Stan Daniels

Not every comedy writer is a loud and crazy guy. Sometimes the funniest is the quietest. One such writer was Stan Daniels. We lost Stan earlier this week. He was 72.

For years, Stan was one of the creative forces behind THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW. He won eight Emmys. He also directed and composed music (he wrote the theme from PHYLLIS). People who worked with Stan usually say two things: He was incredibly talented, and how could he be in a partnership with Ed. Weinberger for so long? If ever there was a mismatch this was it. Ed was the loud and crazy guy. And volatile.

Stan was just the opposite. Soft spoken. Warm. Your kindly uncle.

But together they wrote brilliant scripts filled with inspired humor and tremendous heart.

Stan's sense of humor was always sly and wildly original. A typical joke: Lou Grant asks an elderly lady if she watches Ted Baxter. She says, "I don't watch television. I have a fireplace."

Stan later went on to co-create TAXI (among many other things) and he wrote the music and lyrics to a 1976 Broadway show, “So Long 174th St.”.

I worked with him on ALMOST PERFECT. By then he was directing. He did many of our early episodes, really establishing the tone for us, and helping the cast to gel into a cohesive unit. He was a master at finding little character moments, bits of business and behavior, and infusing humanity in every beat.

I remember when we approached him to direct our show. David Isaacs, co-creator Robin Schiff, and I took him to lunch at Art’s Deli hoping to convince him to come aboard. We were thrilled that he liked the pilot and even considered joining us. I mean, this man was a God! Every question he asked zeroed in on the heart of the series. The resulting discussion led to a lot of stories and character development. And that was vintage Stan. You always got more than you paid for.

It was a pleasure to know him, a privilege to work with him. And I still can’t imagine how he and Ed. Weinberger were a team.

Here’s the theme from PHYLLIS.