"In addition, [Larry] Gelbart argues, TV writing has grown more solipsistic: whereas television once attracted people trained in radio, film and theater, it's now the province of lifelong couch potatoes with a fondness for inside jokes. And on sitcoms, those jokes are increasingly crafted by committees. 'There's a custom out here now called table writing,' he says. 'A draft will be prepared by one or two writers, and the staff will sit around a table and try to get in as many new lines as possible.'"
—Michiko Kakutani, "Master of His Domain," The New York Times