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Michael J. Weithorn

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Michael J. Weithorn
Born (1956-12-17) December 17, 1956 (age 67)
Queens, New York, United States
Occupation(s)Writer, director, producer

Michael J. Weithorn (born December 17, 1956 in Queens, New York) is an American writer, director, and producer known for his works including the long-running series The King of Queens.

Career

Michael J. Weithorn is a native of Queens, New York and graduated from Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania in 1978[1] with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science.[2] After moving to Los Angeles in 1978 and teaching high school for three years, Weithorn's first major writing opportunity was an episode of the television series Benson in 1981. In 1982 he passed up an opportunity to become part of the original writing staff of Late Night With David Letterman to work with producer Gary David Goldberg on Goldberg's new series Family Ties. From 1982 to 1986 Weithorn was a story consultant and then producer on 102 episodes of Family Ties, writing 26 of the episodes during his tenure on the show. During that same time, he also wrote episodes for other TV shows, including Cheers.

He began creating TV series of his own after leaving Family Ties in 1986, including The Pursuit of Happiness (1987), True Colors (1990-1992), South Central (1994) and Ned and Stacey (1995-1997).

In 1998, he created The King of Queens with David Litt. The show ran until 2007, when Weithorn wrote the finale hour-long episode, "China Syndrome".

In 2006, he co-created (with Nick Bakay) the Comedy Central animated web series The Adventures of Baxter and McGuire, an episode of which was also shown at the Sundance Film Festival.

In 2010 he wrote and directed the feature film, A Little Help, starring Jenna Fischer, Chris O'Donnell and Rob Benedict.[3]

In 2015, Weithorn created and Executive Produced the short-lived Fox midseason sitcom, Weird Loners, starring Becki Newton and Zachary Knighton.

Awards

Weithorn has been recognized several times for his work, including 5 Emmy nominations. In 1984 he was nominated for an Emmy for his work on Family Ties along with the show's other producers. One year later he was nominated again for Family Ties, both times in the Category of Outstanding Comedy Series. In 1986 he was nominated for two Emmys for Family Ties, one for producing and the other for Outstanding Writing In A Comedy Series. In 1989 he was nominated for another writing Emmy for his work on the TV series The Wonder Years. In 2007 he was nominated for a Daytime Emmy for Best Outstanding Broadband Program- Comedy for The Adventures of Baxter and McGuire. In 2010, his film A Little Help was the winner of best feature at several major film festivals.

He won a Writer's Guild of America award in 1985 for his work on an episode of Cheers.[4]

Background

Weithorn was part of group of friends that met at Swarthmore College and came out west to be part of the entertainment industry: Neal Marlens and Carol Black (The Wonder Years, Growing Pains) and the late film producer Robert Newmyer (Sex, Lies, and Videotape, Training Day).[5]

References

  1. ^ "Straight Time (payment required)". nytimes.com. 1978-06-10. Retrieved 2013-02-04.
  2. ^ "The King of Queens - Official Site - About the Show". thekingofqueens.com. Retrieved 2013-02-04.
  3. ^ Fretts, Bruce (2007-05-14). "The Secrets to the King of Queens' Long Reign". tvguide.com. Retrieved 2013-02-04.
  4. ^ "Michael J. Weithorn Awards". Internet Movie Database.
  5. ^ Amon, Rhoda (1986-09-28). "PROFILE Two young Long Islanders, Michael J. Weithorn from Port Washington and Neal Marlens from Huntington, friends since college, went to Hollywood, and, against all the odds, made a phenomenal success writing TV sitcoms. Now, they're laughing all the way to the bank Local Boys Make Funny". newsday.com. Retrieved 2013-02-04.
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