Original subtitles

- Going into 2000,

it was a cultural shift

for television...

[both grunt]

In terms of the way

people reacted to it

and the stories

they could tell.

- You start to see the bar

get raised and raised

and raised.

- It's an abstract.

- Not abstract enough.

- There's so many opportunities

in television.

There's so many platforms.

- I don't think

dramatic series television

has ever been stronger.

- I hate you all.

- Go!

[traditional woodwind music]

- In the end,

what we regret most

are the chances we never took.

[slowly building

orchestral music]

♪ ♪

- This is the week when

the major broadcast networks

unveil their fall lineup

of shows,

and every executive

in Hollywood

knows how well "The Sopranos"

is doing on cable,

which is a network problem.

- I think HBO altered

everything

for this reason alone,

is there were no commercials.

- We are dependent

on sponsors.

There is so much we can do

in terms of language,

in terms of violence,

and in terms of sex.

- To a large degree,

a lot of executives

were just sanding off the edges

of what was interesting.

[static hums]

[bright tone]

- I think HBO is

looking at the world

and going,

"Okay, how can we matter?"

For quite a long time,

movies and boxing where

the bread and butter of HBO.

- People watch your show

because you're partly

an asshole.

- And I think what

we learned through shows

like "Larry Sanders Show"

or "Oz" is that we could do

series television.

- There's something

in the air...

and it ain't love.

- "Oz" was cutting-edge

in what it was willing

to share with the audience.

- Hit me. Hit me!

[both grunt]

Hit me in the face, brother.

- Complicated characters,

complicated issues,

and the way it was presented

was so, uh...unique.

- Sentence: nine years.

Up for parole in six.

- What they were doing at HBO

was exactly what

the network wasn't doing.

They were breaking barriers.

- Innocent.

- You get to "The Sopranos,"

and all of a sudden,

the villain is the hero.

- Have some eggplant.

- I told you, I'm not hungry.

- Now you won't even accept

food from your own mother.

- "The Sopranos"

was David Chase's invention

about this mob family--

something that people

hadn't seen before,

the idea that a mobster

is seeing a therapist.

- What ever happened

to Gary Cooper?

The strong, silent type?

That was an American.

He wasn't in touch

with his feelings.

He just did what he had to do.

See--see, what they didn't know

was, once they got Gary Cooper

in touch with his feelings,

that they wouldn't be able

to shut him up!

And then it's dysfunction this

and dysfunction that

and dysfunction va fangoul!

- You have strong feelings

about this.

- Every decade, you get

somebody like Peter Falk

as Columbo or Carroll O'Connor

as Archie Bunker--

somebody you just can't imagine

anybody else afterwards.

And James Gandolfini is that

in Tony Soprano.

- I think it's supposed to be

a mafia story,

but, I mean, it's--

like I said, it's--

- It's also about

everyday life.

- Did you know that an Italian

invented the telephone?

- Alexander Graham Bell

was Italian?

- You see?

You see what I'm talking--

Antonio Meucci

invented the telephone,

and he got robbed!

Everybody knows that.

- Who invented the mafia?

- What?

- "The Sopranos" kind of

took the mystery

out of being a mobster.

[Steely Dan's

"Dirty Work" playing]

- ♪ I'm a fool ♪

♪ To do your dirty work ♪

♪ Oh, yeah ♪

- And it was somehow

more mundane

than we guessed it would be

and yet every bit as riveting

as "The Godfather."

- You were like

a brother to me.

[wood creaking,

water lapping]

- To all of us.

- The debate raged at HBO

about whether you could have

a guy like this as your lead.

And David Chase was adamant

that you have to--

this is who he is.

And he was right.

- Can you assure me that Tony

Soprano isn't going to become

a sensitive, nurturing,

mellowing man?

- Yes.

- Oh, good.

[laughs]

- [chuckles]

- [giggling]

- [gasping]

Oh, my God.

- Mead, it's all right.

I'll be home in a couple hours.

Don't worry.

- I'm graduating tomorrow!

- Carmela was a wife

and a mother,

I think first and foremost.

I think as long as she kept

going to church, she felt like,

"All right,

I've taken care of my soul."

- Where's the rest

of the money?

- It's everywhere.

She goes home to her husband

who's got blood on him.

You know, there was no way

to reconcile the two things.

- Towards the end where their

marriage is falling apart...

- I used to fuck your husband.

- You have made a fool of me

for years with these whores.

