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Directed by James Burrows
- Five Decades of Stories from the Legendary Director of Taxi, Cheers, Frasier, Friends, Will & Grace, and More
- Narrated by: James Burrows, Danny Campbell
- Length: 12 hrs and 18 mins
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Publisher's Summary
“Being directed by the Jimmy Burrows, while on Friends, was like hitting the jackpot. I’m delighted that everyone can now share in his incredible insight with this book.”—JENNIFER ANISTON
From the director of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Taxi, Cheers, Frasier, and Will & Grace comes an insightful and nostalgic behind-the-scenes memoir that’s “as difficult to put down as a Friends marathon is to turn off” (The Washington Post).
Legendary sitcom director James Burrows has spent five decades making America laugh. Here listeners will find never-revealed stories behind the casting of the dozens of great sitcoms he directed, as well as details as to how these memorable shows were created, how they got on the air, and how the cast and crew continued to develop and grow. Burrows also examines his own challenges, career victories, and defeats, and provides advice for aspiring directors, writers, and actors. All this from the man who helped launch the careers of Ted Danson, Kelsey Grammer, Woody Harrelson, Jennifer Aniston, Debra Messing, and Melissa McCarthy, to name a few.
Burrows talks fondly about the inspiration he found during his childhood and young adult years, including his father, legendary playwright and Broadway director Abe Burrows. From there he goes on to explain his rigorous work ethic, forged in his early years in theater, where he did everything from stage managing to building sets to, finally, directing. Transitioning to television, Burrows locked into a coveted job with The Mary Tyler Moore Show, where he first observed and then started to apply his craft. Directing most of the episodes of Taxi came next, where he worked closely with writers/producers Glen and Les Charles. The three formed a remarkable creative partnership that helped Burrows achieve his much sought-after goal of ownership and agency over a project, which came with the creating and directing of the seminal and beloved hit Cheers. Burrows has directed more than seventy-five pilots that have gone to series and over a thousand episodes, more than any other director in history.
Directed by James Burrows is a heart-and-soul master class in sitcom, revealing what it truly takes to get a laugh.
What listeners say about Directed by James Burrows
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- A simple girl
- 2022-11-08
Interesting
This book was an interesting listen. Learned a lot about different sitcoms. If you enjoy that category, I would recommend
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- Patrick L.
- 2022-08-18
Couldn't Finish It
I love Mr. Burrows' work, loved the sitcoms he crafted. Sadly, he made a poor choice by narrating this himself. I couldn't even get to the halfway point of the book because it was such an uncomfortable listen. Clearly, the man has many skills. Reading aloud is not one of them.
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Overall
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- Priester
- 2023-01-20
Had potential but meh
Delivery is definitely an issue. I found it much better when I sped it up about 10%. It also got better as it went.
The book itself is decent. Lots of name dropping. Way too many script snippets. I don’t need him to tell me the plots of individual episodes of TV, I want to know what it was like to direct (and there is a lot of that too)
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