Greg Daniels

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Greg Daniels
Born Gregory Martin Daniels
June 13, 1963 (1963-06-13) (age 48)
West Hollywood, California
Occupation Screenwriter
Television producer
Nationality American
Period 1987–present
Genres Comedy
Notable work(s) Not Necessarily the News
Saturday Night Live
King of the Hill
The Office (U.S. TV series)
Parks and Recreation
The Simpsons
Notable award(s)
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour)
Spouse(s) Susanne Daniels
Relative(s) Paul Lieberstein

Gregory Martin "Greg" Daniels (born June 13, 1963) is an American television comedy writer, producer, and director. He is known for his work on several television series, Saturday Night Live, The Simpsons, King of the Hill and The Office, with all four shows being named among James Poniewozik's All Time 100 TV Shows.[1] Daniels attended Harvard University and he became friends with Conan O'Brien. Their first writing credit was for Not Necessarily the News, before they were fired due to budget cuts. He eventually became a writer for two long-running series: Saturday Night Live and The Simpsons.

He joined the writing staff of The Simpsons during the fifth season, and he wrote several classic episodes including "Lisa's Wedding", "Bart Sells His Soul" and "22 Short Films About Springfield". He left the series in order to co-create another long-running animated series, King of the Hill with Mike Judge. The series ran for thirteen years before it was cancelled in 2009. During the series run, he worked on several other series including: The Office and Parks and Recreation. The two shows have received critical acclaim. He is currently working on both of those shows and is developing two animated series and another British adaption for NBC.

Contents

[edit] Life and career

[edit] Early life and work

Daniels said he became interested in comedy by watching Monty Python's Flying Circus as a child, as well as by reading books by humorist S. J. Perelman at age 11.[2] His first joke was a Carnac the Entertainer joke for his father which was later used for The Office episode, "The Dundies".[3] Daniels attended Phillips Exeter Academy and then Harvard University where he wrote for the Harvard Lampoon with Conan O'Brien.[4] After graduating, the two accepted a job at Not Necessarily the News, but they were soon fired due to budget cuts.[4] The two later met Lorne Michaels in the late 1980's and they were given a three week try-out in the Saturday Night Live writing staff.[4] Daniels would write for the series for three years while O'Brien would stay on for four.

[edit] The Simpsons and King of the Hill

Greg then joined the writing staff of The Simpsons. He was hired in the fifth season following the departures of many of the original writers from the previous season.[5] In the fifth season, Daniels penned "The Devil and Homer Simpson" segment of "Treehouse of Horror IV", "Homer and Apu" and "Secrets of a Successful Marriage". Daniels received an Emmy nomination in the "Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music and Lyrics" category for the song "Who Needs The Kwik-E-Mart?" from "Homer and Apu".[6] For season six, he wrote "Time and Punishment" segment from "Treehouse of Horror V", "Homer Badman" and "Lisa's Wedding". The latter episode received critical acclaim and is one of James L. Brooks favorite episodes of the series.[7] The episode became the third of the series to win a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program.[6] In the seventh season, Daniels wrote "Bart Sells His Soul", which was based off a childhood experience.[8] His final credit for the series was for "22 Short Films About Springfield" which he served as supervising writer along side show runner Josh Weinstein. They were giving the responsibility of linking all the stories together.[9]

Daniels left The Simpsons to work on King of the Hill alongside Mike Judge.[10] Daniels rewrote the pilot script and created several important characters that did not appear in Judge's first draft (including Luanne and Cotton), as well as some characterization ideas (e.g., making Dale Gribble a conspiracy theorist).[11] Daniels also took the writers to Texas to do some research with reporter notebooks, a process he would use for The Office and Parks and Recreation.[12] Judge was ultimately so pleased with Daniels' contributions that he chose to credit him as a co-creator, rather than give him the "developer" credit usually reserved for individuals brought on to a pilot written by someone else.[11] During the fifth and sixth seasons, Judge and Daniels became less involved with the show.[11] They eventually focused on the show again, though Daniels steadily became more involved with other projects.[11]

[edit] The Office and other work

In 2005, Daniels adapted the popular BBC mockumentary series The Office for American audiences. The series premiered to low ratings and negative reviews,[13][14] so the writers worked to make it more "optimistic" and make the lead character, Michael Scott, more likable.[15] The second season was better received and it was named the second best TV series of 2006 by James Poniewozik, writing that "Producer Greg Daniels created not a copy but an interpretation that sends up distinctly American work conventions [...] with a tone that's more satiric and less mordant. [...] The new boss is different from the old boss, and that's fine by me".[16] He gave the acceptance speech at the 58th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards when the American version of The Office won the award for Outstanding Comedy Series and he received for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series at 59th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards.[17][18] Daniels was the recipient of the 2008 Outstanding Television Writer Award at the Austin Film Festival.

