Jane Espenson (born July 14, 1964) is an American television writer and producer.
47-732: Espenson has worked on both situation comedies and serial dramas . She had a five-year stint as a writer and producer on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and shared a Hugo Award with Drew Goddard for her writing on the episode " Conversations with Dead People ". After her work on Buffy , she wrote and produced episodes of The O.C. and Gilmore Girls among other series. From 2006 to 2010, she worked on Battlestar Galactica and several projects related to it. Between 2009 and 2010, she served on Caprica , as co-executive and executive producer and co-showrunner. In 2010, she wrote an episode of HBO 's Game of Thrones , eventually earning
94-457: A genre of comedy that centers on a recurring cast of characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent setting, such as a home, workplace, or community. Unlike sketch comedy , which features different characters and settings in each skit , sitcoms typically maintain plot continuity across episodes. This continuity allows for the development of storylines and characters over time, fostering audience engagement and investment in
141-483: A live studio audience using a multiple-camera setup , the latter of which continues in some modern productions such as The Big Bang Theory and Fuller House . Other formats make use of a laugh track or "canned laughter". Since the 1990s, sitcoms have since expanded to animated sitcoms , with successful shows of the genre including The Simpsons , King of the Hill , and Family Guy . Critics have debated
188-540: A 30-minute time slot. Throughout their history, American sitcoms have often drawn inspiration from British counterparts. Popular shows like All in the Family , Three's Company , and Sanford and Son were adapted from successful British series. More recently, The Office achieved significant popularity in the United States , following the success of its British counterpart. Numerous television networks in
235-608: A Writers' Guild Award for her involvement with the show. In 2011 she joined the writing staff for the fourth season of the British television program Torchwood , which aired on BBC One in the United Kingdom and Starz in the United States during mid-2011. From 2011 to 2018, Espenson worked as a consulting producer and co-executive producer on ABC's series Once Upon a Time , and also wrote and directed some of
282-544: A core group of characters who interact in a recurring setting, such as a family, workplace, or institution. However, British sitcoms typically consist of shorter series, often six episodes, and are frequently developed by a smaller writing team. The majority of British sitcoms are half-hour comedies recorded in studio settings using a multiple-camera setup. While many adhere to traditional sitcom conventions, some have ventured into more unconventional territory. For example, Blackadder and Yes Minister/Yes Prime Minister shifted
329-472: A divorced English teacher. They had three children, one from each of their former marriages. This program premiered on NBC on September 17, 1996, hammocked between the Top 30 hit Mad About You and the Top 20 hit Frasier ; the hammocking effort did not work, and was canceled the following spring after finishing the season in 39th place with a 9.5 rating. It was picked up as a midseason replacement on ABC
376-519: A guest on The Sound of Young America , with Jesse Thorn. She has guested on the Gilmore Guys podcast and on the Slayerfest podcast, about Gilmore Girls and Buffy respectively. She appears in the documentary interview series James Cameron's Story of Science Fiction and Showrunners . Situation comedy A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy ) is
423-566: A regular gay character (Terry Bader as journalist Leslie). In 1987, Mother and Son won the Television Drama Award for portraying a woman suffering from senile dementia and her interaction with her family, presented by the Australian Human Rights Commission . In 2007, Kath & Kim ' s first episode of series 4 attracted an Australian audience of 2.521 million nationally. This
470-578: A script submission program open to amateur writers; Espenson has referred to the program as the "last open door of show business". In 1992 Espenson won a spot in the Disney Writing Fellowship, which led to work on a number of sitcoms, including ABC's comedy Dinosaurs and Touchstone Television 's short-lived Monty . This was followed by work on the short-lived sitcoms Me and the Boys , and Something So Right . In 1997 she joined
517-557: A staple of the government broadcaster Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). In the 1970s and 1980s many British sitcoms also screened on the Seven Network . By 1986, UK comedies Bless This House and Are You Being Served? had been re-screened several times by ABC Television ; they were then acquired and screened by the Seven Network. In 1981, Daily at Dawn was the first Australian comedy series to feature
SECTION 10
#1732790426508564-674: A writer and executive producer. The series premiered on April 11, 2021. Espenson consulted on the Apple TV+ series Foundation in season 1, joining the writing staff in season 2 with writing credits on half of the episodes. Espenson has written episodes for several other television shows, including episode 4.17 (" Accession ") of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , and one episode (" Shindig ") of Firefly . She has worked on Angel , Tru Calling , The Inside , The Batman , Andy Barker, P.I. , Jake in Progress and Dollhouse , and
