GREG BERLANTI

Especially with DVRs nowadays, people have their roster. More and more, it's not just, 'I'll watch what's on at 9 P.M.' They have their backlog of the shows they always watch, that they record every week, and it's a matter of, how do you get into that list?

What I really appreciated about Obama in the last campaign was that he was not reactive, and we're such a reactive culture... It takes a certain strength to be patient and have a plan.

I love telling stories. Creating a character, a world, a whole universe out of nothing. That part I can't get enough of.

That's part of what always fascinated me about the Flash. Yes, he had superpowers, but he wasn't superhuman. He was vulnerable. He could be hurt or killed. He's not getting in a jet. He actually is the jet. So he had this gift, but with it came this risk. And I think that's what makes the character relatable.

'Everwood' I think provides a unique feeling, an emotional experience. And other shows on TV don't have the acting talent to do that. Each one of our actors can do a serious scene and a humorous scene, and can do it all within the same sequence. They can go from a heartbreaking moment to a humorous moment.

You have to always try to think about them like real people first, and not just heroes. They have to be real characters. As people do more and more superhero stuff, the characters are what distinguish it, just like in cop shows.

We did 'Jack & Bobby' in the middle of the Kerry/Bush election. It hurt it a little bit. No matter what we did, everyone thought we were advocating for one person over the other. The stuff I work on is more about the people.

There were only a couple of Marvel characters I read. I read 'Iron Man.' I have a lot of those. And this was the time they tried X-Factor out. I was never an X-Men person, but I was like, 'Let me check out X-Factor.' I was more of a DC guy in general.

It's one of the things that 'Everwood' - what makes a great 'Everwood' episode is when it makes you laugh and cry, sometimes at the same time. From the first season, we've always had the chance to deal with death in a very real way, in a way that a lot of other shows can't or don't.

I think a lot of what I've done is about people feeling as if they are part of the world but also not part of it at the same time. I don't know whether that's from being a gay kid, but I definitely think that resonates with me.

For me, the romantic comedies I love are the ones that pay homage to the genre, but also find their ways to twist it and tweak it.

Television is ultimately a business of failure. You try a lot of things, and most of it fails.

For most of my childhood, even through college, there was a lot of feeling very alone. I loved TV, so when those very special episodes of anything came, or when certain characters reflected the world I lived in, I felt connected.

Early episodes of TV I compare to out-of-town plays. You can make them better. You don't have all the time in the world, but you have time to make them better and improve them as you go along.

When we started 'Arrow,' there weren't really a lot of superhero shows in general. And it was a burden on us because it was, 'Are you going to fail or succeed?' And now they're everywhere.

I have a Twitter profile, but I avoid red carpets and all that kind of stuff. I'd rather no one talk about me ever, and I just get to do my thing. I'm an introvert.

In TV, in general, the more you try and please everybody, the less people you please.

I can remember when there were storylines with gay characters on shows like 'Family' and 'Dynasty' and thinking, I have something in common with that person. This was way before the Internet and all the visibility that has brought with it.

If I had to give odds, I would say 30 percent of whatever good fortune I've had in this business has been luck, and 50 percent has been casting - so that's 80 percent right there. And 20 percent is just working really hard and taking risks.

I read some Marvel, but I was more of a DC guy. Particularly the Flash, Barry Allen. I latched on to him because I felt like him. You thought to yourself, 'Well, you can't really be Superman.' You couldn't really be Batman - Batman was a really dark figure. I identified with Barry Allen's hopefulness.

There are a few reboots I'd love to see that I'd love to have nothing to do with! I'd love to watch just as a viewer. 'Quantum Lea' - someone should bring that back. I'd love to see another 'Star Trek' show on the air. I loved 'Buck Rogers'; someone should do that. But I don't want the responsibility of doing any of those things.

The most important decision you can make as a showrunner when you're doing a pilot is who's in it and who's directing it.

TV's job is to make you lean in, and a film's job is to make you lean back.

There is nothing I've wanted more, or waited for longer, than to be a father.

I didn't happen to be one of those gay kids who knew definitively by the time I was 13.