MONDO EXTRAS

How long have you been out there? I mean, how long have you been writing?
I grew up in L.A. I'm from L.A. And I've been working continuously -- I'm really old, Reg. I've been working continuously for twenty years. It took me eight years before I had anything produced. I was in The Groundlings comedy group, I was writing, I was doing a lot of stuff, and just getting better at what I was doing and then Ladies' Room got produced and it really changed my life because, all of a sudden, people are like, "Where this does Robin Schiff come from?" You know, like, after EIGHT YEARS! And I managed to, not only work continuously, but I've done a number of things I'm extremely proud of. Ladies' Room is one. Romy and Michele, Almost Perfect, and Grosse Pointe -- I'm really proud of them all. I feel like my work is getting better, or, at least, staying at a level.

We really tried our hardest on Grosse Pointe. We really wanted to do something that worked on a strict emotional level, not just satirical. We really wanted people to get involved with the characters, and we wanted it to be a satire of those shows, and we wanted it to be about something more universal than just a satire of those shows. And I don't feel like we managed that in every episode, but certainly in the Monica Lewinsky one, and there were just certain ones that went to another level, in my opinion. And even the worst one was pretty damn good.

Yeah, I mean, looking back on it, I don't think there was a single episode that I thought of as being craptastic. Even the low point was still entertaining as hell.
Well, I really appreciate that, and I actually agree. And, again, we did better and worse, but we really, really pushed ourselves and tried our hardest, and I think it shows. You know, I'm sad the show isn't coming back and yet, I feel really clean about because I don't really feel like, "Oh, damn! If only it could come back, I could fix the show!" Because I felt like the show was working. If they couldn't get people to watch it or if we were on the wrong network, or whatever, you know, the situation was...I mean, I have my theories, but I'll never really know. All of us who wrote that show, and worked on it, really feel that we accomplished what we set out to do. To me, it's far worse when I disappoint myself.