- Her performance in that fight

is stunningly good.

- 'Cause she's jealous!

- Hey, hey.

- Why, you fuck!

[wails]

- [grunts]

- Let go of me!

[panting, sobbing]

It mattered to people

what this couple

was going through,

and I remember feeling

a real sense

of responsibility about that,

and giving the weight

to the scene that it deserves.

- What?

- [breath hitches]

You know what I don't

understand, Tony?

What does she have

that I don't have?

- Suddenly, here's this TV show

that everyone's talking about,

but you have to pay

to watch it.

You know, that's how good

"The Sopranos" was:

people were paying

just to see that show.

- "The Sopranos" came along

and completely reestablished

what the bar was.

I honestly couldn't

quite believe

that television was

communicating something

that you might only see

in the darkest moments

and accurate moments

in cinema.

[distant radio chatter]

[mystical drum music]

- You look at the year

that "American Beauty"

won the Oscar,

which is also the year

that "The Sopranos" debuted,

and almost immediately

after that,

the two mediums diverged.

- I know what I must do,

but I'm afraid to do it.

[epic music]

- Movies became

much more focused

on big tent-pole things

that can bring in

as much of an audience

as you possibly can.

Meanwhile, TV, which had

always been a big-tent medium,

started going smaller

and more interior and saying,

"All right, we want to tell

stories for grown-ups

"that maybe don't get

the biggest audience

but get a really

passionate one."

- ♪ I'll be home ♪

♪ For Christmas ♪

- I had an idea of doing

a show about death.

- Are you smoking?

- Nope.

- Yes, you are.

I heard you.

- I'm not--no, I'm not.

- Look, forget you'll give

yourself cancer and die

a slow and horrible death.

You should not be stinking up

that new hearse.

- I met with Carolyn,

and she said,

"I'd like to do a show

about a family

that runs a funeral home,"

and something in my head

just went, "Click."

I thought,

"What a brilliant idea."

- I'm quitting right now.

[spits]

I promise.

[clears throat]

Okay?

I'll see you tonight.

- ♪ I'll ♪

♪ Be home ♪

♪ For Christmas ♪

- Alan Ball

comes up with a show

with a perfect structure.

Each episode starts

with the death of a character,

and then that character's death

is dealt with in a local family

funeral home mortuary.

[distant sobbing and screaming]

[screaming]

- Excuse me.

- This was one of my first--

and maybe it was

my first--binge show,

which was long enough ago

that it was all on--somebody

had recorded it on VCR.

- Have you been watching

Mrs. Romano?

- Yeah.

I've been watching

her all night.

Are you thinking

what I'm thinking?

both: Casket climber.

[gentle piano music]

- [gasps]

- I want to go with you!

- Mrs. Romano, Mrs. Romano!

- I want to go with you!

- Whoa, whoa, whoa,

Mrs. Romano.

- There's a whole new level

of something going on

on television.

It was grittier than most

shows you'd ever seen before,

and yet something

magical about it.

- I think what our strategy

at HBO was,

in terms of audiences:

not everybody has

to watch a show...

- [yelps]

[percussive music]

- But if we have different

shows for different people...

- Taxi!

- There is something

that makes you want

to come back

and sign up month after month.

Maybe you don't watch

"Sex and the City,"

but you watch "Entourage."

[crowd screaming]

There's something for you

to make it worth

signing up for HBO

again and again and again.

- Who could have

possibly guessed

a show about a bunch

of backstabbing people

with body odor

on an island off Borneo

would become the TV hit

of the summer.

- "Survivor" was really

the first truly

competitive reality format.

Go!

[dramatic music]

I started to really understand

what the show

was going to be about

the first 20 minutes

into day one.

- Let's see what we got.

All right, before we

make any decisions,

let's see what we got.

- Should we check the box

and see if it's...

- There might be

a blowtorch in there.

- Oh, we need a bathroom.

- Are you guys

all done talking?

- Huh?

- Richard Hatch was sitting

in a tree,

lecturing about what

they should do as their group.

- Nobody's working toward

a particular goal--

not the silly little stuff

about, "Oh, who's gonna

sleep where?

What are we gonna do?"

but, "Why are we here?"

- And underneath him

was this woman,

Sue Hawk, a truck driver.

- I'm a redneck, and I don't

know corporate world at all,

And corporate world

ain't gonna work out here

in the bush.

- That was the show.

- He walks around naked

quite a bit.

I think it probably bugs

some of the guys.

