Twenty Good Years

Thanks to everyone

2006-10-12T02:48:16Z

Thank you everyone for your support tonight and on behalf of John and Jeffrey and myself, we hope you continue watching, and if you're a Nielsen family, the check is in the mail.

This is the only traditional sitcom on NBC right now. Does that raise the bar? Is the pressure really on?

2006-10-12T02:46:57Z

There definitely is more pressure on "traditional" four-camera, live-audience sitcoms right now. But I don't think that affects how any of us on the show think or act or write. The fact is, funny is funny, and if we can make people laugh and care about these characters, then hopefully the audience won't be too particular about the technicalities.

With the advances in medicine, don't these guys have more then 20 good years

2006-10-12T02:45:48Z

Ha! Probably. But the title we have sounds better than "An Average of 27.83 Good Years, With a Margin for Error of Six to Eight Months."

Lithgow and Tambor contributions

2006-10-12T02:45:02Z

They both do, from time to time, contribute story ideas, but more commonly they will weigh in with suggestions for the structure of particular scenes, or moments within scenes. They are both very precise with language, and for the rhythms of how their characters speak and act, so if either actor ever says, "I'm not sure my character would say it that way," I've learned to listen.

Favorite part of the job

2006-10-12T02:41:10Z

My favorite part of the job is when I've worked very hard on the script and worried about it and tinker with every line and looked at it from every possible angle and then it's show night and I walk on the stage floor and I hear 200 total strangers laughing. That is a rush that's hard to describe.

And then it lasts for about 10 minutes and I start worrying about next week.

Romance

2006-10-12T02:39:31Z

We're going to deal with romance in many different ways. In fact, the episode that's coming next week with Jane Leeves is a weird sort of romance episode, but maybe not the kind you will expect.

Casting John and Jeffrey

2006-10-12T02:35:01Z

John was with the project from the very beginning; in fact before I was. Jeffrey was cast after the script was written and he had been at the top of our list from the very beginning, but because Arrested Development had not been cancelled, we thought he was out of the running. We went down other roads that thankfully didn't pan out cause when that show got cancelled, we were able to cast him.

We had one meeting where John and Jeffrey met and read a couple of scenes together with an audience of just me and maybe two other executives from Warner Bros. studio and their chemistry was instant and a wonderful relief to us all.

Tim Russ

2006-10-12T02:34:30Z

He's wonderful. His character is so humorless, but you know to act humorless and make it very funny is really difficult. And Tim pulls it off brilliantly, and we will definitely have him back. We've already shot some stuff that he will return in. We have a writer on the show Robb Cohen who is a sci-fi nerd, and he's always excited when Tim's on the show cause Tim played a Vulcan in one of the Star Trek series, which is really apropos cause Vulcans are humorless characters.

Angela - Tell me about the writers

2006-10-12T02:32:41Z

Sure, Angela. We have a wonderful writing staff. They range in age from 30-ish to 50-ish. I hired them not just because they were experienced and funny writers, but also because of life experience. A lot of them have had whole other careers before entering show business and I think that's really valuable in a writer's room.

I certainly couldn't do it without them. We're very much a family - very supportive of each other. And when you see someone's name on an episode, the whole writing staff has contributed to that script, with the knowledge that when its someone else's turn they'll get the same support.

It's all about putting ego aside and what makes the episode the best it can be. On some shows, people get possessive about material and what's my joke and what's your joke, but we don't do that here -- we're all proud of everything.

What it's like on the set

2006-10-12T02:29:30Z

It is one of the most happy and relaxed sets I've ever been on. John and Jeffrey both feed off the energy of a live audience and you can see how much fun they're having. Plus, it's interesting to see that Jeffrey Tambor almost never breaks character while John Lithgow is almost always cracking up and ruining takes, almost always because of something that Jeffrey does. At rehearsals, Jeff will sometimes say something so funny that John will be moaning through the take, "I'll never get through this. I'll never get it out."

I'd also like to mention Jake Sandvig and Heather Burns, our two other wonderful regular characters who play John's daughter and Jeff's son. They're great in their own right and bring a sort of youthful vitality in their own right.

Judith Light

2006-10-12T02:25:56Z

We will see plenty of Judith Light. She is coming back at least two more times in the immediate future, meaning within the next 8 to 10 episodes. And we're very open to her returning after that. She's a great nemesis for both John and Jeffrey and, of course, a fantastic, talented, and sexy actress. And she has so much fun on the show.

Relating to your own lives

2006-10-12T02:24:44Z

A lot of you are commenting on how the show relates to you and your own lives. If you have any story ideas and want to give them to me for free and then not sue me when you see them on the air, then now's the time!

To Roberto Mieves: John's Workout Routine

2006-10-12T02:23:38Z

I don't know how much John works out, but I have to honestly say with some annoyance that I'm 42, and he looks better in a Speedo than I do.

Keeping it clean

2006-10-12T02:23:18Z

To those who have commented on how they appreciate seeing a "clean comedy," I would say it doesn't have to be dirty to be grown up. And that comedy can be smart and insightful without being dark. Having said that, there's a cliché that "the best comedy comes from pain," so when I say this is an adult comedy, that's what I mean. What makes these two guys funny and their situation funny is this whiff of desperation that's underneath it. They are facing their mortality - they maybe only do have 20 good years, so underlying everything they're doing is "tick tock, tick, tock," so I think that kind of underlying desperation is what makes it funny.

Addressing the Subject Matter

2006-10-12T02:20:24Z

Well, the beauty of having actors like John Lithgow and Jeffrey Tambor is we can essentially do anything we want. We just shot an episode in which the two men went spelunking - cave exploring - and we built an elaborate sci-fi kind of set which was great fun. But we also shot a show recently where the entire scene was the two of them playing chess and trying to cheat. And that was the whole scene; it was very small and contained, and to me that was more exciting then some of the broader stuff. With the exception of Kelsey Grammer and David Hyde Pierce, I can't think of actors on TV today who have that perfect sort of Laurel and Hardy timing with each other.

I've been on TV shows in the past where writers have to spend a lot of time and energy saying, "well, it seems like a funny scene but are we sure the actors can do it?" and that's a question we never ask on the show. I never worry if John or Jeffrey can do something. I worry whether or not what I'm doing is worthy of their talents.