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 ".

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 stood down as showrunner after season six, but produced several subsequent episodes, co-wrote The Simpsons Movie ( 2007 ) and remains on the show as a consultant.

Mirkin was apprehensive about the job because he was aiming to work on Cheers, a show more focused on character-driven humor which Mirkin preferred writing, but felt he could not turn the opportunity down.

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

Still hoping to work on Cheers, Mirkin sent a spec script of an episode of Taxi to Cheers writers Ken Levine and David Sacks.

The episodes were commissioned, but Mirkin's agent rejected the Cheers job without telling his client, failing to see why Mirkin would want to work on what was then the lowest-rated comedy on television.

Mirkin sacked the agent and signed on with Robb Rothman.

Mirkin wrote a freelance script and in 1984 beat seven other writers to a staff position on the series.

" Mirkin left Newhart in 1988, desiring to work on a single-camera sitcom.

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 ".

However, Mirkin and Elliott refused to " on the essential goofiness of the show.

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.

Mirkin worked on the concept for a long time, basing the story on NASA's Teacher in Space Project scheme to send ordinary civilians into space in order to spark interest amongst the general public.

During re-writes, Mirkin and the other writers placed greater emphasis on the relationship between Homer and his family and on Homer's attempts to be a hero, but most of Mirkin's original script was retained.

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.

" Lisa the Vegetarian " was approved by Mirkin after the story was pitched by Cohen ; Mirkin had just become a vegetarian himself, and so many of Lisa's experiences in the episode were based on his own.

Mirkin has been cited as introducing a more surreal element to the show's humor, as shown by his sole writing credit for the show, " Deep Space Homer ", which sees Homer Simpson go to space as part of a NASA program to restore interest in space exploration.

" This meant Mirkin had to adapt his preference for character-driven comedy to fit the show ; it " forced you to put all the cleverness into the plot, a much more difficult thing to do.

It was the first nomination the show had received in that category and for the first episode Mirkin wrote as the series ' showrunner.

Mirkin had wanted to cast comedian Chris Elliott in the pilot, but was prevented by Fox, which wanted Elliott for another show.

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

Fox was lukewarm about the idea, but Mirkin convinced them to order a pilot by understating how dark the show would be.

The network executives disliked the pilot after seeing an initial run-through, but Mirkin felt that this was because they " didn't get " the show and opted not to change it.

The show's production process was lengthy ; Mirkin would rise at to film the show, write further episodes from until, and then repeat that the following day.

Due to the logistics of filming the show, especially its many sets and effects, Mirkin convinced Fox to not film it in front of a studio audience and use a laugh track instead.

" A strong cult following subsequently developed, and Mirkin noted that although the show was canceled " ultimately we got the audience I was hoping for and they are super dedicated and passionate to this day.

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

Mirkin had long wished to produce a sketch show, and designed The Edge to be " fast-paced " and " some skits overlap, end abruptly or are broken into segments ," in order to maintain attention.

The show's production company TriStar Television refused, while Mirkin responded: " The thing about these parodies is they don't hurt a show.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that Mirkin had been " forced off the show ," due to the negative reaction of Spelling and others, though in 2012, Mirkin stated that he left the series after refusing to accept a substantially reduced budget.

Due to the high staff departure at the end of season four, Mirkin " pretty much had to build show from the ground up again ," and noted that this " was exciting but also a big challenge.

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.

Mirkin, who had suggested that the two take over, remained on the show in an advisory capacity, helping Oakley and Weinstein with technical aspects of the show such as editing and sound mixing.

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.

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

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

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

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.

" 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.