James Edward Burrows (December 30, 1940) is an American director, producer, and writer, who has worked almost entirely in television.
Brooks got his start in the mid-1970s and immediately got work on some of the most popular shows of the era, directing eleven episodes of The Bob Newhart Show, and eight episodes of Laverne & Shirley. He became the main director for the critically-acclaimed series Taxi, directing about 3/5 of the episodes over the show's four-year run. Brooks followed that up by being a co-creator of one of the most popular sitcoms in American television history, Cheers. He directed about 7/8 of the episodes of Cheers over the 11 years that it was on the air, 1982-93. Burrows occasionally directed episodes of hugely popular 1990s sitcoms like Friends and the Cheers spinoff Frasier. In 1998 Brooks became the director of Will & Grace. He was the only director the show ever had over 246 episodes, including both the 1998-2006 original run and the 2017-2020 revival.
He was married to Linda Solomon, currently married to Debbie Easton and has three daughters and one stepdaughter.
- Phyllis (19 episodes)
- The Mary Tyler Moore Show (4 episodes)
- The Bob Newhart Show (11 episodes)
- The Tony Randall Show (4 episodes)
- Lavern And Shirley (8 episodes)
- Szysznyk (1 episode)
- Lou Grant (1 episode)
- The Betty White Show (2 episodes)
- Rhoda (4 episodes)
- A New Kind Of Family (1 episode)
- The Associates (4 episodes)
- The Stockard Channing Show (2 episodes)
- Best Of The West (3 episodes)
- Partners (1982)
- Taxi (75 episodes)
- Night Court (1 episode)
- The Hogan Family (1 episode)
- All Is Forgiven (2 episodes)
- The Tortellis (1 episode)
- Dear John (2 episodes)
- The Magical World Of Disney (1 episode)
- Wings (1 episode)
- Pacific Station (1 episode)
- Flying Blind (1 episode)
- Cheers (237 episodes)
- Café Americain (3 episodes)
- Monty (1 episode)
- Madman Of The People (2 episodes)
- The Preston Episodes (1 episode)
- Hudson Street (1 episode)
- Partners 1995 (10 episodes)
- NewsRadio (7 episodes)
- 3rd Rock from the Sun (2 episodes)
- Pearl (2 episodes)
- Frasier (32 episodes)
- Men Behaving Badly (7 episodes)
- Chicago Sons (3 episodes)
- Union Square (3 episodes)
- Veronica's Closet (1 episode)
- Fired Up (5 episodes)
- George & Leo (3 episodes)
- Caroline in the City (21 episodes)
- Dharma & Greg (2 episodes)
- Friends (15 episodes)
- Jesse (1 episode)
- Conrad Bloom (2 episodes)
- The Weber Show (2 episodes)
- Good Morning Miami (1 episode)
- Four Kings (1 episode)
- Teachers (1 episode)
- Two and a Half Men (2 episodes)
- Courting Alex (1 episode)
- The Class (2006)
- The Big Bang Theory (2 episodes)
- Back To You (17 episodes)
- Gary Unmarried (36 episodes)
- Better with You (1 episode)
- $#!+ My Dad Says (1 episode)
- Up All Night (1 episode)
- Romantically Challenged (5 episodes)
- Partners (12 episodes)
- Sean Saves The World (2 episodes)
- Friends With Better Lives (1 episode)
- The Millers (32 episodes)
- 2 Broke Girls (4 episodes)
- Mike & Molly (49 episodes)
- Crowded (9 episodes)
- Man with a Plan (9 episodes)
- Superior Donuts (8 episodes)
- Disjointed (2 episodes)
- The Neighborhood (1 episode)
- Will & Grace (246 episodes)(all of them)
- All Is Forgiven
- Cheers
- The Class (2006)
- Back To You
- Gary Unmarried
- Romantically Challenged
- Mike & Molly (2010-2012)
- Partners
- The Millers
- Crowded
- Man with a Plan
- Superior Donuts (2 episodes)
- Brothered Up (TV Movie)
- Will & Grace (1999-2020)
- Rhoda as Agent (1 episode)
- Phyllis as Telephone Man (1 episode)
- The Bob Newhart Show as Maintenance Man (1 episode)
- Cheers as Contest Judge/Man Standing in the Bar (2 episodes)
- Friends as Director (1 episode)
- The Comeback as Jimmy Burrows (5 episodes)
- Will & Grace as customer at 'Queens' (1 episode)
