James Burrows

Last updated
James Burrows
Born (1940-12-30) December 30, 1940 (age 83)
Education Oberlin College (BA)
Yale University (MFA)
OccupationTelevision director
Years active1965–present
Notable work Cheers
Will & Grace
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Taxi
Spouses
Linda Solomon
(m. 1981;div. 1993)
Debbie Easton
(m. 1997)
Children4
Parent Abe Burrows
3 Sisters Entertainment
Company typeJoint venture
IndustryTelevision production
Founded1995
FounderJames Burrows and NBC Productions
Divisions 3 Princesses and a P

James Edward Burrows (born December 30, 1940), [1] sometimes known as Jim "Jimmy" Burrows, [2] is an American television director. Burrows has received numerous accolades including 11 Primetime Emmy Awards and five Directors Guild of America Awards. He was honored with the Directors Guild of America Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015 and NBC special Must See TV: An All-Star Tribute to James Burrows in 2016.

Contents

Burrows started his career with The Mary Tyler Moore Show in 1974. [3] Burrows has directed over 50 television pilots and co-created the television series Cheers (1982–1993). He has also formed 3 Sisters Entertainment, a joint venture with NBC. He is known for directing numerous episodes of comedy shows such as The Bob Newhart Show , Taxi , Frasier , Friends , Will & Grace , 3rd Rock from the Sun , and The Big Bang Theory .

He executive produced the Emmy Award-winning ABC specials Live in Front of a Studio Audience including Norman Lear's "All in the Family" and "The Jeffersons" in 2019, "All in the Family" and "Good Times" in 2019, and "The Facts of Life" and "Diff'rent Strokes" in 2021. He directed episodes for the revivals of the NBC sitcom Will & Grace (2017–2020), and the Paramount+ Frasier .

Early life and education

Burrows was born to a Jewish family [4] [5] in Los Angeles, California, the son of Ruth (Levinson) and Abe Burrows, a well-known composer, director and writer. [6] James has one sister, Laurie Burrows Grad. [7] When James was still a young child, his family moved to New York where James attended New York’s High School of Music & Art. [8] [9] Burrows is a graduate of Oberlin College and the graduate program of the Yale School of Drama. [8]

Career

1967–1973: Early career

After Yale, Burrows returned to California where he became employed as a dialogue coach on O.K. Crackerby!, a television series starring Burl Ives and created by Burrows' father, Abe. [10] Burrows then took a job as an assistant stage manager for the 1967 play Holly Golightly, an adaptation of the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's. [11] The production was unsuccessful, but the job served as Burrows' introduction to its star, Mary Tyler Moore. [11] Early on, Burrows also worked for the road company of Cactus Flower and the Broadway production of Forty Carats. [12] He also went to direct the short lived Broadway play The Castro Complex . Burrows continued working in theater as a stage manager and transitioned into directing plays. [13] Burrows directed traveling plays and a production at a Jacksonville, Florida dinner theater. [13] [14]

1974–1981: Television director

While working in theater, Burrows wrote Moore and her then husband Grant Tinker seeking a job at their production company, MTM Enterprises. [11] In 1974, Tinker hired Burrows as a director for MTM Enterprises where he directed episodes of The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Bob Newhart Show . [11] [15] Tinker asked director Jay Sandrich, known for his work directing The Mary Tyler Moore Show and later The Cosby Show and The Golden Girls , to serve as a mentor to Burrows. [16]

Burrows is best known for his comic timing, complex blocking for actors, and incorporating more sophisticated lighting in television studio shoots. He is also credited as being one of the first sitcom directors to increase the typical multi-camera television shoot from three to four cameras. [15] During this time Burrows directed for numerous shows such as Phyllis , Rhoda , Laverne & Shirley , Busting Loose , The Ted Knight Show , The Associates , and On Our Own .

1982–1997: Cheers, Frasier, and Friends

Burrows co-created Cheers with brothers Glen and Les Charles. The Charles brothers were also former employees of MTM Enterprises and served as producers on the series Taxi where Burrows worked as in-house director for 76 episodes. [11] [15] [17] Burrows and the Charles brothers wanted to create a show where they could have more control. [17] Cheers premiered on NBC on September 30, 1982. [17] Although Cheers initially struggled in the ratings, the series became a hit, running 275 episodes over eleven seasons. [17] Burrows directed all but 35 of those 275 episodes. [11] During his time on Cheers Burrows also directed episodes for shows such as the NBC sitcoms The Hogan Family , Dear John , and Night Court .

