Happy Days, which we did for 11 years, we did with three cameras in front of a live audience. Very special. We had a party every Friday night. The boys, Ron, Henry, they grew up on that show.
I can't do a one-camera show. I don't know how to do that kind of show where you count in your head and then you do the next line.
The thing about the four-camera shows is that it's kind of a great combo of theater and film. You have an audience, but you have a camera to capture things, so that's a great thing, too.
It takes a week to do a sitcom in Hollywood. I do a show a day in my studio, three or four shows a week.
I learned from the best people in soap because it's so fast and involves multiple camera work. You don't get any rehearsal time - you just learn your script and then you're off and running.
Theater is a lot more interactive, more of a cohesive unit. With television, it can be a different director every episode.
Half-hour comedy shows are like a play, one night a week.
It's just hard for a multi-camera show: Either they hit big, or they don't.
To me, a multi-cam is just like the feeling you get from the audience.
Sitcoms are more like stage drama than anything else on film - more than a one-hour and certainly more than a movie. You get a script on Monday. You rehearse all week. And on Friday, you're on.
I had to learn a lot on 'Victorious' because I had never done multi-camera before. It's like music: You need to be on it, and there's no room for subtleties.
In Yiddish, we say, 'Nisht ahin un nisht aher.' It's neither here, it's neither there. I get more nerves than on anything I do when I'm doing multi-camera. But single-camera, I love very much.
I don't think Hollywood respects multi-camera television. Well, I don't think they disrespect it, but I don't think it gets respect for its artistry.
