Mitchell Hurwitz | |
---|---|
Born | Anaheim, California, United States | May 29, 1963
Alma mater | Georgetown University |
Occupation(s) | Television writer, producer, actor |
Years active | 1989–present |
Spouse | |
Children | 2 |
Mitchell Donald "Mitch" Hurwitz (born May 29, 1963) is an American television writer, producer, and actor. He is best known as the creator of the television sitcom Arrested Development as well as the co-creator of The Ellen Show . He is also a contributor to The John Larroquette Show and The Golden Girls .
Hurwitz was born in 1963 [1] to a Jewish [2] family in Anaheim, California. In 1976, when Hurwitz was 12, he co-founded a chocolate-chip cookie business, [3] called the Chipyard on Balboa Boulevard in Balboa Fun Zone [4] in Newport Beach, California, [5] in a former taco place, [6] with his older brother, Michael, [7] and his father, Mark. The Chipyard is still in operation in Boston. [8] [9] He graduated from Estancia High School in Costa Mesa, California, and from Georgetown University in 1985 with a double major in English and theology. [10]
Hurwitz worked on several sitcoms in the 1980s and 1990s, including Nurses , The Golden Girls , The Golden Palace , The John Larroquette Show , The Ellen Show and the Michael J. Fox-produced pilot Hench at Home. He created Everything's Relative , a midseason comedy starring Jeffrey Tambor and Jill Clayburgh for NBC in 1999. [11] [12]
Hurwitz was chosen by Ron Howard to create a sitcom about a rich dysfunctional family, which eventually turned into Arrested Development . Hurwitz wrote the pilot in 2002, which was filmed in March 2003. Fox added the show to its schedule in May. Despite laudatory reviews by television critics, Arrested Development received low ratings throughout its three-season run. In July 2004, the show was nominated for 7 Primetime Emmy Awards and won 5, including Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series and Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series.
In the second season, ratings decreased further and the show was cut down to 18 episodes instead of the planned 22 episodes. Nevertheless, the show was still critically acclaimed and was nominated for 11 Emmy Awards. In the show's third and final season on Fox, Hurwitz tried to keep Arrested Development on the air, but did not have the advertising funding to promote the series. The show was again cut down, from 18 episodes to 13. Fox announced the cancellation of the show before the production of the final five episodes.
After seven years off the air, Arrested Development returned for a fifteen-episode fourth season on the online movie and television streaming service Netflix on May 26, 2013. After yet another multi-year hiatus in which there was uncertainty of future seasons being developed, Netflix and the show's producers announced the development of a fifth season. The release was heralded by a re-edited twenty-two-episode version of the fourth season titled Season Four Remix: Fateful Consequences, released on Netflix on May 4, 2018. The fifth season consists of sixteen episodes, 8 of which were released simultaneously on May 29, 2018. The remaining 8 episodes were released simultaneously on March 15, 2019.
Hurwitz created Fox's animated comedy Sit Down, Shut Up , based on an Australian TV series of the same name, for the 2008 season.
Hurwitz created Running Wilde , which aired for one season from 2010 to 2011. It was a collaboration with Arrested Development star Will Arnett. [13]
Hurwitz signed a multiyear deal with Netflix in 2014. [14] He executive produced Flaked starring Will Arnett [15] and produced/co-created Lady Dynamite starring Maria Bamford [16] for the network.
Among Hurwitz's projects have been the US television adaptations of the British comedy shows The Thick of It [17] (which was not picked up in the running for ABC's 2007–2008 TV season, though other networks such as HBO, Showtime and NBC have expressed interest) [18] and Absolutely Fabulous . [19]
My World And Welcome To It was a 2009 CBS television pilot, executive produced by Hurwitz, Jay Kogen, Kim Tannenbaum, and Barry Sonnenfeld. It was a comedy based on an earlier series My World and Welcome to It about being a dad in the 1960s which, in turn, drew material from James Thurber's collection of essays of the same name. Happiness Isn't Everything was also a 2009 CBS pilot, written by Hurwitz and Jim Vallely, starring Richard Dreyfuss, Jason Biggs, Ben Schwartz and Mary Steenburgen. [20]
Hurwitz co-starred as "Cool Eric" in an episode of Workaholics titled "Dry Guys". Hurwitz plays a human resources representative who is aiding them in their pursuit of sobriety.