Burrows then gained acclaim for directing the NBC sitcom Frasier . He won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series for the pilot, The Good Son in 1993. Burrows directed in total 32 episodes from 1993 to 1997. The series was a spinoff of Cheers focusing on the character of Dr. Frasier Crane portrayed by Kelsey Grammer. The series also starred David Hyde Pierce, John Mahoney, Peri Gilpin, and Jane Leeves. It received critical acclaim for its writing, directing and performances. It won five Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Comedy Series. In 1998, Burrows directed a Chicago-based production of the 1939 comedy The Man Who Came to Dinner starring John Mahoney. [14]

Burrows also directed 15 episodes of another NBC sitcom Friends starring Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer, Courteney Cox, Matthew Perry, Matt LeBlanc, and Lisa Kudrow. The series follows six friends living in New York City. He received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series for the 1994 episode The One with the Blackout from Season 1. During this time he also received Emmy nominations for directing the pilot episodes of both the NBC sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun starring John Lithgow, Kristen Johnson, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Jane Curtin, and the ABC sitcom Dharma & Greg starring Jenna Elfman and Thomas Gibson. He also directed episodes of the NBC sitcoms Wings , NewsRadio , Caroline in the City , and the CBS sitcoms Pearl and George and Leo .

1998–2009: Established director

From 1998 to 2006 Burrows directed every single episode of the NBC sitcom Will & Grace starring Eric McCormack, Debra Messing, Megan Mullally, and Sean Hayes. Burrows received twelve Primetime Emmy Award nominations for the series winning for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series in 2000. He was nominated for directing the episodes, "Pilot" (1998), "Homo for the Holidays" (2000), "Lows in the Mid-Eighties" (2001), "A Chorus Lie" (2002), "24" (2003), and "It's a Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad World" (2005). Burrows directed every episode of Will & Grace during its initial eight-year run. [18]

In 2006 he directed the pilot of the Chuck Lorre created CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory starring Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, Simon Helberg, Kunal Nayyar, Sara Gilbert, and Mayim Bialik. In 2003 he directed the pilot of another Chuck Lorre created CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men starring Charlie Sheen and Jon Cryer. During this time he also directed episodes of shows such as the CBS sitcoms The Class , Courting Alex , and Gary Unmarried ,, the Fox sitcom Back to You , and the ABC sitcom Hank .

2010–present: Revivals and recognition

Burrows directed high profile sitcoms during the 2010s including the CBS sitcoms Mike & Molly (2010–2016) starring Billy Gardell, and Melissa McCarthy, and The Millers (2013-2015) starring Will Arnett, Margo Martindale, Beau Bridges. Burrows reunited with Matt LeBlanc with Man with a Plan (2016–2020). He also directed the sitcom B Positive (2020–2022) starring Annaleigh Ashford. Burrows directed episodes of numerous television series including the ABC sitcoms Romantically Challenged , Better with You , the CBS sitcoms $#*! My Dad Says , 2 Broke Girls , Partners , Friends with Better Lives , Superior Donuts , and The Neighborhood , the NBC sitcoms Sean Saves the World , Crowded , and the Netflix comedy series Disjointed .

By 2012, Burrows had directed over 50 pilots for television series. [19] Burrows has directed over 1,000 episodes of television, a milestone he achieved in November 2015 with the NBC sitcom Crowded. [20] To celebrate Burrows' achievement, NBC aired a special tribute on February 21, 2016, titled Must See TV: An All-Star Tribute to James Burrows featuring cast reunions from many of the series Burrows has directed such as Cheers, Taxi, Friends, Frasier, The Big Bang Theory, Will & Grace and Mike & Molly. [21] In January 2020, Andy Fisher and Burrows won the Directors Guild of America Award for Variety/Talk/News/Sports – Specials for Live in Front of a Studio Audience: Norman Lear's All in the Family and The Jeffersons . [22]

In 2016, Burrows directed his 1,000th TV episode, on NBC's Crowded . [23] Burrows took part in two revivals, Will & Grace (2017–2020) with the original cast reunited. He received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series for the episode, "We Love Lucy". In 2023, he directed the first two episodes of the revival of Frasier on Paramount+.

