“They say 40 percent of the revenue from network television is on Thursday night, so we're talking about hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of millions at stake, ... Not to be accused of being cruel here, but `Joey' is down 59 percent from `Friends' in [advertiser-coveted viewers ages] 18-to-49. . . . 59 percent. OK?”
“Mark's a great, great producer. He's a terrific talent, so we're glad we're in business with him. 'Survivor' had a lot to do with changing the whole profile of this network, so we're indebted to him.”
“There is absolutely nothing about this show relatable to my story, in fairness. This is about a twentysomething-year-old guy looking for the love of his life. One of the things I love about my job is the naiveté of people, thinking what things will affect me.”
“[But he was affected by it, if not in the way that Mr. Bays and Mr. Thomas anticipated.] The only thing that I said, scary to say, is that this is like the best type of show in this genre that I have seen since I saw the pilot of 'Friends' back in my days at Warner Brothers, ... You don't want to build up expectations. But I think this is the show NBC was looking for all those years to be the next one.”
“You want the NFL, you want 'Survivor,' you want 'CSI,' you want David Letterman--you're going to have to pay us what you pay USA [Network] for, ... We have considered it one of the great injustices for many years that we never got paid for our signal.”
