Dan O'Shannon

Last updated
Dan O'Shannon
Dan O'Shannon, Executive Producer of Modern Family.jpg
Born (1962-03-10) March 10, 1962 (age 61)
Nationality American
Education Riverside High School
Years active1985–present
Notable work Modern Family
Frasier
Cheers
Newhart

Dan O'Shannon (born March 10, 1962) is an American television writer and producer who has worked on shows such as Newhart , Cheers , and Frasier . He was an executive producer of the ABC show Modern Family , but left the show at the conclusion of season five to accept a development deal at CBS TV Studios. He grew up in Euclid and Painesville, Ohio, [1] graduating from Riverside High School in Painesville Township. [2]

Contents

Aside from television writing (since 1985), he is the author of two books, The Adventures of Mrs. Jesus, published by Harper-Collins (2014) and What Are You Laughing At? A Comprehensive Guide to the Comedic Event, published by Continuum International Publishing Group in 2012. [3] [4]

Awards, nominations and honors

O'Shannon has won six Emmy awards for his TV work over the past 25+ years (five for Modern Family , and one for Cheers ). He has earned five awards and five nominations for Modern Family, three nominations for Frasier and four nominations and one award for Cheers. [5] He has received five Writers Guild of America Awards (WGA) awards including three for Modern Family, one for Frasier, and one for a special television event, Time-Warner Presents the Earth Day Special. He has received several Golden Globe Awards [6]

O'Shannon received an Academy Award writing nomination for Redux Riding Hood, an animated short produced by Disney. [7] That short film was nominated for an Annie Award. [8] He wrote and produced The Fan and the Flower, an animated short which received an Annie Award. [9]

Television writing and producing credits

O'Shannon has several television writing and producing credits including Modern Family , on which he served as an executive producer for seasons 3 through 5, a co-exec producer for seasons 1 and 2, and he is credited as the episode writer (or co-writer) of 10 episodes.[ citation needed ]

Prior to joining the writing/producing staff of Modern Family, he worked as a co-executive writer/producer for Better Off Ted , writing two episodes. He may be best known as a co-executive producer of Frasier ; he also wrote/co-wrote seven episodes for that series. He was a writer/co-writer of 18 episodes, an exec story editor for season 8, a co-producer for season 9, a co-exec producer for season 10, and the exec producer/showrunner for season 11, for Cheers .[ citation needed ]

Other writing or producing credits include The King of Queens , as creative consultant for season 1; Suddenly Susan , on which he was a co-executive producer of season 1, a creative consultant for season 2, and a writer/co-writer of 4 episodes; The Boys, on which he was creator and executive producer for 6 episodes and writer or co-writer of four episodes; Newhart , on which he was the story editor of season 7, and a writer or co-writer of 7 episodes; and It's a Living , on which he was a staff writer for the 1985 season (and the writer of 1 episode).[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

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

Cheers is an American sitcom television series that ran on NBC from September 30, 1982, to May 20, 1993, with a total of 275 half-hour episodes across 11 seasons. The show was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions in association with Paramount Network 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 and socialize.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Angell</span> American screenwriter and television producer (1946-2001)

David Lawrence Angell was an American screenwriter and television producer, known for his work in sitcoms. He won multiple Emmy Awards as the creator and executive producer of the sitcoms Wings and Frasier with Peter Casey and David Lee. Angell and his wife Lynn were killed heading home from their vacation on Cape Cod aboard American Airlines Flight 11, the first plane to hit the World Trade Center during the September 11 attacks.

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

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

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

Allen Kelsey Grammer is an American actor. He gained fame for his role as psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane on the NBC sitcom Cheers (1984–1993) and its spin-off Frasier (1993–2004). At nearly 20 years, this is one of the longest-running roles played by a single live-action actor in U.S. television history. He has received numerous accolades including a total of five Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Tony Award. He was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Mirkin</span> American film and television writer, director and producer

David Mirkin is an American feature film and television director, writer and producer. Mirkin grew up in Philadelphia and intended to become an electrical engineer, but abandoned this career path in favor of studying film at Loyola Marymount University. After graduating, he became a stand-up comedian, and then moved into television writing. He wrote for the sitcoms Three's Company, It's Garry Shandling's Show and The Larry Sanders Show and served as showrunner on the series Newhart. After an unsuccessful attempt to remake the British series The Young Ones, Mirkin created Get a Life in 1990. The series starred comedian Chris Elliott and ran for two seasons, despite a lack of support from many Fox network executives, who disliked the show's dark and surreal humor. He moved on to create the sketch show The Edge starring his then-partner, actress Julie Brown.

