Scripted Television Quotes

People think "The Office" was improvised, but it's all on the page. We do that because what we found is that in the early days of "The Office," we went in with it sort of 80 percent scripted and we did some things and then we improv'd and we did - you know, and it gets a laugh on the floor because it's the first time they've heard it.

I love good TV shows, but it's not what I do. I kind of sculpt my films as I go along. And TV is all about writing, so you just shoot, shoot, shoot what's written.

I never saw myself as being a cop on TV. I come from theatre, and I always go back every couple of years.

You feel a little weird, as a writer of scripted television for many years, to say you're a fan of reality TV. You feel like a traitor. But I am a total fan.

I believe that reality TV should be called 'not reality' TV; it's fiction.

Anything that Aaron Sorkin writes, I could watch a million times. One of the few shows that I've watched in repeats was 'The West Wing.'

My first professional job was a Pete Bowker series for ITV called 'Monroe.' I played a Junior Cardiac Surgeon called Mullery.

In terms of scripted shows, I love 'Mad Men.' Cinematically, it's one of the most beautiful shows ever made. I love the subtlety of the acting and the storytelling, and I love that they don't think the audience is dumb. They make a great show, and you figure it out, and it leaves you with so many questions - it's just great.

'Deadwood' was just a wonderful opportunity for me. Outside of my own things that I've written, I hadn't had the opportunity to play a character with that amount of depth and range.

I was blessed with a good character in 'Hollyoaks,' and I cut my teeth in 'Brookside' as well.

After 30 years in the theater, I'm used to having a great amount of control over what I do. But with '24', you place your character's life in the writers' hands, and you have no idea what's going to happen until you're sent the next pages.

Any reality-TV show on MTV is gonna be fake and stupid.

I was an actress long before I was a reality TV person.

I have a thing against reality shows. I think they are so fake. I think they are produced before they begin. I think people know where they're going, what they're going to say, what the situation is. These things just don't happen and you know that.

It's great to have an acting job in the age of Reality TV.

I trust the [series] writers when I'm filming, because it's interesting for me to go in every week and see what's going to happen, and the challenge for me as the actor is to make it work.

I'm not cut out to be a detective on 'Law & Order' - I laugh too easily.

With a strong foundation in scripted programming firmly established by 'Army Wives' and 'Drop Dead Diva,' Lifetime is aggressively expanding its drama series development plate with powerful programs from creative auspices who have strong pedigrees in producing stand-out programming.

My only hesitation after 'Law & Order' was that I didn't want to be in a super dry procedural like that. I found that satisfying, but very tough because every episode was kind of the same. It just is with that show.

It is harder to get adult, character-driven material on television than it used to be, but there are lots of other places that you can go to sell it. If you can do it for basic cable or pay cable, we have those outlets.

I like playing a character every day. I like having something to go back to. I always enjoyed that with 'Will & Grace.' I like the camaraderie. I like having a crew that I know and I can work with every day.

I do prime time network shows like 'Blue Bloods.' I've done 'Fringe,' I've done 'The Good Wife,' done a lot of 'The Mentalist.'

CNT was a good fit for 'Nashville,' and 'Nashville' was a great fit for CNT, and so timing was right. You know, they're investing more in scripted television - the show brought a lot of more eyeballs to CNT, eyeballs that are interested in country music - so, I mean, it couldn't have been a better fit.

In terms of 'Seinfeld', I think there's lot of reality in a show that's supposed to be about nothing.

We're having such a great time on 'Nashville' that building on the relationship seemed an obvious next step. Lionsgate is the perfect home for the kind of scripted television I want to produce and direct.