On a royal birthday every house must fly a flag or the owner would be dragged to a police station and be fined twenty-five rubles.

One of the greatest things drama can do at it's best is to redefine the words we use every day such as love home family loyalty and envy. Tragedy need not be a downer.

The pattern of a newspaperman's life is like the plot of 'Black Beauty.' Sometimes he finds a kind master who gives him a dry stall and an occasional bran mash in the form of a Christmas bonus sometimes he falls into the hands of a mean owner who drives him in spite of spavins and expects him to live on potato peelings.

I don't think I ever got the hang of the writers' room. I love collaborating with people but I really do my best work alone and I think I would want to - if I did something again I think I'd want to take total ownership the way Aaron Sorkin or David Kelley does.

My parents got married late and they had kids late so I never felt a social or cultural thing to be married or pregnant or a homeowner by a certain age.