William Asher

William Milton Asher (August 8, 1921 – July 16, 2012) was an American television and film producer, film director, and screenwriter. He was one of the most prolific early television directors, producing or directing over two dozen series. With television in its infancy, he introduced the sitcom Our Miss Brooks, which was adapted from a radio show. He began directing I Love Lucy by 1952. As a result of his early success, Asher was considered an "early wunderkind of TV-land," and was hyperbolically credited in one magazine article with "inventing" the sitcom. In 1964, he began to direct episodes of Bewitched, which starred his wife Elizabeth Montgomery. He produced the series from the fourth season. He was nominated for an Emmy Award four times, winning once for directing Bewitched in 1966. He was also nominated for the DGA Award in 1951 for I Love Lucy. In 1951, he married actress Danny Sue Nolan, with whom he had two children; the couple divorced in 1961. He then married actress Elizabeth Montgomery in 1963, just before Bewitched began its run. They had three children and divorced in 1973. His third marriage was to actress Joyce Bulifant and it lasted from 1976 to 1993. He adopted her son, actor and director John Mallory Asher. This marriage also ended in divorce. In 1998, he married Meredith Coffin Asher, his fourth and final wife. Description above from the Wikipedia article  William Asher, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Works

5.8

I Hate Kids

Nick Pearson is a life-long bachelor who is finally settling down. On the brink of his wedding he is surprised to find he has a 13 year old son who has come to find his him through the help of a psychic. The problem is Nick can't stand kids and would happily send the boy back to live with his biological mother, except that no one has any clue who that might be. Having nowhere to turn Nick must hit the road with the boy and the neurotic, inept psychic to track down dozens of his disgraced ex-flings to whom he must ask the awkward question - with very mixed results.

Release Date: 2019-01-18

Department: Crew

Job: Thanks

Vote Count: 54

Lucille Ball: Finding Lucy

For more than 30 years, Lucille Ball was one of the most recognized and loved entertainers in the world. Known to all simply as Lucy, she portrayed a scatterbrained housewife with the ability to turn simple chores into humorous disasters.

Release Date: 2000-12-03

Character: Self

Jungle Cubs
6.1

Jungle Cubs

Disney's Jungle Cubs is an animated series produced by Disney for ABC in 1996. It was based on their 1967 feature film The Jungle Book, but set in the youth of the animal characters. The show was a hit, running for two seasons in syndication before moving its re-runs to the Disney Channel. The show was broadcast on Toon Disney, but was taken off the schedule in 2001. The show did air in the United Kingdom on Disney Cinemagic and in Latin America until it was removed. The show's theme song is a hip-hop version of the classic song, "The Bare Necessities" performed by Lou Rawls. After a ten-year absence in the United States, reruns of the show began airing on Disney Junior since March 23, 2012, and are broadcast every day at 5:00AM ET.

Release Date: 1996-10-05

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Episode Count: 2

Vote Count: 12

E! True Hollywood Story
8.1

E! True Hollywood Story

E! True Hollywood Story is an American documentary series on E! that deals with famous Hollywood celebrities, movies, TV shows and also well-known public figures. Among the topics covered on the program include salacious re-tellings of Hollywood secrets, show-biz scandals, celebrity murders and mysteries, porn-star biographies, and "where-are-they-now?" investigations of former child stars. It frequently features in-depth interviews, actual courtroom footage, and dramatic reenactments. When aired on the E! network, episodes will be updated to reflect the current life or status of the subject.

Release Date: 1996-08-21

Episode Count: 1

Vote Count: 78

2.5

Return to Green Acres

Tv movie that reunites most the show's cast members. The Douglases move back to New York. But when Haney tries to get everyone's property so that a developer can build on them, the residents go to New York to get Douglas to help them. But he's a little hesitant.

Release Date: 1990-05-18

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 2

Kay O'Brien
5.0

Kay O'Brien

Kay O'Brien is an American television series set at fictional Manhattan General Hospital, which aired for one season on CBS during the 1986-87 television season.

