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Bill Lawrence (TV producer)

William Van Duzer Lawrence IV (born December 26, 1968) is an American television producer, screenwriter, and director. He is the creator of the series Scrubs and co-creator of shows including the live-action Cougar Town, Spin City, Ground Floor, Ted Lasso, and Shrinking, and the animated series Clone High, in which he also voiced the leader of the shadowy figures. He has written for many other shows, including The Nanny and Boy Meets World.

Bill Lawrence
Lawrence in 2015
Born
William Van Duzer Lawrence IV[1]

(1968-12-26) December 26, 1968 (age 55)
Ridgefield, Connecticut, U.S.[1]
Alma materCollege of William and Mary
Occupations
  • Television producer
  • screenwriter
  • director
Years active1993–present
Spouse
​
(m. 1999)​
Children3, including Charlotte

The name of Lawrence's production company, Doozer, is a wordplay on his middle name.

Career

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Lawrence receiving the Peabody Award in 2007

Lawrence is a graduate of the College of William & Mary, where he studied English and was a member of Kappa Alpha (KA) social fraternity. After graduating, his first writing job was as a staff writer on the short-lived ABC sitcom Billy. He briefly wrote for Boy Meets World, Friends, and The Nanny.[2] In 1996, he wrote for the short-lived sitcom Champs.

Lawrence's first show as creator was the ABC multi-camera sitcom Spin City, co-created with Champs creator Gary David Goldberg, which originally starred Michael J. Fox as a deputy mayor of New York City. The show lasted for six seasons and won a Primetime Emmy Award and four Golden Globes.[3]

He went on to create the single-camera sitcom Scrubs, which followed the lives of hospital staff. The show premiered in 2001 and ran for 9 seasons in total, 7 on NBC and 2 on ABC. Lawrence wrote, produced and directed the series. The show received critical acclaim, and won a Peabody Award in 2006, and two Emmy Awards with 17 nominations.[4][5]

His next project was co-creating the 2002 animated sitcom Clone High for MTV with Phil Lord and Chris Miller. The show lasted a single 13-episode season. In 2005, Lawrence co-created the failed The WB pilot Nobody's Watching with Neil Goldman and Garrett Donovan.[6] Lawrence was preparing for his film-directing debut with the film Fletch Won, a prequel to the previous Fletch films, but ultimately left the project after Scrubs star Zach Braff exited the project.[7]

Lawrence co-created the single-camera sitcom Cougar Town, which premiered in 2009 on ABC, with Kevin Biegel. The show is executive produced by series star Courteney Cox and her then-husband David Arquette. Courteney Cox had been a guest star on Lawrence's previous sitcom Scrubs. The show ran from 2009 to 2012 on ABC, then moved to TBS in 2013.[8]

In 2013, Lawrence was involved with three shows that made it to series. He co-created and executive produces the TBS sitcom Ground Floor with Greg Malins. He is also an executive producer of the Fox sitcom Surviving Jack and the NBC sitcom Undateable.[9] After running two seasons, Ground Floor was cancelled.[10] In 2014, Lawrence and four other cast members from Undateable did a standup comedy tour to promote the show.[11][12][13] Undateable was cancelled in 2016 after three seasons.[14]

Lawrence wrote a script for the Rush Hour TV series, though it was ultimately canceled, after a single season.[15]

In 2017, Lawrence started developing a new multi-camera comedy series called Spaced Out, a show set in the world of commercial space travel.[16] Lawrence is an executive producer for Whiskey Cavalier, described as an action dramedy starring Scott Foley and Lauren Cohan, which was ordered to series at ABC but canceled after 10 episodes.[17]

Lawrence co-created the Apple TV+ series Ted Lasso, which premiered in 2020 and has gone on to win two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Comedy Series. In 2022, Lawrence signed a new five-year overall deal with Warner Bros. Television Group through 2028.[18]

Personal life

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Lawrence married actress Christa Miller in 1999.[1] They have three children together. Miller has been cast in Lawrence projects Scrubs, Clone High, Cougar Town, and Shrinking.

