in a newsroom, bob newhart wasn't a psychiatrist -- but gary had been a talk show host. >> see you tomorrow night. sleep well. remember, we'll all be sleeping at the same time. >> and i think he signaled that you could mine your life and make a show out of that. >> so what do i do now? >> just pretend like you're talking to me 'til we're off the air so it won't seem weird. >> "the larry sanders show" really gave hbo their voice, but that was on pay cable. >> on network television, we had spent 10 years doing these hangout shows, and eventually, everyone realized there's not going to be another "friends." and so we kind of returned to this notion, they're hanging out because they work together. they don't have a choice. >> by the time you get to the 2000s, "scrubs" is a good example of that trend. >> my pitch was a broad, silly comedy -- >> ah [bleep] a brother finally can breathe. >> and you're inside of a young doctor's head.