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Mitchell Hurwitz

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Mitchell Hurwitz
Born (1963-05-29) May 29, 1963 (age 61)
Anaheim, California, United States
Alma materGeorgetown University
Occupation(s)Television writer, producer, actor
Years active1989–present
Spouse
​
(m. 1999)​
Children2

Mitchell Donald "Mitch" Hurwitz (born May 29, 1963) is an American television writer, producer, and actor. He is best known as the creator of the television sitcom Arrested Development as well as the co-creator of The Ellen Show. He is also a contributor to The John Larroquette Show and The Golden Girls.

Early life

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Hurwitz was born in 1963[1] to a Jewish[2] family in Anaheim, California. In 1976, when Hurwitz was 12, he co-founded a chocolate-chip cookie business,[3] called the Chipyard on Balboa Boulevard in Balboa Fun Zone[4] in Newport Beach, California,[5] in a former taco place,[6] with his older brother, Michael,[7] and his father, Mark. The Chipyard is still in operation in Boston.[8][9] He graduated from Estancia High School in Costa Mesa, California, and from Georgetown University in 1985 with a double major in English and theology.[10]

Early career

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Hurwitz worked on several sitcoms in the 1980s and 1990s, including Nurses, The Golden Girls, The Golden Palace, The John Larroquette Show, The Ellen Show and the Michael J. Fox-produced pilot Hench at Home. He created Everything's Relative, a midseason comedy starring Jeffrey Tambor and Jill Clayburgh for NBC in 1999.[11][12]

Arrested Development

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Hurwitz was chosen by Ron Howard to create a sitcom about a rich dysfunctional family, which eventually turned into Arrested Development. Hurwitz wrote the pilot in 2002, which was filmed in March 2003. Fox added the show to its schedule in May. Despite laudatory reviews by television critics, Arrested Development received low ratings throughout its three-season run. In July 2004, the show was nominated for 7 Primetime Emmy Awards and won 5, including Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series and Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series.

In the second season, ratings decreased further and the show was cut down to 18 episodes instead of the planned 22 episodes. Nevertheless, the show was still critically acclaimed and was nominated for 11 Emmy Awards. In the show's third and final season on Fox, Hurwitz tried to keep Arrested Development on the air, but did not have the advertising funding to promote the series. The show was again cut down, from 18 episodes to 13. Fox announced the cancellation of the show before the production of the final five episodes.

After seven years off the air, Arrested Development returned for a fifteen-episode fourth season on the online movie and television streaming service Netflix on May 26, 2013. After yet another multi-year hiatus in which there was uncertainty of future seasons being developed, Netflix and the show's producers announced the development of a fifth season. The release was heralded by a re-edited twenty-two-episode version of the fourth season titled Season Four Remix: Fateful Consequences, released on Netflix on May 4, 2018. The fifth season consists of sixteen episodes, 8 of which were released simultaneously on May 29, 2018. The remaining 8 episodes were released simultaneously on March 15, 2019.

Later projects

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Series

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Hurwitz created Fox's animated comedy Sit Down, Shut Up, based on an Australian TV series of the same name, for the 2008 season.[citation needed]

Hurwitz created Running Wilde, which aired for one season from 2010 to 2011. It was a collaboration with Arrested Development star Will Arnett.[13]

Hurwitz signed a multiyear deal with Netflix in 2014.[14] He executive produced Flaked starring Will Arnett[15] and produced/co-created Lady Dynamite starring Maria Bamford for the network.[16]

Pilots

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Among Hurwitz's projects have been the US television adaptations of the British comedy shows The Thick of It[17] (which was not picked up in the running for ABC's 2007–2008 TV season, though other networks such as HBO, Showtime and NBC have expressed interest)[18] and Absolutely Fabulous.[19]

My World And Welcome To It was a 2009 CBS television pilot, executive produced by Hurwitz, Jay Kogen, Kim Tannenbaum, and Barry Sonnenfeld. It was a comedy based on an earlier series My World and Welcome to It about being a dad in the 1960s which, in turn, drew material from James Thurber's collection of essays of the same name. Happiness Isn't Everything was also a 2009 CBS pilot, written by Hurwitz and Jim Vallely, starring Richard Dreyfuss, Jason Biggs, Ben Schwartz and Mary Steenburgen.[20]

Acting

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Hurwitz co-starred as "Cool Eric" in an episode of Workaholics titled "Dry Guys". Hurwitz plays a human resources representative who is aiding them in their pursuit of sobriety.

Hurwitz starred as "Koogler" in the Community episode "App Development and Condiments" (season 5, episode 8), which aired on March 6, 2014. He reprised the role in "Modern Espionage" (season 6, episode 11), which aired on May 19, 2015.[21]

Personal life

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Hurwitz is married to actress Mary Jo Keenen.[22] They have two daughters; May Asami, born in 2000,[23] and Phoebe Hitomi born in 2002.[24] The name of Arrested Development character "Maeby" was the result of combining the names of Hurwitz's daughters.[24]

