The influential writer teamed with Michael J. Fox for a second sitcom, "Spin City," and penned and directed the films "Dad" and "Must Love Dogs."

Link (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/family-ties-gary-david-goldberg-572515?page=2)

Gary David Goldberg, the genial two-time Emmy Award winner who mined his rich personal life to create such amusing and affecting entertainment as the Michael J. Fox sitcom Family Ties, has died.

Goldberg, who later co-created Spin City, another series starring Fox, and the critically lauded Brooklyn Bridge, died from cancer June 23 at his home in Montecito, California. He was 68 years old.

The down-to-earth Brooklyn native collected seven Emmy nominations in his late-starting but illustrious career, winning an outstanding series trophy in 1979 for co-producing the CBS newsroom drama Lou Grant and a writing prize in 1987 for an episode of Family Ties.

Goldberg also penned episodes of The Bob Newhart Show and M*A*S*H and wrote and directed the features Dad (1989) starring Jack Lemmon and Must Love Dogs (2005),

In 1980, Goldberg formed his own company, Ubu Productions, in partnership with Paramount. All of his series' credits famously ended with a photo of his beloved black Labrador Retriever in front of the Louvre in Paris and Goldberg saying, “Sit, Ubu, sit! Good dog,” followed by a bark -- an enduring tribute to a beloved pet.


Based on his life and families of friends he knew with similar backgrounds, Goldberg created Family Ties in the early 1980s and pitched it to CBS, which turned him down. He then brought it to innovative NBC entertainment chief Brandon Tartikoff, who "nurtured it and really made it happen," the writer once recalled.

Family Ties, which debuted on Sept. 22, 1982, reflected the shift in the U.S. from the cultural liberalism of the 1960s and '70s to the Ronald Reagan conservatism of the '80s. That sharp right turn was embodied by Fox, a baby-faced Canadian who played 17-year-old, tie-wearing Alex P. Keaton, the oldest kid of aging flower children played by Meredith Baxter-Birney and Michael Gross. Justine Bateman and Tina Yothers portrayed his sisters Mallory and Jennifer, respectively.

How autobiographical was Family Ties? "Totally autobiographical in concept," Goldberg once said. His wife Diana "and I were the parents, and our daughter Shana was as smart as Alex but could shop with Mallory."

Initially, Goldberg did not want to cast Fox (Matthew Broderick had already turned down the role). But hounded by his casting director, he agreed to a second reading by the actor and was sold. Fox would become the series' breakout star.

"The Republicans took Alex under their wing and made him the poster boy for the movement," Fox said in a 2001 interview, "while at the same time social liberals were writing me letters saying, 'Way to go,' satirizing that point of view. So I was loved on both sides. It was one of those shows that just caught a time."

For the 1984-85 season, NBC shifted Family Ties from Wednesdays at 9:30 p.m. to Thursdays in the 8:30 p.m. slot, with the new Cosby Show serving as its lead-in. It would become the No. 2 show in country, attracting an average of 28.2 million viewers at its peak, as a pivotal part of the network's "Must-See" lineup that included Cheers, Night Court and Hill Street Blues.

When Family Ties was at its best, Goldberg recalled in a 2007 interview with the Archive of American Television, "we got what I call the 'Laugh of Recognition,' a deep laugh. When you can get that laugh, you own the audience in the right way. They know you know them, they know you know their story, they can laugh at their own foibles."

Family Ties aired for 180 episodes for seven seasons through May 1989, with the comedy earning 19 Emmy nominations and five wins.

Goldberg later recruited Bill Lawrence (who recently had been fired from Friends) to create Spin City -- the first successful TV series from the fledgling studio DreamWorks SKG. They cast Fox, now a movie star, as New York Deputy Mayor Mike Flaherty, coming up with the idea for the show while on the cross-country flight to pitch the actor. Spin City taped in New York and ran on ABC for six seasons and 145 episodes from 1996-2002.

"Mike wanted to prove himself to a whole new generation," Goldberg recalled. "He said, 'No free ride … I want to do it in a different way.'"

Fox left the sitcom as a regular in 2000 to deal with his Parkinson's disease, Charlie Sheen came on to replace him, and Goldberg retired from TV in 2002 with the end of the series.

Goldberg was born on June 25, 1944, in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn and raised in a noisy apartment building (think the Kramdens' place in The Honeymooners) that was crowded with his caring, extended family. In the building was his grandmother Jenny and grandfather Jack, and they had the clan's only TV set, phone and car.