Release Date: 1986-09-26

Department: Creator

Job: Creator

Vote Count: 1

6.0

I Dream of Jeannie... Fifteen Years Later

Jeannie has been a happily married housewife for 15 years to her astronaut husband Tony Nelson and has a teenage son, T.J. When Tony is promoted to Colonel and is about to retire from the NASA space program, Jeannie decides to give him a celebration party in their backyard. However, egged on by his colleagues to retire with a dramatic flair, Tony breaks his promise to Jeannie for one more space flight (aboard the shuttle), this time with a female astronaut, Captain Nelly Hunt.

Release Date: 1985-10-19

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 11

3.9

Movers & Shakers

Studio head Joe Mulholland promises his dying producer and mentor, Saul Gritz, to adapt a popular sex manual into a film, despite his better judgment. Unable to figure out how to turn the nonfiction book into a narrative movie, Mulholland enlists the services of Herb Dorman, a screenwriter of popular romantic films with a bad marriage, and volatile director Sid Spokane to help him create a movie.

Release Date: 1985-05-03

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 12

Crazy like a Fox
7.1

Crazy like a Fox

Crazy Like a Fox is an American television series set in San Francisco, California, that aired on CBS from December 30, 1984 to May 3, 1986.

Release Date: 1984-12-30

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Episode Count: 1

Vote Count: 7

Charley's Aunt

Charley's Aunt is a farce in three acts written by Brandon Thomas. The story centres on Lord Fancourt Babberley, an undergraduate whose friends Jack and Charley persuade him to impersonate the latter's aunt.

Release Date: 1983-02-06

Department: Directing

Job: Director

6.6

Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker

Rejected by her lover, the only man left in Cheryl's life is the orphaned nephew she has raised as her own son. She'll stop at nothing to keep Billy with her. When her plans misfire, she is swept up into an insane frenzy that means death to anyone who comes between her and her obsession. But the investigating detective is convinced that Billy is the real killer - and determined to prove it. Madness and fanaticism work together to drag all concerned into a terrifying vortex of blood-letting that adds a nightmarish twist to the classic Oedipus story.

Release Date: 1981-11-20

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 143

Private Benjamin
6.1

Private Benjamin

Private Benjamin is an American sitcom based on the movie of the same name. The show aired on CBS from April 6, 1981, to January 10, 1983. Eileen Brennan, who reprised her role from the film, won an Emmy and Golden Globe Award for her work on the series.

Release Date: 1981-04-06

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Episode Count: 8

Vote Count: 10

Harper Valley
6.3

Harper Valley

Harper Valley PTA is an early 1980s American television sitcom based on the 1978 film Harper Valley PTA, which was itself based on the 1968 song recorded by country singer Jeannie C. Riley, written by Tom T. Hall.

Release Date: 1981-01-16

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Episode Count: 5

Vote Count: 3

A Christmas for Boomer

A sacked maid and butler kidnap a pampered dog and want $20,000 ransom from the rich owner, Lila Manchester. A shaggy dog named Boomer helps save it and becomes a member of the family who originally found him.

Release Date: 1979-12-06

Department: Directing

Job: Director

The Bad News Bears
6.1

The Bad News Bears

The Bad News Bears is an American sitcom that aired on CBS from March 24, 1979 until July 26, 1980, consisting of 26 episodes. It was based on the 1976 hit movie of the same name, that was followed by two sequels in 1977 and 1978.

Release Date: 1979-03-24

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Episode Count: 3

Vote Count: 7

Flatbush

Flatbush

Flatbush is an American sitcom that aired on CBS for three weeks from February 26, 1979 to March 12, 1979.

Release Date: 1979-02-26

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Episode Count: 1

Tabitha
5.8

Tabitha

Tabitha Stephens is the daughter of the bewitching Samantha and her mortal husband, Darrin Stephens. As a young, single working witch, Tabitha adds a little magic and fun to the lives of her relatives and friends.