Television

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Year Title Role
1989 Heartland Co-associate producer
1990 Empty Nest Writer
1990–1991 Nurses Writer and producer
1990–1992 The Golden Girls Story editor, writer and executive producer
1992–1993 The Golden Palace Writer and supervising producer
1993–1996 The John Larroquette Show Writer and executive producer
1999 Everything's Relative Creator, writer and executive producer
2001–2002 The Ellen Show Co-creator, writer and executive producer
2002–2003 Less Than Perfect Consulting producer
2003 Hench at Home Pilot; co-creator, writer and executive producer
2003–2006
2013–2019 		Arrested Development Creator, writer, executive producer and co-director of season 4
2007 The Thick of It Pilot; developer, writer and executive producer
2009 Sit Down, Shut Up Developer, writer and executive producer
2009 Happiness Isn't Everything Pilot; co-creator, writer and executive producer
2009 Waiting to Die Pilot; executive producer
2009 The Bridget Show Pilot; executive producer
2009 Bless This Mess Pilot; executive producer
2009 Absolutely Fabulous Pilot; executive producer
2009 Brothers Executive producer
2010 Wright vs. Wrong Pilot; executive producer
2010 Team Spitz Pilot; executive producer
2010 Lee Mathers Pilot; producer
2010–2011 Running Wilde Co-creator, writer, executive producer and directed "Basket Cases"
2011 In the Flow with Affion Crockett Executive producer
2016 Flaked Executive producer
2016–2017 Lady Dynamite Co-creator, writer, executive producer and directed "Pilot"

As actor

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Year Title Role Notes
1993 Surf Ninjas Surf Dude #2
2007 Clark and Michael Ramsay 2 episodes
2011 Workaholics 'Cool' Eric Episode: "Dry Guys"
2013 Kroll Show Jason Richards 2 episodes
2014–2015 Community Koogler 2 episodes
2016–2017 Portlandia Various roles 4 episodes
2016–2017 Animals. Larry / Dad (voices) 2 episodes
2018 A Futile and Stupid Gesture Time-Life Publisher

Awards

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References

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  1. ^ "Mitchell D Hurwitz, Born 05/29/1963 in California - CaliforniaBirthIndex.org". www.californiabirthindex.org.
  2. ^ Vincent Brook, You Should See Yourself: Jewish Identity in Postmodern American Culture (Rutgers University Press, 2006), p.278.
  3. ^ Freeman, Hadley (August 8, 2013). "Arrested Development creator Mitch Hurwitz: 'I'm really, really happy with it, for the dumbest reasons'". The Guardian – via www.theguardian.com.
  4. ^ Coker, Matt (November 19, 2013). "Arrested Development Album Release Has Bluth Fans and Mitch Hurwitz Chicken Dancing". OC Weekly.
  5. ^ Shatkin, Elina (May 28, 2013). "Arrested Development: Before the Banana Stand there was the Chipyard Los Angeles Magazine".
  6. ^ "'Arrested' No More: Hurwitz On Why The Bluths Are Back". NPR.org.
  7. ^ "Michael B Hurwitz, Born 07/19/1960 in California - CaliforniaBirthIndex.org". www.californiabirthindex.org.
  8. ^ "Chipyard - Our Very Special Chocolate Chip Cookies". www.chipyard.com.
  9. ^ Mennies, Leah (January 23, 2009). "Campus Eats: C Is for Cookie - BU Today - Boston University". BU Today.
  10. ^ "The Georgetown Entertainment&Media Alliance". Gema-hoyas.org. Archived from the original on March 1, 2012. Retrieved February 25, 2014.
  11. ^ Richmond, Ray (April 6, 1999). "Everything's Relative Review". Variety.
  12. ^ Mink, Eric (April 6, 1999). "'Everything's Relative': Dysfunctional Family Fun". New York Daily News. Retrieved October 25, 2012.[dead link]
  13. ^ "With Will Arnett and Mitch Hurwitz reuniting for 'Running Wilde,' time to revisit 'Arrested Development'". The Washington Post. September 21, 2010. Archived from the original on October 29, 2015. Retrieved September 13, 2021.
  14. ^ "Netflix Signs Mitch Hurwitz to Multiyear Deal, Plots New Series". The Hollywood Reporter. April 22, 2014. Retrieved June 24, 2015.
  15. ^ "Will Arnett Guru Comedy Series Ordered at Netflix (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. January 19, 2015. Retrieved June 24, 2015.
  16. ^ "Netflix Orders Maria Bamford Comedy Series From Mitch Hurwitz". The Hollywood Reporter. June 19, 2015. Retrieved June 24, 2015.
  17. ^ Goodman, Tim (May 21, 2007). "Sometimes buzz about TV pilots is just a lot of hot air". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved May 27, 2007.
  18. ^ "Rejected by ABC, political satire sparks interest". Reuters. June 4, 2007. Retrieved June 4, 2007.
  19. ^ Littleton, Cynthia (October 6, 2008). "Fox to redo 'Absolutely Fabulous'". Variety. Retrieved October 24, 2008.
  20. ^ "CBS TV pilots: 2009-2010". Variety. February 19, 2009. Retrieved October 25, 2012.
  21. ^ "Mitchell Hurwitz". IMDb. Retrieved April 21, 2023.
  22. ^ Potts, Kimberly (October 3, 2011). "'Arrested Development': 13 Things We Learned at the Bluth Family Reunion". Reuters. Retrieved October 25, 2012.
  23. ^ "May Asami "Maisie" Hurwitz". Variety. June 21, 2000. Archived from the original on February 5, 2013. Retrieved October 25, 2012.
  24. ^ a b Smith, Lynn (August 24, 2004). "'Arrested' faces the sitcom riddle". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved October 25, 2012.
  25. ^ a b c d e f "Arrested Development". Emmys.com. Retrieved October 25, 2012.
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