TCA 2010 Winter Press Tour

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Largest panel that really only needed to consist of two people: "The Pacific," HBO. Surely the network knew full well that the cast of this upcoming WWII miniseries weren't going to be asked nearly as many questions as its producers, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, but it was a pleasant surprise to find Hanks taking the reins of the panel as often as not. He tackled the first question – about the differences between this program and its predecessor, "Band of Brothers" – with the seriousness it warranted, but when the second question was posed, he began, "If I can be so bold to continue talking and not let anybody else have a moment".

Spielberg soon managed to find his way into the conversation with some frequency as well, though he and Hanks often slipped into Abbott and Costello mode when trying to determine who was going to get to answer a question.

Tom Hanks : Go ahead.
Steven Spielberg : You go.
Tom Hanks : No, no, no. Go ahead, because I'll pontificate for an hour and a half. I'm going to sound like Ricky Gervais in 20 minutes.
Steven Spielberg : Now I can't follow up, because I was going to get really serious here.
Tom Hanks : Oh, please.

When Spielberg cracked a joke about how they maintained their relationship with HBO because the network gave them a lot of money, Hanks added, "I'm going to assume that all you cracked members of the fourth estate can appreciate sarcasm when it comes your way." With that assumption made, he then later claimed that the network had approached them about continuing their collaboration by saying, "We are more successful, we make more money than all the commercial networks combined, we've got $250 million to blow. Do you want to do anything with it?"

Eventually, fellow producer Gary Goetzman acknowledged that he and his fellow panelists knew their place in the proceedings and, as such, weren't even trying to answer any of the questions. "Why would we?" he asked. "We've got Steven and Tom!"

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