The sports-obsessed Goldberg graduated from Lafayette High School but then got kicked out of Brandeis University and Hofstra University. In 1969, while holding down a job as a waiter at the Village Gate nightclub in New York’s Greenwich Village, he met his future wife, Pan Am flight attendant Diana Meehan. They hitchhiked around the world for more than a year with Ubu -- something Alex Keaton's hippie parents might have done -- opened an "organic" day care center in Berkeley, Calif., and eventually moved to Southern California.

Somewhere in here, after living on a kibbutz and responding to an ad for English-speaking actors, he amazingly starred as the title character in an sci-fi Israeli series, The Adventures of Scooterman.

"In 1998, I received treatment for my knee by an Israeli therapist," he recalled in 2008. "We spoke about Israel and I mentioned Scooterman and he just froze. It was like he had met Elvis. I thought he was kidding me and then he called his brother, they yelled to each other over the phone, and then I believed him."

As a 31-year-old student at San Diego State, Goldberg took a writing class with visiting lecturer Nate Monaster, a former WGA president who had earned an Oscar nomination for co-writing the 1962 romantic comedy That Touch of Mink, starring Cary Grant and Doris Day. (Future producer and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy also was in his class.)

“It was Nate Monaster who encouraged me to be a writer,” Goldberg noted.

Monaster showed Goldberg’s work to an agent, and that led to a job on the short-lived 1976 NBC sitcom The Dumplings, a Norman Lear show that starred James Coco and Geraldine Brooks as owners of a lunch counter in a Manhattan office building.

Goldberg then landed a job as a writer for hire on CBS and MTM Entertainment’s The Bob Newhart Show for producers Tom Patchett and Jay Tarses, and they later recruited him for ABC’s The Tony Randall Show, which starred the actor (post-The Odd Couple) as a widowed judge. From that producing pair, Goldberg learned to ignore network executives' phone calls and notes whenever possible.

Goldberg was promoted to producer, and when the show was canceled (after a final second season on CBS), Randall told him at the final party, "I have one regret … I wish I could buy stock in your future," he told the Archive of American Television.

Goldberg then shifted to such other MTM productions as Lou Grant, which he produced, and The Last Resort, a 1979-80 sitcom revolving around a group of college students working in a hotel kitchen that he created (it lasted 15 episodes). He also wrote a 1978 episode of M*A*S*H that earned him a WGA award.

In between Family Ties and Spin City, Goldberg didn't fare as well (at least in the ratings) with his next two creations, the Timothy Busfield-starring Champs for ABC and the semi-autobiographical series Brooklyn Bridge, which aired from 1991-93 on CBS.

Brooklyn Bridge received a Golden Globe for best comedy series, eight Emmy nominations and a Humanitas nom for enriching television, but it survived just two seasons. "I had my childhood canceled. It was very personal," he once said.

Goldberg also created another series, The Bronx Zoo, a 1987-88 drama that lasted two seasons on NBC and starred Lou Grant star Ed Asner as an iron-fisted principal of a Bronx school.

In 1989, Goldberg made his feature film debut when he produced, directed and wrote the screenplay for Dad, starring Lemmon as a 78-year-old retired factory worker hopelessly dependent on his domineering wife (Olympia Dukakis). Ted Danson played his son, a character modeled after Goldberg.

In 1995, Goldberg co-wrote with Brad Hall the film Bye Bye Love, which starred Paul Reiser, Matthew Modine and Randy Quaid. And for his final credit, he produced, directed and wrote the 2005 film Must Love Dogs, a film about Internet dating that starred Diane Lane and John Cusack.

Goldberg moved to Vermont and wrote a 2008 memoir, Sit, Ubu, Sit: How I Went From Brooklyn to Hollywood With the Same Woman, the Same Dog, and a Lot Less Hair.

Goldberg and Diana eloped in 1990, more than 20 years after they met. He never seemed to be obsessed with the riches that came along with his career. "Once we started to be together, we wanted to collect adventures, you know, the way other couples wanted to collect furniture or money," he said in 2008. She founded the Archer School for Girls in Los Angeles.

In addition to his wife and his daughter Shana, survivors include another daughter, Cailin. Shana is an Emmy-winning writer and producer whose credits include Mad About You and Friends; she worked on both series with her future husband, writer-producer Scott Silveri. Cailin is a screenwriter who last summer married Rob Dubbin, a writer for The Colbert Report.

