Television Quotes - Page 37

• Somewhere around the turn of the century, it stopped being hip to say you never watched TV. Adults are much more likely to find something to engage them on television than they are at the local multiplex. Edges are being cut on television all the time, but at the movies only now and then.

  Tom Shales

  Cutting, Adults, Tvs

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• The economics of television syndication and DVD sales mean that there's a tremendous financial pressure to make programs that can be watched multiple times, revealing new nuances and shadings on the third viewing. Meanwhile, the Web has created a forum for annotation and commentary that allows more complicated shows to prosper, thanks to the fan sites where each episode of shows like 'Lost' or 'Alias' is dissected with an intensity usually reserved for Talmud scholars.

  Steven Johnson

  Mean, Dvds, Fans

  "Watching TV Makes You Smarter". www.nytimes.com. April 24, 2005.

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• Television is a constant stream of fact, opinions, lies, moral dilemmas, plots: an infinitely complex and sophisticated torrent of information. How could it not make you cleverer? The only people who ever thought television rotted the brain and made kids dumb were those with a vested interest in other ways of learning, or those who were intellectually insecure, usually about books.

  A. A. Gill

  Lying, Book, Kids

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• Beautifully shot, impeccably paced, it was a clear, unrelenting look at the National Trust, its friends and enemies, and it makes you want to burn your passport and beg the Luftwaffe to have another go.

  A. A. Gill

  Enemy, Looks, Want

  "AA Gill obituary" by Stuart Jeffries, www.theguardian.com. December 10, 2016.

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• Television in the 1960s & 70s had just as much dross and the programmes were a lot more tediously patronising than they are now. Memory truncates occasional gems into a glittering skein of brilliance. More television, more channels means more good television and, of course, more bad. The same equation applies to publishing, film and, I expect, sumo wrestling.

  A. A. Gill

  Memories, Mean, Wrestling

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• An American has invented a remote control that will turn off any telly within a 20ft radius. What a marvellous device! What a splendid invention! What a really helpful and improving way of devoting your time to building something that turns off culture. Next week, I'm instigating Burn a Book Week, to encourage even more conversation. I've come up with a fantastic little device which I'll call a box of matches.

  A. A. Gill

  Book, Next Week, Culture

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• Get up now and go and find Robert Kilroy-Silk. Smile in a warm, friendly sort of way, then punch him on the nose. Now go and find Robert on television, despite my best endeavours, this is still relatively easy to do. Wait for a close-up, same smile, and punch him on the nose. If you followed the instructions carefully, you will have noticed a distinct difference. On the one hand, you were suffused with a sense of public-spirited righteousness; on the other, you're probably dribbling blood. That's the difference between reality in life and reality on television.

  A. A. Gill

  Reality, Blood, Hands

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• With the advent of 24-hour Sky News, the News Flash has been greatly devalued. Time was, when something unimaginably horrendous had to happen before it was deemed worthy of a News Flash. At least one, preferably two, and ideally all four horsemen of the apocalypse would have to be involved.

  Declan Lynch

  Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse, Sky, Two

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• Advocates of dumbing down should note the wonderfully perverse fact that 'University Challenge' and 'Mastermind' were watched by millions who could hardly even understand the questions, let alone ejaculate the answers. Maybe they just liked to watch smart people sweating.

  Declan Lynch

  Smart, People, Challenges

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• Americans think the only funny Brits are John Cleese, Benny Hill and whoever makes our toothpaste. They're not laughing with us, they are laughing at us.

  A. A. Gill

  Thinking, Laughing, Hills

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• Do we really require so many gardening programmes, makeover programmes or celebrity chefs?

  David Attenborough

  Gardening, Chef, Makeovers

  "David Attenborough criticises BBC schedule". www.telegraph.co.uk. May 1, 2008.

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• It warps the minds of our children and weakens the resolve of our allies.

  Stephen Colbert

  Children, Mind, Allies

  "Emmys 2006: Minute By Minute" by Daniel Fienberg, www.chicagotribune.com. August 27, 2006.

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• The savage, rocky shores of Christmas Island, 200 miles south of Java, in the Indian Ocean. It's November, the moon is in its third quarter, and the sun is just setting. In a few hours from now, on this very shore, a thousand million lives will be launched.

  David Attenborough

  Ocean, Moon, Islands

  "The Trials of Life (TV Series)". www.imdb.com. (1990–).

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• 10.30 Newsnight: What Are The Chances Of World War Three Breaking Out After You Have Gone To Bed?

  Alan Coren

  War, Bed, Three

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• If there is only 24 hours to save the universe why are you talking to us?

  Declan Lynch

  Talking, Hours, Ifs

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• 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.

  Aaron Spelling

  Done, World, Rating

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• 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?

  Aaron Spelling

  Missing, Division, Stories

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• There are large numbers of people in India below the poverty line, there are large numbers of people who lead a meager existence. They want to find a little escape from the hardships of life, and come and watch something colorful and exciting and musical. Indian cinema provides that. So yes, the content of our television and our cinema is escapist in nature because we are there to provide entertainment.

  Amitabh Bachchan

  Numbers, People, Musical

  "Interview: Amitabh Bachchan". Interview, www.cnn.com. July 10, 2007.

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• We were on the island of Hawaii. I think I was there three months. It was fantastic. It is not much different than films. It depends on the television show but much of television today is as good or better than most films.

  Bo Derek

  Thinking, Islands, Different

  "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• I did a film very quickly, and then a lot of work for television, and then I did stage work.

  Isabelle Huppert

  Film, Stage

  Interview with Christopher Cook, www.theguardian.com. November 11, 2001.

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• There was a little afternoon show that was called Afternoon. Back in those days in television, most local stations had a midday show for housewives that had a series of things. It was like a variety show for midday.

  Jim Henson

  Afternoon, Littles, Housewife

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• Yeah, we pretty much had a form and a shape by that time - a style - and I think one of the advantages of not having any relationship to any other puppeteer was that it gave me a reason to put those together myself for the needs of television.

  Jim Henson

  Thinking, Style, Together

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• You do show after show after show and get them done and on the air. Television devours material. We work a minimum of 12, 14 hours, and often 15, 18 hours a day.

  Parker Stevenson

  Air, Done, Hours

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• I had - all my life, everybody who knew me thought that I would probably grow up to be a reporter, a newspaper reporter because we didn't have much television in those days.

  Bob Schieffer

  Growing Up, Literature, Newspaper Reporters

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• I expect to see, on television, the porcine Governor of the State of Michigan decrying to the whole world that my client should be in jail for rendering kindness and compassion, primarily because the porcine Governor of the State of Michigan is a religious nut.

  Geoffrey Fieger

  Religious, Kindness, Compassion

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