Following the success of The Office, Ben Silverman asked Daniels to create a spin-off for the series.[19] After considering several ideas, Daniels and co-creator, Michael Schur eventually decided that the series would not be a spin off because "couldn't find the right fit".[20][19] After Amy Poehler agreed to play the lead, they decided the show would revolve around an optimistic bureaucrat in small-town government.[20] The premise of Parks and Recreation was partly inspired by the portrayal of local politics on the HBO drama series The Wire, as well as the renewed interest in and optimism about politics stemming from the 2008 United States presidential election.[21] The series received negative reviews much like The Office in the first season while later seasons would receive critical acclaim.[22][23] He currently splits his time between The Office and Parks and Rec.[24] Daniels recently made a deal with NBC to produce several series for Universal Television.[25] He is teaming with Mindy Kaling and Alan Yang to work on two differing animated series for NBC.[25] He is also adapting the British series, Friday Night Dinner, for American audiences.[25]

[edit] Work

[edit] Credits

[edit] Reception

Daniels work has received mainly positive reception. Out of the six TV series that Daniels has worked on, four of them: Saturday Night Live, The Simpsons, King of the Hill and The Office were named among Time reviewer James Poniewozik's All Time 100 TV Shows.[1] His work on The Simpsons has received acclaim from critics and fans. He was voted the second best writer on the series in a poll on the fansite NoHomers.net.[26] He was only voted behind John Swartzwelder.[26] Two of his episodes: "Bart Sells His Soul" and "22 Short Films About Springfield" were listed among the shows creative team's top five episodes in 2003.[27][28] Series creator Matt Groening and executive producer James L. Brooks have named his episodes among their favorites.[29][7] Other staff members and several critics have praised his work.[30][31][32] His other animated series and his first credit as a creator, King of the Hill has received positive reviews as well. IGN named it the 27th best animated television series and it mainly complemented the series for its subtle character humor.[33] The series currently ranks as the third longest running animated television series after The Simpsons and South Park.

His next television series, The Office ranks as the highest rated NBC series.[34] The series was initially met with mixed reviews. Starting with the second season, the series received better reviews and has also been put on several top series lists by many publications including Time,[16][35][1] BuddyTV,[36] Metacritic, [37] The Washington Post,[38] and Paste.[39] His writing credits for the series are often considered the best of the series.[40][41][42][43] Despite, its early acclaim, later seasons have received a criticism for a dip in quality.[44][45][46] Daniel's most recent series, Parks and Recreation was initially met with negative reviews much like The Office. According to a March 18, 2009, report that was leaked to television journalist Nikki Finke, focus groups responded poorly to a rough-cut version of the pilot.[47] Many critics said the series was too similar to The Office.[21][48][49][50][51] The following seasons received better reviews and it was called "the smartest comedy on TV" by Entertainment Weekly.[52]