Hurwitz starred as "Koogler" in the Community episode "App Development and Condiments" (episode 8, season 5), which aired on March 6, 2014. He reprised the role in "Modern Espionage" (episode 11, season 6), which aired on May 19, 2015. [21]
Hurwitz is married to actress Mary Jo Keenen. [22] They have two daughters: May Asami, born in 2000, [23] and Phoebe Hitomi born in 2002. [24] The name of Arrested Development character "Maeby" was the result of combining the names of Hurwitz's daughters. [24]
Year | Title | Role |
---|---|---|
1989 | Heartland | Co-associate producer |
1990 | Empty Nest | Writer |
1990–1991 | Nurses | Writer and producer |
1990–1992 | The Golden Girls | Story editor, writer and executive producer |
1992–1993 | The Golden Palace | Writer and supervising producer |
1993–1996 | The John Larroquette Show | Writer and executive producer |
1999 | Everything's Relative | Creator, writer and executive producer |
2001–2002 | The Ellen Show | Co-creator, writer and executive producer |
2002–2003 | Less Than Perfect | Consulting producer |
2003 | Hench at Home | Pilot; co-creator, writer and executive producer |
2003–2006 2013, 2018–2019 | Arrested Development | Creator, writer, executive producer and co-director of Season 4 |
2007 | The Thick of It | Pilot; developer, writer and executive producer |
2009 | Sit Down, Shut Up | Creator, developer, writer and executive producer |
2009 | Happiness Isn't Everything | Pilot; co-creator, writer and executive producer |
2009 | Waiting to Die | Pilot; executive producer |
2009 | The Bridget Show | Pilot; executive producer |
2009 | Bless This Mess | Pilot; executive producer |
2009 | Absolutely Fabulous | Pilot; executive producer |
2009 | Brothers | Executive producer |
2010 | Wright vs. Wrong | Pilot; executive producer |
2010 | Team Spitz | Pilot; executive producer |
2010 | Lee Mathers' | Pilot; producer |
2010–2011 | Running Wilde | Co-creator, writer, executive producer and directed "Basket Cases" |
2011 | In the Flow with Affion Crockett | Executive producer |
2016 | Flaked | Executive producer |
2016–2017 | Lady Dynamite | Co-creator, writer, executive producer and directed "Pilot" |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1993 | Surf Ninjas | Surf Dude #2 | |
2007 | Clark and Michael | Ramsay | 2 episodes |
2011 | Workaholics | 'Cool' Eric | Episode: "Dry Guys" |
2013 | Kroll Show | Jason Richards | 2 episodes |
2014–2015 | Community | Koogler | 2 episodes |
2016–2017 | Portlandia | Various roles | 4 episodes |
2016–2017 | Animals. | Larry / Dad (voices) | 2 episodes |
2018 | A Futile and Stupid Gesture | Time-Life Publisher |
Arrested Development is an American television sitcom created by Mitchell Hurwitz. It aired on Fox for three seasons from November 2, 2003, to February 10, 2006, followed by two seasons on Netflix, season four being released in 2013 and season five being released in 2018 and 2019.
Jeffrey Michael Tambor is an American actor. He is known for his television roles such as Jeffrey Brookes, the uptight neighbor of Stanley and Helen Roper in the television sitcom The Ropers (1979–1980), as Hank Kingsley on The Larry Sanders Show (1992–1998), George Bluth Sr. and Oscar Bluth on Arrested Development and Maura Pfefferman on Transparent (2014–2017). For his role in the latter, Tambor earned two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series out of three nominations. In 2015, he was also awarded a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Pfefferman.
Jason Kent Bateman is an American actor, director, and producer. He is known for his roles of Michael Bluth in the Fox/Netflix sitcom Arrested Development and Marty Byrde in the Netflix crime drama series Ozark (2017–2022). He has received several awards including a Golden Globe Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards. In 2017 he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Jessica Walter was an American actress who appeared in over 170 films, stage and television productions. In film, she was best known for her role as a psychotic and obsessed fan of a local disc jockey in the 1971 Clint Eastwood film, Play Misty for Me. On television, she was most recently known for her role of Lucille Bluth on the sitcom Arrested Development, and providing the voice of Malory Archer on the FX animated series Archer (2009–21). Walter received various awards over the course of her television career including a Primetime Emmy Award for Amy Prentiss (1975). She also received two Golden Globe Award nominations and three Screen Actors Guild Award nominations. For her starring role opposite Eastwood in Play Misty for Me, Walter received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama.
William Emerson Arnett is a Canadian actor, comedian and producer. He is best known for his roles as Gob Bluth in the Fox/Netflix series Arrested Development and as the titular character in the Netflix series BoJack Horseman (2014–2020). He has appeared in films such as Let's Go to Prison (2006), Blades of Glory (2007), Semi-Pro (2008), G-Force (2009), Jonah Hex (2010), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) and its sequel Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016), and Show Dogs (2018).