Release Date: 1977-05-07

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Episode Count: 2

Vote Count: 6

Alice
7.0

Alice

Alice is an American sitcom television series that ran from August 31, 1976 to March 19, 1985 on CBS. The series is based on the 1974 film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. The show stars Linda Lavin in the title role, a widow who moves with her young son to start her life over again, and finds a job working at a roadside diner on the outskirts of Phoenix, Arizona. Most of the episodes revolve around events at Mel's Diner.

Release Date: 1976-08-31

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Episode Count: 27

Vote Count: 55

The Paul Lynde Show
5.0

The Paul Lynde Show

The Paul Lynde Show is an American sitcom that aired on ABC. The series stars Paul Lynde and aired from September 13, 1972 to September 8, 1973.

Release Date: 1972-09-13

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Episode Count: 5

Vote Count: 2

Temperatures Rising
5.0

Temperatures Rising

Temperatures Rising is an American television sitcom that ran from September 12, 1972 to August 29, 1974 on the ABC network. The network had a good deal of faith in the low-rated series, which went through three cast changes, two different formats, and two time slots during its run.

Release Date: 1972-09-12

Department: Production

Job: Producer

Episode Count: 47

Vote Count: 1

Jan & Dean: On the Run

8 hours in the life of college student teen superstars Jan & Dean! They fly from LA to San Diego to a sold-out show. They visit the zoo, do some skateboarding, then it's off to Washington, DC for another concert. In the end, it's back to school for exams.

Release Date: 1966-08-01

Department: Directing

Job: Director

4.9

Fireball 500

Stock car racer Dave Owens plays into the hands of whiskey runners by agreeing to drive in a cross-country road race.

Release Date: 1966-06-07

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 17

Gidget
6.4

Gidget

Gidget is an American sitcom about a surfing, boy-crazy teenager called "Gidget" and her widowed father Russ Lawrence, a UCLA professor. Sally Field stars as Gidget with Don Porter as father Russell Lawrence. The series was first broadcast on ABC from September 15, 1965 to April 21, 1966. Gidget was among the first regularly scheduled color programs on ABC, but did poorly in the Nielsen ratings and was cancelled at the end of its first season.

Release Date: 1965-09-15

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Episode Count: 7

Vote Count: 13

5.5

How to Stuff a Wild Bikini

When he's stationed in Tahiti, a sailor hires a witch doctor to keep an eye on his girlfriend.

Release Date: 1965-07-14

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Vote Count: 20

6.2

Beach Blanket Bingo

In the fourth of the highly successful Frankie and Annette beach party movies, a motorcycle gang led by Eric Von Zipper kidnaps singing star Sugar Kane managed by Bullets, who hires sky-diving surfers Steve and Bonnie from Big Drop for a publicity stunt. With the usual gang of kids and a mermaid named Lorelei.

Release Date: 1965-04-14

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Vote Count: 30

Bewitched
7.9

Bewitched

Samantha Stephens is a seemingly normal suburban housewife who also happens to be a genuine witch, with all the requisite magical powers. Her husband Darrin insists that Samantha keep her witchcraft under wraps, but situations invariably require her to indulge her powers while keeping her bothersome mother Endora at bay.

Release Date: 1964-09-17

Department: Production

Job: Producer

Episode Count: 254

Vote Count: 695

5.7

Bikini Beach

A millionaire sets out to prove his theory that his pet chimpanzee is as intelligent as the teenagers who hang out on the local beach, where he is intending to build a retirement home.

Release Date: 1964-07-22

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 25

5.6

Muscle Beach Party

Local beach-goers find that their beach has been taken over by a businessman training a stable of body builders.

Release Date: 1964-03-25

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 31

5.3

Johnny Cool

A deported gangster trains an Italian convict to take over his operations in the U.S.

