William Scott Prady (born June 7, 1960) is an American

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, ...

and producer who has worked on

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

s and variety

programs Program, programme, programmer, or programming may refer to: Business and management * Program management, the process of managing several related projects * Time management * Program, a part of planning Arts and entertainment Audio * Progra ...

, including '' Married... with Children'', '' Dream On'', '' Star Trek: Voyager'', ''

Dharma & Greg ''Dharma & Greg'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on ABC from September 24, 1997, until April 30, 2002, for 119 episodes over five seasons. The show starred Jenna Elfman and Thomas Gibson as Dharma and Greg Montgomery, a ...

'', '' Two and a Half Men'' and ''

Gilmore Girls ''Gilmore Girls'' is an American comedy-drama television series created by Amy Sherman-Palladino and starring Lauren Graham (Lorelai Gilmore) and Alexis Bledel ( Rory Gilmore). The show debuted on October 5, 2000, on The WB and became a flag ...

'' and is the co-creator of ''

The Big Bang Theory ''The Big Bang Theory'' is an American television sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, both of whom served as executive producers on the series, along with Steven Molaro, all of whom also served as head writers. It premiered on CBS ...

'' and '' The Muppets''.

Early life

Born in Detroit, Prady graduated from

Cranbrook Schools Cranbrook Schools is a private, PK–12 preparatory school located on a campus in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. The schools comprise a co-educational elementary school, a middle school with separate schools for boys and girls, and a co-educatio ...

in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and attended Wayne State University in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

. He began his broadcast writing career with four episodes of '' You Can't Do That on Television'' (shared credit with Terence Taylor) in the early 1980s. Joining Jim Henson Productions, he was a production assistant on a TV special about the world of technology. Prady stayed with the company and worked in the merchandising department. With the encouragement of Jim Henson, Prady began writing working on projects ranging from the animated version of Jim Henson's '' Fraggle Rock'' to '' The Jim Henson Hour.'' During his tenure at The Muppets, he was visually caricatured as the puppet "Chip" ('' The Jim Henson Hour''). In 1991, Prady was nominated for an Emmy award for co-writing the posthumous tribute to Jim Henson entitled "

The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson ''The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson'' is a one-hour special that aired on CBS on November 21, 1990. The program was a tribute to Muppet creator Jim Henson, who had died earlier in 1990 due to toxic shock syndrome caused by a streptococcus infect ...

". He wrote the

Disney theme park Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, Inc., formerly Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Worldwide, Inc. and informally known as Disney Parks, is one of The Walt Disney Company's five major business segments and a subsidiary. It was founded on Apri ...

attractions '' Muppet*Vision 3D'' and ''

Honey, I Shrunk the Audience ''Honey, I Shrunk the Audience'' (known as ''MicroAdventure!'' in Tokyo Disneyland) was a 4D film spin-off of the ''Honey, I Shrunk the Kids'' film series that was shown at several Disney theme parks. The audience wore 3D glasses, and the gimb ...

.'' On April 3, 2015, he co-wrote and sold a new version of '' Muppet Show'' with the working title '' The Muppets'' to ABC with Bob Kushell, who also served as show runner. His first staff writing job was on the HBO series '' Dream On'' in 1995. In 1997 he joined the writing staff of ''

'', rising to Executive Producer and taking over as Showrunner in 2001. He was also a writer/producer on '' Good Morning, Miami'', '' Caroline in the City'', '' Related'', '' Platypus Man'' and ''

''. From 2007 to 2019, he was the executive producer and co-creator with Chuck Lorre of the CBS sitcom ''

''.

Educator

As of fall, 2012, Prady is an adjunct faculty member in the

School of Cinematic Arts The University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts (SCA) houses seven academic divisions: Film & Television Production; Cinema & Media Studies; John C. Hench Division of Animation + Digital Arts; John Wells Division of Writing for S ...

at the University of Southern California. He is also a Trustee of the Humanitas "New Voices" program.

Personal life

In 2003, he was one of 135 candidates who ran for

Governor of California The governor of California is the head of government of the U.S. state of California. The governor is the commander-in-chief of the California National Guard and the California State Guard. Established in the Constitution of California, t ...

in the 2003 recall election, receiving 474 votes, tying him for 111th place. Prady was a Z80 programmer at

The Small Computer Company ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

. In 2010, Prady was given honorary membership in the Royal Canadian Institute for the Advancement of Science. In 2015, asteroid 8630 (1981 EY35) was designated 8630 Billprady in his honor. NASA Exceptional Public Achievement Medal ribbon

NASA Exceptional Public Achievement Medal ribbon

In 2013, Prady was awarded

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedin ...

's Exceptional Public Achievement Medal. In 2020, Prady appeared in a small cameo role in '' Bill & Ted Face the Music''. In 2022, Prady was awarded the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters ''honoris causa'' by Wayne State University. Prady is on the

autism spectrum The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

Selected credits

* '' Caroline in the City'', 1995–1997 (writer, producer) * ''

'', 1997–2002 (writer, executive producer) * ''

'', 2004–2005 (writer, co-executive producer) * ''

'', 2007–2019 (creator, writer, executive producer)

Awards

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Prady, Bill 1960 births 20th-century American Jews American television writers American male television writers Cranbrook Educational Community alumni Living people People from Southfield, Michigan Wayne State University alumni Showrunners Screenwriters from Michigan 2020 United States presidential electors California Democrats 21st-century American Jews Television producers from Michigan People on the autism spectrum