James Burrows, legendary sitcom director behind 'Friends' and 'Cheers,' dies at 85

James Burrows, the most decorated director in American sitcom history, died on Friday at age 85. He was behind the launch of some of TV comedy’s biggest titles, including Friends, Cheers, The Big Bang Theory, Will & Grace, Frasier, Taxi and Two and a Half Men, and had won 11 Emmy Awards over his career.

Burrows began in television in 1974 after running a small movie theater in San Diego, California. He first worked on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, then directed many episodes of other sitcoms, including The Bob Newhart Show and Laverne & Shirley. He also helped set the tone and shape the casts of several major series across the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.

His credits include pilot episodes for Friends, Taxi, Cheers, Frasier, Will & Grace, The Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men, Perfect Strangers and Mike & Molly. He directed 246 episodes of Will & Grace, including the revival episodes that returned in 2017 after an 11-year break, 236 episodes of Cheers, 75 episodes of Taxi, 49 episodes of Mike & Molly, 36 episodes of Frasier, including its sequel series, and 15 episodes of Friends. In 2015, he marked his 1,000th TV directing credit.

His agent, Rick Rosen, said, “Jimmy was the greatest comedy director in the history of the medium.” Burrows also served as an executive producer on some of these shows and others. In 2025, he produced and directed Mid-Century Modern, a gay version of The Golden Girls, which brought him his 28th Emmy directing nomination at age 84 and his 47th nomination overall. He was last seen in a recurring guest role on the third season of The Comeback, reuniting with Friends star Lisa Kudrow, where he played a fictional version of himself directing a pilot written by artificial intelligence and later argues that AI cannot create truly great television.