In front of the camera

Burrows has had cameo appearances in several of the shows for which he has directed. In the first season of Friends, Burrows appeared in the episode "The One with the Butt" as the director of the film in which the character Joey Tribbiani is cast as Al Pacino's "butt double". [24] He also appears as a television director named Jimmy in the 2005 HBO series The Comeback . [25] Burrows played himself on the series. An episode of Scrubs , "My Life in Four Cameras", had a character named Charles James in honor of Cheers creators Burrows and Glen and Les Charles. It was previously asserted in Sitcoms: the 101 Greatest TV Comedies of All Time (2007) that Burrows served as the silhouette of the customer who knocks on the door in the final scene of Cheers, [15] but Burrows himself refuted this claim on episode 9 of the NewsRadio-themed podcast Dispatches from Fort Awesome, revealing that the actual "Man Who Knocks" was agent Bob Broder. [26]

Personal life

Burrows is married to celebrity hairstylist Debbie Easton; the couple lives in Manhattan. [27] Burrows was previously married to Linda Solomon. [28] [29] He has three daughters and one stepdaughter. [25]

Filmography

Acting

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
1974 Rhoda AgentEpisode: "The Lady in Red"
1975 Phyllis Telephone ManEpisode: "Up for Grabs"
1977 The Bob Newhart Show Maintenance ManEpisode: "Halls of Hartley"
1989 Cheers Man Standing in the Bar
1994 Friends Director
  • Uncredited
  • Episode: "The One with the Butt"
2005, 2014 The Comeback Himself
2020 Will & Grace HimselfEpisode: “Filthy Phil, Part II”

As a director

Film

YearTitleRoleNotes
1978More Than Friends Director Comedy film [30]
1982 Partners Gay-themed buddy comedy film [31]

Television

YearTitleNotesRefs.
1974–76 The Mary Tyler Moore Show 4 episodes
1975 Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers Episode: "From Russia with Lust"
Fay 2 episodes
1975–76 Phyllis 19 episodes
1975–77 The Bob Newhart Show 11 episodes
1976–77 The Tony Randall Show 4 episodes
Laverne & Shirley 8 episodes
1977Bumpers Short comedy television film [32]
Roosevelt and Truman [33]
Calling Doctor Storm, M. D. [34]
Busting Loose 5 episodes
Lou Grant Episode: "Christmas"
We've Got Each Other 2 episodes
The Betty White Show Episode: "John's Mother"
1977–78 Rhoda 4 episodes
1978The Plant FamilyShort comedy television film [35]
The Betty White ShowEpisode: "Play Misty for John"
Free Country 2 episodes
1978–82 Taxi 75 episodes
1979ButterfliesShort comedy television film [36]
A New Kind of Family Episode: "I Do"
1979–80 The Associates 4 episodes
1980 The Stockard Channing Show 2 episodes
Good Time Harry Episode: "The Wally Smith Story"
1981Every Stray Dog and KidShort television film [37]
Best of the West 3 episodes
1982–93 Cheers
  • Co-creator of series
  • Producer from 1982–84
  • Executive producer from 1985–93
  • Directed 237 episodes from 1982–93
1982Goodbye Doesn't Mean ForeverTelevision film [38]
1984 Night Court Episode: "All You Need Is Love"
At Your ServiceTelevision film [39]
1985Big Shots in AmericaTelevision film [40]
1986 Valerie Episode: "Old Enough"
All Is Forgiven 2 episodes
1987 The Tortellis Short-lived comedy; Executive Producer
Episode: "Pilot"
CBS Summer Playhouse Episode: "In the Lion's Den" [41]
1988Channel 99Television film [42]
Dear John 2 episodes
1989Out on the EdgeTelevision film; Production manager [43]
1990 Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color Episode: "Disneyland's 35th Anniversary Celebration"
The Marshall Chronicles2 episodes
Wings Episode: "Legacy"
The Earth Day Special Cheers segment
Down Home 2 episodes
The Fanelli Boys Episode: "Pilot"
1991 Roc Episode: "Pilot"
Pacific Station Episode: "Pilot"
Flesh 'n' Blood Episode: "Blood Is Thicker Than Arlo"
1992 Flying Blind Episode: "Pilot"
1993 Café Americain 3 episodes
1993–97 Frasier 32 episodes
1994 Monty Episode: "Here Comes the Son"
The Boys Are Back Episode: "Pilot"
Madman of the People 2 episodes
1994–98 Friends 15 episodes
1995 The Preston Episodes Episode: "Pilot"
Hudson Street Episode: "Pilot"
1995–96 Partners 10 episodes
NewsRadio 7 episodes
1996The NerdTelevision film [44]
3rd Rock from the Sun 2 episodes
Pearl Episode: "Pilot"
1996–97 Men Behaving Badly 7 episodes
1997 Chicago Sons Episode: "Pilot"
1998 The Secret Lives of Men "Pilot"
1998–2006,
2017–20
Will & Grace Director; also executive producer
2001TikivilleTelevision film
Last DanceTelevision film
2003–06 Two and a Half Men 1 Episode "Pilot"
2006 Courting Alex
2006–07 The Class
2007 The Big Bang Theory 2 episodes: "The Pilot" & the Unaired Pilot
2007–08 Back to You
2008–10 Gary Unmarried
2010 Better with You
$h*! My Dad Says 1 Episode "Pilot"
2010–11 Romantically Challenged Short-lived comedy
2010–16 Mike & Molly 48 Episodes (Season 1-3,6) Also Executive Producer
2011 Up All Night
2011–16 2 Broke Girls 4 episodes
2012–13 Partners
2013 Sean Saves the World
2013–15 The Millers 16 episodes
2014 Friends with Better Lives 1 episode
2016 Crowded 9 episodes
2016–17 Man with a Plan 9 episodes; also executive producer
2017 Superior Donuts 8 episodes
Disjointed 2 episodes
2018 The Neighborhood 1 Episode: "Pilot"
2019 Live in Front of a Studio Audience:
Norman Lear's "All in the Family" and "The Jeffersons"
Segment director; Television special [45]
Live in Front of a Studio Audience:
"All in the Family" and "Good Times"
Executive producer; Television special [46]
2020 B Positive 3 episodes
Raised by WolvesExecutive producer
2021 Live in Front of a Studio Audience:
"The Facts of Life" and "Diff'rent Strokes"
Executive producer; Television special [47]
2023 Frasier 2 episodes

