule. >> your wife came out of showtime. >> yes. >> you paint a picture of the span family -- the sapan family. you take measure of your own kids. something like "breaking bad." >> i do. i cannot avoid it. it is fun to do. >> what was their reaction to "breaking bad?" >> i showed a somewhat random

episode two my then--- random episode to my then-probably well-year-old daughter and it was a skeptical parental judgment. >> why? >> it was one of my -- it was an exquisite episode that featured an atm. it was out of context and it was really dramatic. and it did leave a little bit of a mark. i think ultimately a good mark because she talks about it to

this day and she talks about actually the venal nature of drug addiction and i think it actually impressed her at the time. that was not my consideration. i was just being a lazy indulgent parent and wanted to see the tv show with her. >> where did you get -- not your interest in much by your creativity? >> i am not so sure, compared to real created people, i am creative. >> what you mean?

you have 100 lightning rods. >> that is just a bad little construction of dna that makes you buy stuff and keep it. >> what is i come from in your family. >> my father was a copywriter and he liked to write. >> do you have brothers and sisters? >> yeah, brother no longer living. he liked to write music. my mother was a writer and actress, broadway actress. so it is probably in the gene pool. it's in the water. >> who owns amc? >> so the dolan family are the controlling shareholders, but amc is a public company. it asserted by chuck dolan who, by the way, founded b before it was sold to nbc. i should say -- founded before it was sold to nbc. he was the godfather regional sports. he created regional news. he created all of this niche

stuff, which is why i went to work with the company, to work with an arts channel, bravo, and movie channel, amc. >> where i landed for a moment, the first chuck dolan -- he started the first regional channel. it was 1986. and i must say i thought, even though i read his book and thought it was wonderful, i thought this is not going to work. it is in the shadow of these broadcast network-owned and influenced new shows. but it first. from the time i read the book to 1986 is not too long. >> back to politics. this is a clip from a national press club appearance by the former vice president of the

united states. take a look. [video clip] >> it doesn't help matters when prime time tv has "murphy brown," a character that supposedly epitomizes today's intelligent, highly paid professional woman mocking the importance of fathers by bearing a child alone and calling it just another lifestyle choice. and i went on and i said i know it is not fashionable to talk about moral values, but we need to do it. even though our cultural leaders in hollywood, network tv, the national newspapers routinely jeer at them, i think that must've us in this room know that some things are good and other things are wrong. >> that was not in the national press club. that was the kansas city chamber of commerce. as you know, the right wing things they left wing hollywood

types are using their platform for politics and i ask you if that's true. and if that's good or bad you it mason -- or bad. and it may sound obvious. >> no, i can given a chemical answer. i think people feel very strongly about what they believe. they really believe it from their hearts. they don't do leave it for bad reasons. they believe it for the best reasons. it is true for them. and they have deep conviction about it. and the great ring about the first amendment in america is that people can really vigorously disagree and you can call each other names. >> should the government have anything to say about the content of television? >> the government has something to say about it. >> should it? >> oh, should it? i think that my arsenal opinion is that, yes, -- my personal

opinion is that, yes, regulation in a number of different forms is very good and is helpful, particularly if it is setting up guidelines and indexes or indices for what to expect and what the calibrations are, imperfect as they may be. i think that is a helpful be. >> what would your reaction be if the fcc calls you in and says i don't like violence on amc? >> i think it would be a good -- i mean this -- i think it would be a very good conversation half and i would like -- and i would welcome it. >> why? >> why? because i think it is worth understanding ultimately, if we can really understand what has impact on people's lives, what creates behavior, what the savior -- what behavior is emulated or imitated, if that can be understood, you make more

responsible decisions. i'm not -- i'm not suggesting that i would want to be told what to do. i've i would want the dialogue. i think it is helpful. >> [indiscernible] >> i haven't thought of a better way to protect with seems to be the best thing about living here than the first amendment. it sometimes feels like there is a fair amount of friction in it because we'll have to listen to people whose opinions we really don't like, who we think are amoral or immoral or dangerous or venal and there is a bit of a price to pay for tolerating what some might consider to be a torrent if not hateful -- to be abhorrent if not hateful. >> how many people were for amc? >> roughly a thousand. >> what is your annual gross revenues? >> about a billion and a half dollars.

>> when you look in your career, what is the most important decision you have made, besides having two 16mm cameras in a rambler? what is the most important decision you made to become ceo of amc? to have the ratings success you have, but your own personalization on where you went in your own life? >> i guess my answer would be that i just wanted to do what interested me most. it happened to have led to a series of failures. probably failure trying out acting, not much success, trying out riding, not too much success, trying out being a producer in a small way, and i failed up to being an executive. >> but there was there a decision along the way that took you to the dolan family, that took you to showtime, that made

a big difference in your life? >> yeah. so probably the decision that was the most important one for me, careerwise, was going to what was then going to rainbow plaza and dolan television. the way they ran that comfy with the invitation to be adventurous and entrepreneurial, take risks and do new things, and their interest in what was new and next and risky relatively was probably it. >> what would you like to do before you quit? >> probably do more of the same but bigger, better, more varied, a little riskier, on the globe

and on the internet. around the globe and on the internet. >> what is your favorite program that you have done? that you like to muster self? >> -- that you like the most your self? >> it is a hard thing to say. >> take a chance. >> it is hard for me to get over "breaking bad" and "madmen." we have a new show called "rectify" that is quite exquisite. >> josh sapan, thank you very much. the book is called "the big extra, america in panorama." how much is this, by the way? >> check with your local retailer. [laughter] >> thank you very much.

>> for free transcript or to give us your comments about this program, visit us at q and a dash at qand-.org. >> this week, encore presentations of "q&a" beginning with robin neagle. she talks about "picking up" chronicling garbage collection in new york city. 7:00 p.m. eastern on c-span.