The 'X Factor' is the biggest show on TV and the other shows are just copying us with their silly chairs. Simon Cowell is the king of TV and if he's not involved then it's not good.
I think NBC got a little reluctant to get behind single-camera shows after 'Scrubs' didn't do what they thought it was going to do following 'Friends.'
They say getting a show on the air and having it be a success, literally, the odds are like winning the lottery. For me, I've won the lottery several times, so I've been awfully lucky.
I've met big-name actors doing Hollywood films, and they've said that all they want is an in at HBO and their own show.
I don't regret putting 'The Apprentice' on television.
Television showrunners are a foolishly optimistic bunch.
I developed the pilot for 'Entertainment Tonight' with Jack Haley, Jr. and Al Masini, who became my business partner in 'Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous,' 'Runaway' and several other shows and specials.
I don't watch much British television at all. I mean, it's ironic because I used to work in it for years.
Hollywood's best producers and directors are in film, not TV.
Television is a huge industry, and actors down south are aware of it.
Making good television is what Simon Cowell does. That's his business.
When TV companies stop coming up with ideas, and I've got to go and do 'Celebrity Big Brother,' I don't want that to happen.
Television is a tough business. It's not that easy to jump shops.
I've never seen American Idol but I am grateful to them. That show is one of Fox's biggest moneymakers, and some of that money goes to pay for shows like Prison Break. Simon Cowell's been signing my paychecks and for that I say thanks.
Fortunately, I happened to go east at a time when live television was centered in New York.
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 have respect for anyone who helps a creator put a great television show on the air.
In the U.S., there are around 300 shows in different networks, so there's a lot of work here.
As far as my contribution to this industry, I want to be like Dean Devlin, John Rogers, and Chris Downey. I want to give people jobs and put them on great shows. I want to create careers for people.
The problem is that television executives have got it into their heads that if one presenter on a show is a blonde-haired, blue-eyed heterosexual boy, the other must be a black Muslim lesbian.
TV showrunners have become known entities to people who watch television in the way that movie directors have been known to filmgoers for a long time. When I started out as a writer and producer in television, I never had the slightest expectation that fame would be part of the job.
Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim and Andrew Kreisberg are fantastic producers and showrunners, and they lead a very, very positive, fun, creative environment to work in and to work with.
In television there are only about 12 people who do what I do.
You look at who's actually created shows for FX that have succeeded, and there are a lot of first-time showrunners - Ryan Murphy, Denis Leary, Louis C.K., the 'It's Always Sunny' creators, Kurt Sutter, Joe Weisberg, Pamela Adlon, Donald Glover.
Not many people get to create a television show that actually makes it on the air.
