Background
Brooks, James L. was born on May 9, 1940 in North Bergen, New Jersey, United States. Son of Edward M. and Dorothy Helen (Sheinheit) Brooks.
Brooks, James L. was born on May 9, 1940 in North Bergen, New Jersey, United States. Son of Edward M. and Dorothy Helen (Sheinheit) Brooks.
Student, New York University, 1960.
He graduated from NYU and joined GBS as a newswriter before becoming a documentary- maker. But by 1969 he was creating the TV series Rooni 222 (about a big-city high school) which ran until 1974, and which won more awards for its responsible treatment of problems than it did big ratings. But with the MTM Show and Taxi, Brooks had the whole package—brilliant entertainment, credible people and situations, a steady source of social responsibility, and very large audiences.
When he moved sideways, into feature films, he took Larry McMurtry’s novel and made a smart hit lor which he won the Oscars for script, direction, and best picture. A few years later, Broadcast News was only a little less successful while being a tender portrait of the confusion and hypocrisy in doing TV. I'll Do Anything is the least of his movies, but it was a musical once. When test screenings showed that it was failing with audiences, Brooks had the skills (and the freedom) to reedit it. Nevertheless, it is his single large venture to result in disappointment.
In the meantime, for the small screen, he had also helped create The Associates (79-80, about the law). The Tracey Ullman Show (87-90), The Simpsons (89- ), and The Critic (94—95). Of those, The Simpsons was by far the most innovative and adventurous, for it shows the grimy underside to that optimistic world preferred in Brooks’s liveaction series.
Brooks has spoken about trying to chart the urge toward decency, a mainstream subject one might suppose, yet one ignored by so much of Hollywood. There is a case to be made, that Brooks remains unknown as a personality— he is a manager of good material, a producer who likes to make things work. He lacks the edge of, say, a Lubitsch or a Buñuel. True enough, but then we have to face the fact that mass media may always move in search of a kind of anonymous, benevolent proficiency more suited to politicians than to artists.
He helped produce Jerry Maguire (96, Cameron Cnwve), and then delivered another very effective social comedy for the big screen. As- Good As It Gets, which actually embodied TV ethics (be nicer to one another) and paired a movie star (Jack Nicholson) with a TV star (Helen Hunt).
Member Directors Guild American, Writers Guild American, television Academy Arts and Sciences, Screen Actors Guild, Academy Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Jim Brooks is living proof that American television, week after week, can deliver smart, well-written, beautifully played comedy series that are devoted to being decent and humane without seeming smug or idiotic. This is an extraordinary achievement, and one to be borne in mind whenever the mood takes us to think the worst of TV. With Allan Burns, three seasons in a row (74-75, 75-76, 76-77—years of turmoil), Brooks won the Emmy for best comedy series as executive producer of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Then, with other collaborators, he did the same thing another three years in a row (78—79, 79-80, 80-81—more years of the same) with Taxi.
Married Marianne Catherine Morrissey, July 7, 1964 (divorced). 1 child, Amy Lorraine. Married Holly Beth Holmberg, July 23, 1978.
Children: Chloe, Cooper.