Watch My Show: The Exes' Mark Reisman Answers Our Showrunner Survey

A few years ago, Mark Reisman tackled marriage on his short-lived NBC series In-Laws. It's only fitting that Reisman, whose credits also include Frasier, Wings and Quintuplets, is now writing about what happens when wedded bliss doesn't work out. On Reisman's new TV Land sitcom The Exes, Donald Faison, Wayne Knight and David Alan Basche play a group of divorced men who share an apartment next door to their divorce attorney (Kristen Johnston). The executive producer answered our show-runner survey to explain how The Exes marks the spot.
TV Guide Magazine: I've got room for just one new show on my DVR. Tell me why it should be yours.
Reisman: Because it's funny, entertaining, and at the end of every episode we give away a new DVR and it sounds like somebody could use one with a lot more recording time.
TV Guide Magazine: What happens if we don't watch your show?
Reisman: She doesn't know it yet, but my mother will have to give up her night nurse.
TV Guide Magazine: Give us an algorithm for your show.
Reisman: The Exes = Two And A Half Men + another half man + 11 feet of funny women.
TV Guide Magazine: Finish this sentence: "If you like ____, you'll love my show."
Reisman: "If you like sitting, you'll love my show."
TV Guide Magazine: What's the best thing anyone has said or written about your show?
Reisman: "The Exes has an incredibly gifted and talented cast."
TV Guide Magazine: And what's the worst thing anyone has said or written?
Reisman: "Why are they working with Mark Reisman?"
TV Guide Magazine: Were they right?
Reisman: Let's just say my wife was having a bad day.
TV Guide Magazine: What makes your cast the best on TV?
Reisman: Who said they are? Just kidding. That's what makes them the best. They can take a joke. Please don't write that, they really can't. Seriously, don't write it.
TV Guide Magazine: What's an alternate title for your show?
Reisman: The Untitled Mark Reisman Project. We almost went with it, but it turned out ABC had a competing project with the same name.
TV Guide Magazine: If you weren't the showrunner for this show, which series would you most like to work on?
Reisman: The Andy Griffith Show because my show's on TV Land and I'm a team player. Besides, I have a great idea for a story about Otis taking Opie and his scout troop on a camping trip.
TV Guide Magazine: Showrunner battles are all the rage these days. Pick a rival show, any show, to start a fight with.
Reisman: I would pick The Killing for ending the season leaving the viewers hanging. At least at the end of our first season you find out who killed Rosie Larsen.
TV Guide Magazine: Let's scare the network. Tell us an idea that didn't make it out of the writers' room.
Reisman: To attract the college crowd we had one titled, "Arab Spring Break."
TV Guide Magazine: Which past credit of yours do you leave off your resume?
Reisman: My one episode of Cop Rock — mostly because it was a shared credit.
The Exes airs Wednesdays at 10:30/9:30c and TV Land.
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