Shonda Rhimes Talks Breaking Bad, Why Scandal Is No “Guilty Pleasure”
Salon conducted an excellent interview with Shonda Rhimes, creator of Scandal and Grey’s Anatomy. Go over to Salon to read the full interview.They did not skim the surface and asked Ms. Rhimes some fantastic, intriguing questions. Below are some of the topics they covered.
On hearing Scandal called “A Guilty Pleasure:
It’s so annoying. It’s like saying the show is a piece of crap but I can’t stop watching it. To me, that’s what a guilty pleasure is. “The Real Housewives” is a guilty pleasure. To me, it’s an insulting thing to say. I would never say that about someone’s show.
On having shows that so are racially diverse:
I don’t take pride in it at all. I think it’s sad, and weird, and strange that it’s still a thing, nine years after we did “Grey’s,” that it’s still a thing. It’s creepy to me that it’s still an issue, that there aren’t enough people of color on television. Why is that still happening? It’s 2013. Somebody else needs to get their act together. And oh, by the way it works. Ratings-wise, it works. People like to see it.
What its like running Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal at the same time:
It’s nice to have a different creative focus now. It’s like having a 10-year-old and — well, it’s like my life. I have a 10-year-old and I have a baby. For real. And with the shows, I have a 10-year-old and I have a baby. And it’s nice having a 10-year-old and a baby. Because the 10-year-old is 10, and you can have great conversations with it and it’s very intellectual. And the baby, my baby learned how to blow kisses this weekend, and that is like an over-the-moon experience.
On Breaking Bad And Immoral Characters
Yeah, and I’m not interested in that. I’m not interested in forcing down the audiences’ throats that Liv is a shithead [laughs]. For instance, part of the thing about Liv being in love with this married man — that we all seem to accept and find very romantic that they love each other — is that you’re going to fall in love with this relationship because you’re watching it from Olivia’s point of view. It’s wrong, and it’s flawed, and she’s got a really messed up view of what love is, but we’re watching her fall in love from her point of view. So we’re in it. We’re with her on that, as opposed to “Breaking Bad,” where I feel a lot of the times, you’re not always with him…
Want more? Head over to Salon.
