One of the great things about doing series television is the guest actors that you can have come on and play around with.
Directors, like actors, get typecast. And because I've had great success with comedy and horror and TV shows, that's basically what I'm kind of offered.
Around 5th and 6th grade I thought Dean Martin was the coolest guy in the world; he was a great singer, had his own television show and acted in movies.
I'm pretty excited about the state of TV these days. There's great opportunity for really complicated relationships, in a way that I don't really see as much in movies anymore.
Theatre is the principal job of an actor. An actor's job is to tell a story to someone in a room. TV and film can be great and I really love doing it, but it is a different way of telling a story.
In entertainment, whether it's movies or television or whatever, I'm a great audience, but I don't remember the names of the people I've seen or the groups that I've heard.
I'm incredibly proud of 'Hannibal' and the cast - I feel like we're doing really good television.
The thing about TV is it's a meritocracy. I love that aspect of it - and I've had shows that have gone on the air and been canceled. I've seen the good and the bad of it.
We watch so many TV shows and movies about jaded or corrupt policemen, we forget people join the police force to do good, and they really care about that.
I don't make any distinction between a popular TV series or blockbuster film and doing Shakespeare. They're different, but as long as the material is good and the intention is honourable, it's all the same to me.
If you try to kill yourself for a role on the TV show, you'll succeed. It's too long, it's too much. So, it's tough, but the challenge is a good thing.
Because good writing in a TV cartoon is so rare, I think the animation on The Simpsons is often overlooked.
There was definitely a lack of any sort of villain in the Clinton era, which is why, when Columbine happened, it was easy to pick on me. My face was around, and it made good TV.
And dialogue, I'm good at it, and it's because it's the only thing you have to work with in TV writing.
I've never been driven to just be a celebrity or just get me on TV. Never ever. What's always driven me is being successful and being good at what I do.
I think you can make perfectly good television just from people who are genuinely interested, talking to people who genuinely know - simple as it sounds, it can be riveting.
I like the Sci Fi channel and 'Science Fiction Theatre.' I've been doing a lot of television-watching and thinking about good songs to write.
I always say if you've seen good acting on television, those actors are really good. Because there's just not enough time. You don't have any preparation.
I think 'Oz' is the type of show that makes you turn away in fear and in horror, so for a television show, that's pretty intense.
I think there are a lot more writers who are actors than you know; they just don't have roles on famous TV shows that you recognize.
I wanted to be a political science professor and go to school in Boston. I never wanted to be a big, famous movie star and TV star. It kind of found me.
