When it is perceived that a show has gone awry, the pressure is staggering, and as a writer caught in that storm, it feels like you are being attacked by jackals.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
When you're doing 22 shows on network television, the writers are going on vapors towards the end and, as an actor, you're just trashed by the end.
There's something in human nature, the trying-to-get-on-with-it quality of people, the struggle to maintain or keep the show going can be exhausting.
Just because you get a show and it gets on the air doesn't mean jack. It certainly means that you'll be considered for stuff, but you've got to fight and claw to get every job.
Every time you have to come up with a new body of work for a new show, you're aware that people are just ready to rip you apart, they're just waiting for you to fall or make the slightest trip up.
The same issue is happening on a show like Everybody Loves Raymond now, which is in its eighth year and struggling to come up with good stories. It'll be interesting to see how they do. The bottom line is, it starts with the writers and ends with the writers.
My main worry is that after a certain point you become so identified with a character and a series that you might not be able to get work when your show goes off the air.
With a lot of shows, what you'll see happen is they start off really well, and they're very original, but they become sort of a version of themselves. They stand outside the show... they become a cliche of the show they once were. That's the whole 'jumping the shark' thing.
The power of telly is surprising. If you're in a six-part series, you're famous while it's on - people point in the street. Two weeks later it all goes back to normal.
I honestly feel like we never had a bad episode by TV standards. Every week I felt there were so many strong components of the show, especially the writing.
It's still word of mouth that is going to make or break a show, and while critics can't help a show, they can hurt it.
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