Asked during his Archive of American Television interview how he would like to be remembered, Goldberg said: "I was a guy who showed up for work and took the chance for finding out whether I could do it or not. … I'd like to think I made my success not at the expense of anyone. Success was accidental."

Wow. So sad. He created my favorite sitcom from the 1980's. It was always overshadowed by The Cosby Show too. I loved Spin City as well. R.I.P. Gary and thanks for all the laughs. :(

Wow!!! What a life and what a legacy!!! May he rest in peace!! :(

I'm saddened to hear of this tragedy. He seemed like a real nice person. I don't make a habit of this, but when his book came out about five years I ago, I sent Gary an e-mail and asked him if they ever considered putting Skippy and Mallory together, and he answered me.

He explained to me that it was discussed among the writers, but they passed on the idea because Skippy was too close in the Keaton household. He said it would look inappropriate to have Mallory and Skippy together as a couple. I was thrilled that Gary took the time answer me. Rest in Peace Gary David Goldberg.

I just rewatched the episode 4Rms OcnVu last night! Thjank-you Gary David Goldberg for the great family viewing TV you provided for us. And may you rest in peace.

Wow, I didn't even know that he was sick. Family Ties is one of my favorite shows. R.I.P. Gary. :(

I'm truly sad. I read his autobiography when it first came out and he came across as a wonderful, caring, funny and talented man. Thanks for creating Family Ties Gary! R.I.P. :(

http://www.deadline.com/2013/06/michael-j-fox-on-the-passing-of-gary-david-goldberg/

Michael J. Fox on the death of Gary David Goldberg.

With a full heart I say goodbye to my mentor, benefactor, partner, second father and beloved friend, Gary David Goldberg. He touched so many with his enormous talent and generous spirit. He changed my life profoundly. Love to Diana and all of Gary’s family.

I'm saddened to hear of this tragedy. He seemed like a real nice person. I don't make a habit of this, but when his book came out about five years I ago, I sent Gary an e-mail and asked him if they ever considered putting Skippy and Mallory together, and he answered me.

He explained to me that it was discussed among the writers, but they passed on the idea because Skippy was too close in the Keaton household. He said it would look inappropriate to have Mallory and Skippy together as a couple. I was thrilled that Gary took the time answer me. Rest in Peace Gary David Goldberg.
That is so great Jenny that he wrote to you. He always sounded like a nice man who appreciated his fans. :)

Yikes! That bites.

:(

So sad to hear....

http://www.eonline.com/news/433067/gary-david-goldberg-creator-of-family-ties-and-spin-city-dies-charlie-sheen-reacts

News/
Gary David Goldberg, Creator of Family Ties and Spin City, Dies; Charlie Sheen Reacts

Gary David Goldberg, the creator of Family Ties, died Saturday at his home in Montecito, Calif., after a long battle with brain cancer. He was 68.

Goldberg, who passed just two days shy of his 69th birthday, is the man responsible for making Michael J. Fox a star after Family Ties became of the most successful TV shows of the '80s. The duo reunited for ABC's Spin City before Charlie Sheen replaced Fox, who left the series after being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.

Sheen took to Twitter to mourn Golberg's passing, tweeting, "Gary David Goldberg left us today. my friend my sit com mentor a genius. period the end he's the sole reason I have a tv career peace GDB."



Friends and Cougar Town Star Courteney Cox, who played Lauren Miller on Family Ties, also took to Twitter to pay respect to Goldberg, writing, "My thoughts and prayers are with Gary David Goldberg's family. A wonderful man who taught me so much."

Michael Gross, who played Keaton family patriarch Steven, issued a statement, saying, "Gary's love for his wife and his family was at the center of his work, and I was fortunate to be a part of that work. I did not watch a lot of prime-time television prior to my role on Family Ties, so just assumed that most television shows were as well-written, as well-run and as much fun as ours. Gary was a good man and a fine storyteller. Society needs its storytellers, particularly those who make us laugh, and his sweet, compassionate voice will be missed."


Bill Lawrence, the co-creator of Spin City, tweeted, "Everyone has a mentor (or two hopefully) that touches his/her life. Gary Goldberg passed away today. Wish I had thanked him more."

In addition to Spin City and Family Ties, Goldberg also created CBS' Brooklyn Bridge and worked on The Bob Newhart Show, M*A*S*H and Lou Grant.

