Thirtysomething (TV Series)

Michael Writes a Story (1989)

Lorinne Vozoff: Ivy Dunbar

Quotes 

• Michael Steadman : The clock over the door stood at 2.43. Harrison watched the progress of the minutes. The second hand moved with the thoughtlessness of an underwater plant, caught in a lethargic current. Harrison carefully arranged himself on the stool and listened to the sad, tubercular sighing of the coffee urn. Once again his eyes were drawn back to the clock.

  Ivy Dunbar : [as a customer in the café Michael is writing about]  Well, this isn't very interesting, is it?

  Melissa Steadman : [as waitress]  I don't understand. Michael used to be very imaginative.

  Ivy Dunbar : I'm very disappointed. It lacks focus, intent, detail.

  Gary Shepherd : [as customer reading a newspaper with no print on it]  I'll say. Look at this. He's got me reading a blank newspaper!

• Ivy Dunbar : So. I am not going to teach you to be writers. You already are writers. If you weren't, you wouldn't be sitting here, believe me. But you all do need to get past where you are. Past the need to stand between the work and the reader so that he'll know how clever you are. Because good writing, is writing that appears not to have been constructed but to have ripened. Like a banana. The key to this, of course, is honesty. There are no rules in fiction, except honesty. If you learn that, you will have spent your money well.

• Michael Steadman : [narrating]  The clock over the door stood at 2.43. Harrison watched the progress of the minutes. People seemed to aimlessly drift like lost, soulless leaves...

  Ivy Dunbar : [as waitress]  I know I told you there weren't any rules, but could you tell me exactly why you felt you had to split an infinitive?

• Nancy Krieger Weston : [as Woman In The Blue Dress]  We move through life, trapped by time and events, our empty days piling up like discarded socks in God's hamper.

  Michael Steadman : [as Harrison]  She was depressed.

  Nancy Krieger Weston : We struggle, but what does it get us?

  Michael Steadman : Perhaps nothing. Perhaps love.

  Michael Steadman : [narrating]  She looked at him and smiled.

  Nancy Krieger Weston : You're a funny sort of a guy, aren't ya?

  Michael Steadman : [narrating]  It was a sad smile just the same.

  Nancy Krieger Weston : But I'm afraid, we met a lifetime too late.

  Michael Steadman : [narrating]  The door of the coffee shop opened with the sound of a sad bell. He took his eyes off the woman and watched a man walk in.

  Nancy Krieger Weston : [standing and pulling out a gun]  Clive.

  Elliot Weston : [as Clive]  Rebecca! I can explain everything! I mean, really, I can!

  Nancy Krieger Weston : That's the problem, isn't it?

  Nancy Krieger Weston : [shooting Clive twelve times with a revolver and collapsing into Harrison's arms with a heavy sigh]  We met...

  Michael Steadman : She whispered.

  Nancy Krieger Weston : ...at a carnival.

  Ivy Dunbar : [after a stunned, embarrassed silence engulfs the classroom]  'Socks in Gods hamper'?

  Michael Steadman : It was a metaphor.

  Ivy Dunbar : That would be one way to describe it, yes.

• Michael Steadman : Watching his straight back walk away, I realized how busy the office had been beyond us. I hadn't noticed it. I had been aware of the sound, but not a human one. I had turned the sounds of the office into the sounds of the storm: rain, thunder... if I had closed my eyes, I might have seen the lighting reflected on our swords.

  Ivy Dunbar : [leaning over his shoulder, very pleased]  It's about time.