I believe with a lot of support shows, people are very much there to see the headliner. You don't necessarily have their full attention, and some of what we do requires a lot of silence.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
There's an inordinate amount of attention put on actors. Some people want to make their lives public, but that doesn't mean everybody does.
In this fragmented world, with such short attention spans, you've got a couple of episodes to make an impression. And if you don't, you start to lose your audience in a big way.
It's really cool to know that you've put something together that isn't for a particular audience. It's so often that a TV show can really only speak to one sect of the population, and this really is something that appeals to a worldwide fan base. People who are into the pursuit of knowledge. Their reaction has meant the world to us.
I don't think we've got much of a chance to tell you the truth. But our main problem is our audience skews a little older than most shows, and I don't think our people can stay up that late. I certainly can't.
The public's perception of your show is what it is, and you don't get to complain how people perceive your show or talk about it.
I think that by ignoring the show you're ignoring the audience who put you there.
A lot of the stuff that I say doesn't even make TV because it gets cut out. So if you're at the live events you get to hear what I have to say, but if you're watching on TV, you're only getting about 50% of it.
You're required to be outspoken in journalism, and in television you're exposed anyway, because everyone watches it.
One reason I do the live shows - and the monthly speeches at public radio stations - is to remind myself that people hear the show, that it has an audience, that it exists in the world. It's so easy to forget that.
I think everybody in news understands that the audience that watches for more than an hour is not your target audience - because those people are on life support.