You can’t write a comprehensive account of the history of television without including James Burrows. If he had only co-created “Cheers,” that would probably be true, or if he had only directed every single episode of “Will & Grace.” He brought new meaning to the word “prolific,” helming over a thousand episodes of comedic television in over five decades of work, appearing just this month in HBO’s “The Comeback,” pictured above.
There was something comforting about seeing the name James Burrows on the opening credits of a sitcom. It meant you were, almost every single time, going to see something that elevated the writing. His direction was never showy, but he knew better than anyone how to block a scene and direct a cast to amplify both the jokes and the characters. Go back and watch an episode of “Cheers” with an eye to how the characters move around the bar in a manner that feels somehow both natural and like a great stage play. Burrows was like a theater director for TV, placing actors on stage in front of a live studio audience as if he were staging a great Broadway show.
He was not quite a household name because his profession didn’t allow it, but those who knew his impact mourned him last week when he passed at the age of 85. Like so many workmanlike creators, he just did the job over and over again. You didn’t notice. You just laughed.
Of course, it makes sense that James Burrows had a theatre education, attending New York’s High School of Music & Art before graduating from Yale School of Drama in 1965. Everything changed when the legendary Grant Tinker hired Burrows to direct episodes of two of his best shows for MTM Enterprises: “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and “The Bob Newhart Show.”
He worked regularly pretty much from that assignment, taking the director’s chair for ‘70s hits like “Laverne & Shirley,” “Rhoda,” “Lou Grant,” and over a dozen more, but his first major gig in this era was “Taxi,” a smash hit for which Burrows directed a stunning 75 episodes. He would land his first two of an eventual 11 Emmys for that show, winning in 1980 and 1981 for Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series. (He would win six trophies for “Cheers,” one for “Frasier,” one for “Will & Grace,” and a final one for the Outstanding Variety Special “Live in Front of a Studio Audience.” He was nominated every single year but one between 1980 and 2005.)
In 1982, Burrows co-created a little show called “Cheers” with Glen and Les Charles, producers from “Taxi.” Burrows was one of the main creative forces behind one of television’s biggest critical and commercial hits, directing 240 episodes over 11 seasons. When Kelsey Grammer spun off to the hit “Frasier,” Burrows was there, directing 32 episodes of the show.
There was simply no one more coveted by TV producers than James Burrows. Here’s a very partial list of the biggest shows he directed more than once: “Friends” (15 episodes), “NewsRadio” (7), “3rd Rock from the Sun” (2), “Will & Grace” (all of ’em), “Mike & Molly” (48), and “2 Broke Girls” (4). He was the king of the pilot, directing almost 100 first episodes of shows, including “Two and a Half Men,” “The Big Bang Theory, “The Neighborhood,” “Night Court,” “Wings,” “Friends,” “NewsRadio,” “Dharma & Greg,” and so many more.
Think just about that specialty of James Burrows: Pouring the foundation on which future directors would build a comedy hit. So much of a show’s personality is set in its pilot episode. And no one did it as much or as well as James Burrows.
The number of household names who owe at least part of their fame to James Burrows is incredible. The world is funnier today because he was in it.
