David J. Zuckerman (born August 28, 1962) is an American film and television producer and writer and is best known as the original

showrunner A showrunner is the top-level executive producer of a television series. The position outranks other creative and management personnel, including episode directors, in contrast to feature films, in which the director has creative control over th ...

and executive producer of the animated comedy series ''

Family Guy ''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series premiered on January 31, 1999, following Super Bowl XXXIII, with the rest of the first season airing from April 11, 1999. Th ...

'', as well as the creator of the American adaptation of the Australian television series of the same name, '' Wilfred''. A native of

Danville, California The Town of DanvillePronounced is located in the San Ramon Valley in Contra Costa County, California, United States. It is one of the List of municipalities in California, incorporated municipalities in California that use "town" in their nam ...

, Zuckerman is a graduate of the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

. Zuckerman first wrote for the

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air ''The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'' is an American television sitcom created by Andy and Susan Borowitz that aired on NBC from September 10, 1990, to May 20, 1996. The series stars Will Smith as a fictionalized version of himself, a street-smart ...

'', and then went on to write and produce episodes for the

Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

animated series ''

King of the Hill ''King of the Hill'' is an American animated sitcom created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels that initially aired on Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox from January 12, 1997, to September 13, 2009, with four more episodes airing in First-run syndicati ...

.'' In 1999, along with writer and producer

Seth MacFarlane Seth Woodbury MacFarlane (; born October 26, 1973) is an American actor, animator, writer, producer, director, comedian, and singer. He is best known as the creator and star of the television series ''Family Guy'' (since 1999) and ''The Orvill ...

, he developed another Fox animated series, entitled ''

''. He subsequently worked on MacFarlane's second series, ''

American Dad! ''American Dad!'' is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane, Mike Barker (producer), Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series premiered on February 6, 2005, following Super Bowl XXXIX, with the r ...

'', before adapting the Australian live action series '' Wilfred'' and producing it under the same name for FX.

Early life and education

Zuckerman was born and raised in

, and is a graduate of Monte Vista High School. He also has a degree from

. He has

German-Jewish The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321 CE, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (c. 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish commu ...

ancestry.

Career

Zuckerman began his career as a creative executive for

Lorimar-Telepictures Lorimar-Telepictures Corporation, Inc. was an entertainment company established on February 19, 1986 with the merger of Lorimar Productions, Inc. and Telepictures Corporation. Headquartered at the former Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (now Sony Pi ...

and

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

. He then began writing full-time when he was hired for a staff job on 1990 NBC sitcom ''

''. As a writer and producer, he helped play a key role in the launch of the first seasons of the

animated series ''

'', which he wrote for from 1997 until 1999, before leaving to develop the series ''

''. Zuckerman was partnered with

, the creator of ''Family Guy'', and served as the series's original

, though has not a single writing credit. Afterward, Zuckerman was brought in to develop the Fox animated series ''

'', also created by MacFarlane. He would also go on to create two short-lived network series, as well as an internet show. In 2011, Zuckerman created the American adaptation of the Australian television series of the same name, entitled '' Wilfred'', for the cable network FX, starring

Elijah Wood Elijah Jordan Wood (born January 28, 1981) is an American actor and producer. Wood made his film debut with a minor part in ''Back to the Future Part II'' (1989) at the age of eight and achieved recognition in the early 1990s as a child acto ...

and Jason Gann.

Personal life

In 1985, Zuckerman appeared as a contestant on the game show ''

Sale of the Century ''Sale of the Century'' (stylized as ''$ale of the Century'') is an American television game show that originally debuted on September 29, 1969, on NBC daytime. It was one of three NBC game shows to premiere on that date, the other two being t ...

'', winning $2,800 in cash and prizes. Zuckerman was married to film and television director

Ellie Kanner Ellie Kanner, sometimes credited as Ellie Kanner-Zuckerman, is an American film and television director and former casting director. Career Kanner grew up in Bloomfield, Connecticut. From a young age, she wanted to move to Los Angeles and purs ...

. They have two sons, Zachary and Adam, and are now divorced. He belonged (along with his former wife) to the Kehillat Israel Reconstructionist Congregation of Pacific Palisades.Kehillat Israel Reconstructionist Congregation of Pacific Palisades Bulletin
MAY-AUGUST 2012 , Iyar/AV 5772 - Volume 61 , Issue 9

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zuckerman, David 1962 births Living people 20th-century American Jews 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American screenwriters 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American screenwriters American comedy writers American male screenwriters American male television writers American people of German-Jewish descent Television writers from California Jewish American comedy writers Jewish American screenwriters American television producers Jewish American television writers Monte Vista High School (Danville, California) alumni People from Danville, California Showrunners of animated series Television producers from California University of California, Los Angeles alumni