A show that no one thought had a chance has just finished its fifth year: Charmed. I think it's tougher for the younger networks, so I think they have a little more patience for the sake of the show. But who knows?
But it's true, when you see some television, you carry it with you. It's like 90210. Tell me what young shows were being done then... We were thrilled about the ratings around the world.
But, I don't know, the violence, I can't even talk about. We don't do a lot of violent shows. When I started in television, breaking a pencil was a violent act.
Even a cop show was an anthology. I miss that, I miss it a lot. I don't know why they're not successful anymore; people just won't try them.
I can kid around and say it's entertainment and everybody likes our shows, but we have something else at stake. This is a chance to teach-not preach, teach.
I don't remember a drama on TV that had shown a couple could be married but still love each other very much, spend every day as if they were still on their honeymoon, be sensuous, and have fun together.
I don't travel by airplane. I mean that because when my wife, my kids and I travel on trains or boats, we meet a lot of people and we talk to them.
I love my wife, she deserves anything and everything.
I must tell you, I haven't done the drug problem that is faced by cops and people on the border. It's a hard show to do, but I think it's going to say a lot about drugs and the problems related to them. I just hope people can watch it, it's a pretty strong show.
I think detail is just paying attention... Would she say that? Would he say that? Why is he saying that? That's the detail.
I think our business is really different. I don't know, there's no way to express it.
I think there are two ways to depict a family. One is what it's really like, and one is what the audience would like it to be. Between you and me, I think the second one is what I would prefer.
I think you have to be very careful you don't make the audience hate someone by giving him a retort that is not funny. Funny retorts work, but when you're vicious to someone, they do not work. My wife says I'm vicious all the time! Thank God she's supporting me, so I have to stop!
I think you reach so many people, and so many different people. We have to be very careful of that out here in Hollywood because if you saw the list of parties we are invited to here, and if you scan that list, it's always that higher, higher echelon, you never really get to know real people.
I'll tell you what I miss most. What I would love to do, more than anything, is just anthologies. With an anthology you can tell any story and be in every division of television. We don't have any anthologies anymore, do we?
I'm basically a writer. I never wanted to be a producer. Dick Powell made me a producer, because I was writing his host spots on Zane Grey Theater.
If your pilot does something that either sends somebody to jail or to hell, then you know what the pilot is. If your pilot is dealing with someone who just made a terrible mistake and is sorry for it, then you don't know if your pilot is going to work or not. It's really crazy.
It's been a straight strip, I must tell you, I've enjoyed it all the way. If I'm saying things to make it sound like it's hard, hard work, it's not. It's beautiful work. It's fun work. It's everything you'd ever want to do.
It's OK to do cute little things like kissing a turtle, but you can't kiss another person because he's a different color? Give me a break. And you have to remember, I'm from Dallas, Texas.
Now I've even gotten to running out to the fan buses that pass by our house, so I can talk to the people. I think I'm trying to gather fans, frankly. They're very, very nice people - they really understand. It's fun talking to them.
Nowadays, people always say, how come he's doing such young shows? But they never mention The Mod Squad. I was very proud of that show. It's the first time an African-American guy kissed a white girl.
One thing my wife says is bad about me, is that I still care too much.
Right now I'm doing four shows at a time, trying to read four outlines every week, four scripts every week, and watching four rough cuts; it's a lot of good work. It's fun to do it, but it does wear you out.
There are a couple of things that I'm sure people don't think are important, but I do. I don't like hair changes unless there's a reason for it. Clothing-I don't like to see an outfit worn more than one time in an hour-you can wear it again a few weeks later.
We do 32 episodes a season and will have shot 267 episodes by the end of the ninth season... It's impossible to sell that many episodes in the foreign market.
When we did Dynasty, it was the clothes. I think the clothes affected every woman around the world. I got so many letters, I think we made the designer a millionaire!
You can't predict a show, that is the damndest thing, you can't predict if a show is going to work or not until it's on the air.
You know what shows today are missing? Stars.
Aaron's show 7th Heaven is the longest running of them all and the longest running family show on Televsion, but Sunset Beach has the most amount of episodes.
He worked in some capacity on almost 200 productions.
The public was not allowed to attend Spelling's funeral held several days after his death.
In 2004, he was portrayed by
He had his break as a writer, selling his first script to Jane Wyman Theater in 1954.
He was a lifelong smoker before being diagnosed with oral cancer in 2001.
He holds the Guinness World Record for most prolific television producer.
He had so many shows on ABC in the 1970s, people in the business joked that ABC stood for "Aaron's Broadcasting Company".
He took the name 'Jerry Lane' during World War II.
His 6-acre mansion "The Manor" at 594 Mapleton Drive in Bel Air, California has 123 rooms, a bowling alley, swimming pool, gymnasium, tennis court, screening room and four 2-car garages. Spelling bought the property in 1983, including a house that had belonged to Bing Crosby. He demolished the Crosby house and built the largest single-family home in California.
He wrote an autobiography entitled A Prime Time Life, which was published in 1996.
He was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award in 1963 for The Dick Powell Show.
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