[edit] Awards

Daniels has received several awards and nominations. He has been nominated for twelve Emmys and has won three. Those wins are for: Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program for the Simpsons episode, "Lisa's Wedding", Outstanding Comedy Series for The Office and Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for The Office episode "Gay Witch Hunt".[6]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Poniewozik, James (May 6, 2005). "The Office (American)". Time (Time Warner). http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1651341_1659196_1652621,00.html. Retrieved December 27, 2011. 
  2. ^ Martin, Denise (2009-11-18). "Making bureaucracy work: How NBC's "Parks and Recreation" overcame bad buzz". Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, California). http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2009/11/parks-and-recreation.html. Retrieved 2009-12-06. 
  3. ^ "Writing 'The Office'". Fresh Air. NPR. November 2, 2006. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6422523. Retrieved December 26, 2011. 
  4. ^ a b c Stated on Inside the Actors Studio by Conan O'Brien, 2009
  5. ^ Mirkin, David (2004). The Simpsons season 5 DVD commentary for the episode "Burns' Heir" (DVD). 20th Century Fox. 
  6. ^ a b c "Primetime Emmy Awards Advanced Search". Emmys.org. http://www.emmys.org/awards/awardsearch.php. Retrieved 2008-04-06. 
  7. ^ a b Brooks, James L. (2005). The Simpsons season 6 DVD commentary for the episode "Lisa's Wedding" (DVD). 20th Century Fox. 
  8. ^ Weinstein, Josh (2005). The Simpsons season 7 DVD commentary for the episode "Bart Sells His Soul" (DVD). 20th Century Fox. 
  9. ^ Reardon, Jim (2006). The Simpsons The Complete Seventh Season DVD commentary for the episode "22 Short Films About Springfield" (DVD). 20th Century Fox. 
  10. ^ "Milestone: 'King of the Hill'". hollywoodreporter.com. May 11, 2006. Archived from the original on 2007-10-08. http://web.archive.org/web/20071008120722/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002501636. Retrieved 2009-03-30. 
  11. ^ a b c d "A Brief History of King of the Hill". macleans.ca. October 31, 2008. http://www2.macleans.ca/2008/10/31/a-brief-history-of-king-of-the-hill/. Retrieved 2009-03-30. 
  12. ^ "Greg Daniels, Part II: Long Skinny Notebooks, and The Five-To-One". heywriterboy.blogspot.com. June 21, 2007. http://heywriterboy.blogspot.com/2007/06/greg-daniels-part-ii-notebooks-and-five.html. Retrieved November 13, 2011. 
  13. ^ Wollaston, Sam. You just can't get the staff. Guardian Unlimited, 2005-06-15. Retrieved on 2008-04-12.
  14. ^ Timms, Dominic. U.S. version of The Office scores ratings victory. Guardian Unlimited, 2005-03-29. Retrieved on 2008-04-12.
  15. ^ Novak, B.J. (Writer). 2006. "The Dundies" [Commentary track], The Office Season Two (US/NBC Version) [DVD], Los Angeles, CA: Universal.
  16. ^ a b Poniewozik, James. "Best of 2005: Television." Time, 2005-12-06. Retrieved on 2008-04-12.
  17. ^ Greg Daniels NBC, retrieved January 29, 2008
  18. ^ The 58th Primetime Emmy Awards and Creative Arts Emmys Nominations The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, retrieved June 22, 2008
  19. ^ a b Leitch, Will (April 5, 2009). "The Poehler Effect". New York. Archived from the original on November 14, 2010. http://www.webcitation.org/5ujwiB3Tt. Retrieved January 1, 2010. 
  20. ^ a b Itzkoff, Dave (March 26, 2009). "It’s Not ‘The Office.’ The Boss Is a Woman.". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 14, 2010. http://www.webcitation.org/5zS1hnNty. Retrieved April 11, 2009. 
  21. ^ a b Martin, Denise (November 18, 2009). "Making bureaucracy work: How NBC's "Parks and Recreation" overcame bad buzz". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on November 14, 2010. http://www.webcitation.org/5uFR0tSJe. Retrieved December 6, 2009. 
  22. ^ Ausiello, Michael (October 25, 2009). "Fall's best and worst: "Modern Family," "Parks and Recreation," "90210," "SNL," and more!". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on November 14, 2010. http://www.webcitation.org/5uFSBkGWV. Retrieved January 1, 2010. 
  23. ^ Havrilesky, Heather (November 4, 2009). "When did "Parks and Recreation" get so funny?". Salon.com. Archived from the original on November 14, 2010. http://www.webcitation.org/5uFSFFFKb. Retrieved January 1, 2010. 
  24. ^ Sepinwall, Alan (September 29, 2011). "How a Parks and Recreation pitch becomes a joke, part 1: Inside the writers room". HitFix. http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/whats-alan-watching/posts/how-a-parks-and-recreation-pitch-becomes-a-joke-part-1. Retrieved November 6, 2011. 
  25. ^ a b c Andreeva, Nellie (December 7, 2011). "Greg Daniels Teams With Mindy Kaling & Alan Yang For Animated Projects At NBC". Deadline.com. http://www.deadline.com/2011/12/greg-daniels-teams-with-mindy-kaling-alan-yang-for-animated-projects-at-nbc/. Retrieved December 24, 2011. 
  26. ^ a b http://www.nohomers.net/poll.php?do=showresults&pollid=6850
  27. ^ McMullen, Marion (April 19, 2003). "WEEKEND: WEEKEND TV: Woo-hoo! - 300 and not out — The Simpsons Creative Team's Top Five Episodes". Coventry Evening Telegraph. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-100387513.html. Retrieved 2009-04-02.  (archived at HighBeam Research)
