https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AFw2gwrjzQ
James Burrows is such a legendary television director that he has directed 1,000 episodes in his nearly 40 year career. If you are going to reach that milestone, then you deserve a tribute. That is exactly what NBC is doing for him tonight at 9p with Must See TV: An All-Star Tribute to James Burrows and they invited several of the actors who he worked with to honor him.
Why is it called Must See TV, here’s just a few of the shows he worked on: The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Show, Phyllis, Rhoda, Laverne & Shirley, The Ted Knight Show, Taxi, Cheers, The Hogan Family, Dear John, Night Court, Wings, Frasier, Friends, NewsRadio, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Dharma & Greg, Caroline in the City, Will & Grace, George & Leo, Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory, Gary Unmarried, Mike & Molly, $#*! My Dad Says, 2 Broke Girls, Sean Saves the World and Crowded. The last show is the one where he reached his reached his incredible milestone on.
How does a man get to that point that he can say he directed 1,000 episodes? I recently was on a conference call with him and he answered questions about his career that we all envy and we wish we had.
Where it all began:
Burrows: Well I’m a theater rat. I was born in the business. My father was Abe Burrows who wrote Guys and Dolls. Wrote and directed How to Succeed in Business, wrote and directed Cactus Flower.
He was – that’s how I was brought up. He used to trundle me along to rehearsals. And I would absorb not sitting there to learn, I just would – it would sink in while I would, you know, dream and run around the theater and stuff like that.
So I’m a theater rat. And I started as directing shows in Summer Stock and directing shows at dinner theaters and regional theaters.
What was his first show?:
Burrows: I did the Mary Tyler Moore Show, was my first show. And of course that story is really how I got started. You know it was not a very good script. Mary had brought me out from New York to do one show, Mary and Grant Tinker.
And I did everything I possibly could to make that show funny and to work. And I’ll never forget Mary coming to me before we shot the show and saying to me our investment in you has worked out.
So I was blown away by that even before the show was shot. You know and I think that’s my one episode story because that really kicked me off.
How did he meet Mary Tyler Moore, the woman who launched his career?:
Burrows: I was the assistant to the Assistant Stage Manager on the play. My father had written the play. And it was actually a musical of Holly Golight – of Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
And the two stars, there were Mary Tyler Moore and Richard Chamberlain. And I was literally in charge of them since they were Hollywood people of, making sure that they were okay and taken care of and coming to the Broadway stage.
And so I met Mary and under the circumstances the show was a big failure, never opened, played four previews on Broadway. Was a disaster and we were in this lifeboat together. And I became kind of friendly with Mary and Grant Tinker. But I had no idea back then that I would ever end up in television.
He remembers his first show, but what episodes stand out for him:
Burrows:
I have lots of children who are my favorite episodes. Just a couple of them I think. Sam and Diane kissing at the end of the first year of Cheers, Reverend Jim taking his driving test, Woody’s wedding, David Schwimmer and the cast in Friends, Will, Grace, Jack and Karen all in the shower together on Will and Grace, the first episode of Third Rock from the Sun when these characters were exposed to the – to Earth, I mean there’s so many. The pilot of Frasier is an extraordinary pilot.
So there are, you know, all these shows. I have many, many, many children of – who are my favorite episodes so I can’t choose. You love all your children equally.
Out of all of the shows he worked on, which one does he think was cancelled too soon?:
Burrows: There’s only one show that I did that I thought should not have been cancelled and extended because it was just a wonderful show. It was called The Class. It was David Crane and Jeffrey Klarik, a group of people who reunited at a class reunion. I thought that was unjustifiably cast. And that’s the one show I’m sad about.
Even though he worked on some of the most popular shows ever, which ones does he wish he worked on?:
Burrows: James Burrows: Well I would’ve loved to have done the Dick Van Dyke Show.
It’s one of my favorite shows. I think I would’ve loved to have done Seinfeld, Raymond.
I respect those shows. I loved Curb Your Enthusiasm.
How does his explain his longevity in Hollywood?:
Burrows: I had no credibility in the beginning. But I was lucky enough to be on the Mary Show. So when Mary said our investment in you have worked out, she had three or four other shows on the air.
So that she said to people or Grant said to people here’s a kid who kind of knows what he’s doing. I think you should use him.
So I went to the Newhart Show. I went to the Phyllis Show. I went to the Rhoda Show. And you slowly built a reputation.
But for that to happen, you got to be good. You got to know what you’re doing. And, you know that’s something that again you have to be born with and you have to have confidence in yourself.
What advice does he have for people who want to follow in his footsteps?:
Burrows: Well you never know when you’re directing how long they’re going to last.
But, you know, I have young Directors always come to me and ask me questions. And sometimes if I have time I let them serve for a week and they always have the question what do I have to do.
And I said the hardest thing to do was not get your foot in the door. The hardest thing to do is capitalize on the opportunity or be ready for the opportunity when you get the shot at directing. It’s – you know it’s easier to get your foot in the door than it is to succeed at that moment when you’re given the opportunity. So that’s the advice I give to people. Be ready for when that opportunity happens.
As far as getting in the foot in the door, you got to knock on the door. I was lucky enough to have worked with Mary Tyler Moore. But you have to keep knocking on doors to try to get your foot in the door. And then if you can get your foot in the door as a PA or a gopher then you’re around the action and you express to people you want to direct.
But if they give you that opportunity you got to be ready for it.
Finally, what was it like to see all of those amazing casts together again, just for him?:
Burrows: To see those casts in the room starting with Taxi and ending with Crowded was like as I said a good acid trip. It was just amazing to see all those actors and in one room and at the same time and the comradely and the affection that they had not only for me but for the other actors in the other shows was extraordinary.
So tune in for his extraordinary tribute tonight at 9p on NBC.