Awards and nominations

Over the course of his career, Burrows has been nominated for fifteen Directors Guild of America awards, and for an Emmy Award every year between 1980 and 2005, excluding 1997. [48] Burrows has won eleven Emmy Awards and five Directors Guild of America Awards. [49] The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences celebrated Burrows' forty-year career by hosting a panel in his honor on October 7, 2013. [48]

Further reading

Related Research Articles

<i>Cheers</i> American television sitcom (1982–1993)

Cheers is an American television sitcom that aired on NBC from September 30, 1982, to May 20, 1993, for 11 seasons and 275 episodes. The show was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions in association with Paramount Television and was created by the team of James Burrows and Glen and Les Charles. The show is set in the titular bar in Boston, where a group of locals meet to drink, relax, socialize, and escape from their day to day issues.

<i>Frasier</i> American television sitcom (1993–2004)

Frasier is an American television sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for 11 seasons from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee, in association with Grammnet (2004) and Paramount Television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kelsey Grammer</span> American actor (born 1955)

Allen Kelsey Grammer is an American actor, comedian, and producer. He gained fame for his role as the psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane on the NBC sitcom Cheers (1984–1993) and its spin-off Frasier. At more than 20 years on-air, this is one of the longest-running roles played by a single live-action actor in primetime television history. He has received numerous accolades including a total of six Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Tony Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lisa Kudrow</span> American actress (born 1963)

Lisa Valerie Kudrow is an American actress. She rose to international fame for her role as Phoebe Buffay in the American television sitcom Friends, which aired from 1994 to 2004. The series earned her Primetime Emmy, Screen Actors Guild, Satellite, American Comedy and TV Guide awards. Phoebe has since been named one of the greatest television characters of all time and is considered to be Kudrow's breakout role, spawning her successful film career.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shelley Long</span> American actress and comedian (born 1949)

Shelley Long is an American actress, singer, and comedian. For her role as Diane Chambers on the sitcom Cheers, Long received five Emmy nominations, winning in 1983 for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. She also won two Golden Globe Awards for the role. Long reprised her role as Diane Chambers in three episodes of the spin-off Frasier, for which she received an additional guest star Emmy nomination. In 2009, she began playing the recurring role of DeDe Pritchett on the ABC comedy series Modern Family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wendie Malick</span> American actress (born 1950)

Wendie Malick is an American actress and former fashion model, known for her roles in various television comedies. She starred as Judith Tupper Stone in the HBO sitcom Dream On, and as Nina Van Horn in the NBC sitcom Just Shoot Me!, for which she was nominated for two Primetime Emmys and a Golden Globe Award.

The Good Son (<i>Frasier</i>) Pilot episode of Frasier

"The Good Son" is the pilot episode of the television sitcom Frasier. It premiered on September 16, 1993, on NBC. It introduces the primary characters and settings, and distances itself from its parent series Cheers.

Kenneth Levine is an American screenwriter, director, producer, and author. Levine has worked on a number of television series, including M*A*S*H, Cheers, Frasier, The Simpsons, Wings, Everybody Loves Raymond, Becker and Dharma and Greg. Along with his writing partner David Isaacs, he created the series Almost Perfect.

Joe Keenan is an American screenwriter, television producer and novelist. Known for his television work on series like Frasier and Desperate Housewives, Keenan has been referred to as the "gay P.G. Wodehouse" for his three successful novels.

