Eric Kaplan | |
|---|---|
 Kaplan at the 2017 San Diego Comic-Con | |
| Born | Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation | Television writer, producer, story editor |
| Nationality | American |
Eric Kaplan is an American television writer and producer. His work has included shows such as Late Show with David Letterman , Andy Richter Controls the Universe , Malcolm in the Middle , Futurama , The Simpsons and Rick and Morty . He also worked on The Big Bang Theory throughout its run.
Kaplan was raised in a Jewish family [1] in Flatbush, Brooklyn where his father was a "storefront lawyer" and his mother taught high school biology at Erasmus Hall. [2] Kaplan graduated from Hunter College High School and Harvard College (where he wrote for the Harvard Lampoon ) [3] in 1989. Prior to committing to a career in professional writing, Kaplan taught English in Thailand. After that he took five years of philosophy graduate school at Columbia and UC Berkeley. [4] At Berkeley, Kaplan studied philosophy of artificial intelligence under his advisor, Hubert Dreyfus, who was a leading voice on the philosophical implications of artificial intelligence. [5]
Starting in 1986, Kaplan interned for Spy magazine, [6] where his duties included mopping the floors and writing blurb-length film reviews. [3]
Eric Kaplan's first television writing job was with Late Show with David Letterman where he worked for a year and a half before moving to Hollywood to look for a job in "half-hour" work. [7] It was at this time that Kaplan learned of Matt Groening doing a show set in the year 3000. This show would turn out to be Futurama . After applying for work on the show using some writing samples, Eric would have to, as he says, "sweat it out", for over a month before getting the job. Upon Futurama's cancellation, Kaplan went to work for the short-lived comedy series Andy Richter Controls the Universe , writing just one episode. After Fox dropped Andy Richter, Eric Kaplan then began work on the hit show Malcolm in the Middle , Eric also wrote the "Girlfriends" episode of the popular HBO series, Flight of the Conchords .
In his first year with Futurama, which was also the show's first season, Kaplan served as story editor on every episode. Though having an input on many aspects of the entire first season, Kaplan would not get a writing credit until 9 episodes in. After this premiere season, he would be promoted to producer status. This was a role that he would keep through the show's end. He returned to those roles in the Futurama DVD movies.
Futurama episode writing credits:
Futurama DVD movies writing credits:
He wrote the season 24 episode "The Saga of Carl".
In his two years as a writer on Malcolm in the Middle, Kaplan wrote four episodes while serving as supervising producer in the first half of the 5th season and co-executive producer throughout the rest of the series' run.
Malcolm in the Middle episode writing credits:
Zombie College was an internet web series Kaplan created that revolved around a student at a college full of zombies.
Kaplan described the premise of Zombie College as
the idea of the human ability to get used to practically anything. That there's nothing so horrible that we can't get used to it and accept it as part of life (...) Zombie College is an environment where there are undead monsters running around and trying to eat your brain but everybody is o.k. with it and they're more interested in getting good grades. [8]
Kaplan co-created The Drinky Crow Show , based on the Maakies comics by Tony Millionaire, for Adult Swim. The pilot aired on May 17, 2007, and the series premiered in November 2008.
Kaplan wrote the episode "Girlfriends".
Kaplan is a writer and Executive Producer on The Big Bang Theory .
Kaplan runs Mirari Films, an animation studio and VFX house. In addition to The Drinky Crow Show, Mirari Films has produced The Adventures of Baxter and McGuire , The Problem Solverz , King Star King and Brickleberry .
Kaplan's "Does Santa Exist?: A Philosophical Investigation" was published by Dutton Books in 2015. It is a serious and humorous work of philosophy. He has also contributed to "The Stone", The New York Times philosophy blog. Kaplan has a PhD. in philosophy from UC Berkeley. His doctoral thesis discusses the humour in Søren Kierkegaard. [9]
Kaplan was interviewed in 2020 by lifelong friend Roger Kimmel Smith (whose father, Robert Kimmel Smith, wrote the book The War with Grandpa , which in 2020 was adapted into a motion picture starring Robert De Niro). Their conversation about humor and philosophy was released over the YouTube channel When Humanists Attack. [10]
Matthew Abram Groening is an American cartoonist, writer, producer, and animator. He is best known as the creator of the comic strip Life in Hell (1977–2012) and the television series The Simpsons (1989–present), Futurama, and Disenchantment (2018–2023). The Simpsons is the longest-running U.S. primetime-television series in history and the longest-running U.S. animated series and sitcom.