:rip: What a wonderful man and talented writer. FT remains a TV classic, and my grandmother ADORED the short-lived Brooklyn Bridge. God bless you, Mr. Goldberg. I hope you and Ubu are playing Frisbee again.

I'm saddened to hear of this tragedy. He seemed like a real nice person. I don't make a habit of this, but when his book came out about five years I ago, I sent Gary an e-mail and asked him if they ever considered putting Skippy and Mallory together, and he answered me.

He explained to me that it was discussed among the writers, but they passed on the idea because Skippy was too close in the Keaton household. He said it would look inappropriate to have Mallory and Skippy together as a couple. I was thrilled that Gary took the time answer me. Rest in Peace Gary David Goldberg.

That was so sweet of him to answer you! Thank you for sharing that, Jenny. :)

I'm sorry to hear of Mr. Goldberg's death. He created one of my all time favorite shows ever- that being "Family Ties" of course.:) :cool:
I have also come to like his late '80s show "Day By Day" recently as well- I wish this one would get released to DVD- I'd love to watch more episodes of this.
May God bless and comfort Mr. Goldberg's family in this sad time.:(

I'm sorry to hear of Mr. Goldberg's death. He created one of my all time favorite shows ever- that being "Family Ties" of course.:) :cool:
I have also come to like his late '80s show "Day By Day" recently as well- I wish this one would get released to DVD- I'd love to watch more episodes of this.
May God bless and comfort Mr. Goldberg's family in this sad time.:(
Day by Day was a pretty good show that seems to be forgotten. It would be great if a DVD of that series would be released.

:rip:

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/culture/family-ties-America

Gary David Goldberg died this past weekend, just short of his 69th birthday, of a brain tumor. For anyone under the age of, say, 45, this sad news might raise a question: Gary David who?

This is a shame. Goldberg was one of America’s great comedy writers, a contributor to “M*A*S*H” and “The Bob Newhart Show,” creator of the political spoof “Spin City.” His greatest achievement, however, was “Family Ties,” the 1980s sitcom that remains one of the best TV comedies ever made.

“Family Ties” cast a young Michael J. Fox as Alex P. Keaton (http://www.cleveland.com/tv-blog/index.ssf/2013/06/gary_david_goldberg_who_fought_to_cast_michael_j_fox_in_family_ties_dies_at_68.html), a money-obsessed, ultra-conservative kid born to devotedly liberal parents—a miniature Gordon Gekko in a middle-class commune. This was the show’s punch line.

Alex didn’t fit in. He wore monogrammed sweaters and swore allegiance to Ronald Reagan (reportedly a big fan of the show). He was given to saying things like: "People who have money don't need people." In one episode, he lectured a roomful of toddlers on taxes: "A terrible, hairy, liberal monster."

Mom: Alex was offended by our political magazines and ripped them up.

Alex: You have no proof.

Mom: Yes we do. We found your rattle on the floor next to the evidence.

Alex: It could have been [his sister] Mallory's.

Mom: It was your Nixon rattle.

This was a typical joke, played out via countless permutations during the show's eight-year run. “Do you think maybe he was switched at birth and the Rockefellers have our kid?” asked the dad. In the show’s last episode, with Alex about to leave home to go work in a New York investment bank, he shakes his father’s hand and says: “Goodbye, dad. Remember, you still owe me $74.50.” Then there was this exchange, which perfectly summed up the show’s essential premise:
Alex: The ’60s are over, dad.

Dad: Thanks for the tip.

“Family Ties” first came to American screens in 1982, a year after Reagan became president, a time when the liberalism of the 1960s and ’70s had finally imploded. Alex represented the new wave. He was young, brash, unwavering in his self-belief. His ex-hippie parents—well-meaning, peripheral—represented what was being left behind. In this sense, the show was a reflection of the American political landscape of the time—in all but one important detail.

Inevitably, a Christmas episode of the show (1983) presented an update of the Dickens classic, with Alex in the role of Scrooge. At the end, humbled, the boy rushes out to buy gifts for the family. Unable to find any stores open except a 7-Eleven, he returns home with a cup of coffee, a TV Guide, a six-pack of cough syrup. It’s a funny, sweet moment, and it captures an element of “Family Ties” that helped elevate it from diversion to something more important: No matter how much we sympathized with the parents, it was Alex we loved.