611-471: Is notable as one of only four Game of Thrones episodes written by women. In 2015, during the hiatus between seasons of Once Upon a Time , Espenson consulted on the series Jessica Jones , earning a "thanks to" in the credits. In 2019, she returned for a larger role on the staff, and wrote the eleventh episode of the third season " A.K.A. Hellcat ". In 2018, Espenson joined the HBO series The Nevers , as
658-564: Is one of the leading channels in India, dedicated entirely to Sitcoms. Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah is the longest-running sitcom of Indian television and is also known as the flagship show of SAB TV . On Tiptoes and Shabhaye Barareh were among the first and most important sitcoms that led to the growth of this type of comedy in Iran, both receiving wide critical and audience acclaim. El Chavo del Ocho , which ran from 1971 to 1980,
705-583: Is the editor of Inside Joss' Dollhouse: From Alpha to Rossum ( BenBella Books , 2010, ISBN 9781935251989 ), a similar collection of essays about Dollhouse . Espenson wrote the short story "What Holds Us Down", which appears in Still Flying from Titan Press, ISBN 1848565062 . Her short story "Int. Wolf-Night" appears in Empower: Fight Like a Girl ISBN 9780692210116 She also has short stories which appear in
752-725: The Canadian Screen Award for Best Comedy Series . In 2020, the sixth and final season of Schitt's Creek was nominated for 15 Primetime Emmy Awards . This broke the record for the most Emmy nominations given to a comedy series in its final season. During the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards , the show became the first ever comedy or drama series to sweep the four acting categories ( Outstanding Lead Actor , Outstanding Lead Actress , Outstanding Supporting Actor , Outstanding Supporting Actress for Eugene Levy , Catherine O'Hara , Dan Levy , and Annie Murphy respectively) and one of only four live action shows, along with All in
799-771: The Hugo Award for Best Short Dramatic Presentation in 2003. Espenson is credited as the writer or co-writer of the following Buffy episodes: She also co-/wrote several comic book stories for Tales of the Slayers , Tales of the Vampires and Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight , the one-shots Jonathan and Reunion and the limited series Haunted . Espenson joined the crew of Sci Fi 's Battlestar Galactica ( BSG ) just after Battlestar Galactica: Razor , BSG's first television movie ,
846-753: The RTR channel. The "boom" of Russian sitcoms began only in the 2000s, when in 2004, the STS started the highly successful sitcom " My Fair Nanny " (an adaptation of the American sitcom " The Nanny "). Since that time, sitcoms in Russia have been produced by the two largest entertainment channels in the country — STS and TNT . In 2007, the STS released the first original domestic sitcom — " Daddy's Daughters " (there were only adaptations before), and in 2010, TNT released " Interns " —
893-631: The Tales of the Slayers book series. Her short story, "Nobel Prize Speech Draft of Paul Winterhoeven, With Personal Notes", was published in the September 2021 issue of Future Science Fiction Digest . In 2016, Espenson served on the MoPOP (Museum of Pop Culture, Seattle) committee to select inductees into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. She is featured as a video/voice commentator in
940-468: The United States feature sitcoms in their programming. CBS , TBS, Nickelodeon , and Disney Channel are just a few examples of networks that air sitcoms. Something So Right (TV series) Something So Right is an American sitcom television series which ran on two different networks during its time on the air. Something So Right starred Mel Harris as Carly Davis, a twice-divorced party planner who had married Jack Farrell ( Jere Burns ),
987-431: The 1990s these included: Dekh Bhai Dekh (1993), Zabaan Sambhalke (1993), Shrimaan Shrimati (1995), Office Office (2001), Ramani Vs Ramani (Tamil 2001), Amrutham (Telugu 2001–2007), Khichdi (2002), Sarabhai vs Sarabhai (2005) F.I.R. (2006–2015), Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah (2008–present), Uppum Mulakum (Malayalam 2015–present), and Bhabiji Ghar Par Hain (2015–present). SAB TV
SECTION 20
#17327904265081034-482: The 2010s, resulting in a decline in sitcom popularity. Nevertheless, there have been recent efforts to revive the sitcom genre. For instance, Netflix released So Not Worth It in 2021, featuring many creators from popular South Korean sitcoms. Popular South Korean sitcoms include the High Kick series, which has spawned several spin-offs. British sitcoms , like their American counterparts, often revolve around
1081-417: The Family , The Golden Girls , and Will & Grace where all the principal actors have won at least one Emmy Award. Sitcoms started appearing on Indian television in the 1980s, with serials like Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi (1984), Nukkad (1986), and Wagle Ki Duniya (1988) on the state-run Doordarshan channel. Gradually, as private channels were permitted to operate, many more sitcoms followed. In
1128-524: The HBO series The Nevers . She currently works on the Apple TV+ series Foundation . She has written numerous comic books, edited multiple volumes of essays, and published several short stories. Espenson grew up in Ames, Iowa , and graduated from Ames High School. As a teenager, Espenson found out that M*A*S*H accepted spec scripts without requiring the writer to have industry representation. Though she
