By Iain Blair
James Burrows’ fingerprints are all over some of the biggest comedy shows in history. In addition to being co-creator/EP/director of Cheers, one of the most Emmy-nominated series in history, the director’s work reads like a list of the top sitcoms from the last 50 years. That list includes The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Show, Taxi, Will & Grace, Frasier, Friends, Mike & Molly, 3rd Rock from the Sun and Night Court.
James Burrows
Over a long career that began in the ‘70s, Burrows has won 10 Emmys and five Directors Guild of America Awards, and in 2006 he was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences’ Hall of Fame. The most nominated director in the history of television at the DGA, he was honored by the DGA with the Inaugural 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award in Television.
He most recently wrapped the third and final season of the NBC comedy reunion of Will & Grace, and his Emmy nomination this year marks his 44th Emmy nomination — for both producing and directing. I recently talked with Burrows about his long career, directing the show, the challenges and how post has changed since he began his career.
You’ve built your career directing comedy. Fair to say there’s a lot of truth in the old saw, “Dying is easy; comedy is hard.”?
Yes, that’s very true, and it’s even harder for people who don’t have a funny bone — pretty much impossible, I think. I was lucky enough to be born with one, and for me it’s a matter of sorting through all the stuff going through your head and deciding what works best for the particular moment.
You’re nominated for the “We Love Lucy” episode, an homage featuring the famous chocolate conveyor belt scene, the grape stomping scene and the Vitameatavegamin commercial. Did you shoot it all in B&W?
No, my DP, Gary Baum, shot it digitally — on Sony F55 HD cameras with Panavision Primo Zooms 11-1 (24-275) — in regular color and then we converted it in post.
What were the big challenges of directing this show?
I wanted to keep it very close to the original, so we had a playback machine on the floor of the Lucy show, and we copied all the camera setups and angles from the original show. Only the grape-stomping bit was slightly different. Then we had all the costume changes and makeup changes, which were tricky, as the only person who stayed the same was Eric McCormack.
All the others played the original characters, so we had to take a couple hours’ worth of breaks in between shooting each scene. Since we shot with a live audience, we ended up having four different live audiences because we couldn’t use just one. We shot all the present-day stuff in front of one live audience, and then we had three other audiences for the vignettes.
All the others played the original characters, so we had to take a couple of hours’ breaks in between shooting each scene. Since we shot with a live audience, we ended up having four different live audiences because we couldn’t use just one. We shot all the present-day stuff in front of one live audience, and then had three other audiences for the vignettes.
How has the technology changed over the years?
So much has changed. When I began almost 50 years ago, the Mary Tyler Moore Show was a three-camera show. We had a zoom lens in the center camera, and on the closeup cameras — left and right — we had 100mm lenses. In those days I could tell what the shots were since the two side cameras were equidistant from the two characters talking, and they matched.
Later on when I did Taxi, we had four cameras and four zooms, and I’d have to check every one of the lenses by looking through each camera to see if they matched. Then eventually video assist arrived, and that made it all so much easier. I’d just look at the monitor. I actually used film right up to the first incarnation of Will & Grace. Then digital took over in TV, and the big advantages are that you don’t have to keep reloading, and you don’t have that big mag on top of the camera, which always blocked the audience’s view.
How do you think your directing style has changed over the years?
I don’t think it has. But I’ve gotten faster thanks to all the new technology, especially with the cameras. When I first came to LA., I was a theatrical director, and I was here to do one episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. So for a few months, I really studied how directors like Jay Sandrich, who became my mentor, moved the cameras around, which is key. It was very difficult at first, but I got better at it and much faster on camera-blocking days, which is better for the cast, who are then fresher on the shoot night.
Where did you shoot?
At Universal on Stage 22, and I had so much fun. I’d literally push the cameras around myself to get a better shot.
Where did you post?
At StudioPost at Universal. We did all the post there, including all the sound. The visual effects were done by VFX supervisor Michael Caplan at Engine Room.
What were the big editing challenges?
It’s always about finding the comedy and getting the pacing and timing and rhythm just right. My editor, Peter Beyt, had his cutting room right across from the offices, and we edited on gear provided by StudioPost. He’s such a great editor, and we had to cut it exactly the way the original Lucy show was done. I’ve always made it a point to get the very best editor possible since they bring so much to the table and make my life much easier. The big thing with editing a sitcom is that you’ve got to get to 21 minutes, and as a director, my shots are all there. It’s the writers who are responsible for cutting out anything. When I do my director’s cut, I don’t cut anything out.
There must be different demands on the sound in live TV, as sitcoms are more like live theater, right?
Right. I’ve had the same great sound crew for 25 years, and we have a shorthand — the same with my camera crew. The challenge with a live sitcom is that nothing’s intimate. It’s not like a movie, where everything’s quiet. You’ve got to rev it up in a live show, and the audience makes is even louder. Sound’s become far more sophisticated, but it’s always second-tier in terms of pecking order in live TV, unfortunately. If you get the shot and the boom’s in it, it’s always sound’s fault, never the operator’s fault (laughs). But now, VFX are so sophisticated that you can just wipe a boom out of a shot.
What have been the biggest changes in post since you began?
The Avid and how you edit now is the biggest change. That’s made it all so much easier and faster than having to load four rolls of film onto the Moviola and all the cutting and splicing. I started off by sitting in the cutting room with Pam Blumenthal, who cut Bob Newhart, and Doug Hines, who cut The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and I’d watch them work on a four-headed Moviola. That’s how I learned what I needed to do as a director, and by the time I did Cheers, I pretty much had it down. Then I just needed an editor who could execute how I’d shot it because, in my head, I’d constructed the shots to be cut a certain way.
Do you see it as a Golden Age of TV today?
There are certainly a lot of shows. I have this adage… When I started in ’74, there were 30 great TV comedy writers and three networks. Now, there are 500 networks and 30 great TV comedy writers. (Laughs) The writing talent — that doesn’t change.
You turn 80 this year, but you don’t seem to be slowing down. Any thoughts about retiring eventually?
No, but I am thinking about slowing down a bit. I’m not committing to a new show, but I shot a new pilot, B Positive, and I’m going to start that show off. I also loved doing Live in Front of a Studio Audience: Norman Lear’s All in the Family and The Jeffersons, so if he does another, I’ll do it. But COVID has changed everything. I’m not sure we can have a live audience now.
Industry insider Iain Blair has been interviewing the biggest directors in Hollywood and around the world for years. He is a regular contributor to Variety and has written for such outlets as Reuters, The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times and the Boston Globe.