Release Date: 1963-10-02

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 21

The Patty Duke Show
5.8

The Patty Duke Show

The Patty Duke Show is an American sitcom which ran on ABC from September 18, 1963 to April 27, 1966, with reruns airing through August 31, 1966. The show was created as a vehicle for rising star Patty Duke. A total of 104 episodes were produced, most written by Sidney Sheldon.

Release Date: 1963-09-18

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Episode Count: 8

Vote Count: 14

6.0

Beach Party

Anthropology Professor Robert Orwell Sutwell and his secretary Marianne are studying the sex habits of teenagers. The surfing teens led by Frankie and Dee Dee don't have much sex but they sing, battle the motorcycle rats and mice led by Eric Von Zipper and dance to Dick Dale and the Del Tones.

Release Date: 1963-08-07

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 36

Vacation Playhouse

Vacation Playhouse

The concept of the series was the showing of unaired and unsold television pilots that did not make the television lineup for CBS. The show was successful during its first few seasons due to the fact that the show's concept, airing unsold and unaired television pilots, was a popular concept in the 1960s. But during its last two seasons on the air, the series did find some trouble due to the fact that the series were running out of pilots to air and, in their 4th season, they began airing repeats from the three seasons prior. During its 1966 summer run, the series aired eights new pilots and two repeats and during its last year airing five new pilots and four repeats.

Release Date: 1963-07-22

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Episode Count: 1

8.0

Pippi Longstocking

Release Date: 1961-01-08

Department: Production

Job: Producer

Vote Count: 1

The Twilight Zone
8.4

The Twilight Zone

A series of unrelated stories containing drama, psychological thriller, fantasy, science fiction, suspense, and/or horror, often concluding with a macabre or unexpected twist.

Release Date: 1959-10-02

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Episode Count: 1

Vote Count: 933

Fibber McGee & Molly
5.0

Fibber McGee & Molly

Fibber McGee and Molly was the finest husband and wife comedy team. It ran on the radio from 1935 to 1959, then switched to television in 1959.

Release Date: 1959-09-15

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Episode Count: 2

Vote Count: 1

Shirley Temple's Storybook
6.2

Shirley Temple's Storybook

Shirley Temple's Storybook is an American children's anthology series hosted and narrated by actress Shirley Temple. The series features adaptations of fairy tales like Mother Goose and other family-oriented stories performed by well-known actors, although one episode, an adaptation of The House of the Seven Gables, was meant for older youngsters. Temple's three children made their acting debuts in the last episode of the first season, "Mother Goose".

Release Date: 1958-01-12

Department: Production

Job: Producer

Episode Count: 41

Vote Count: 5

The Thin Man
7.6

The Thin Man

Nick Charles was a private detective who married the wealthy Nora and decided to settle down and leave the good life. Unfortunately for the couple, Nick's past frequently caught up with him and got the couple involved in mystery after mystery. The series was based on the popular MGM series of movies of the 1930's starring William Powell and Myrna Loy. Peter Lawford and Phyllis Kirk starred as the televison versions of Nick and Nora which ran on NBC for two seasons from 1957-59.

Release Date: 1957-09-20

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Episode Count: 2

Vote Count: 6

Sally

Sally

Sally is an American situation comedy which aired on NBC from September 15, 1957 to March 30, 1958. The series is the first filmed television series produced by Paramount Studios.

Release Date: 1957-09-15

Department: Creator

Job: Creator

5.7

The Shadow on the Window

Three delinquents murder a prosperous farmer at an isolated farm house. One witness to the crime - the dead man's secretary - is then taken hostage. The other witness - her young son - is thrown into state of shock. Can he recover soon enough to help the police - and his father - rescue his mother before it's too late?

