mr. spielberg, is it? >> it is not. i met him in 1989 as a screenwriter. but in 1982, i was 16 years old and there was a super 8 film festival in los angeles. a good friend of mine, matt reeves, and i were in this film festival. there was an article about us calling us the beardless wonders, comparing us to people like spielberg and others, implying that we were incapable of growing a beard. to this day, i am offended by it. tavis: [laughter] >> the next day, spielberg's office called map. it was kathy kennedy, his assistant at the time. she is a big producer now. she called and said, would you guys be interested in repairing these movies that stephen made when he was your age? and we rely, what? nothing made sense. how was that a possibility? these were the original movies. it was not like it was a copy. he had done e.t. and readers of the lost ark. you would think that his early works would be protected by the government. tavis: and the smithsonian. >> that there would be hangar somewhere, a clean room. you cannot give them to kids. that would be a huge

mr. spielberg at the helm, you can pretty much guarantee -- >> jimmy: was he involved? was he hands on?. he helped shape the script. he helped cast the pilot, makes editing suggestions. >> jimmy: scary and has a lot of good effects and a lot of heart. >> got a lot of heart. >> jimmy: got a lot of heart. that's what i like about it. we have a clip from the show on "falling skies." here's noah wyle. >> we don't have to kill them all, kill a couple of them. if we make it too costly, too painful for them to stay then they'll leave. if they're wolves, we have got to be porcupines. if we can hurt them, they will leave. >> it hasn't worked so far. >> well, it will. because it has before. history is full of inferior forces creating so much trouble that the invading army leaves. the athenians at marathon. the scots against the british, at sterliing bridge. our revolution fought right here. red sox, yankees, '04. we can beat them. >> jimmy: yeah, there you go. [ cheers and applause ] looks good. noah wyle, "falling skies," premieres sunday, this sunday at 9:00 p.m. on tnt. up next, we're going to

mr. spielberg, one of the executive produces on "er," long-standing relationship with tnt having worked withto look heroic to my 8-year-old son. >> cool. >> fairly significant as well. >> did he get to see it? >> no. he was on the set. got to run around with my machine gun and work the anna ma tronnic alien head and everything to brag to his second grade class. >> that's important as a dad, you know that, of course. it's interesting in the clip you get a sense you're not the typical action hero. this is sort of an unlikely hero he's a history teacher and dad and working in history there. >> he's an academic by and large but given the fact that the aliens have invaded and decimated the military it's the civilians leading this ragtag army. a guy that has an academic background being forced into a military role. >> bad guys going after the children. you're trying to protect the children in the series. >> we don't know why they want the kids but they do, and they seem to be pressing them to some kind of slave labor force. and those are some of the big overriding questions about -- that we deal w