Director Burrows looks back on his career in new book
NEW YORK » James Burrows loves sitcoms, and he should. The 81-year-old has directed more than 1,000 episodes of TV sitcoms, including fan favorites such as “Friends,” “Cheers,” and Will & Grace.”
He’s also directed the pilot episodes for “Frasier,” “Two and a Half Men,” “The Big Bang Theory” and more, setting the tone for the series going forward.
Ask him why there are so few of his beloved sitcoms on the air these days and Burrows can’t answer.
“It’s not a good time for the multi-camera sitcom right now. I don’t know why. People ask me and I say, I don’t know why. There’s only two or three on the air.”
He does believe the next big sitcom will come, and that will make multi-cam sitcoms popular again, but adds he “doesn’t see that show on the horizon right now.”
Burrows looks back on his famed career in a new book called “Directed by James Burrows,” detailing how he got started in showbiz and became Hollywood’s go-to director for sitcom pilots, setting shows up for success to go forward.
He spoke with The Associated Press about the book, working on “Friends” and what entices him to work these days. Remarks have been edited for clarity and brevity.
AP: The business seems to prefer single camera comedies these days. Why do you prefer multi-cam?
BURROWS: What I do is not really television. It’s really theater that I film for television, so the structure of the piece has to be the work done with the actors and the writers on stage, and then you cover it with a camera. But what makes
it great is the interaction, not necessarily the camera work, it’s the characters and the situation.
AP: A touching point in the book is when you recall sitting down with the cast of “Friends” when you were leaving the show, and giving them a very fatherly talk about how to handle future situations, such as, listen and learn from new directors but “if you disagree, say something.” You reminded them that they knew their characters better than anyone and that David Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston, in particular, should push for opportunities to do physical comedy, because it’s where they shined.
BURROWS: They were all in their 20s and I just wanted to enable them to understand how gifted they all were and to be able to express what they thought about the piece with ensuing directors and the writers because they were all really creative. If an actor contributes, it only makes the show better and it only makes the actor happier to be part of the creative process. I tried to enable them to out there when I left the show and express themselves.