  28. ^ Mayer, Cathy (April 19, 2003). "There's no business like Doh! business". The Birmingham Post. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-100387000.html. Retrieved 2009-04-02.  (archived at HighBeam Research)
  29. ^ Porter, Rick (Zap2it.com) (April 28, 2005). "Groening ponders the future of 'The Simpsons'". Southern Illinoisan: p. 7C. 
  30. ^ Oakes, Keily (July 30, 2004). "Voice of Bart Simpson steps into limelight". BBC. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3939359.stm. Retrieved 2009-04-04. 
  31. ^ Patrick Enwright (2007-07-31). "D’Oh! The top 10 ‘Simpsons’ episodes ever". MSNBC. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19916798/. Retrieved 2007-10-08. 
  32. ^ Snierson, Dan. "Best in D'oh". Entertainment Weekly. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,1176431,00.html. Retrieved 2008-11-18. 
  33. ^ "IGN - 27. King of the Hill". IGN. http://tv.ign.com/top-100-animated-tv-series/27.html. Retrieved December 28, 2011. 
  34. ^ "The Office: Ratings for the 2011-12 TV Season". TV Series Finale. November 19, 2011. http://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/the-office-ratings-2011-2012/. Retrieved November 27, 2011. 
  35. ^ Poniewozik, James. Top 10 Returning TV Series. Time. Retrieved on 2008-04-12.
  36. ^ "Top Ten Comedies on TV: #1 The Office". BuddyTV. December 3, 2006. http://www.buddytv.com/articles/the-office/top-ten-comedies-on-tv-1-the-o-2569.aspx. Retrieved November 7, 2011. 
  37. ^ "The Best TV Shows of 2009 ... and the Decade". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/feature/best-tv-of-2009-and-the-decade. Retrieved November 8, 2011. 
  38. ^ Struever, Hank. "Hank Stuever’s 10 best (and 1 worst) TV shows of 2011". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/hank-stuevers-10-best-and-1-worst-tv-shows-of-2011/2011/12/07/gIQAEIGtfO_gallery.html#photo=1. Retrieved December 11, 2011. 
  39. ^ Jackson, Josh (April 29, 2010). "The 10 Best Sitcoms on TV Right Now". Paste. http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2010/04/the-10-best-sitcoms-on-tv-right-now.html?p=5. Retrieved November 29, 2011. 
  40. ^ White, Cindy (April 29, 2011). "The Office: "Goodbye, Michael" Review". IGN. http://tv.ign.com/articles/116/1165168p1.html. Retrieved April 29, 2011. 
  41. ^ McNutt, Myles (April 28, 2011). "Goodbye, Michael". The A.V. Club. http://www.avclub.com/articles/goodbye-michael,55159/. Retrieved November 7, 2011. 
  42. ^ "The Office All-Time Fan Favorite Poll, 2011". OfficeTally. September 24, 2011. http://www.officetally.com/the-office-all-time-fan-favorite-poll-2011. Retrieved November 7, 2011. 
  43. ^ By BuddyTV. "BuddyTV Slideshow | TV's 50 Best Episodes of 2009". Buddytv.com. http://www.buddytv.com/slideshows/modern-family/tvs-50-best-episodes-of-2009-30425.aspx. Retrieved December 14, 2011. 
  44. ^ McNutt, Myles (September 3, 2011). "Doomsday". The A.V. Club. http://www.avclub.com/articles/doomsday,64378/. Retrieved November 4, 2011. 
  45. ^ Sepinwall, Alan (September 10, 2011). "Review: The Office struggles to find its center post-Steve Carell". HitFix. http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/whats-alan-watching/posts/review-the-office-struggles-to-find-its-center-post-steve-carell. Retrieved September 10, 2011. 
  46. ^ Paskin, Willa (December 5, 2011). "TV’s Ten Most Annoying Characters - Vulture". New York. http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2011/12/tvs-ten-most-annoying-characters.html#photo=4x00002. Retrieved December 7, 2011. 
  47. ^ Finke, Nikki (March 25, 2009). "NBC's Bad Sitcom, Lionsgate's Badass Battle and Iatse's Badly Handled Contract". LA Weekly. Archived from the original on December 29, 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/5uFT1PTCq. Retrieved April 11, 2009. 
  48. ^ Sepinwall, Alan (April 9, 2009). ""Parks and Recreation" review – Sepinwall on TV". The Star-Ledger. Archived from the original on December 29, 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/5uFRfdSod. Retrieved April 11, 2009. 
  49. ^ Stasi, Linda (April 9, 2009). "Raiders of the Lost 'Park': Amy Poehler quit "SNL" for "Parks and Recreation"". New York Post. Archived from the original on December 29, 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/5uFT48U0y. Retrieved April 11, 2009. 
  50. ^ Tobias, Scott (April 23, 2009). "Parks and Recreation: Season 1: Episode 3: "The Reporter"". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on December 29, 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/5uFSK5CG5. Retrieved April 26, 2009. 
  51. ^ Bianco, Robert (April 8, 2009). ""Parks" is like a bad day at "The Office," even with likable Poehler". USA Today. Archived from the original on December 29, 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/5uFSNbik7. Retrieved April 11, 2009. 
  52. ^ Snierson, Dan (February 10, 2001). "This week's cover: 101 Reasons to Love 'Parks and Recreation'". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on June 19, 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/5zZcJAkmX. Retrieved February 13, 2011. 

[edit] External links

Alex Reid (2001) · Larry Wilmore (2002) · Tucker Cawley (2003) · Mitchell Hurwitz (2004) · Mitchell Hurwitz / Jim Vallely (2005) · Greg Garcia (2006) · Greg Daniels (2007) · Tina Fey (2008) · Matt Hubbard (2009) · Steven Levitan / Christopher Lloyd (2010) · Steven Levitan / Jeffrey Richman (2011)
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