Lawrence is the great-great-grandson of Sarah and William Van Duzer Lawrence, whose home became Sarah Lawrence College.[1]

On July 21, 2017, Lawrence was involved in a plane crash on the East River in New York City with his family. Everyone aboard survived unscathed.[19]

Filmography

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Television

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Year Title Creator / Showrunner Director Writer Producer Executive Producer Notes
1992 Billy No No Yes No No Episode: "Gimme Some Credit"
1993 Boy Meets World No No Yes No No Episode: "The Father/Son Game"
1994 The Nanny No No Yes No No 2 episodes
1995 Friends No No Yes No No Episode: "The One with the Candy Hearts"
1996 Champs No No Yes No No 2 episodes
1996–2002 Spin City Yes No Yes No Yes
2001–2010 Scrubs Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
2002–2003,
2023–2024 		Clone High Yes No Yes No Yes
2006 Nobody's Watching Yes No Yes No Yes Unaired TV pilot
2009–2015 Cougar Town Yes Yes Yes No Yes
2013–2015 Ground Floor Yes No Yes No Yes
2014 Surviving Jack No No No No Yes
2014–2016 Undateable No No No No Yes
2016 Rush Hour Yes No Yes No Yes
2018 Life Sentence No No No No Yes
2019 Whiskey Cavalier No No No No Yes
2020–2023 Ted Lasso Yes No Yes Yes Yes
2021 Head of the Class No No No No Yes
2023–present Shrinking Yes No Yes No Yes
2024 Bad Monkey Yes No Yes No Yes

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Smith Brady, Lois (December 5, 1999). "WEDDINGS: VOWS; Christa Miller, William Lawrence IV". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 11, 2019. Retrieved September 29, 2013.
  2. ^ "The Showrunner Transcript: Cougar Town's Bill Lawrence and Kevin Biegel on the Show's Transformation and Masturbating Time Travelers". May 18, 2011. Archived from the original on October 1, 2020. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  3. ^ Otterson, Joe (December 15, 2017). "Bill Lawrence Developing Space Travel Comedy at CBS". Variety. Archived from the original on November 29, 2020. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
  4. ^ "Scrubs (NBC)". peabodyawards.com. The Peabody Awards. May 2007. Archived from the original on November 17, 2015. Retrieved September 23, 2014.
  5. ^ "Scrubs". Emmys.com. Archived from the original on January 22, 2015. Retrieved January 22, 2015.
  6. ^ Carter, Bill (July 3, 2006). "Sitcom Given Up for Dead Hits the Web. It's Alive!". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
  7. ^ "The Lost Roles of the Unproduced Fletch Reboot". Splitsider. August 4, 2011. Archived from the original on February 27, 2018. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
  8. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (May 10, 2012). "It's Official: 'Cougar Town' Moves To TBS". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on November 27, 2020. Retrieved April 6, 2017.
  9. ^ Gelt, Jessica (November 14, 2013). "Bill Lawrence, television's anonymous mogul". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on September 21, 2021. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
  10. ^ Goldberg, Lesley (February 13, 2015). "It's Official: TBS' 'Ground Floor' Canceled". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on February 11, 2021. Retrieved February 16, 2015.
  11. ^ Littleton, Cynthia (February 25, 2014). "Bill Lawrence and 'Undateable' Stars Hit the Road to Promote NBC Comedy 'Undateable'". Variety. Archived from the original on October 2, 2020. Retrieved July 18, 2014.
  12. ^ Lawrence, Bill (May 28, 2014). "The 'Undateable' Comedy Tour: How to Launch (or Not Launch) a TV Show in 2014". Grantland. Archived from the original on July 28, 2014. Retrieved July 18, 2014.
  13. ^ Harris, Will (June 5, 2014). "'Scrubs' Creator Bill Lawrence On 'Undateable,' the Multi-Camera Tradition and Surviving the Summer Schedule". IndieWire. Archived from the original on August 4, 2020. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
  14. ^ Wagmeister, Elizabeth (May 13, 2016). "'Undateable' Cancelled After 3 Seasons at NBC". Variety. Archived from the original on June 10, 2016. Retrieved June 16, 2016.
  15. ^ "'Rush Hour' TV series in the works". Entertainment Weekly. September 30, 2014. Retrieved September 30, 2014.
  16. ^ "Spaced Out: Bill Lawrence Developing Comedy at CBS". ComingSoon.net. December 15, 2017. Archived from the original on June 16, 2018. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
  17. ^ Ausiello, Michael (May 11, 2018). "Whiskey Cavalier Starring Scott Foley, Lauren Cohan Ordered to Series at ABC". TVLine. Archived from the original on June 17, 2018. Retrieved June 16, 2018.
  18. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (February 11, 2022). "Bill Lawrence Closes Massive New Overall Deal With Warner Bros. TV Group – The Story Behind 9-Figure Pact". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on February 11, 2022. Retrieved February 11, 2022.
  19. ^ ""Scrubs" creator safe after seaplane splashes down in East River". New York Post. July 21, 2017. Archived from the original on November 8, 2017. Retrieved October 27, 2017.
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