When you create a show, and create characters, these people are like children to you.

When the stories come easily and the writing process doesn't feel laboring, that's usually a good sign for me.

I've never really told jokes. I'm not good at it.

If you interview people or friends who work with me, they would say I'm private or internal or don't emote a lot. Yet I do it every day for 10 million people. I just don't do it for the 30 people I'm in the room with.

We also have issue oriented storylines which are an examination of an issue, be it ethical or social.

People are out of their home on a Saturday night or they're at the movies or they're at dinner and a lot of the people who flip on the television are doing just that. They may have never seen your show before and you can't count on to your audience to be there week in and week out.

But Steven Bochco was smart; he knew that viewers were smart.