"If the scripts are not good, I'll tell somebody, 'This isn't good.'"
About this Quote
The intent is managerial, but the subtext is power. Wolf isn't describing a preference; he's describing a permission structure. Only someone with leverage - the guy whose name is effectively a franchise logo - can afford the clean sentence. The repetition of "good" is doing work, too. It's not "innovative" or "prestige" or "award-worthy". It's "good": a deliberately plain standard that fits his most famous output, shows engineered to deliver clarity, pace, and reliability at scale. That baseline is the point.
Context matters: Wolf is the architect of assembly-line television, where writers' rooms and production schedules don't allow for preciousness. The statement signals a culture where direct criticism is framed as professionalism, not cruelty - a way to prevent bad scripts from metastasizing into expensive shoot days and compromised episodes. It also quietly rebukes the industry's tendency to confuse diplomacy with taste. Wolf's ethos is that "nice" is optional; competence isn't. And in a long-running franchise economy, that pragmatism becomes a kind of artistic stance: not anti-art, but pro-standards.
Quote Details
| Topic | Writing |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Wolf, Dick. (2026, January 17). If the scripts are not good, I'll tell somebody, 'This isn't good.'. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/if-the-scripts-are-not-good-ill-tell-somebody-48776/
Chicago Style
Wolf, Dick. "If the scripts are not good, I'll tell somebody, 'This isn't good.'." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/if-the-scripts-are-not-good-ill-tell-somebody-48776/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"If the scripts are not good, I'll tell somebody, 'This isn't good.'." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/if-the-scripts-are-not-good-ill-tell-somebody-48776/. Accessed 17 Feb. 2026.



