James Burrows was born on December 30, 1940 in Los Angeles. His father was composer, director, and writer Abe Burrows. He was fairly young when his family moved to the West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Given his father's profession, as a boy, he got to spend time backstage of such Broadway shows as Guys and Dolls and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. In grade school, he was a member of the Metropolitan Boy's Choir. He attended the High School of Music & Art. He attended Oberlin College and then the Yale School of Drama.
After college, James Burrows moved to California where he became a dialogue coach on the short-lived sitcom O.K. Crackerby. He then worked as an assistant manager on Holly Golightly, a musical version of Breakfast at Tiffany's, during its pre-Broadway tryouts. While the musical was scrapped before making it to Broadway, James Burrows did get to meet its star, Mary Tyler Moore.
It was meeting to Mary Tyler Moore that would lead to James Burrows's first work as a television director, directing episodes of The Mary Tyler Moore Show in 1974. In the Seventies, he also directed episodes of Fay; Phyllis; The Bob Newhart Show; The Tony Randall Show; Laverne & Shirley; Busting Loose; Szysznyk; Lou Grant; We've Got Each Other; The Betty White Show; Rhoda, On Our Own; Husbands, Wives & Lovers; Free Country; A New Kind of Family; The Associates; The Stockard Channing Show; and Good Time Harry.
It was in the 1980s that James Burrows co-created Cheers with Glen and Les Charles, and co-created its spinoff The Tortellis with Glen and Les Charles and Ken Estin. He directed the vast majority of the 275 episodes of Cheers, as well as episodes of the shows Best of the West; Taxi; Night Court; Valerie; All is Forgiven; The Tortellis; CBS Summer Playhouse; Dear John; The Marshall Chronicles; Wings; Down Home; and The Fanelli Boys,
He continued working on Cheers into the early Nineties. In 1998, he began work on Will & Grace and directed every episode of the show's original run. He also directed episodes of the shows Roc; Pacific Station; Flesh 'n' Blood; Flying Blind; Cafe Americain; Monty; The Boys Are Back; Madman of the People; The Preston Episodes; Hudson Street; Partners; NewsRadio; 3rd Rock from the Sun; Frasier; Men Behaving Badly; Chicago Sons; Fired Up; Veronica's Closet; George & Leo; Caroline in the City; Union Square; Dharma & Greg; Friends; Jesse; Conrad Bloom; The Secret Lives of Men; In the Loop; Stark Raving Mad; Madigan Men; and Cursed.
In the Naughts, James Burrows continued work on Will & Grace. He also directed episodes of the shows Cursed; Good Morning, Miami; Bram and Alice; The Stones; Four Kings; Teachers; Two and a Half Men; Courting Alex; The Class; The Big Bang Theory; Back to You; Gary Unmarried; Better with You; and S#*! My Dad Says,
In the Teens, James Burrows directed episodes of Up All Night; Partners; Sean Saves the World; Friends with Better Lives; The Millers; 2 Broke Girls; Mike & Molly; Crowded; Man with a Plan; Superior Donuts; Disjointed; The Neighborhood;Our House; B Positive; and Romantically Challenged. In the 2020s, he directed episodes of Mid-Century Modern and the revival of Frasier.
While James Burrows directed hundreds of hours of television, he only directed on feature film, Partners in 1982.
James Burrows also served as a producer on several shows, including All is Forgiven; Cheers; The Tortellis; The Secret Lives of Men; The Class; Back to You; Gary Unmarried; Romantically Challenged; Mike & Molly; Partners; The Millers; Crowded; Superior Donuts; Man with a Plan; Will & Grace; and Mid-Century Modern.
James Burrows occasionally made cameos on shows. He was an agent on Rhoda, a telephone man on Phyllis, a maintenance man on The Bob Newhart Show, a director on Friends, and James Burrows on Will & Grace and The Comeback.
Over the years, James Burrows was nominated for several awards. He won Emmy Awards for episodes of Taxi, Cheers, and Will & Grace.. He also won Directors Guild of America awards for Cheers, Frasier, and Will & Grace.
James Burrows was definitely one of the greatest directors of all time. Even though the majority of his work was in multi-camera sitcoms, he used lighting that was a bit more advanced than that of the average sitcom. He was also a genius when it came to comic timing, able to milk the most out of the humor already in a script and in the performances of his actors. Indeed, more so than other directors, he concentrated on the characters, emphasizing the dialogue and using often complicated blocking. James Burrows could often get the best out of his performers, and it is little wonder that many of the episodes he directed are considered among the greatest television episodes of all time.
