CHUCK LORRE PRODUCTIONS, #412
Recently TV Guide asked me to answer some questions for an upcoming article about where TV has been and where it's going. Unfortunately, I chose to respond while fighting a cold with my faithful sidekick, Nighttime Robitussin.
Among anything that has aired over the past sixty years, what program has influenced you the most (and how)? "Busty Coeds vs. Lusty Cheerleaders Part 3." (How do you think?)
Give us your dream three-hour night of television (cherry picking any comedies and dramas from the entire history of TV). "Busty Coeds vs. Lusty Cheerleaders Parts 1, 2 & 3."
What's missing from television in 2013? A reality show entitled, "The Pre-Moistened Housewives of Alhambra." What is there too much of on TV now? Soft core porn.
Which TV icons (past and present) do you admire the most? Rod Serling, Jackie Gleason, George Burns, Jack Benny, Phil Silvers, Ernie Kovacs, Johnny Carson, Dean Martin, Carl Reiner, the Smothers Brothers, Gene Roddenberry, James L. Brooks, Larry Gelbart, Norman Lear, Glen and Les Charles, Jon Stewart, Steven Bochco, Larry David, Phil Rosenthal, Vince Gilligan, David Simon, David Chase and Bob Newhart (but only because after ten years of begging, he finally agreed to be on one of my shows).
What do you think TV will look like twenty years from now? It will be very thin.
Guilty pleasure: What are you embarrassed to admit you've enjoyed watching, either now or in the past? After twenty- five years of working in television, I no longer experience embarrassment.
Has TV pushed the content boundaries too far? Does it not push those boundaries far enough? As the result of a childhood head trauma, boundaries mean nothing to me. I laugh at boundaries. Ha-ha! I'm sorry, what was the question?
Whose work in TV doesn't get enough credit? The nice lady in craft services.
What's your legacy? One hundred years from now, if people bother to consider me, I would like them to say, "Why is Chuck Lorre still alive?"