russ woody

Russ Woody’s first jobs in Hollywood were as a production assistant on “Benson” and “Bosom Buddies”. He went on to sell scripts to “Benson”, “Barney Miller” and later to “Fantasy Island” and “Webster”. In 1984 he was hired to a two-year contract by Mary Tyler Moore’s company, MTM, as a writer. While there he wrote episodes of “Newhart”, “St. Elsewhere” and “Hill Street Blues”. In 1987 he was hired by Jay Tarses to write and produce episodes of ABC’s “The Slap Maxwell Story”.

The following year he became a writing producer on “Murphy Brown”, where he won an Emmy in 1990. After leaving that show, he worked as producer and supervising producer on “Parenthood” with Ed Begley Jr, “Good Sports” with Ryan O’Neal and Farrah Fawcett, “Room For Two” with Linda Lavin, Jay Tarse’s “Smoldering Lust”, and “Mad About You”.

After a year and a half as co-executive producer of “Cybill”, where he won a Golden Globe in 1996, Russ worked on “The Jeff Foxworthy Show” and then “Style & Substance” with Jean Smart. From 1998 until 2003 he was co-executive producer of “Becker” with Ted Danson. The following season he was an executive producer on “The Drew Carey Show”. He has since produced and written “Notes From The Underbelly”, “Instant Mom” and “The Middle”. While still keeping a hand in television, he is currently working on screenplays and books, including; “Effed Up”, “The Wheel of Nuldoid” and “Tuesdays With Ted”: An uplifting, heartbreaking, occasional funny story about an old man with ALS, a sitcom, its star and just enough time to say good-bye.