<i>Newhart</i> American 1982–1990 television series

Newhart is an American sitcom television series that aired on CBS from October 25, 1982, to May 21, 1990, with a total of 184 half-hour episodes spanning eight seasons. The series stars Bob Newhart and Mary Frann as an author and his wife who own and operate the Stratford Inn in rural Vermont. The small Vermont town is home to many eccentric characters. TV Guide, TV Land, and A&E named the Newhart series finale as one of the most memorable in television history. The theme music for Newhart was composed by Henry Mancini.

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

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. Phoebe is considered to be Kudrow's breakout role, spawning her successful film career.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frasier Crane</span> Fictional character in the television series Frasier and Cheers

Dr. Frasier Winslow Crane is a fictional character who is both a supporting character on the American television sitcom Cheers and the titular protagonist of its spin-off Frasier, portrayed by Kelsey Grammer. The character debuted in the Cheers third-season premiere, "Rebound " (1984), as Diane Chambers's love interest, part of the Sam and Diane story arc. Intended to appear for only a few episodes, Grammer's performance for the role was praised by producers, prompting them to expand his role and to increase his prominence. Later in Cheers, Frasier marries Lilith Sternin and has a son, Frederick. After Cheers ended, the character moved to a spin-off series, Frasier, the span of his overall television appearances totaling twenty years. In the spin-off, Frasier moves back to his birthplace Seattle after his divorce from Lilith, who retained custody of Frederick in Boston, and is reunited with a newly-created family: his estranged father Martin and brother Niles.

Glen Gerald Charles and Les Charles are American screenwriters and television producers, best known for Taxi and Cheers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matthew Weiner</span> American screenwriter, director, producer and author

Matthew Hoffman Weiner is an American television writer, producer, and director best known as the creator and showrunner of the television series Mad Men, and as a writer and executive producer on The Sopranos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steven Levitan</span> American television director, television producer, and screenwriter

Steven E. Levitan is an American television producer, director, and screenwriter. He has created such television series as Just Shoot Me!, Stark Raving Mad, Stacked, Back to You, Modern Family, and Reboot.

Daniel Palladino is an American television executive producer, screenwriter, and director. He is best known for his work on the television series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2017–present), which earned him a WGA Award, two PGA Awards, and four Primetime Emmy Awards.

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.

Michael Allan Zinberg, is an American television director, producer and writer.

Christopher Lloyd is an American television producer and screenwriter. Lloyd is the co-creator and executive producer of the ABC mockumentary family sitcom Modern Family, which he co-created and produced with Steven Levitan. Lloyd has had an extensive career on many series, primarily Frasier.

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 fiction novels.

Jeffrey Richman is an American writer, producer and actor.

David Gibbs Lloyd was an American screenwriter and producer for television.

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.

<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. 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 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".

References

  1. Dawidziak, Mark (October 9, 2011). "'Modern Family' Writer Dan O'Shannon Talks about Hit Show, 25-Year Career". The Plain Dealer . Retrieved November 2, 2013.
  2. Goodrich, Barry (November 2013). "Family Tree". Cleveland Magazine . Retrieved November 2, 2013.
  3. Continuum International Publishing Group
  4. What Are You Laughing At? A Comprehensive Guide to the Comedic Event, newyorker.com; accessed August 30, 2014.
  5. "Heartland Emmys". Emmyawards.tv. Retrieved 2013-11-11.
  6. "2013 Golden Globe Nominations Announcement - GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS". Goldenglobes.org. 2012-12-13. Archived from the original on 2012-10-22. Retrieved 2013-11-11.
  7. "Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences". Oscars.org. 2012-08-24. Retrieved 2013-11-11.
  8. "Home". Annie Awards. Retrieved 2013-11-11.
  9. Profile Archived 2015-09-23 at the Wayback Machine , csuohio.edu; accessed August 30, 2014.