Bill Lawrence

“I think that the problem with network television is that they cling to the whole business model like they are clinging to the side of a cliff.”

“I like the end of the year to be about something. Especially with younger shows, the network pushes you to make self-contained episodes; they don't like them to be serialized: 'We want this one to be funny for someone who's never watched it and will never watch again.' And I go 'Why would anyone want to do it like that?'”

“To me, in retrospect, it was amazing that 'Seinfeld' was a show that had such mass appeal. At first it was a disaster in the ratings, but then it became a cultural phenomenon. I don't know if that's possible anymore, but I don't try for that.”

“I believe that 99 percent of successful TV shows change an immense amount from the pilot to the tenth or twelfth episode.”

“The landscape is television has changed so much, because there are so many outlets, that the odds of getting a zeitgeisty hit - you know how 'American Idol' seems to appeal to every human being on the planet? Doing that in comedy nowadays is very, very hard.”

“I love TV. I watch more TV than most people you know.”

“I think feature films sell on the idea, and I think TV works based almost entirely on execution. I don't think anybody is going, 'Wow, that show is executed poorly, but the idea is so cool I just have to keep watching.'”

“My friends back from the East Coast jokingly call me 'Hollywood,' and they assume I'm out at Hollywood parties, but I'm a domesticated guy with 3 kids.”

“I hate shows, personally, where people stand around tossing stuff at each other, and any character can say any line, because you don't believe any of these characters care for each other. I used to fight with my friends who wrote on 'Seinfeld,' because they had such great pride in saying it was a show about nothing.”

“I love television; I specifically love having a dumb character on a TV show.”