Futurama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company and later revived by Comedy Central, and then Hulu. The series follows the adventures of slacker Philip J. Fry, who is cryogenically preserved for 1,000 years and revived on December 31, 2999. Fry finds work at the interplanetary delivery company Planet Express, working alongside one-eyed mutant Leela and robot Bender. The series was envisioned by Groening in the mid-1990s while working on The Simpsons; he brought David X. Cohen aboard to develop storylines and characters to pitch the show to Fox.
William Richard Werstine, known professionally as Billy West, is an American voice actor, musician and former radio personality. His voice roles include Bugs Bunny in the 1996 film Space Jam and several subsequent projects, the title characters of Doug and The Ren & Stimpy Show, as well as the Futurama characters Philip J. Fry, Professor Farnsworth, Dr. Zoidberg, Zapp Brannigan and many more. In commercials, he voices the Red M&M and formerly voiced Buzz for Honey Nut Cheerios. West also voices other such established characters such as Elmer Fudd, Popeye, Shaggy Rogers, Skeets, Muttley, and Woody Woodpecker. He was a cast member on The Howard Stern Show, during which time he was noted for his impressions of Larry Fine, Marge Schott, George Takei, and Jackie Martling.
Turanga Leela is a fictional character from the animated television series Futurama. Leela is spaceship captain, pilot, and head of all aviation services on board the Planet Express Ship. Throughout the series, she has an on-again, off-again relationship with Philip J. Fry, the central character in the series. The character, voiced by Katey Sagal, is named after the Turangalîla-Symphonie by Olivier Messiaen. She is one of the few characters in the cast to routinely display competence and the ability to command, and routinely saves the rest of the cast from disaster. However, she suffers extreme self-doubt because she has only one eye and grew up as a bullied orphan. She first believes herself an alien, but later finds out she is the least-mutated sewer mutant in the history of 31st-century Earth. Her family parodies aspects of pollution and undesirability associated with industrial New Jersey when compared with New York City.
Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth, commonly referred to in-show as either Professor Farnsworth or simply Professor, is a fictional character in the American animated television series Futurama. The mad scientist proprietor of the Planet Express delivery service for whom the main characters work, he is the great (×30) grandnephew and the great (×31) grandson of series protagonist Philip J. Fry because of a time paradox. He alternates between intelligence and amoral senility due to his greatly advanced age of 175. He demonstrates a mastery of any field of science necessary for the series' plots and is suggested to be one of the most brilliant inventors on Earth. However, he falls asleep constantly, and he routinely sends his crews on suicide missions.
The animated science fiction television program Futurama makes a number of satirical and humorous references to religion, including inventing several fictional religions which are explored in certain episodes of the series.
KonstantinosPolluxAlexandros "Dino" Stamatopoulos is an American writer, producer, and actor. He has worked on TV programs such as Mr. Show, TV Funhouse, Mad TV, The Dana Carvey Show, Late Show with David Letterman, and Late Night with Conan O'Brien. He has also created multiple animated TV shows such as Moral Orel, Mary Shelley's Frankenhole, and High School USA!. As an actor, he is best known for his recurring role as the character Alex "Star-Burns" Osbourne on the NBC comedy series Community, on which he also worked as a producer, a consulting writer, and wrote two animated episodes.
David Samuel Cohen, better known as David X. Cohen, is an American television writer. He began working on Beavis and Butt-Head, has written for The Simpsons, and served as the head writer, showrunner and executive producer of Futurama and a producer of Disenchantment.
Patric Miller Verrone is an American television writer and labor leader. He served as a writer and producer for several animated television shows, most notably Futurama.