- Whatever it takes to win here

is the point.

It's a game, and call it

Machiavellian, sure.

- We had no idea

that Richard Hatch

would be the best thing

to ever happen to "Survivor."

[traditional woodwind music]

[cheers]

- All around the country,

people were on the edge

of their seats,

waiting for the final vote

to be announced.

- The winner of the first

"Survivor" competition is...

[tense music]

[all cheering]

- "Survivor" sort of

legitimized the genre.

[upbeat music]

Simon Fuller

came into my office,

and his vision

was one long audition.

- ♪ Like a virgin ♪

♪ Touched for

the very first time ♪

- I've never, ever heard

anything like that in my life.

- ♪ She bangs!

She bangs! ♪

- Thank you.

- ♪ I'm wasted by the way-- ♪

- Thank you.

- [scatting]

[laughter]

- What was that?

And that is what you think

we're looking for?

- The network was saying,

"We don't think we can

put Simon on the promos."

- No, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no.

- "He'll scare little girls,

and we think

that's our audience."

- That's one of the worst

auditions

I've ever heard in my life.

- I'm like, "Well,

that's the whole show,"

so, you know, without him,

it's not gonna work,"

and it was a big fight

internally.

And of course we got him on,

and of course that is

what sparked the show.

[cheers and applause]

- Well, here they are.

The judges

have made their choices.

Now, America,

it's all up to you.

- "American Idol" reunited

the family audience

in front of the TV.

- ♪ R-E-S-P-E-C-T ♪

♪ Find out what

it means to me ♪

- 9-year-olds

to 90-year-olds

could root for somebody

on "American Idol."

It's not like it hadn't been

done before, but the way that

the producers of these shows

could manipulate drama,

the way they could

find stories,

that was the core of making

those shows successful.

- This is the weakest romance

I've ever seen.

[laughter]

This romance is pathetic.

Was there a romance?

- Well, I think

we just decided

we were meant to be

very close friends.

- Very close friends.

That's right.

- Good. I've had some

very close friends too.

- Yeah, me too.

[laughter]

Me too.

- It's cost me a lot of money.

I'll tell you that.

[laughter and applause]

- "The Apprentice" has

its lasting effect even today.

Donald Trump becomes a star...

- You're fired.

- All of it kind of

reality-show fake.

People who worked on it have

come forward and said,

"You know, we kind of made

the whole thing up."

And yet it sells.

- And then there's

just this explosion.

[rock music]

- You interested in tattoos?

Weight loss?

Plastic surgery?

- Breast augmentation,

tummy tuck,

facial surgery.

- [laughing] I don't look

like me! Oh, my...

- Hoarders?

Substance abuse?

Flipping your house?

That's a big one.

Like, there's literally

a reality show

for everyone now.

- The networks would be out of

business without reality TV.

If you have to fill 40 hours

of television

with scripted shows,

it costs you an arm and a leg.

You'll be out of business,

because those scripted shows

most likely will do no better

and probably worse

than the reality show did.

- Oh, Josh!

[cheers and applause]

- Bravo starts doing things

aimed at gay viewers

and women,

and so, you know, you have,

like, "Queer Eye

for the Straight Guy"...

- Bad taste kills.

- And "Project Runway."

- This is a search for the next

big fashion designer.

- "Project Runway"

was not an instantaneous hit.

We sort of had this crisis

where, like,

"Is anyone gonna want to sit

around watching people sew?"

- I am feeling the race

against time now, yes.

- Bravo played, like,

three or four episodes

over the Christmas holidays,

and all of a sudden,

it just caught on

like wildfire.

- Make it work.

- People have come into

"Runway" and "Top Chef,"

and they know that this

can change their lives.

- One of you is about to win

the title of Top Chef.

- Rock and roll!

- MTV had "The Osbournes,"

and it was fun,

because, you know,

the whole idea of,

you know, the guy who bit

the heads off of bats,

you know, being domestic,

and his wife

and his teenage kids...

- Please don't go out and get

drunk or get stoned tonight.

- That sort of sparks

this movement of,

"We can put celebrities on TV

and just let them

do what they do."

- I've always heard that

people hang out at Walmart.

- Why?

- I don't know.

- What is Walmart?

[twangy guitar pluck,

crickets chirp]

- Of course, that reaches

its peak--or nadir,

depending on your opinion--

with the Kardashians.

- I hate you all.

[rock music]

Welcome to my family.

