" Mirkin felt the experience " taught a lot about structure " which greatly aided his later work on character-focused shows.

" A philosophy he carried in to his later work, Mirkin felt that " being the head writer ... was not enough ; you had to see the material through its execution – especially the weirder stuff.

Mirkin did not have time, but worked as writer and consultant on the show's first season, and later returned to direct the 1998 final season episode " The Beginning of the End ".

Mirkin conducted the show's writing sessions in one room, rather than splitting the writers into two groups, as later showrunners would do, and often worked late into the night.

Mirkin later said that recording with the McCartneys was one of the most " amazing " experiences of his life and considers the episode to be one of his favorites.

Üter, a character from Germany, also makes his first appearance on the show in this segment ; he was conceived as a one-time joke, but reappeared in later episodes because Mirkin felt he was " such a perfect stereotype ".

It was filmed on Ventura Boulevard in Studio City and directed by David Mirkin, who later said that Fox " couldn't have been less supportive " because they thought it would be too expensive.

Mirkin had just become a vegetarian himself, and later noted that many of Lisa's experiences in the episode were based on his own.

Mirkin had McCartney record the recipe, which was later added in reverse over the original song.

The Simpsons writer David Mirkin said that one of his favorite jokes on the show is the one where Grampa cycles down the street in high speed and shouts that he feels young again, and is then knocked flying from his bicycle after a doll's head flies into the spokes and falls into an open grave.

Mirkin said of the film: " These are women characters we haven't seen before.

" Mirkin has said that Patrick Stewart is " one of the best guest performances " because " he was so committed to character.

Mirkin said, " Things had to happen really fast.

Mirkin said he felt the gremlin was well-done because he looked scary and " yet it looks like a completely organic Simpsons character ".

Mirkin said he believes Halloween shows can be " scary as well as fun ".

David Mirkin said that Homer's line " Oh I wish, I wish I hadn't killed that fish " is one of his favorites in the show, and that the alternate future in which the family are rich " breaks heart every time ".

" There was an eerie silence ," Mirkin said.

" Mirkin said the episode was also a tour de force for Kavner, who in one scene voices Marge, Marge's two sisters, and Marge's mother.

Mirkin also said Neill was " really game " and did " a terrific job " on the episode.

" Mirkin said this was a joke the staff enjoyed doing because it pointed out how negative and mean-spirited news broadcasts can be, and how they are seemingly " always trying to scare everybody " by creating panic and depression.

Mirkin said Mantegna is a joy to direct and that Mantegna loves the role so much, he wishes to voice him " even if he only coughs ".

The Simpsons creator Matt Groening thought it was a " quintessential " Swartzwelder episode, and executive producer / show runner David Mirkin said it was a " fantastic job by one of the most prolific writers of the show ".

Mirkin said the elephant " never quite bonds because it's a very cantankerous animal, a concept that was very important to this episode ".

Mirkin said Swartzwelder had always enjoyed putting presidents into his jokes, and this was only one of his many references to Lincoln.

Mirkin said of the Westworld parody: " Again, to show you what a collaboration this is, we had the animators looking at Westworld and making sure of the animation, and then we made sure that Simpsons composer Alf Clausen got the brilliant soundtrack from the film.

Mirkin flew to London to record the episode's guest stars Paul and Linda McCartney at Paul's recording studio, where the McCartneys spent an hour recording their parts.

David Mirkin recalled that more writers came to her recording session than any other.

Before the recording session took part, the main voice actors of the show ( Dan Castellaneta, Harry Shearer, Julie Kavner, Yeardley Smith, Nancy Cartwright, and Hank Azaria ) sat down with executive producer David Mirkin and a crew of writers at a table reading to determine what shape the script was in.

Mirkin thought Turner was " completely game " when she showed up at the recording studio to record her lines as she " nailed " her lines really fast.

Grammer usually joins the show's " table readings " ( wherein cast members read each script together for the first time ), and former executive producer David Mirkin described working with Grammer as very pleasant, due to his lively sense of humor.

Created by Brown, Charlie Coffey, and director and executive producer David Mirkin, it was a comedy about actress Julie Robbins ( Brown ), who in this initial story, goes to great lengths to land an interview with teen singer Kiki ( played by Kim Walker ) in the hopes of getting hired as a tabloid-TV celebrity journalist.

Mirkin sacked the agent and signed on with Robb Rothman.

Garry Shandling asked Mirkin to co-create The Larry Sanders Show with him.

Mirkin and Elliott decided to develop a show together, along with Adam Resnick.

In 1991, Mirkin wrote a pilot with Julie Brown entitled The Julie Show, starring Brown, but NBC did not produce it.

Several people at the network enjoyed it and commissioned The Edge, a sketch comedy show also written by Mirkin and Brown, with Mirkin directing.

In a 2004 interview with Animation Magazine, Mirkin stated that he felt that he " brought show back to a more story-oriented " approach and increased the focus on characters and their emotions, although " at the same time still keeping it surreal and weird ".

Ortved — using interviews with writers Bob Kushell and Brent Forrester and Mirkin's assistant Charleen Easton — describes Mirkin as an " outsider " on the show, with the writing staff, at least initially, divided with respect to Mirkin's comedy and leadership style.

" Others criticised him, including Kushell, who clashed with Mirkin over the episode " A Star is Burns ", a crossover with the The Critic.

In 2004, Mirkin stated that he " really wasn't at all intimidat to join show's writing crew ," because he " had worked with and written with " many of his fellow writers previously and concluded that, " took this show in a direction that is more personal to me.

After season six, Mirkin suggested Oakley and Weinstein take over as showrunners, but remained on the show in an advisory capacity, helping them with technical aspects of the show such as editing and sound mixing, and attending table readings of the scripts.

Mirkin still works part-time on the show as a consultant, helping with the re-write process.

" Chris Hewitt of Empire wrote that " Mirkin's direction is a little flat, but he's clearly having tremendous fun ," but Susan Wloszczyna of USA Today opined that Mirkin " never gets the timing right and allows the story to drag with little internal logic.

In the early 1990s, Mirkin was in a relationship with actress Julie Brown, with whom he had worked on The Julie Show and The Edge ; the two considered getting married.

Additionally, Resnick co-created and wrote for Get A Life with David Mirkin and Chris Elliott.

The film was set in Palm Beach, Florida ( specifically the Breakers Hotel ); according to the DVD commentary by director David Mirkin, only a few external shots were actually shot in Palm Beach, with the rest utilizing Los Angeles locations as stand-ins.

Mirkin came up with the idea while driving home from a rewrite early in the morning and listened to a religious radio station where they were talking about Freemasonry.