Director James Burrows, 84, Says the Industry “Is Trying to Retire Me”

When you’ve received an Emmy nomination every year since 1980 — except for two, 1997 and 2004 — you’d think you’d come to expect them, but that’s not the case for James Burrows. 

“It feels weird,” Burrows, 84, says of his latest nomination, for directing Mid-Century Modern’s “Here’s to You, Mrs. Schneiderman” episode, filmed following the death of its star, Linda Lavin, on Dec. 29, 2024. At the time of her passing, production was underway on the premiere season of the Max Mutchnick and David Kohan Hulu series about three middle-aged gay men (Nathan Lane, Matt Bomer and Nathan Lee Graham) who live together. Lavin portrayed Lane’s mother, Sybil Schneiderman.

What’s odd to Burrows, who’s earned 11 Emmys among 47 nominations (28 specifically in the category of outstanding directing for a comedy series) for his work on classic sitcoms such as Taxi, Cheers, Friends, Frasier and Will & Grace, is the recognition for what the self-professed “theater rat” — he’s the son of famed Broadway director Abe Burrows — considers a dying art form: multicamera comedies.

“What this particular form is, is theater. I film a play,” says Burrows. “Camera moves are not exotic. There’s no Scorsese in them at all. I’ve been doing that for 50 years, and it’s not what the comedy form is anymore. I’m among all these one-camera shows where there’s a lot of cinematic effort, so I was shocked that my name was there.”

Here, Burrows, who’s also an executive producer along with Ryan Murphy, remembers Lavin and how he and the Mid-Century Modern crew honored her memory in the show.

With all the TV series you’ve done, what was the draw of Mid-Century Modern for you?

An old shoe. I did 246 episodes of Will & Grace with Max and David [the creators and executive producers], and they made me laugh. I’m going to be 35 next year (laughs), so all the laughter I can get is going to prolong my life. Plus, the show is also really heartfelt.

How did you begin to put together “Here’s to You, Mrs. Schneiderman”?

I’ve got to give credit to Max and David. Linda died over the Christmas holiday, and I remember getting a call and the boys felt that they had to address the situation. They went and locked themselves in a room and came up with a tender, sweet, sad, really funny episode, and it was my job just to lay it out for the audience.

Where were you in the shooting schedule when Lavin died? 

We were in the middle of it. We had done, I think, seven episodes, so we had three more to do and this was one of them.

Did your preproduction timeline change at all given the circumstances?

No. The only thing different for this episode was the sadness that we all had to deal with, making sure that everybody expressed themselves and hugged and cried. We got most of that out before we shot the show, because you didn’t want that happening while you were shooting. There are moments in the show where that does happen, but you don’t want to start out with any kind of sadness. You’ve got to have hilarity in those first two scenes.

Did filming this episode feel different from the others?

We do every scene twice, but because of the situation, the rhythms were a little slower, especially after Nathan’s character says that his mother has passed. That scene where Nathan does that monologue is exquisite. He’s so wonderful; it’s a shame that his comic genius was not nominated for an Emmy, because he’s extraordinary. I didn’t rehearse the scene that much, that one was all about the emotion and the innards of what was going on at that time, not only with the death of Sybil but [also] the death of Linda.

What was it like working with Linda?

She was a broad. I’ve known her; she played Conrad Bloom’s mother in Conrad Bloom. She was Sean Hayes’ mother in Sean Saves the World. I saw her on Broadway in the ’60s in Last of the Red Hot Lovers, and she was amazing. I’ve always wanted to work with her; this was the third time doing it, and it was great. We were the two old farts on the show. We have a lot of theater stories. That’s another thing about Nathan. Nathan and I would sit at lunch and just talk theater stories because I have as many as he has. 

Are you thinking about retiring anytime soon?

I don’t know. They’re trying to retire me with the fact that they don’t do the kind of shows I do anymore. In the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s, all the comedies were multi­camera comedies — except for M*A*S*H — and for some reason it’s become passé.

Any word on a season two of Mid-Century Modern?

No. From my point of view, it doesn’t look good because we debuted [in March] and The Bear, they picked up for a fifth season even before the fourth season started. But I’m hoping.