- There's something

about watching someone

who's maybe slightly like

yourself but more obnoxious...

- You're so evil.

- There's a lot of baggage

that comes with us,

but it's like

Louis Vuitton baggage.

You always want it.

- Or they're, you know,

more of a disaster.

- Prostitution whore.

You were [bleep] engaged

19 times?

You [bleep] stupid bitch!

[bleep]!

[shouting indistinctly]

[screaming]

You [bleep] bitch!

- Stop. Teresa, stop.

- [bleep] whore!

- Stop.

- There's something about

watching that and going,

"Yeah, God,

at least I'm not that."

[all shouting]

- I look over,

and I see, like,

hair being pulled

and all this [bleep].

I'm like, oh, my God,

like, how do I get in?

- I used to get the critics

asking me about,

"Well, why are people watching

that reality show?"

I'm like, "Well, why are they

watching the show?

'Cause they're entertained."

You are never

going to meet someone

that's gonna say to you,

"You know,

"I was watching

'The Bachelor' last night.

I loved it, but I wish I was

watching a great drama."

- Karen...

- I thought you'd never ask.

[laughter]

- You don't need to call it

a guilty pleasure.

Just call it a pleasure.

It's something

you love watching.

It could be a reality show,

it could be a drama,

it could be a sitcom,

it could be a documentary.

Whatever it is, you know,

I think great TV

comes in many forms.

- I don't want to mess

this up again.

- No, me neither, okay.

We are--we're done

being stupid.

- Okay.

It's you and me, all right?

This is it.

- This is it.

Unless we're on a break.

[audience laughter]

Don't make jokes now.

- By the time "Frasier" and

"Friends" went off the air,

there was a feeling

among the networks

that the multi-camera format

filmed in front of

a live studio audience...

- So I guess this is it.

- Was getting kind of tired

and getting kind of stale.

- You guys play the most

important part:

the live studio audience!

- Now, there is no form

of television

that makes as much money

for the networks

as multi-camera TV shows.

- Oh, Raymond!

- Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom--

- Oh, my sweet Raymond!

- [wailing] Mom!

- We write a four-camera show,

we write it, direct it,

and perform it and rehearse it

like a play in front

of a studio audience.

When someone gets a laugh

on that stage,

they actually hold,

as you do not in real life,

as you do not in single-camera.

You are holding for that laugh.

- Oh...

[audience laughter]

- It's an abstract.

- Not abstract enough.

- [chuckles]

You've done an amazing job.

- It looks like something,

though.

What does it look like?

[audience laughter]

- You can get close.

You can even touch it.

- I'm fine.

- We started studying

what Phil Rosenthal

was doing with "Raymond,"

and he was embracing

the very best

of what the genre could do,

which was interesting

characters.

He provided me with

a very, very loud reminder

that I didn't need

to fix anything.

I didn't need to knock

any boundaries or walls over.

I just needed to embrace

what was there.

- ♪ Men, men, men, men,

manly men, men, men ♪

- I had been in so many shows

that had failed spectacularly

that I became known

as the show killer.

- ♪ Men, men,

men, men, manly men ♪

- And that's not a great thing

to be known as

in show business.

- [vocalizing sweetly]

both: ♪ Men, men, men, men ♪

- On the sly, I had him

come in and read for me...

- [vocalizing]

both: ♪ Men ♪

- And he was brilliant.

- How much is a hooker?

- What?

Alan, what are you

gonna do with a hooker?

- Well, I'd like to pay her

to have sex with me.

- How much you

looking to spend?

- Well, as you know, I am

a bit of a bargain hunter.

- Yeah, but unfortunately,

they don't stock hookers

at the 99¢ store.

Give me a number.

- Okay, well, what could I get

in the $200 range?

- Crabs...

and carjacked.

- I have an enormous

sense of pride

to have done

a multi-camera sitcom

that people really took

to their hearts for 12 years.

- Okay, let's start

in first position.

Jake, do you know

first position?

- Is that like

missionary position?

- I mean, that was the longest

that a sitcom had been

on broadcast television

in the history of broadcast

television at the time.

I think "Big Bang"

is gonna beat it,

but still, that's amazing.

- Two people talking

is the essence

of a four-camera sitcom.

Lighting is not really

an issue.

There's no music that's

gonna help the material.

- Checkmate.

- [groans]

- There's no special effects.

- Again?

- It's hopefully good words

with good actors.

- It must be humbling to suck

on so many different levels.