Release Date: 1957-03-06

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 21

6.2

The 27th Day

Five individuals from five nations, including the USA, USSR, and China, suddenly find themselves on an alien saucer, where an alien gives each a container holding three capsules. The alien explains that no power on earth can open a given container except a mental command from the person to whom it is given, then anyone may take a capsule and, by speaking a latitude and longitude at it, cause instant death to all within a given radius: thus each of the five has been provided with the power of life and death. Then, they are given 27 days to decide whether to use the capsules, and returned to the places from which each one came...

Release Date: 1957-01-07

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 30

4.0

Mobs, Inc.

Captain Braddock of the Los Angeles Racket Squad schools a group of cadet policemen by telling them of three precarious and dangerous cases of con artistry. Included are tracking down a dance hall girl, who, together with a big operative, are thwarted in attempting a robbery; a racketeer fleecing a book publisher on a Trans-Atlantic voyage, and the tripping up of the plans of a phony land syndicate.

Release Date: 1956-03-21

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 1

Mobs Incorporated

Captain Braddock of the Los Angeles Racket Squad schools a group of cadet policemen by telling them of three precarious and dangerous cases of con artistry

Release Date: 1956-03-21

Department: Directing

Job: Director

The Jane Wyman Show
4.8

The Jane Wyman Show

The Jane Wyman Show is an American anthology drama series that ran on NBC from 1955 to 1958.

Release Date: 1955-08-30

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Episode Count: 1

Vote Count: 5

The Danny Thomas Show
6.0

The Danny Thomas Show

Danny Thomas, an entertainer, tries to balance his home life with the needs of his career, with hilarious results.

Release Date: 1953-09-29

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Episode Count: 3

Vote Count: 17

General Electric Theater
6.3

General Electric Theater

General Electric Theater is an American anthology series hosted by Ronald Reagan that was broadcast on CBS radio and television. The series was sponsored by General Electric's Department of Public Relations.

Release Date: 1953-02-01

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Episode Count: 1

Vote Count: 4

Four Star Playhouse
6.3

Four Star Playhouse

Four Star Playhouse is an American television anthology series that ran from 1952 to 1956, sponsored in its first bi-weekly season by The Singer Company; Bristol-Myers became an alternate sponsor when it became a weekly series in the fall of 1953. The original premise was that Charles Boyer, Ida Lupino, David Niven, and Dick Powell would take turns starring in episodes. However, several other performers took the lead from time to time, including Ronald Colman and Joan Fontaine. Blake Edwards was among the writers and directors who contributed to the series. Edwards created the recurring character of illegal gambling house operator Willie Dante for Dick Powell to play on this series. The character was later revamped and spun off in his own series starring Howard Duff, then-husband of Lupino. The pilot for Meet McGraw, starring Frank Lovejoy, aired here, as did another episode in which Lovejoy recreated his role of Chicago newspaper reporter Randy Stone, from the radio drama Nightbeat.

Release Date: 1952-09-25

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Episode Count: 1

Vote Count: 9

I Love Lucy
7.9

I Love Lucy

Cuban Bandleader Ricky Ricardo would be happy if his wife Lucy would just be a housewife. Instead she tries constantly to perform at the Tropicana where he works, and make life comically frantic in the apartment building they share with landlords Fred and Ethel Mertz, who also happen to be their best friends.

Release Date: 1951-10-15

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Episode Count: 96

Vote Count: 229

Racket Squad
6.0

Racket Squad

Racket Squad is an American TV crime drama series starring Reed Hadley as Captain John Braddock, a fictional detective working for the San Francisco, California Police Department. The show aired in syndication for a season before being picked up by CBS for three seasons. The series was filmed at Hal Roach Studios in Culver City, California, and was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Philip Morris, hence there was a pack of the sponsor's brand on Braddock's desk at the beginning and end of the episode, as well as occasional scenes of him or other characters "lighting up".

Release Date: 1951-06-07

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Episode Count: 1

Vote Count: 3

Leather Gloves

A fallen prizefighter must choose between two women from vastly different walks of life.

Release Date: 1948-11-11

Department: Directing

Job: Director

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