The early 1980s—more so than now, perhaps—was a time of apparently unbridgeable political division. The truly remarkable thing about “Family Ties” is that, while presenting us with outsized representatives of both camps, it never once took sides. The butt of the joke was not conservatism or liberalism, but the ideological divide itself. And within this fact was a promise of reconciliation. The Liz Lemon/Jack Donaghy dynamic on the late 30 Rock carries a similar promise, but for the most part, today, partisan warriors are content to lob bombs from either side of the barricade; Goldberg’s aim was to tear that barricade down.

In the end, this was not a story about what separates people, but about what binds them (look at the title). Given this starting point, it took a deft hand to ensure that audiences laughed rather than gagged. But Goldberg—aided by the flawless delivery of his cast members—had a knack for making even the sappiest of sentiments seem sardonic. Above all else, the show was unflaggingly, brilliantly funny.

In one episode, trying to wriggle his way out of doing household chores, Alex launches into a lengthy, mock-schmaltzy monologue about how, as the firstborn son, he will always enjoy a special bond with his mother. Mom’s response is to roll her eyes and tell him to get on with his chores. “The bond stretches,” Alex says, undaunted, “but it never breaks.”

Here are some other tributes from his 2 hit shows.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/gary-david-goldberg-michael-j-576476?page=1


The Emmy-winning writer and producer, who died June 22 at age 68, drew tributes from the cast and writers of his biggest hits, "Family Ties" and "Spin City."

This story first appeared in the July 19 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.

Gary David Goldberg's Death: Hollywood Mourns 'Family Ties' Creator
'Family Ties' Creator Gary David Goldberg Dies at 68

Michael Gross
Castmember, Family Ties

I sent Gary a note as recently as last Friday. Meredith Baxter [who played Elyse Keaton] and I got together on Saturday to celebrate — we have the exact same birthday — and he was very much on our minds and our lips.

Everybody is replaceable in show business, but Family Ties could not have been done without Gary. He was the driving spirit. He told stories that were warm, generous and sympathetic. He had gravitas, but he also had humanity. He was extremely collaborative but had a strong point of view. He knew what he wanted and when he wasn’t getting it.



I came out of the theater, and Family Ties was my first sitcom. I didn’t know other sitcoms weren’t as funny or as well run as ours. I took it for granted. We all loved one another. That’s hard to find. Gary set the tone. I don’t think he had an ounce of tolerance for unpleasantness on the set because it got in the way of the creative process.

Gary was also very progressive in his thinking. He persuaded Paramount to open a child day-care center on the lot. That was the first one of its kind. I’ve also seen pictures of Gary on antiwar marches when he was a kid. So much of the liberal parents [on the show] were based on his life and his longtime companion, love and wife, Diana, whom he met in his college days. His college days were pretty short. He would always remind us he didn’t get a degree.

I remember a time in the first or second year of the series that he had an accident. He was badly injured off the coast in a boating accident. He had part of his chest pierced by the bow of a catamaran, if I remember correctly. We were in serious jeopardy. We didn’t know if we could carry on. He was the heart and the soul of the show. He didn’t miss many episodes, and even though he was home, he surveyed everything. He was constantly on the phone or sending a fax. He was supervising, even though he wasn’t there.

There was little contention on the show. He surrounded himself with people he liked and let them do their job. He was very sweet, too. Every Friday night, our line producer Carol Himes got a fresh gardenia corsage from Gary. Every Friday for 180 episodes. It’s difficult for me to smell a gardenia, even now, without thinking about Gary.


Michael J. Fox

With a full heart I say goodbye to my mentor, benefactor, partner, second father and beloved friend, Gary David Goldberg. He touched so many with his enormous talent and generous spirit. He changed my life profoundly.

