The Late Great Bob Schiller

Television writer Bob Schiller, who with his creative partner Bob Weiskopf, worked on some of the greatest sitcoms of all time, died on October 10 2017 at the age of 98.

Bob Schiller was born on November 8 1918 in San Francisco, California. He attended the University of California, Los Angeles, where he wrote a humour column for the university's paper, the Daily Bruin . He enlisted in the United States Army in 1940, where he was a humour columnist for Stars and Stripes. He also produced comedy variety shows for the troops. In 1945 he went to work on the radio show Duffy's Tavern. He remained there for four seasons. He also worked on such radio shows as  The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, Abbott and Costello, The Mel Blanc Show, The Jimmy Durante Show, and December Bride. It was in 1950 that he made the transition to television, writing for The Garry Moore Show.

The Fifties saw Mr. Schiller complete his transition from radio to television. He wrote for such shows as The Red Buttons Show, The Colgate Comedy Hour, and All Star Revue. It was in 1953 that he formed his professional partnership with Bob Weiskopf. Together in the Fifties they worked on such shows as That's My Boy, The Jimmy Durante Show, December Bride, Professional Father, The Bob Cummings Show, I Love Lucy, and The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour. The two of them served as story consultants on The Ann Southern Show.

In the Sixties Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf developed the classic sitcom The Lucy Show and also wrote several of its episodes. They served as producers on the sitcom The Good Guys. They wrote for such shows as Pete and Gladys; The Red Skelton Hour; The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show; Love, American Style; The Carol Burnett Show; and The Flip Wilson Show.

In the Seventies Messrs. Schiller and Weiskopf served as producers on the sitcoms Maude and All's Fair. They wrote episodes of the shows Maude, All in the Family, and Archie Bunker's Place. In the Eighties they wrote episode of the shows Checking In, Sanford, Comedy Factory, He's the Mayor, and The Boys, as well as the pilot W*A*L*T*E*R.

Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf were two of the greatest television comedy writers of all time. They were equally at ease writing for sitcoms and for variety shows. They were responsible for some of the best television episodes ever made, including "Lucy's Italian Movie" on I Love Lucy (in which Lucy stomps grapes), "Uncle Paul's Insurance" on Pete and Gladys (in which Pete is afraid to ask Uncle Paul to get him insurance), and "Edith's 50th Birthday" on All in the Family (for which they won an Emmy). What made Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf so great as comedy writers is that they could write both slapstick and both verbal humour. Indeed, in their prestigious career they worked on shows that emphasised physical humour (I Love Lucy and The Lucy Show) and shows that relied more on verbal humour (All in the Family). Few writers produced as much quality television as they did.