James Burrows, one of the premier and seasoned directors of numerous shows and sitcoms recently directed his thousandth episode of television. With this, NBC wanted to honor his achievement by offering him a tribute featuring the majority of the existing casts of the shows he directed, En Starz reported.
"There is nobody with better TV comedy instincts than Jimmy Burrows, and because of his guiding hand these remarkable shows will be forever celebrated and stand the test of time," explained Paul Telegdy, President, Alternative and Late Night Programming, NBC Entertainment. "The caliber of talent joining us to celebrate Jimmy's accomplishments is a testament to his imprint in television history."
According to AV Club, James Burrows started his career way back 1974 with "The Mary Tyler Moore Show." Since then the seasoned director never stopped producing and directing other shows. Burrows has a wide range of work portfolio, being involved in many sitcoms and shows, he became a part of "Will and Grace," "Taxi," "Friends," "Frasier," "Cheers" and more than 50 pilot episodes which included the "Big Bang Theory" and "Two and A Half Men."
The James Burrows tribute special aired on NBC last February 21 which lasted for two hours. The special episode featured reunions for most of the casts of shows he directed, most notably "Friends."
Classic Television fans surely enjoyed the tribute for the skillful director, but a Yahoo! report noted some negative thoughts while watching the episode. In its report, the writer said that the "laugh-less" two-hour special didn't give the director the honor he deserves. The report also pointed out the manner of hosting the hosts employed during the tribute, not being able to pull out enough jokes from all of the actors present during the show and the production it perceived as poorly and choppily edited.
