When I was a kid growing up, there might be 10 shows on the air that had been on for ten seasons or eleven seasons. 'Gunsmoke' ran for over twenty years.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I grew up watching 'Magnum, P.I.' and shows like that, where you could develop a character over eight seasons, with stories along the way.
American shows can go on for 20 years. I respond more to the British format. Three seasons is a long run for them to tell a story.
Most of the shows I've worked on have aired three times and are in the dustbin of history.
I'm really proud of Gunsmoke. We put on a good show every week - one that families could all watch together without offending anyone.
Normally, if you do a television show, it's 25 episodes. Your year is kind of shot, you know what I mean?
I've never been on a show that's run for more than a season.
You know as well as I do that the family sitcom was the stalwart of TV for God knows how many decades.
The show originally started out as a ten hour mini-series. We shot two hours and then were excused for a while, for no apparent reason. Things went very quiet for a time and then a few months later we were called back and told that it was going to be a full season.
I grew up in the '50s, in New York City, where television was born. There were 90 live shows every week, and they used a lot of kids. There were schools just for these kids. There was a whole world that doesn't exist anymore.
I've always had a show that went seven episodes or 13 episodes or whatever. And I've never had a show that's gone past a first season. It really is a lot of work.