In the world of multi-camera comedies, James Burrows is not just a director, but the director. This is not to diminish the efforts of other TV comedy directors out there, but one look at Burrows' credentials and you'll see why he's earned himself a reputation for being a great TV director. In addition to co-creating Cheers, his directing credits include Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory, Mike & Molly, 2 Broke Girls, and - going back toward his Cheers days - Friends, Frasier and Will & Grace. We could also look back to his work in the 70s, which includes such classics as Taxi, Laverne & Shirley, The Bob Newhart Show and Mary Tyler Moore. He's been making great TV for the better part of the medium's history, and he's still doing it.
In fact, Burrows directed four pilots this season, three of which went to series, which is really one more mark of the man's talent, especially when we consider how many comedies didn't go to series. Of The Millers, Friends with Better Lives and Sean Saves the World, Deadline says Burrows has elected to move forward with The Millers at CBS, serving as both a director and executive producer. The comedy comes from Raising Hope's Greg Garcia and stars Will Arnett, Beau Bridges and Margo Martindale, and centers on a recently divorced man whose mother moves in with him when his parents split up.
Given CBS' better success rate with multi-cam comedies these days, going with one of the two CBS projects mentioned (Friends with Better Lives being the other one), seems like the right move. It may also be worth noting that Burrows was supposed to direct the planned multi-camera episode of Up All Night, which would have had him working with Will Arnett, who starred in the NBC comedy series. Then again, if Burrows had gone with the NBC series, he would've been back working with Sean Hayes, of Will & Grace. But as I said, if he's playing the odds, The Millers probably has a better shot at surviving its first season on format and network alone. Plus it has Will Arnett, Margo Martindale, Beau Bridges and Greg Garcia going for it. (And now it has James Burrows.)
As Deadline points out, The Millers is set up on Thursday nights on CBS' schedule, which puts it in line with Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory - familiar territory for Burrows, as he directed the pilots of both comedies. We'll have to wait and see if The Millers finds similar success moving forward.
Photo Credit: Washington Examiner - crediting Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP.