Bruce Helford
Writer, Family Ties

I turned in a spec script to Family Ties in 1983, and they actually bought it! Shortly after, Gary brought me on as a story editor. I wasn’t a kid when I met him; I was closer to 30. But he did give me my first opportunity to write for television. I remember you had to be willing to take time to play basketball to be on his staff. Though I was short, so I usually stayed in the room and hung out while everyone else played. He was also a great believer in “fantasy chaining,” which is when you talk about everything in the writers room but the script and the ideas would bubble up while you were talking about other things. About writing he said, “Take time at the beginning of each script to get the audience oriented. The audience can’t laugh if they’re trying to figure things out.” That was something I always took to heart. He had such a great sense of storytelling; an amazing mind. He could take a script apart, and if the story wasn’t working, he’d take the metal brads out, put all the papers on a desk and rearrange them at super speed. He had a great sense of puzzle-solving. He was also one of the warmest people I’ve ever known. He hugged everybody. I was never a hugger, and I gave my dad a hug after that and he said, “What are you doing? We don’t hug!” And I said, “I do now!” He was also a very important part of my life when my dad died. I would say a lot, “Well, you know, he’d been sick ...” and Gary said, “Don’t skip any of the steps of grief. If something is ****ty, just say it’s ****ty, and don’t worry about putting a better face on it.” So for now I’ll just say: Gary’s passing is really ****ty.

Alan Ruck
Castmember, Spin City

I’m currently in Vancouver, where my wife [actress Mireille Enos] is filming The Killing, and about three weeks ago [Spin City co-star] Michael Boatman called me and said, “I’ve heard some news about Gary.” A few weeks later, Mireille and I were in New York for a premiere, and I got an e-mail from [Goldberg’s wife] Diana that said, “Gary is knocking on the door of the next world. ... We’d love to receive e-mails that have your memories, stories or thoughts.”

I quickly dashed off a note and two days later, Diana wrote back and said, “He sleeps a lot, but he’s smiling when I read the stories to him. Just know that he’s hearing your words.” We were all able to say our little goodbyes, and I’m very grateful for that.

Gary was my champion from the first time we met. When I auditioned for him and [Spin City co-creator] Bill Lawrence, they said, “We’d like to fly you to NYC to audition for Michael J. Fox” and somewhere in the interim, ABC asked, “Who are you looking at for some of these other parts?” Gary said, “Well, for Stuart we’re looking at Alan Ruck.” They said, “Yes, we know Alan, but this isn’t really the kind of part he plays.” Everybody has an opinion, right?

But Gary told them, “Yeah, we’re going to hire Alan.” The same thing happened with Michael Boatman’s part. From the beginning, he validated me like that. And when someone of that stature says, “I want you to be on my team,” it does something to your insides that you can’t describe.

I got very ill in the final season of Spin City. I was sick as a dog for two months and missed five shows, but Gary made sure I was paid for every one of them. He didn’t have to do that. The writers also went out of their way to mention me in those episodes. “Hey, where’s Stuart? Oh, he’s on vacation.” But I was bound and determined to make it to the final episode. I was still a little incapacitated, wasn’t walking well, and my legs were very weak.

But the writers were sweet and let me sit at my desk and gave me killer lines, really raunchy stuff to say to Heather [Locklear] and Charlie [Sheen]. And after that scene, Goldberg comes up to me, crying, and said, “That was so great!” and gave me a big kiss.

That was Gary.


Bill Lawrence

Even with all of Gary’s amazing professional accomplishments — the TV shows, movies, awards — they are nothing compared to how great a guy he was. I will forever consider myself lucky to be one of the many, many people whose lives he changed for the better.

Connie Britton
Castmember, Spin City

Gary gave me my first opportunity to do a big part in a TV show, and one of his many great qualities was that he loved to give people chances. He was never judgmental and always wanted to see inside, to who you really were. I remember in my final audition for Spin City — Michael J. Fox was there too — I will never forget Gary’s face; he had this giddy smile on the whole time, as if to say, “Yeah, you can do this, girl!” I learned so much from him. How lucky was I?

It’s funny; I never thought of Gary as being a guy who worked “in the business.” He became a family member to everyone he let in his life. He also made an impact in the outside world. He was an amazing father and husband; he and Diana were really beacons of exemplary parenting. To be those things and also remarkable in this business? To me, that’s someone who’s truly a hero.

Allan Burns
Co-creator of The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Lou Grant, which Goldberg co-produced

When you look at the shows Gary made, they’re all about decency and good people. The humor is never forced; it’s always totally believable. Most of all, Gary was smart as hell and could really make you laugh.

Mike Royce
Warm-up comedian, writer, Spin City

I was the in-house comic for Spin City from about 1997 to 1999. Normally you just try to make the audience laugh before the show, and if you don’t, you get fired. But Gary and Bill [Lawrence] went out of their way to make me feel like part of the family. I remember once I ended up having to do two hours of materials — that particular episode took a long time to tape — which happens sometimes.

