I mean, I gotta say one of the greatest victories on that show was when we got picked up for the back nine of the first season, and they made it a full order.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I count it as a major victory to not only be on a series that's had a full season run, but to actually be on one that's gotten picked up for a second season.
The greatest preparation for a TV show is to already have one season behind you.
The best part of being on a television series for all those years is that you really get to hone your craft.
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.
People really feel the need to share how the series has touched their lives, and that's been very moving. We're enormously grateful to the fans of the show. They've been extremely loyal to us season after season, and they make it all worthwhile.
When we were doing 'The West Wing,' the hardest thing about doing 'The West Wing' was being compared to yourself. You go out there and want every episode to be as good as your best episode. I wrote 88 episodes of 'The West Wing,' and when you do that, one of them is going to be your 88th best, so your 88th best better be pretty good.
My only hesitation after 'Law & Order' was that I didn't want to be in a super dry procedural like that. I found that satisfying, but very tough because every episode was kind of the same. It just is with that show.
I admit the last couple of years shows were not up to par.
I guess because I was on the 'Early Show' for so many years, any little victory here is something kind of new for me.
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.