- "Big Bang" had this

weird hurdle, it seemed,

of not only are you fighting

the natural fight

that every show does

about getting an audience,

trying to stay on the air,

and keep your job,

yada-yada...

- Make way for

the fastest man alive!

Oh, no!

- See, this is why I wanted

to have a costume meeting.

But then there was also

this weird wave

of energy coming like,

"You're in a genre

that's passé," that,

"We're done with this.

We don't want

to see this anymore."

- And the Emmy goes to...

- Jim Parsons,

"The Big Bang Theory."

- Obviously we didn't go away,

and I believe very strongly

that the multi-cam,

the way they're shot in front

of the studio audience,

you hear the other people

laughing...

I think it ignites something

that's innate in all of us,

that's very primal, almost,

which is that desire to gather

as a group and hear a story.

- Uh, hey, Lorne, look.

Live from New York,

it's Saturday night!

- Every generation

has their favorite

"Saturday Night Live,"

and it's usually the one

that was on when they

were in high school.

So the people that

were in high school

during the 2000s

won the jackpot.

- It's true, you're

so beautiful.

[smooching and talking rapidly]

- Saying you're beautiful.

Why don't you look

in the mirror sometime?

You should look in the mirror.

You're beautiful too.

[both smooching]

- Because over the course

of that decade,

you see some of the most

extraordinary people

come through that show.

- We should mention that

although the waters

above appear calm,

below the surface, there is

a frenzy of activity.

- One of the hallmarks

of "SNL"

is you need somebody

to play the president,

and Will's W. was stellar.

- He went this way.

- Will Ferrell's George Bush

was sort of a lovable dummy.

- How about a Lifesaver here?

- Okay, yeah, that'd be nice.

- That a good idea?

- Yeah.

- There you go.

- While you're at it,

can I get those antlers too?

- Yeah, all right.

There you go, son.

- Yeah, I like these.

[antlers clicking]

- No.

- And of course

"more cowbell"

was also a Will Ferrell

high point.

- ♪ All our times have come ♪

- "Cowbell" was fantastic,

not only because

it's a great concept

but because Will

really gets to be Will.

- The last time I checked,

we don't have

a whole lot of songs

that feature the cowbell.

- I got to have

more cowbell, baby.

- And I'd be doing myself

a disservice

and every member

of this band

if I didn't perform

the hell out of this!

- "SNL" in the 2000s

is also a great time for women.

- It's my birthday!

- Because there is

a strong group of women

that play off each other

really well.

- What are you, part Indian?

- You Cherokee?

- Look at those cheekbones.

What are you, Sioux?

You Sioux? Got Sioux in you?

- Wait, you--you Chippewa?

- Yeah, you got a little Sioux?

- Sioux?

- I believe that diplomacy

should be the cornerstone

of any foreign policy.

- And I can see Russia

from my house.

- ♪ I like waterfalls ♪

- ♪ I like butterflies ♪

- ♪ I like rainbows ♪

- ♪ I like chasing cars ♪

- You are seeing creativity...

and wacky left-field things

that you wouldn't

have seen before.

- ♪ One ♪

- ♪ Cut a hole in a box ♪

- ♪ Two ♪

- ♪ Put your junk in that box ♪

- ♪ Three ♪

- ♪ Make her open the box ♪

both: ♪ And that's the way

you do it ♪

♪ It's my [bleep] in a box ♪

- Welcome to fucking Deadwood.

[unsettling music]

- David Milch said,

"I have a great idea

about ancient Rome."

- Uh, cops in ancient Rome

at the time of Nero.

- And we're like, "Okay,

just T.O., T.O., T.O.,"

because we're already

doing this show about Rome.

- Thieves will be strangled.

[whip cracking]

Deserters will be crucified.

- David basically took

the underlying theme

of his Rome show

and put it in Deadwood.

- No law at all in Deadwood.

Is that true?

- At the time of Nero,

there was a lot of order

and no law, and Deadwood

was a similar environment.

- Maybe you don't value

keeping your fucking guts

inside your belly enough.

- Those are the days behind us.

- No.

Those are the days

to my fucking left.

- Ian McShane's character,

Al Swearengen,

just steals the show,

just lock, stock, and barrel,

away from everybody else.

[slow ragtime music]

You kind of want to go

in that saloon of his

and have a drink

and try to engage him

in conversation,

but then you think

to yourself,

"That'd be a good idea.

