‘Seinfeld’ Director Returns to UA, will Discuss Challenges of Television Comedy

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Award-winning television director Tom Cherones will screen an episode of “Seinfeld” and discuss the art and craft of television comedy, as well as the future of the medium, on Wednesday, March 19, at 7 p.m. in 216 Reese Phifer Hall on The University of Alabama campus.

Cherones produced or directed the first 86 episodes of “Seinfeld,” one of the most successful situation comedies in television history. He has worked as director on several sitcoms, including “NewsRadio,” “Caroline in the City” and “Ellen.” He also has won top industry awards for his work, including an Emmy, a Director’s Guild Award, a Golden Globe, a Peabody and a Christopher Award. Cherones is a Tuscaloosa native and received his master’s in telecommunication and film from UA in 1976.

The event is free and open to the public and is sponsored by UA’s Center for Creative Media, as part of the Center’s “Medialogue” series where highly accomplished media creators screen and discuss their work.

For the second year Cherones and his wife, Joyce Keener, a television writer, are in Tuscaloosa to teach a four-week advanced production class in the telecommunication and film department of the College of Communication and Information Sciences at UA.

The class offers students the opportunity to have hands-on experience with all aspects of the production of a 30-minute drama from a student script. The four-week class will have an intensive classroom and shooting schedule that will mimic real-world production situations. Cherones and Keener will lead the class four evenings a week and on weekends. The accelerated pace of location shooting, editing and critiquing will allow for a rough cut of the program to be shown at the end of class.

Acclaimed comedian and star of “Seinfeld,” Jerry Seinfeld, will be in Birmingham at the BJCC on March 14 for two shows, 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Call 205/ 715-6000 or log onto www.ticketmaster.com.