Eleven-time Emmy winner James Burrows chats with Trey Elling about DIRECTED BY JAMES BURROWS: FIVE DECADES OF STORIES FROM THE LEGENDARY DIRECTOR OF TAXI, CHEERS, FRASIER, FRIENDS, WILL & GRACE, AND MORE. Topics include:
- The best lesson he learned from his dad, Abe (1:15)
- Entering TV during a transformative time (2:34)
- Dying with your boots on (5:54)
- The difficulty of Taxi (10:04)
- Andy Kaufman (12:27)
- Louie De Palma (16:11)
- Having Sam & Diane to hook up in Cheers (17:11)
- The inspiration for Cheers (19:30)
- The challenges of setting a show in a bar (22:06)
- Replacing Coach with Woody Harrelson (24:07)
- Cheers never jumping the shark (27:44)
- The Cheers finale (28:39)
- Why he worked so well with Glen & Les Charles (30:15)
- Kelsey Grammar’s brilliance (31:25)
- Will & Grace (35:22)
- The importance of ‘butterflies’ (40:05)
- Directing the Friends pilot (40:54)
- NewsRadio (46:15)
- Jason Bateman (50:01)
- Drawing the best out of an actor (51:54)
- Why he thinks of himself as lucky (53:38)