If I say something wrong,

am I gonna get my guts

cut out with a Bowie knife?"

He's a fascinating character

in that he scares you

and he attracts you

at the same time.

That's kind of a rare thing.

- Can we see your fangs?

- Our old step-daddy

hated vampires...

but we don't.

- I think that "True Blood"

was an enjoyable beach read...

- Suck it.

- With blood all over it.

- [gasps, pants]

- You'd say, "Well, it wasn't

meant to be taken seriously,

it wasn't taking itself

seriously,"

except it was such

a big allegory

for what was going on

with the gay community,

with AIDS,

with political backlash.

- You use your tax-exempt

religious institution

as an anti-vampire

terrorist enclave.

- This is like,

there's monsters all over,

- [hissing]

- But the scariest,

most deadly characters

in the whole show

are the human beings.

[mysterious music]

[slap]

Showtime looked

at Tony Soprano,

and they said,

"You want an antihero?

How about a mass murderer

who's the hero of our show?"

- "Dexter" is based

on a series of novels

about a blood spatter expert

who worked for the Miami PD

who is secretly

a serial killer.

- Soon...

you'll be packed into

a few...

- [whimpers]

- Neatly wrapped Heftys.

And my own small corner

of the world...

will be a neater,

happier place.

- He was raised by

a policeman to channel

his sociopathic impulses

to only kill other killers.

So he is a bad guy

but also a good guy.

- The idea of the show

is that you're invited

to identify with

and maybe even root for

a serial killer.

- That's right.

- He kills horrible people.

If I were just killing people

willy-nilly,

I think all bets would be off.

- Yeah, that's--

where is the fun in that?

- Yeah.

- In the 2000s,

the antihero really

rose to prominence.

- [laughing]

That's a fucking BB gun.

My nephew got the same one.

Hey, don't point that there.

- This dick does nice work.

I'd hate to see it

full of holes.

- And I think

they were popular

because they were surprising.

- I told Pete...

[dramatic music]

to have you killed.

- And usually these antiheroes

had something about them

that was sympathetic.

It was a time in our world

where there was

just so much confusion

and mixed signals

that I think people

responded to characters

who dealt with similar issues.

♪ ♪

- [chokes]

- All right, you're all right.

Sure, take my last one.

This'll help.

- Is this cab free?

- Are you fucking nuts?

- Oh!

- I have heard Nurse Jackie

referred to as an antihero.

She was at the mercy

of her addiction

that always got

her fullest attention.

What are you looking at?

But beyond that,

I think she really cared

that there wasn't money

in the budget

for extra blankets for someone

who came in off the street,

and she would go and steal it

from another department.

She really wanted

to be a good nurse,

and she wanted to be married,

and she wanted these kids,

and she wanted to be

a good wife and mother.

- Why do you always

have to work?

- Yeah.

- And there was no way

she could do all of them.

- Mommy!

- Edie Falco, for me,

can do no wrong.

Here she is

as the female antihero

that has her own show,

and she's the one whose morals

are questionable...

- My back, my back, my back.

- Oh, Jesus.

- She's having an affair.

She's stealing drugs and...

"Is she an unfit mother?"

and all those things,

and yet you feel for her,

so I love that women now

get to be the antihero

and not just either

the villain

or the good girl.

[ethereal vocalizing]

- The very interesting

statistic:

people, their favorite shows,

be it "CSI," be it "ER,"

the most faithful fan

still only watches that show

two out of four weeks.

- At the time, there was just

a general fear and anxiety,

and they had the data

to back it up,

that shows that became

increasingly serialized

would lose viewership

over time.

- Lex, don't!

- Because if the audience

misses an episode,

then they would be inclined

to stop watching it

because they would feel like,

"I missed one and now

I don't know what's happening."

[dramatic music]

- There had been amazing shows

that had been sterilized.

They never had

syndication value

because you couldn't

revisit them,

but there's almost

no better hook.

It's like a book

you can't turn down, like,

"Okay, I'm just gonna watch

a little bit more."

[dramatic music]

- "24" was set to debut

in November of 2001.

The pilot climaxes

with an assassin blowing up

a passenger jet in midair.

[explosion booms,

people screaming]

Fox orders this.

Fox schedules it.

9/11 happens.

[explosion booms]

Suddenly this show,

which seemed like this goofy

thing about Kiefer Sutherland

chasing after Middle Eastern

extremist terrorists

becomes the most timely show

on television

because that is all

that anyone in America

can talk about

after September 11th.

