Quotes About Television

If instantaneity is what we want, television cannot compete with cyberspace.

I wouldn't want to do a 'Maury Povich' show. Baby daddy! Who's your daddy? Who's your mama? I wouldn't want to do that kind of show.

I get all my U.S. politics from 'The Daily Show.'

'The Daily Show' was amazing because I learned so much.

I really wasn't on the Dallas set much. I did three or four episodes so I didn't see too much.

I've never seen a single episode of 'So You Think You Can Dance.'

There are moments when television systems are young and haven't formed properly, and there's room for lots of original stuff. Then things become more and more top-heavy with executives who are trying to guarantee the success of things.

On 'Lab Rats,' I read the script probably three or four times before we ever even do a table read because I want to be completely prepared. And I want to know exactly which beats I have to hit and where I need to make something comical. Some lines need a little more than others do just to get the point across, to get the joke to be funny.

'FlashForward' was on the outs when I was approached with 'Happy Endings.' I literally got the script on a Friday, and on Saturday morning I met with David Caspe, Jamie Tarses, and the Russo brothers. I took the role on that Saturday, and on Monday I was doing a table read. It all happened very fast, but it was super exciting.

I don't miss working on camera as much as theatre. But I do love film and television because it's so immediate; you walk on to a set and the tables are dusty, and everything's as it should be.

I think people used to read 'War and Peace,' and now they don't; now they sit around with their tablets and watch 'Downton Abbey' and 'Breaking Bad' or whatever, and they want the things that they watch to be better so that they can feel better about themselves for watching it.

I don't think I'm all that interesting. I mean, I'm a guy who does a morning show and goes to bed at 9:00 every night. I mean, I don't have a lot in my life that's really fascinated or fodder for tabloids.

I love doing the nighttime soap, the emotional, psychological, hard stuff that I got to tackle on 'Hannibal.'

And so they pitched the show to me. It sounded like a good idea. We pitched the show back, and got it sold and got it on the air. And that's kicking the tail.

The whole format of an awards function seems to be tailor made for a television audience. I think it is just an ego boosting affair.

Television is a very highly constructed, and edited, and censored, and tailored, and marketed reality. But I'm not judgemental about it. I don't have anything against television. I just personally don't feel curious.

You can tell when someone on TV who's supposed to be struggling to pay back loans is clearly wearing a Gucci suit or tailored to perfection.

TV is going to be more tailored to you, and the traditional experience of coming in in the middle of a show will be part of the past.

I auditioned for 'The Office,' and I don't know if it was a role I could do, but I liked the character. You do one take, and you're reading with a person who's just sitting in a chair and not really... you're not playing off someone, which is what I like to do. I like to play around and find the moment.

Networks are reluctant to take a chance. They put on shows that they know will work on some level, but to get the innovative show, it's very difficult.

I've been a Republican since age 13, when we got our first television set, and I saw the Republican National Convention on television. And President Eisenhower was talking about personal responsibility, about opening the door for opportunity and that people could really take care of themselves without a lot of government intrusions.

Sarah Corvus in 'Bionic Woman' was one of my favorite characters I've ever played, ever, for reasons that are very similar to Nikki in 'Sexy Evil Genius.' I felt that that show was taken away from me too soon, and I really wanted to dive back into that mind frame again.

Sometimes I feel that in religious content, religious drama, it's almost told like a tale, like an account of facts, and in 'A.D. The Bible Continues,' it's drama, it's real drama that we like to see on TV today, seeing the characters struggle and doubt and be completely in conflict with each other, kind of like 'House of Cards.'

Like everbody, I'm addicted to 'The Handmaid's Tale.'