I naturally think in terms of comedy whenever I see anything because tragedy is so close to comedy, so I like to add the tragedy to the comedy or a little bit of comedy to the tragedy in order to make them both feel more real to me.

They're amazing, these actors who have worked on soaps for years and years and years. They know what they're doing. They don't hold you word-for-word on every line and you can fudge it a little, but they know what they're saying and they repeat it every time they come on.

There's still formulaic stuff on network television, but there's also more of an opportunity to have your way with storytelling, especially in sitcoms. That's what the difference is.

When you're going to spend a couple of weeks with people, you want to be with people that are enjoyable.

When the writing is good and it suits your character, you don't have to memorize anything, because it just makes sense. You read it and you go, "Oh, that makes sense." And it's easy.

People who work on soaps all the time understand the formula of how to do it.

Now, you always know there's going to be some compromise when you're doing something for television, and especially network television.