- [grunts]

♪ ♪

- The name for the series

comes from the idea

that it's 24 episodes

in a season.

Each episode

is one hour in a day,

and Jack Bauer just

has the worst days.

- We are running out of time!

Pull the trigger!

- Please don't make me do this.

- Chloe, I know how hard

this is for you,

but if you care

about me at all,

you will pull the trigger.

Do it.

- I'm sorry, I can't.

- Chloe, pull the trigger!

- No, Jack!

- Pull the trigger!

- I'm not gonna do it.

- Damn you!

- [screams]

- The commercial breaks in

that show were almost welcome

so that you

could catch your breath.

- "24" was really

the first binge show

if you think about it.

There were a lot of people

in the later years of "24"

that would only buy the DVDs.

- You think he'll come

after you?

- Yes.

- And a lot of the subtleties

and complexities

that the storytellers

had been doing, you'd say,

"My God,

"this is blowing my mind.

"I can see it now 'cause

I just watched three in a row."

- I think "Lost" is the first

huge cinematic TV show I saw.

I remember gathering

at a friend's house to watch,

and it was long enough ago

and the internet

was still young enough

and social media was--

I mean, not--

it was, what, Friendster?

- JJ Abrams' ambition for the

"Lost" pilot was grandiose.

He always talked about it

as making a movie every week.

I think when we say

the word "cinematic,"

what we really mean is opening

it up a little bit more,

but also, the ambition

of an action set piece.

- Move! Move!

- JJ was very aggressive.

He was like, "If you want me

to do this pilot,

you're gonna need to give me

"the resource

in order to do it,

"and I want to shoot it

as a movie,

and then we've got

to keep that bar up."

[explosion booms,

people screaming]

- You start off, you think,

"Yeah, all right, well,

"this is just a survival drama.

"Here's these people,

their plane has crashed.

"How are they gonna get by?

How are they gonna

find food, et cetera?"

- We hunt.

- And on top of that,

there's this whole mystery:

"Where are we, why can't

we get a rescue signal,

why is there a polar bear,

what is going on here?"

- The show averages more

than 15 1/2 million viewers

each week and spawned

countless web locations

where millions

of avid fans can obsess.

- The fan base is saying,

"When are you going to answer

these mysteries?"

Personally, I started

feeling hamstrung,

story-wise, almost instantly,

because we had to do 25 hours

of "Lost" in the first season.

- Hey!

- So we started communicating

to ABC,

"We're gonna run out

of flashback stories."

[electricity zaps]

[machine beeping]

- Call it, Jack.

- You call it.

- And ABC was adamant

in saying,

"No," like, "the show

is a hit show.

"People love the flashbacks.

Don't worry.

You guys are great at it.

Just keep it up."

- You okay, freckles?

- At the beginning of the

third season of the show,

we had our characters

locked in cages,

and I think looking back on it

now, Damon and I are like,

"Well, I think that's

metaphorically how we felt.

We felt we were

locked in cages."

- Around halfway through

the third season, ABC says,

"Okay, we will let you

end the show,"

and we're like,

"Yes, thank God,"

and they said,

"After ten seasons."

[idyllic music]

- "Desperate Housewives" and

"Lost" launched the same year.

It really was a huge boost

for the network.

They had two shows that

everybody was talking about.

- In truth, I spent the day

as I spent every other day:

quietly polishing

the routine of my life

until it gleamed

with perfection.

- I had a lot to say

about women

who go into the iconic roles

of wife and mother

and are unfulfilled.

[tense music]

[gunshot]

- I think the good news

it brought

is women who are not perfect,

who are not young,

are viable.

And the fan base was amazing.

And the--you know,

there were T-shirts--

I remember going into a store,

and there was, "I am Lynette."

- Are you saying

I'm a bad mother?

- Ma'am, you need to get back

in your car, please.

- "I am Gabby."

[lively Latin music]

"I am Susan."

- [gasps] Oh!

- "I am Bree."

- Are you at a bar?

- Shake it, baby.

- We stood on the shoulders

of those

who came before--you know,

strong women characters

in television--but in the wake

of "Desperate Housewives,"

a lot more shows with

older women came on the air.

- Uh, what you doing?

- Locked myself out, naked.

- Oh.

- And then I fell.

So how are you?

- While it's tempting

to play it safe,

the more we're willing to risk,

the more alive we are.

In the end...

what we regret most

are the chances we never took.

