Carmen Finestra (born 1947) is an American producer and TV writer who currently is partnered with Matt Williams and David McFadzean in Wind Dancer Productions, a firm which Finestra also co-owns and co-founded with actor Tim Allen. For Wind Dancer, Finestra has produced or executive produced Where the Heart Is , Firelight, Soul Man , Thunder Alley and his company's best known series, Home Improvement , which starred Allen as a sarcastic home-improvement host, and in turn based on Allen's stand-up comedy routines. Most recently the firm has released Good Sam on Netflix and children's TV series Ready Jet Go! [1]
Finestra was born to Italian immigrants in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and initially attended a seminary college for two years to become a Catholic priest before transferring to Penn State University, where he was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. He earned his BA in 1971.
After a stint as an Off-Broadway actor, Finestra turned to writing for the likes of Johnny Cash (for one of Cash's summer series) and Steve Martin. Finestra's big break came when he began writing for The Cosby Show in 1984, where he would remain until 1990, leaving the show as supervising producer. Finestra received two Emmy nominations as one of the producers of The Cosby Show and another Emmy nomination for co-writing an episode of the hit series. He also did three guest star appearances on The Cosby Show (episodes 4.12, 6.2 and 6.14).
In 1991, Finestra became a writer and co-executive producer for Home Improvement , capacities he filled until the series' end in 1999. His work on the sitcom would land three Emmy and two Golden Globe nominations for him.
Finestra was honored as a Distinguished Alumnus of Penn State in 1998. Penn State named an off campus video editing lab, The Carmen Finestra Digital Editing Lab, in his honor at Innovation Park, an off site technology hub on the University Park campus.
Home Improvement is an American sitcom television series starring Tim Allen that originally aired on ABC from September 17, 1991, to May 25, 1999, with a total of 204 half-hour episodes spanning eight seasons. The series was created by Matt Williams, Carmen Finestra, and David McFadzean, and, despite not being a favorite with critics, it was one of the most watched sitcoms in the United States during the 1990s, winning many awards. The series also launched stand-up comedian Allen's acting career, and grossed more than $500 million in syndication revenue by 1996.
A Different World is an American sitcom television series and a spin-off of The Cosby Show. It aired for six seasons on NBC from September 24, 1987 to July 9, 1993. The series originally centered on Denise Huxtable and the life of students at Hillman College, a fictional historically black college in Virginia. It was inspired by student life at historically black colleges and universities.
Patricia Castle Richardson is an American actress best known for her portrayal of Jill Taylor on the ABC sitcom Home Improvement, for which she was nominated four times for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series and twice for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Series – Comedy or Musical. She also received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for her performance in Ulee's Gold (1997).
Deborah Kaye Allen is an American actress, dancer, choreographer, singer, director, producer, and a former member of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities. She has been nominated 20 times for an Emmy Award, and two Tony Awards. She has won a Golden Globe Award, and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1991.
Jennifer Crittenden is an American screenwriter and producer. She started her writing career on the animated television series The Simpsons, and has since written for several other television sitcoms including Everybody Loves Raymond, Seinfeld and Veep. Her work has earned her several Emmy Award nominations.
Matthew Williams is an American professor, writer, and former television producer.
"Pilot" is the pilot episode and the first episode of the first season of the American sitcom The Cosby Show. "Pilot" originally aired in the United States on NBC on Thursday, September 20, 1984, at 8:00 PM ET. This episode debuted the week before the official start of the 1984–85 United States network television season. They only have 4 children in this episode: Denise, Theo, Vanessa & Rudy. Sondra, the first born, is introduced later in that season, episode 4; she however, is not in the featured/mentioned in the intro. The confrontation with Theo in this episode is seen again in a flashback in the series finale "And So We Commence". The episode was directed by Jay Sandrich and written by Ed. Weinberger and Michael J. Leeson. The episode was a critical and commercial success, achieving both high ratings and positive critical feedback.
Frank Mula was an American television writer. He wrote for Cosby, Madame's Place, Grand, The Simpsons, and created the series Local Heroes which lasted 7 episodes.
Robert Bendetson is an American television writer and producer. He has written for a number of TV series, including ALF, Home Improvement and two episodes for The Simpsons. He lives with his wife Heidi and his two children Ellie and Jesse Bendetson.
Martin Olson is an American comedy writer, television producer, author and composer. He is known for his unusual subject matter, and is an original member of the Boston Comedy Scene. He is the father of actress Olivia Olson.
The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime Emmys are presented in recognition of excellence in American primetime television programming. The award categories are divided into three classes: the regular Primetime Emmy Awards, the Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards to honor technical and other similar behind-the-scenes achievements, and the Primetime Engineering Emmy Awards for recognizing significant contributions to the engineering and technological aspects of television. First given out in 1949, the award was originally referred to as simply the "Emmy Award" until the International Emmy Award and the Daytime Emmy Award were created in the early 1970s to expand the Emmy to other sectors of the television industry.
Maxine Lapiduss is an American comedian, singer, television writer, director, producer, entrepreneur, and branding strategist. She is a graduate of Taylor Allderdice High School and the Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama, both in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she was born and raised.
Tom Gammill and Max Pross are an American comedy writing team. Together they have written episodes for the TV shows 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.
Bob Weiskopf was an American screenwriter and producer for television. He has credits for I Love Lucy which he and his writing partner Bob Schiller joined in the fifth season. They also wrote for The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Maude, All in the Family, Archie Bunker's Place, The Red Skelton Show, the short-lived Pete and Gladys, and Sanford.
Robert Illes is an American award-winning screenwriter, television producer, playwright and author.
Erik Weiner is an American actor, writer, comedian, and producer best known for co-creating the play The Bomb-itty of Errors and his role as Agent Sebso on HBO's Boardwalk Empire.
John Shiban is an American television writer and producer.
Thaddeus Quentin Mumford Jr. was an American television producer and writer. He wrote and produced for a number of television series spanning different genres, including The Cosby Show, A Different World, M*A*S*H, Maude, Good Times, Home Improvement, Roots: The Next Generations, and Judging Amy, among other series.
David Campbell McFadzean is an American television producer, television writer, film producer and playwright. He is best known for co-creating the ABC sitcom Home Improvement with Carmen Finestra and Matt Williams.
Dee Caruso was an American television and film screenwriter and television producer, whose credits included Get Smart, The Monkees and The Smothers Brothers Show. Caruso and his longtime writing partner, Gerald Gardner, frequently collaborated on projects. The writing duo were the head writers for the 1960s television comedy series, Get Smart.