James Burroughs

Well, I never look at the monitor because it's about – the shows I do are in front of a light audience.

So it's about the play.

It's about what's happening there.

I've been doing it long enough to know that I don't have to worry about the camera shots because I know they'll all be there.

So I listen and watch – I'll walk behind the cameras not watching the action necessarily.

But a lot – most of the time I watch the play because – and I make my writers watch the play or they can watch the cut on the screen.

But they don't watch the quad split.

A quad split is a –

It's a television screen that has the four cameras that I use to shoot the show on that.

And if they watch the quad split, they're always worried about mics and shots and shots not matching.

So I make all the writers watch the play because that's eventually what makes a hit show.

So what made you realize that you wanted to switch from the stage to television?

In the course of doing Cactus Flowers and 40 Carats around the country, I would work at a lot of dinner theaters, a lot of regional—not regional theaters, dinner theaters, summer stock theaters.

I would do these—not situation comedies, comedies, Odd Couple, Barefoot in the Park, The

Even Bly Spirit I did.

I'm trying to see.

Never Too Late.

All these plays, the comedies that have been on Broadway, and I do them with stars.

And I had about eight days to stage the whole thing, and I could get it done.

I was good at that.