Then, three days later, I got an envelope with a check for $500 from Gary’s personal checking account. As a struggling comic, that was my biggest paycheck in a while. Holy ****! He was such a generous guy, he had this great big laugh; the show was simply a nice place to be because of him. I ended up writing a script for the show, which was the first script I ever wrote. Gary helped me get my first big break writing for TV, and for that I’m eternally grateful.

Nice tributes.

http://deadspin.com/nostalgia-done-right-the-family-ties-creator-who-gave-612326392

"Brooklyn Bridge" child star recalls Gary David Goldberg


tribute

by DANNY LANZETTA

Nostalgia Done Right: The Family Ties Creator Who Gave Me A Shot

In the summer of 1991, I was sitting next to my sister in the back seat of my parents' Toyota Previa, reading a book about Bobby Thomson's "Shot Heard 'Round the World." We were driving across country because my parents were afraid to fly, Hopewell Junction, N.Y., to Los Angeles, California, where I was going to become the next Michael J. Fox.

I'd been sent the book by Gary David Goldberg, the creator of the television series Family Ties, who died last week of brain cancer. The show initially focused on two hippie parents but eventually came to center on Fox's smarmy young Republican, Alex P. Keaton. After a rather whirlwind audition process, I was cast as Alan Silver, the dashing, athletic, impossibly smart young man at the center of Gary's newest show, Brooklyn Bridge, which chronicled his Jewish upbringing in Brooklyn in the 1950s. Though Nathaniel, Alan's younger brother, was the chronologically correct version of Gary (the show began in the early '50s, when he would've been 8), it was clear my character was Gary the teenager, navigating the shoals of adolescence while under the influence of his domineering but ultimately doting Grandma Sophie (played by Marion Ross).

Family Ties made Gary Goldberg very rich and very famous. But you got the feeling that everything in his career was leading up to Brooklyn Bridge. The show spared no expense. We were routinely over budget and past deadline because of Gary's (and his creative team's) maniacal attention to detail. Brooklyn Bridge was CBS's most expensive show and, in a time when Nielsen ratings were paramount, one of its least productive. Somehow, we were allowed to make 35 episodes, a testament to the belief the network had in Gary's vision to recreate the nostalgic fantasyland of his childhood. Judging the aesthetics of Brooklyn Bridge in the context of a modern period piece like Mad Men doesn't do our show justice. By 1991's standards, Brooklyn Bridge was top-of-the-line when it came to authentically conjuring another place and time.

Perhaps because of how personal Brooklyn Bridge was to him, Gary and I were never particularly close. He was always very cordial, and my family once spent a weekend at his ranch in Vermont along with a number of other cast members. But the relationship seemed mostly circumstantial. Fox called Gary a "mentor" in a statement about his death. Gary was not a mentor to me. When he was on the set, he was aloof, occasionally taciturn, and there was always a bit of wariness among the cast and crew, which happened to vanish when he wasn't directly overseeing production. (Perhaps that's the case with all showrunners, though it didn't really jibe with what I'd heard about him before production began.) I don't have a lot of memories of interactions with Gary because most of the time they were muted, brief. I was far closer with the other writers and directors. I do remember occasionally playing impromptu pickup games on his specially designed basketball court in a corner of the Paramount lot. He had bad knees, so he wasn't playing as much as he used to or would have liked.

Mostly, though, I remember wanting to make him laugh. Whenever he was on set for a rehearsal, or a table reading, I wanted to hear his chubby chuckle. It meant I'd delivered the dialogue perfectly—dialogue he had often written. It was a point of pride, and, quite honestly, a relief.

Nostalgia Done Right: The Family Ties Creator Who Gave Me A Shot

Reading reminiscences in the days following his death, I had totally forgotten that Gary created Spin City after our show went off the air, a success that presumably helped ease the pain of Brooklyn Bridge's failure. But though I had very little contact with him after our cancellation in 1993, I have a feeling that Gary never really recovered. He was bitter at the network for all the time-slot shuffling, was convinced we hadn't been given a proper chance to succeed. Whether that's true or not, Brooklyn Bridge was the full flower of Gary's artistic sensibility, his "auteur" moment. And despite glowing critical praise, the public rejected it. One likely doesn't ever fully recover from that—not creatively, anyway.