1175-534: The Starz-produced 2011 Torchwood webseries entitled Torchwood: Web of Lies , which stars American actress Eliza Dushku . Following the broadcast of each episode of "Miracle Day" on Starz, Espenson wrote a blog on AfterElton mixing her reaction to the episode with behind the scenes information on the devising process. In 2011 Espenson also co-wrote and produced her first independent web series with partner Brad Bell. Entitled Husbands , it revolved around
1222-525: The United States in 1926 with the radio show Sam 'n' Henry . The subsequent success of Amos 'n' Andy , also created by Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll , solidified the sitcom's place in American radio programming. The transition to television brought about significant changes in the sitcom format. Mary Kay and Johnny , which premiered in 1947, became the first American television sitcom. Today, American sitcoms typically run for 22 minutes, allowing for approximately eight minutes of advertising within
1269-422: The characters' lives and relationships. The structure and concept of a sitcom have roots in earlier forms of comedic theater, such as farces and comedy of manners . These forms relied on running gags to generate humor, but the term "sitcom" emerged as radio and TV adapted these principles into a new medium. The word was not commonly used until the 1950s. Early television sitcoms were often filmed in front of
1316-510: The exact definition of a sitcom, mostly regarding productions created at the turn of the 21st century. Many contemporary American sitcoms use a single-camera setup and do not feature a laugh track, instead more resembling documentaries or the comedy-dramas of the 1980s and 1990s. Although there have been few long-running Australian-made sitcoms, many American and British sitcoms have been successful in Australia, since sitcoms are considered
1363-647: The first sitcom, filmed as a comedy (unlike dominated "conveyor" sitcoms). Sitcoms, or "시트콤" in Korean, gained significant popularity in South Korea during the 1990s. This popularity was fueled by the success of shows like Dr. Oh's People , LA Arirang , and Men and Women . The use of computer graphics (CG) in sitcoms began to increase in the late 1990s as more broadcasters adopted CG technology. This led to more visually dynamic and creative sitcoms. However, viewer preferences shifted towards dramas and thrillers in
1410-441: The focus from domestic or workplace settings to the world of politics. A more recent development in British comedy is the mockumentary , a style that blends documentary and comedic elements. Shows like The Office , Come Fly with Me , W1A , People Just Do Nothing , and This Country have successfully employed this format to explore a variety of topics and characters. Sitcoms, or situation comedies, made their debut in
1457-494: The life of two newly married gay men. Espenson self-funded the first season. A Kickstarter campaign and the involvement of CW Seed allowed subsequent production. The show eventually comprised four "seasons" and concluded in 2014. The series premiered Tuesday September 13, 2011. The series also generated Husbands , a hardback comic-book collection of stories rendered in a variety of different drawing styles, from Dark Horse Comics. ISBN 9781616551308 . In May 2011, Espenson
Jane Espenson - Misplaced Pages Continue
1504-663: The metaphorical understanding of event structure in English and credited her with recognizing the existence of the phenomenon of location-object duality in metaphors pairs. Lakoff also mentioned her year-long work on the " metaphorical structure of causation" in the acknowledgments section of Philosophy in the Flesh: The Embodied Mind and Its Challenge to Western Thought (1999, ISBN 0-465-05674-1 ). While in graduate school, she submitted several spec scripts for Star Trek: The Next Generation as part of
1551-610: The museum itself. Espenson has written for three of the 101 Best Television Series as determined by the Writers Guild of America: Battlestar Galactica , Game of Thrones and Buffy the Vampire Slayer . Espenson has appeared as an " expert witness " on the Judge John Hodgman podcast episodes "Science Friction" and "Vampirical Evidence." In 2012, Espenson was a guest on the interview series Cocktails with Stan , with hosts Stan Lee and Jenna Busch. She has also been
1598-532: The show has earned an estimated $ 1 billion in syndication fees alone for Televisa . Gliding On , a popular sitcom in New Zealand in the early 1980s, won multiple awards during its run including Best Comedy, Best Drama and Best Direction at the Feltex Awards . The first Russian sitcom series was "Strawberry", which resembled "Duty Pharmacy" in a Spanish format. It was aired from 1996 to 1997 on
1645-443: The show's fourth series, Torchwood: Miracle Day to be broadcast in 2011. She later confirmed that she would be writing episodes 3, 5, 7 and co-writing episode 8 (with Ryan Scott) and episode 10 (with Davies). Prior to her involvement with Torchwood, Espenson had said she was a fan of the show, particularly the third series, " Children of Earth ." To tie in with the launch of Torchwood: Miracle Day , Espenson and Scott collaborated on
1692-452: The show's supplementary DVD content and helped develop the show's spin-off series. She co-wrote and produced Husbands , an independent original web series, with co-creator Brad Bell . She and Bell were nominated for a Writers' Guild Award for their work on the series. Espenson also contributed writing to seasons 1 and 3 of the Marvel series Jessica Jones , and was an executive producer of
