MONDO EXTRAS

WC: It's such a strange country. We were in L.A. a couple of weeks ago and watched a Futurama rerun on the Cartoon Network. And this was at 11:30 at night, and the line was "Great zombie Jesus," or something like that, and they blanked out "Jesus." And this was something that had originally aired at 7, unblanked. So I can't understand the logic.

BJN: On cable!

WC: They don't even have Standards & Practices on cable, I thought. It's weird.

BJN: Well, it'll all sort itself out, with satellite, and satellite radio, and politics will change, and DVD, and HBO, and it'll all sort itself out. But in the meantime, yes, it's frustrating for so many writers.

WC: I just wonder if any parent, first of all, pays attention to the parental advisory, and in the second place, if that will actually stop them writing an angry letter afterward if they're determined to.

BJN: Well, I don't know. I have a fourteen-year-old brother, who only a few years ago was ten, or eight, or six, and there are certain things I would love him to be shielded from. I think it's a good idea to let people know what's coming up. But I don't think that people who want to see things should not have them shown.

WC: We touched on the British version a little bit, and you mentioned how hard it was at first for the "I fear change" people knee-jerk hating the show for no reason. In other ways, how was it to work on a show that had such a direct predecessor in the UK version?

BJN: Well, there's a very good side to it, which is that we are always trying to live up to the British version, whereas I think most shows, looking over their shoulder, look at the other sitcoms on the air, and ask, "What did they do on this?" and "What did they get away with there?" and "They did this and it seemed fine," etc., whereas on our show we always look toward what might be the best, finest comedy of all time, and think, "They wouldn't have done this, they wouldn't have done that," and challenge ourselves to come up with something better that lives up to that. So as an influence on us in that way, it's actually been great -- you know, the way that a kid who studies can be a good influence on your kid, the British show is a good influence on us.