The New York Times obituary called Gary a "writer and producer who created warmhearted television shows." Normally, I wouldn't view such a description as a recommendation. But Fox recently called attention to Gary's impeccable ear for a gentle, observational humor that was incisive without being mean-spirited: "A line like, ‘Why are there two milks open in the fridge?' You could tell it was from Gary, so well observed without being trite or sappy." The recollection made me think of our pilot, when Grandma Sophie wants to know what Alan would like for dinner over the next several days so she can defrost the meat. Alan observes wryly that perhaps she also wants to know what he'd like to eat "a week from Tuesday." That was Gary at the peak of his powers, able to strike in a brief exchange the right notes of absurdity and devotion, at once sweet and exhausting, that is the essence of the overbearing Jewish—or Italian, or Irish—grandmother.

Something else Fox said in the same article, shortly before Gary died, struck me as well. "Gary is one of those guys who has no guile in him." No guile? Really? Surely he's exaggerating. Everyone has to have at least a little guile, right? Especially among the piranhas of Hollywood. But whether or not Fox's statement is literally true, the spirit is not lost. Brooklyn Bridge was a very earnest show, almost too earnest at times. But that earnestness emanated not from the treacle of typical sitcom tropes, but from Gary's foundation of family, loyalty and baseball. Throw in the residue of his '60s-era dissent and the result was a show that felt fresh and, well, yes, warmhearted. Brooklyn Bridge wasn't lazy schmaltz. It was truly the life Gary lived because Gary didn't grow up in TV. He grew up in Brooklyn.

Brooklyn Bridge belongs to the part of my life that almost feels like it didn't happen. I certainly didn't become the next Michael J. Fox. But Gary's legacy, for me, is an appreciation for the healthy uses of nostalgia, as both a comforting reflex and a melancholy diversion. Nostalgia can be an easy trap for television writers who are content not to challenge audiences, who serve up sanitized characters and familiar TV situations. Brooklyn Bridge was sweet, but it wasn't familiar, which is why critics liked it and why it probably failed. The nostalgia of Brooklyn Bridge was earned because it was overseen by Gary and his tender, tireless approach to the material, not by a cynical scribe-for-hire. And though our show didn't get a chance to fully realize his vision, Gary taught me that the things we remember are beautiful and difficult and elusive, and that they deserve care when we unearth them.

Ebbets Field is now an apartment complex. Gary is gone. Nostalgia helps keep them both alive. Sometimes, it's OK to be sentimental. For a little while, at least, Brooklyn Bridge allowed Gary David Goldberg a genuine glimpse of his past. I'm glad I was a part of it.

Danny Lanzetta's most recent novel is called Gadfly. He is currently working on his third book. He is also a spoken word artist, a professor of writing, and a degenerate Knicks fan. You can see/hear/read his ravings at dannylanzetta.com.

Gary David Goldberg also Co-Created and Co-Produced the short lived NBC Sitcom called Sara Starring a young Geena Davis of the films Beetlejuice, Thelma & Louise, A League of Their Own and Stuart Little (which ironically features the voice of Michael J. Fox), Alfre Woodard of TV's St. Elsewhere and I'll Fly Away, Bill Maher of abc's Politically Incorrect, Musician Mark Hudson, Bronson Pinchot of TV's Perfect Strangers, Ronnie Claire Edwards of the short-lived NBC Drama Boone and Matthew Lawrence of TV's Boy Meets World and the real life brother of Joey Lawrence who also co-starred with Matthew and Andrew Lawrence in Brotherly Love

Sara was set in a San Francisco Legal Aid office and featured one of the earliest regular gay characters on an American television series (Dennis Kemper, played by Pinchot).

Although the series was critically well-received, it was scheduled opposite Dynasty, which was then the most popular series on the air. Sara failed to attract an audience and was cancelled after 13 episodes, although NBC did re-air the series in 1988. According to TVTango.com's ratings database, Sara ranked 48th out of 104 programs that aired during the 1984-85 season, with an average household rating of 14.44.

The theme to Sara was composed by Famed Jazz Saxophonist Tom Scott who also did music for Family Ties as well as the short lived Pat Sajak Show and most notably, Seasons 2 & 4 of the popular abc Cop Show Starsky & Hutch

The series was also Videotaped @ NBC Studios Burbank, CA which was also the home to Punky Brewster, $ale of the Century, Wheel of Fortune, SCRABBLE, Super Password, Days of our Lives and The Tonight Show w/the late Johnny Carson

Here's the opening and the closing to the series

The Opening w/the NBC Bumper
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The Closing w/NBC Voiceover
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