"Give Me a Ring Sometime" is the pilot episode and the first episode of the first season of the American situation comedy Cheers. Written by Glen and Les Charles and directed by James Burrows, the episode first aired September 30, 1982, on NBC in the contiguous United States and on October 14, 1982 in Alaska. The pilot episode introduces the characters at the Cheers bar in Boston: employees Sam Malone, Diane Chambers, Coach Ernie Pantusso, and Carla Tortelli; and regular customers Norm Peterson and Cliff Clavin. In this episode, Diane, brought in by her fiancé, meets the employees and patrons of the bar. When she realizes that her fiancé has left her alone in the bar, Diane accepts Sam's offer to be the bar's waitress to start over.

"One for the Road" is the final episode of the American television series Cheers. It was the 271st episode of the series and the twenty-sixth episode of the eleventh season of the show. It first aired on NBC on May 20, 1993, to an audience of approximately 42.4 million households in a 98-minute version, making it the second-highest-rated series finale of all time behind the series finale of M*A*S*H and the highest-rated episode of the 1992–1993 television season in the United States. The 98-minute version was rebroadcast on May 23, 1993, and an edited 90-minute version aired on August 19, 1993.

Grub Street Productions was an American production company founded in 1989 by three writers and producers: David Angell, Peter Casey and David Lee - who met while working on Cheers and left that show to form it. It was affiliated with Paramount Television.

"Woody Interruptus" is the twelfth episode of Cheers's ninth season. It first aired on NBC in the United States on December 13, 1990. In the episode, Kelly returns from France with a male friend who says he's going to steal her from Woody. Woody deals with this by deciding to sleep with Kelly. This episode earned its director James Burrows accolades for Best Directing in 1991 and gained high viewership at its first airing.

"Showdown" is the two-part first-season finale of the American television sitcom Cheers, written by Glen and Les Charles and directed by James Burrows. It originally aired on NBC on March 24 and 31, 1983. In the Cheers pilot, college-educated Diane Chambers was neglected by her previous lover and then hired as a waitress by bartender Sam Malone. Since then, they flirted and resisted each other throughout the season. In this two-part episode Sam's more-successful brother Derek becomes Diane's love interest, leaving Diane torn between Derek and Sam. In the end, Sam and Diane passionately embrace in the office.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diane Chambers</span> Fictional character in the series Cheers

Diane Chambers is a fictional character in the American television situation comedy show Cheers, portrayed by Shelley Long and created by Glen and Les Charles. She is one of two main protagonists in the first five seasons of the series. After her fiancé Sumner Sloan abandons her in the Cheers bar in the pilot episode, Diane works as a bar waitress. She has an on-off relationship with the womanizing bartender Sam Malone and a one-year relationship with Frasier Crane, who later becomes a main character of the series and its spin-off Frasier. When Long left the series during the fifth season, the producers wrote her character out. After that, they added her permanent replacement Rebecca Howe, a businesswoman played by Kirstie Alley, in the sixth season. Shelley Long made a special guest appearance as Diane in the series finale, as well as in Frasier as a one-time figment of Frasier's imagination, and as the actual Diane in the crossover episode "The Show Where Diane Comes Back".

<i>Cheers</i> season 3 Season of television series

The third season of the American television sitcom Cheers aired on NBC from September 27, 1984 to May 9, 1985. The show was created by director James Burrows and writers Glen and Les Charles under production team Charles Burrows Charles Productions in association with Paramount Television. The third season is available on DVD in a four-disc set.

<i>The Golden Girls</i> season 1 Season of television series

The first season of the American television comedy series The Golden Girls originally aired on NBC in the United States between September 14, 1985, and May 10, 1986. Created by television writer Susan Harris, the series was produced by Witt/Thomas/Harris Productions and ABC Studios It starred Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan, Betty White, and Estelle Getty as the main characters Dorothy Zbornak, Blanche Devereaux, Rose Nylund, and Sophia Petrillo. The series revolves around the lives of four older women living together in a house in Miami.

<i>Cheers</i> season 9 Season of television series

The ninth season of the American television sitcom Cheers aired on NBC from September 20, 1990 to May 3, 1991. The show was created by director James Burrows and writers Glen and Les Charles under production team Charles Burrows Charles Productions, in association with Paramount Television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sitcoms in the United States</span> Broadcast genre; recurring cast comedy

Situation comedies, or sitcoms, have long been a popular genre of comedy in the US, initially on radio in the 1920s, and then on television beginning in the 1940s. A sitcom is defined as a television series featuring a recurring cast of characters in various successive comedic situations.

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