1739-580: The writing staff of Ellen Degeneres's sitcom Ellen . After years in sitcoms, Espenson decided to switch from comedic to dramatic writing and submitted her sample scripts to Buffy the Vampire Slayer . In 1998, Espenson joined Mutant Enemy Productions as executive story editor for the third season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer . Over the rest of the run of the series, Espenson wrote or co-wrote twenty-three episodes, starting with " Band Candy " and ending with Buffy ' s penultimate episode, " End of Days ". After her role as an executive story editor, she
1786-549: Was brought on to the ABC fantasy series Once Upon a Time , as a writer and consulting producer. She stayed with the show for its entire seven-year run, and became a co-executive producer on the project. She was also involved in creation and writing of the spin-off series Once Upon a Time in Wonderland . In 2011, working as a freelancer, Espenson wrote episode 6 of season 1 of Game of Thrones , titled " A Golden Crown ". It
1833-586: Was conceived. As one of BSG's co-executive producers, she worked on every fourth-season episode starting with " He That Believeth in Me "; she was also the writer of " Escape Velocity " and " The Hub " and co-wrote The Face of the Enemy webisodes. Prior to joining the show's staff she wrote one third-season episode and co-wrote another . In August 2008, the Los Angeles Times broke the news that Espenson
1880-927: Was criticized by several social commentators as inappropriately disrespectful to the office of the Prime Minister. The show nevertheless proved very popular with both television audiences and critics, becoming the most-watched Australian scripted comedy series of 2011. It was nominated at the 2012 Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards for Best Television Comedy Series. Although there have been several notable exceptions, relatively few Canadian sitcoms attained notable success in Canada or internationally. Canadian television has had much greater success with sketch comedy and dramedy series. The popular show King of Kensington aired from 1975 to 1980, at its peak garnering an average of 1.5 to 1.8 million viewers weekly. The 1999 movie Trailer Park Boys
1927-530: Was followed up by a television series of the same name that ran from 2001 to 2018, airing in Canada, the U.S., and the U.K. Corner Gas , which ran for six seasons from 2004 to 2009, became an instant hit, averaging one million viewers per episode. It has been the recipient of six Gemini Awards and has been nominated almost 70 times for various awards. Other noteworthy recent sitcoms have included: Call Me Fitz , Schitt's Creek , Letterkenny , and Kim's Convenience , all of which have been winners of
Jane Espenson - Misplaced Pages Continue
1974-492: Was not an established writer, she attempted to write a script. She recalls, "It was a disaster. I never sent it. I didn't know the correct format. I didn't know the address of where to send it, and then I thought, they can't really hire me until I finish junior high anyway." Espenson studied linguistics as an undergraduate and graduate at University of California, Berkeley . She worked as a cognitive linguistics research assistant for George Lakoff , who acknowledged her work on
2021-478: Was promoted to co-producer in season four . In the fifth season she was promoted again to producer. She took up the role of supervising producer in the sixth season and was promoted once more to co-executive producer in the final season . She wrote episodes both humorous (e.g. " Triangle " and " Intervention ") and serious (such as " After Life "). Espenson and Drew Goddard co-wrote the seventh-season episode " Conversations with Dead People ," for which they won
2068-540: Was the co-creator of Warehouse 13 . Espenson is the editor of the book Finding Serenity: Anti-Heroes, Lost Shepherds and Space Hookers in Joss Whedon's Firefly ( BenBella Books , 2005, ISBN 1-933771-21-6 ), a collection of non-fiction essays on the short-lived television show Firefly . She edited the follow-up collection Serenity Found: More Unauthorized Essays on Joss Whedon's Firefly Universe ( BenBella Books , 2007, ISBN 9781933771212 ) She
2115-559: Was the highest rating for a first episode in the history of Australian television, until the series premiere of Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities in 2009, which garnered 2.58 million viewers. In 2013, Please Like Me received an invitation to screen at the Series Mania Television Festival in Paris, was praised by critics, and earned numerous awards and nominations. Also in 2013, At Home with Julia
2162-546: Was the most-watched show on Mexican television and had a Latin-American audience of 350 million viewers per episode at its popularity peak during the mid-1970s. The show continues to be popular in Central America as well as in Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Spain, the United States, and other countries. Syndicated episodes average 91 million daily viewers in all its American markets. Since it ceased production in 1992,
2209-499: Was the writer behind BSG's second television movie, The Plan , news confirmed in her writer's blog. In January 2009 it was announced that she had joined the spin-off series Caprica as co-executive producer and would take on showrunner duties midway through the first season. Espenson later gave up showrunning duties to focus more on writing. In August 2010 it was announced that Torchwood creator, lead writer and executive producer Russell T. Davies had hired Espenson to write for
#507492