- There's an old showbiz axiom:

you got to get off the stage

before somebody says,

"Hey, you should

get off the stage."

- ♪ All, all that you dream ♪

♪ Comes to shine ♪

♪ In silver lining

and clouds ♪

- Endings are hard in general,

and I think "The Sopranos"

was able

to accomplish this thing

that everybody in television

is always trying to accomplish,

which is do something that

no one has ever seen before.

[bell dings]

[Journey's

"Don't Stop Believin'"]

[uplifting classic rock]

- Tony is meeting the family

at a restaurant,

and we're listening

to a Journey song

and watching as, one by one,

the family members come in,

and there's these sinister

people lurking around.

- ♪ Strangers, waiting ♪

- You were wondering,

"Is Tony gonna survive this?

"Was Tony gonna be shot?

What was gonna happen?"

[engine splutters]

- Shit.

- You're cutting to Meadow

parking her car,

you know, all these things

that are completely normal,

but they're imbued

with this dread.

- ♪ Don't stop

believing ♪

♪ ♪

♪ Hold on to that feeling ♪

- Nothing is happening.

They're enjoying a family meal

and listening to Journey.

- ♪ People, oh-oh-oh ♪

- And it's building,

and it's building.

- ♪ Oh ♪

[bell dings]

♪ Don't stop ♪

[silence]

- The long black,

in which everybody said,

"Did I just lose

my HBO signal?

What's going on there?"

I actually thought was

kind of like the chord

at the end of "Sergeant Pepper"

in which nine pianos just hit

this long, long major "bong,"

and it goes on and on and on

and on and on and on

and on and on

and on and on and on.

That black was sort of like

what the series needed

in order to communicate

the fact that it is now

officially over.

- As for "Sopranos" creator

David Chase,

he got whacked

in the headlines,

he got whacked by

the "New York Post" cartoonist

who showed fans

getting whacked,

and Chase literally

got whacked online.

- Three or four days later,

Carlton and I were in New York

talking to a couple

of television critics

about how amazing it was,

and they were like,

"Oh, you know,

there's a lot of controversy

about the 'Sopranos' finale,"

and we were like, "What?"

They were like,

"Oh, yeah, some people

just absolutely hate it.

"Like, the whole cut to black,

it's pretentious,

"nobody knows what it means,

they're all discussing

whether Tony is alive or dead,"

and we were like, "What?

Those are all the things

that make it brilliant!"

And right then, we realized

that we're completely

and totally fucked.

[slow string music]

♪ ♪

- [chuckles wryly]

If you've been fortunate

enough to be successful,

they've gone along

for a long ride with you,

and the viewer

has a through-line

for every character

and the show

that you could

never possibly have.

[tranquil music]

- You know I love you, right?

More than anything.

- Of course, honey.

- So it is a fool's errand

to try and please

anyone but yourself

when you're writing

a series finale.

- Finales have become

increasingly more important.

You know, if you don't do

a really good finale

to a really good series,

the series can sort of

lose its luster.

But "Six Feet Under" comes up

with a perfect ending,

and the show is actually

even enhanced a little bit.

- The end of "Six Feet Under"

has the daughter

just driving away in the car,

and music starts to play.

Its Sia's "Breathe Me."

[emotional piano music]

And she looks up

in the rearview mirror,

so she's looking backwards,

but then the show looks ahead.

♪ ♪

- [sobbing]

- ♪ Ouch,

I have lost myself ♪

♪ Again ♪

♪ ♪

♪ Lost ♪

♪ Myself and I am ♪

♪ Nowhere to be found ♪

- That season ended,

and everybody died,

and I thought

it was brilliant.

[stirring music]

- The work on TV is as good

as any work

that's on a big screen,

and so that hierarchy of film

and television, I think,

has been changed

dramatically...

♪ ♪

Partially because

of the great work

that people did at HBO

and also because of the work

they did at a lot

of other places.

all: No!

- What?

- Oh, yeah,

you can't sit there.

- Why not?

- That's where Sheldon sits.

- He can't sit

somewhere else?

- Oh, no.

No, you see, in the winter,

that seat is close enough

to the radiator

so that he's warm, yet not

so close that he sweats.

In the summer, it's directly

in the path of a cross breeze

created by opening windows

there and there.

It faces the television

at an angle that isn't direct,

so he can still talk

to everybody,

yet not so wide that

the picture looks distorted.

- Perhaps there's hope

for you after all.