Prolific TV Director James Burrows dies at 85

The television world lost a giant on June 19th with the passing at 85 of prolific director James Burrows, a driving force in television comedy. Burrows was the go-to guy when launching a new comedy series, helming pilots for many classic series that went on to long, successful, award-winning runs. Burrows got his start with a 1975 episode of Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers and ended his career by directing all ten episodes of Hulu's Mid-Century Modern. With 143 projects and over 1,000 episodes of television under his belt, Burrows' major credits include:

• The Mary Tyler Moore Show (4)
• Phyllis (19)
• Rhoda (4)
• The Bob Newhart Show (11)
• The Tony Randall Show (4)
• Laverne & Shirley (8)
• Taxi (75)
• Cheers (236)
• Partners (10) - 1995
• NewsRadio (7)
• Frasier (36)
• Men Behaving Badly (7)
• Caroline in the City (21)
• Union Square (8)
• Friends (15)
• The Class (19)
• Back to You (17)
• Gary Unmarried (36)
• Partners (12) - 2012
• The Millers (32)
• 2 Broke Girls (4)
• Mike & Molly (49)
• Crowded (9)
• Man with a Plan (9)
• Superior Donuts (8)
• Romantically Challenged (5)

In addition, Burrows directed every episode of Will & Grace, the original and reboot, a total of 246 episodes. Burrows also tackled an episode or two of other shows including Fay, Lou Grant, The Betty White Show, The Stockard Channing Show, Night Court, The Hogan Family, The Tortellis, Dear John, Wings, Down Home, Roc, Madman of the People, Hudson Street, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Pearl, Veronica's Closet, Dharma & Greg, Jesse, Ladies Man, Stark Raving Mad, Cursed, Good Morning, Miami, Four Kings, Teachers, Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory, $#*! My Dad Says, Up All Night, Sean Saves the World, Disjointed, and The Neighborhood. Burrows also directed the Live in Front of a Studio Audience specials 'Norman Lear's All in the Family and The Jeffersons' and 'The Facts of Life and Diff'rent Strokes'.

In addition to his series work, Burrows also helmed TV movies and specials including Roosevelt and Truman, The Plant Family, More Than Friends, Goodbye Doesn't Mean Forever, At Your Service, The Nerd, the Cheers segment of The Earth Day Special, Gloria Vane, Dexter Prep, Traveling in Packs, The Mastersons of Manhattan, Single White Millionaire, Ab Fab, Real Good People, Relatively Happy, Friends 25th: The One with the Anniversary, and Our House. Burrows also directed the feature film Partners, starring Ryan O'Neal and John Hurt, which has no relation to either of the two TV series of the same title.

During his career, Burrows earned 76 nominations from various organizations for his work, directing and producing, winning 24 total. The Primetime Emmys made up 48 of the nominations and 11 wins, while the Directors Guild Awards accounted for 23 nominations and 6 wins.