Who has been your favorite directors?

[danderson]

I'd go with James Marcione on "Sale of The Century", Bob Levy on "American Gladiators", Marc Berslow on "TPIR", Bruce Burmester on "Pyramid", Paul Alter on many Goodson-Todman shows over the years, and Dick Carson on "Wheel of Fortune." Honorable mention would go to Ken Fouts on "AG"s early days with Theismann, and Jerome Shaw on "Hollywood Squares" and "High Rollers."

[SamJ93]

Rich DiPirro. He was essentially the only thing that made TPiR watchable in Season 37, and his current work on Millionaire is pretty slick too.

[danderson]

Franklin Heller on "WML?" comes to mind too. Having watched that show on GSN, his work really made that show shine.

[danderson]

Rich DiPirro. He was essentially the only thing that made TPiR watchable in Season 37, and his current work on Millionaire is pretty slick too.

I'd add Richard S. Kline. His work on TJW, from the Jack Barry era to the Pat Finn era, was quite good.

[Jimmy Owen]

Mike Gargiulo  of the Stewart factory

[SwohS Emag]

Dana Calderwood comes to mind immediately.  I adored his work on WITWICS, and I think many of us did. 

He currently directs Idiotest, and I think his creativity shines there in what could be a boring show (take a look at some of the cold opens they do).  Credit goes to the writers and producers for that too.

I think he did History IQ, which had a very "professional" feel to it.

He also handled some of the Nick game shows.

[BrandonFG]

I always get my Goodson-Todman directors mixed up, but whoever directed the CBS G-T shows in the late-70s and throughout the 80s came up with some really cool techniques. The camera move on Tattletales below (around the :34 mark) is one of my favorites.

I'd also add Bruce Burmester from 80s Pyramid and Kevin McCarthy on Jeopardy! One of the little things I love about J! is how it stays modern but the production still has a traditional feel to it. Something about Kevin's style tells you he's from the "old school", esp. Alex's introductions at the start of Double and Final Jeopardy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5UtzjFhrQM&t=0m34s

[TLEberle]

Honestly it felt less like a question than "look at the names I know," but I'll second the shout-outs to Dana Calderwood and RBDP.

[Matt Ottinger]

Franklin Heller on "WML?" comes to mind too. Having watched that show on GSN, his work really made that show shine.

I know you've just started this thread to show off how many director names you know, but c'mon, this is What's My Line? you're talking about.  The one that didn't even have any demonstrations.  I train high schoolers on more complicated formats.

[MSTieScott]

I'd also add Bruce Burmester from 80s Pyramid and Kevin McCarthy on Jeopardy! One of the little things I love about J! is how it stays modern but the production still has a traditional feel to it.

Something worth pointing out:

Years ago, Jeopardy! would have a camera dedicated to shooting a closeup of the board. It would always be positioned on the space directly underneath the clue in play (excluding the bottom row). So if the contestants played a category in order, the director would take that camera, ready with the closeup of the next value switching to the selected clue. If a contestant jumped to a different category (or took a clue out of order), then the director would take a wide shot of the board and use the video effect of the clue flying from its box to fill the screen.

It's been years since they've had a camera shooting closeups of the clue in play. Now, the closeup effect is all done digitally. Yet the directing is still conducted as if that camera was there, only using the closeup effect if the contestants play a category in order. I love it.

(I do wonder, though: Why, with the exception of one- or two-word clues, do they never take the closeup shot on the bottom row of the board?)

[Adam Nedeff]

Franklin Heller on "WML?" comes to mind too. Having watched that show on GSN, his work really made that show shine.

I know you've just started this thread to show off how many director names you know, but c'mon, this is What's My Line? you're talking about.  The one that didn't even have any demonstrations.  I train high schoolers on more complicated formats.

Mike Gargiulo, who filled in for Heller on a few episodes: "Directing What's My Line? was the single easiest job that I had in my entire television career. I could have directed that show from a separate room without my headphones on."

[chrisholland03]

Mike Gargiulo  of the Stewart factory

My pick without a question.

[Chief-O]

I always get my Goodson-Todman directors mixed up, but whoever directed the CBS G-T shows in the late-70s and throughout the 80s came up with some really cool techniques. The camera move on Tattletales below (around the :34 mark) is one of my favorites.

Paul Alter handled "Tattletales" (I believe all eps of both runs?), and I'm surprised I'm the first to invoke him in this thread. His work on CS '86 and TTTT '90 is particularly superb in my books.

Breslow, Ira Skutch, and George Choderker also get top mentions from me, as well as Bruce Burmester (unpopular opinion, but I prefer his "Pyramid" directing over Gargiulo's), Dick Schneider with J!, and Rich DiPirro with "Price".

[gamed121683]

I always get my Goodson-Todman directors mixed up, but whoever directed the CBS G-T shows in the late-70s and throughout the 80s came up with some really cool techniques. The camera move on Tattletales below (around the :34 mark) is one of my favorites.

Paul Alter handled "Tattletales" (I believe all eps of both runs?), and I'm surprised I'm the first to invoke him in this thread. His work on CS '86 and TTTT '90 is particularly superb in my books.

Breslow, Ira Skutch, and George Choderker also get top mentions from me, as well as Bruce Burmester (unpopular opinion, but I prefer his "Pyramid" directing over Gargiulo's), Dick Schneider with J!, and Rich DiPirro with "Price".

For the uninitiated (like myself), what are the differences between Burmester and Gargiulo's directing styles on Pyramid?

[WarioBarker]

I don't think anybody's mentioned Bill Carruthers yet, so I will.

Agreed that Dick Carson was great on Wheel, though I'd add his predecessor Jeff Goldstein. The few available episodes from the first three years (1975-early '78) seem to have a different "style" to them.

Rich DiPirro. He was essentially the only thing that made TPiR watchable in Season 37,

QFT, though I'm sure some would argue that applied to Seasons 38 and 39 as well.