James Burrows On How Phil Silvers Illuminated His Path Toward ‘Cheers,’ ‘Frasier,’ ‘Taxi,’ ‘Friends’ & More – Miramax Presents The Film That Lit My Fuse

When James Burrows was called the Spielberg of sitcom directors, Steven Spielberg wrote him to say he wished to be known as the James Burrows of film directors.

The son of the famed playwright, director and producer Abe Burrows, James Burrows grew up around the business but initially planned to have nothing to do with it. Stints behind the scenes on Broadway led him to stage directing, and before he knew it, he was directing episodes of TV’s hottest sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show. From there, he would direct more than 75 pilots that went to series including the hits Taxi, Cheers, Frasier, Friends, Will & Grace and Mike and Molly. Most recently he teamed with Kelsey Grammer in the second iteration of Frasier ,which just began airing on Paramount +.

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He has been so busy all these years, he actually turned down the Seinfeld pilot. He explains why in this special version of Deadline’s video series The Film That Lit My Fuse, presented by Miramax.

Burrows’ memoir Directed by James Burrows was recently published in paperback, required reading for anyone in the sitcom game wishing to know the secrets behind his success, or anyone interested in his reminiscences being part of more than his share of sitcom classics.