Nichael "Michael" Bluth is a fictional character and the protagonist of the American television sitcom Arrested Development, created by Mitchell Hurwitz, and portrayed by Jason Bateman. Michael serves as the series straight man, and leads his family through its many crises.
John Bernard Larroquette is an American actor. He is known for his starring roles in the NBC military drama series Baa Baa Black Sheep (1976–1978), the NBC sitcom Night Court for which he received four consecutive Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series during the earlier incarnation, the NBC sitcom The John Larroquette Show (1993–1996), the David E. Kelley legal drama series The Practice (1997–2002), the ABC legal comedy-drama series Boston Legal (2004–2008), and the TNT series The Librarians (2014–2018).
"Motherboy XXX" is the 13th episode of the second season of the American television sitcom Arrested Development. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 13, 2005. The episode, directed by Joe Russo, was written by producer Jim Vallely and series creator and executive producer Mitchell Hurwitz.
"Righteous Brothers", also titled "The Righteous Brothers" on the season 2 DVD, is the eighteenth episode and season finale of the second season of the American television sitcom Arrested Development. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 17, 2005. The episode, directed by Chuck Martin, was written by producer Jim Vallely and series creator and executive producer Mitchell Hurwitz. An extended version of the episode was released as a special feature on the DVD home release.
"Pilot" is the first episode of the American television sitcom Arrested Development. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 2, 2003. In the episode, George Sr. is about to announce his retirement when he is arrested for using his company's funds for personal expenses. It was written by series creator and executive producer Mitchell Hurwitz and was directed by Anthony and Joe Russo. An uncensored, extended version of the episode was released as a special feature on the DVD home release.
David Trainer is an American television director. He is perhaps best known for directing every episode of the Fox sitcom That '70s Show and directed all the episodes of the Netflix sitcom The Ranch. He also directed the first two seasons of the television show Boy Meets World, the 4th and final season of the John Larroquette Show and over 60 episodes of Designing Women. Among many others, his directing credits also include several episodes of FM, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Grace Under Fire, Cybill, Anything But Love, My Boys, Hot in Cleveland and Mike & Molly.
James Vallely is an American television producer, and screenwriter. He was a writer and consulting producer for Arrested Development, a multiple Emmy Award-winning television show on the Fox network, and was an executive producer and co-creator of Running Wilde, also on Fox, along with Mitchell Hurwitz and Will Arnett.
Running Wilde is an American sitcom created by Mitchell Hurwitz for the Fox Network. It stars Will Arnett as Steve Wilde, a self-centered, idle bachelor and heir to an oil fortune. The series follows Wilde's awkward attempts to regain the affection of his childhood sweetheart, Emmy, an environmentalist who had been living in the South American jungle, but whose young daughter does not want to return there and who secretly enlists Steve's help to keep Emmy at his mansion, leading to farcical situations and misunderstandings.
The first season of the television comedy series Arrested Development aired on Fox from November 2, 2003 to June 6, 2004. It consisted of 22 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The first season was released on DVD in region 1 on October 19, 2004, in region 2 on March 21, 2005 and in region 4 on February 23, 2005.
The second season of the television comedy series Arrested Development aired between November 7, 2004 and April 17, 2005, on Fox in the United States. It consisted of 18 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The second season was released on DVD in region 1 on October 11, 2005, in region 2 on January 23, 2006 and in region 4 on March 15, 2006.
The third season of the television comedy series Arrested Development aired between September 19, 2005 and February 10, 2006, on Fox in the United States. It consists of 13 episodes, each running approximately 22 minutes in length. The third season was released on DVD in region 1 on August 29, 2006, in region 2 on April 23, 2007 and in region 4 on December 6, 2006. This was the final season of Arrested Development to be aired on Fox, as they had decided to cancel the series. However, Netflix revived the show in 2013 for a fourth season.
The fourth season of the television comedy series Arrested Development premiered on Netflix on May 26, 2013, and consists of 15 episodes. It serves as a revival to the series after it was canceled by Fox in 2006.
"Flight of the Phoenix" is the fifty-fourth episode of the television comedy series Arrested Development and the first episode of the fourth season. The episode was originally released on May 26, 2013 and distributed by Netflix. It was written by the show's creator and executive producer Mitchell Hurwitz, and directed by Hurwitz and Troy Miller. The episode was also released on DVD in the United States and Canada on December 16, 2014 along with the rest of the fourth season.