Spike Feresten is an American television writer, screenwriter, comedian and television personality, who is best known for his work on Seinfeld, writing for David Letterman, and hosting the late night Talkshow with Spike Feresten from 2006 to 2009 on Fox. He is the former host of Esquire Network's series Car Matchmaker with Spike Feresten. He currently hosts the podcast Spike's Car Radio with Paul Zuckerman. He was also a screenwriter for the 2007 animated film Bee Movie.
"Hell Is Other Robots" is the ninth episode in the first season of the American animated television series Futurama. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 18, 1999. The episode was written by Eric Kaplan and directed by Rich Moore. Guest stars in this episode include the Beastie Boys as themselves and Dan Castellaneta voicing the Robot Devil.
"Spanish Fry" is the seventeenth episode in the fourth season of the American animated television series Futurama, and the 71st episode of the series overall. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on July 13, 2003. Set in a retro-futuristic 31st century, the series follows the adventures of the employees of Planet Express, an interplanetary delivery company. In this episode, Fry's nose has mysteriously disappeared so he seeks to get it back. David X. Cohen admitted that this episode is one of the most "filthy" in the series' history.
"Jurassic Bark" is the seventh episode in the fourth season of the American animated television series Futurama, and the 61st episode of the series overall. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 17, 2002. The plot revolves around Fry, who finds a fossilized version of his dog Seymour from before he was frozen. Fry seeks to have his pet brought back to life. The episode was nominated for an Emmy Award but lost to The Simpsons episode "Three Gays of the Condo".
David A. Goodman is an American writer, producer, and president of the Writers Guild of America West. He has been a writer for several television series, such as The Golden Girls, his first job; Futurama, where he was also a co-executive producer and wrote the notable Star Trek parody episode "Where No Fan Has Gone Before"; and Star Trek: Enterprise. Goodman produced Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story, and is the writer of Fred: The Movie, a 2010 film based on the Fred Figglehorn YouTube series, as well as the sequel, Fred 2: Night of the Living Fred. In 2022 he wrote the critically-acclaimed film Honor Society for Paramount+.
Futurama: Bender's Big Score is a 2007 American adult animated science fiction comedy-adventure film based on the animated series Futurama. It was released in the United States on November 27, 2007. It was the first Futurama production since the original series finale "The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings". Bender's Big Score, along with the three follow-up films, comprise season five of Futurama, with each film being separated into four episodes of the broadcast season. Bender's Big Score made its broadcast premiere on Comedy Central on March 23, 2008. The film was written by Ken Keeler, based on a story by Keeler and David X. Cohen, and directed by Dwayne Carey-Hill.
Tom Gammill and Max Pross are an American comedy writing team. Together they have written episodes for such successful shows as Seinfeld, The Critic, The Wonder Years, It's Garry Shandling's Show, and Monk. They have also worked as producers on The Simpsons and Futurama.
Michael Rowe is an American television writer, producer and comedian. He has written for Becker, The Nanny, Futurama, Paranormal Action Squad and Family Guy, as well as writing the episode of The PJs, "A Race to His Credit".
Zombie College is a Flash animated cartoon series created by television writer Eric Kaplan and directed by John Rice for icebox.com. 12 episodes were produced.
The Drinky Crow Show is an American adult computer-animated cel-shaded animated television series created by Eric Kaplan and Tony Millionaire, based on the latter's comic strip Maakies. The pilot episode aired on Adult Swim on May 13, 2007. The series premiered on November 23, 2008 and ended its run on January 25, 2009. The cancellation of the show was confirmed by a Maakies comic.
"Epidemiology" is the sixth episode of the second season of the American comedy television series Community, and the 31st episode of the series overall. It originally premiered in the United States on NBC on October 28, 2010 as a special Halloween-themed episode. In the episode, the Dean throws a Halloween themed party on campus. During the party, a few of the partygoers become sick from eating a hazardous substance that the Dean mistook for taco meat bought at an army surplus store. The sickness causes those affected to turn into a violent, zombie-like state that can be passed on through bites. As the study group try to escape, the Dean locks the doors, trapping them inside with the infected.
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