Episode #11 - "Interview With Michael J. Weithorn"

Art and Vinnie talk to Art's Swarthmore College buddy, Michael J. Weithorn about his incredible thirty plus years as one of Hollywood's top sitcom writers. \

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Michael J. Weithorn has over thirty-five years of experience as a television comedy writer, executive producer and series creator, most notably having co-created and EP’d the CBS show “The King of Queens” from 1998 – 2007. Prior to that Weithorn created and executive produced the FOX sitcom “Ned & Stacey,” which ran for two seasons from 1995-97. With Ralph Farquhar, Weithorn created and executive produced “South Central,” an edgy, dramatic half-hour which aired to great acclaim on FOX in the spring of 1994. Additionally, Weithorn served as Creator and Executive Producer of the FOX sitcom “True Colors” from 1990-92 and as Creator and Executive Producer of the ABC series “The Pursuit of Happiness” in 1987.

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Weithorn’s free-lance writing credits include multiple sketches for “The Tracey Ullman Show”, an episode of “The Wonder Years,” (for which he earned an Emmy nomination in 1989), and an episode of “Cheers” (for which he won the 1984 Writers Guild of America Award).  From 1982-86, Weithorn spent four years as head writer and producer on the hit NBC series “Family Ties.” He received three Emmy Award nominations for producing and another Emmy nomination for writing the two-part 1985-86 season premiere, “The Real Thing”.

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In the animation realm, Weithorn co-created the web series about two lovable testicles,  “Baxter and McGuire” for Comedy Central’s Mother Lode, which was nominated for an Internet Emmy award in 2007.

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In 2010, Weithorn wrote and directed the indie feature, “A Little Help” starring Jenna Fischer and Chris O’Donnell, released theatrically in the summer of 2011 after winning Best Feature in several notable film festivals.

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In 2013, Weithorn directed and co-produced (with Rob Benedict) the short film “The Sidekick”, starring Benedict, Ron Livingston, Lizzy Caplan, Martin Starr and Jordan Peele. The film debuted to great acclaim at the 2013 Comic Con convention, and was released digitally by FilmBuff in 2014.

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During the 2013-14 television season, Weithorn served as Consulting Producer for the ABC series, “The Goldbergs”, writing two episodes.  In the 2014-15 season, Weithorn created and executive produced the Fox comedy series, “Weird Loners.”