Zoneboy
06-16-2011, 06:44 AM
Cheers co-creator sees promise with new hits
Link (http://www.calgaryherald.com/entertainment/Granddaddy+sitcoms+faith+format/4948350/story.html#ixzz1PQz6vgrn)
Spotlight
The Banff World Media Festival concludes today.
It's perhaps not the most chipper of self-descriptions for a man whose name has become synonymous with sitcom comedy.
But James Burrows, co-creator of Cheers and one of the most successful television directors of all time, has been around the medium long enough to know that shrill declarations about the death of sitcoms tend to come around in cycles. More importantly, they're always wrong. So his description of himself as a gatekeeper for the traditional sticom may be grim, but it's apt and based on a career that stretches back to the 1970s.
"I'm the man who has the shovel who keeps taking the dirt out of the grave that they try to bury the sitcom in," says Burrows during an interview at the Banff World Media Festival on Monday. "I started in the limelight of sitcoms with the Mary Tyler Moore Show. In the '80s, sitcom died an awful death, and we did a little show called Cheers, which started a little rebirth and all of sudden Cosby came around. And then Seinfeld goes off the air and comedy dies.
"And, mainly through the efforts of Chuck Lorre, who has three sitcoms on the air, it's coming back. I get a lot more pilots for multicamera now than I ever have in the last five years."
Burrows was on hand to receive the festival's prestigious Peter Ustinov Comedy Award, an honour that has gone to Ricky Gervais, John Cleese, Martin Short and Kelsey Grammer in the past. Needless to say, the distinction has rarely, if ever, gone to someone who has spent an entire career behind the scenes.
But Burrows' directing efforts stretch back 35 years, when he put his mark not only on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, but also hits like Taxi, Laverne & Shirley and the Bob Newhart Show. Alongside his role co-creating Cheers, he also directed episodes of Wings, Will & Grace, 3rd Rock From the Sun, Friends and Frasier and continues to be at the helm for modern shows such as Mike and Molly.
"The attention span of the audience is a lot less because of the Internet and the PDAs and the iPhones and stuff like that," says Burrows. "But if you do a funny show, they will come and watch."
Burrows has actually been on the Banff red carpet before, receiving a lifetime achievement award eight years ago during a gala presentation. At the time, he joked that he "hoped this isn't it for me." The fact that he has stayed busy behind the camera of modern sitcoms proves the award didn't mark the end of his illustrious career.
Still, even the grandaddy of the great American sitcom comes off sounding a touch cynical about the changing tides of television when envisioning what a Cheers reunion might look like today.
"You'd have to do it as a reality show and have Mark Burnett produce it and have people sing on it."
Link (http://www.calgaryherald.com/entertainment/Granddaddy+sitcoms+faith+format/4948350/story.html#ixzz1PQz6vgrn)
Spotlight
The Banff World Media Festival concludes today.
It's perhaps not the most chipper of self-descriptions for a man whose name has become synonymous with sitcom comedy.
But James Burrows, co-creator of Cheers and one of the most successful television directors of all time, has been around the medium long enough to know that shrill declarations about the death of sitcoms tend to come around in cycles. More importantly, they're always wrong. So his description of himself as a gatekeeper for the traditional sticom may be grim, but it's apt and based on a career that stretches back to the 1970s.
"I'm the man who has the shovel who keeps taking the dirt out of the grave that they try to bury the sitcom in," says Burrows during an interview at the Banff World Media Festival on Monday. "I started in the limelight of sitcoms with the Mary Tyler Moore Show. In the '80s, sitcom died an awful death, and we did a little show called Cheers, which started a little rebirth and all of sudden Cosby came around. And then Seinfeld goes off the air and comedy dies.
"And, mainly through the efforts of Chuck Lorre, who has three sitcoms on the air, it's coming back. I get a lot more pilots for multicamera now than I ever have in the last five years."
Burrows was on hand to receive the festival's prestigious Peter Ustinov Comedy Award, an honour that has gone to Ricky Gervais, John Cleese, Martin Short and Kelsey Grammer in the past. Needless to say, the distinction has rarely, if ever, gone to someone who has spent an entire career behind the scenes.
But Burrows' directing efforts stretch back 35 years, when he put his mark not only on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, but also hits like Taxi, Laverne & Shirley and the Bob Newhart Show. Alongside his role co-creating Cheers, he also directed episodes of Wings, Will & Grace, 3rd Rock From the Sun, Friends and Frasier and continues to be at the helm for modern shows such as Mike and Molly.
"The attention span of the audience is a lot less because of the Internet and the PDAs and the iPhones and stuff like that," says Burrows. "But if you do a funny show, they will come and watch."
Burrows has actually been on the Banff red carpet before, receiving a lifetime achievement award eight years ago during a gala presentation. At the time, he joked that he "hoped this isn't it for me." The fact that he has stayed busy behind the camera of modern sitcoms proves the award didn't mark the end of his illustrious career.
Still, even the grandaddy of the great American sitcom comes off sounding a touch cynical about the changing tides of television when envisioning what a Cheers reunion might look like today.
"You'd have to do it as a reality show and have Mark Burnett produce it and have people sing on it."