James Burrows obituary
A leading light of American TV comedy, directing sitcoms such as Friends, Frasier and almost every episode of Cheers
James Burrows, who has died aged 85, was one of the most influential figures in US television sitcoms for more than four decades. He was the co-creator and primary director of Cheers, one of America’s most beloved and successful sitcoms, which ran for 11 seasons between 1982 and 1993 and won 28 Primetime Emmy awards. Its final episode was second only to that of M*A*S*H as the most-watched of all time.
However, unlike producer/writers such as Nat Hiken, Norman Lear or Larry Gelbart, who had stamped their marks on previous generations, Burrows’ influence came entirely as a director. As such he was intimately involved in the creation of many shows, and enjoyed long runs on sitcoms such as the Cheers spin-off Frasier, Friends, and Will and Grace. For years he was the first-choice director of pilot episodes, used to sell programmes to the networks; he did almost 100 of them, including two versions of some, if the first produced only a lukewarm response.
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