Look up Gregory or Grégory in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Gregory may refer to:

• Electoral district of Gregory, Queensland, Australia
• Gregory, Tennessee, United States
• Gregory, Texas, United States
• Gregory, Western Australia, Australia
• Gregory (car manufacturer), a defunct United Kingdom car manufacturer
• Gregory (given name), a common masculine given name
• Gregory (surname), a surname

See also[link]

• Gregory County (disambiguation)
• Lake Gregory (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Greg is usually a male/mans name

Look up daniels in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Daniels may refer to:

People[link]

• Daniels (name)

Places[link]

United States

• Daniels, Maryland, a former town
  • Daniels Mill (Daniels, Maryland), a historic site
• Daniels County, Montana
• Daniel's Pass, high mountain pass in Utah
• Daniels Run, small stream in Fairfax, Virginia

Canada

• Daniel's Cove, Newfoundland and Labrador, resettled fishing village

Antarctica

• Daniels Range, principal mountain range of the Usarp Mountains

Other uses[link]

• Jack Daniel's, Tennessee whiskey distillery and brand
• Daniels EP, split extended-play record featuring songs from Mock Orange and Japanese touring mates The Band Apart
• Daniels Motorsport, United Kingdom-based motorsport team
• USS Josephus Daniels (CG-27), Belknap-class destroyer leader-cruiser

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Gregory Martin "Greg" Daniels (born June 13, 1963) is an American television comedy writer, producer, and director. He is known for his work on several television series, Saturday Night Live, The Simpsons, King of the Hill and The Office, with all four shows being named among James Poniewozik's All Time 100 TV Shows.^[1] Daniels attended Harvard University and he became friends with Conan O'Brien. Their first writing credit was for Not Necessarily the News, before they were fired due to budget cuts. He eventually became a writer for two long-running series: Saturday Night Live and The Simpsons.

He joined the writing staff of The Simpsons during the fifth season, and he wrote several classic episodes including "Lisa's Wedding", "Bart Sells His Soul" and "22 Short Films About Springfield". He left the series in order to co-create another long-running animated series, King of the Hill with Mike Judge. The series ran for thirteen years before it was cancelled in 2009. During the series run, he worked on several other series including: The Office and Parks and Recreation. The two shows have received critical acclaim. As of 2012, he is currently working on both of those shows and is developing another British adaption for NBC.

Early life and work[link]

Daniels said he became interested in comedy by watching Monty Python's Flying Circus as a child, as well as by reading books by humorist S. J. Perelman at age 11.^[2] His first joke was a Carnac the Entertainer joke for his father which was later used for The Office episode, "The Dundies".^[3] Daniels attended Phillips Exeter Academy and then Harvard University where he wrote for the Harvard Lampoon with Conan O'Brien.^[4] After graduating in 1984, the two accepted jobs at Not Necessarily the News, but they were soon fired due to budget cuts.^[4] The two later met Lorne Michaels in the late 1987 and they were given a three week try-out in the Saturday Night Live writing staff.^[4] While on the staff, he won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program.^[5] Daniels left the writing staff in 1990, three years after joining it.

Career[link]

[edit] The Simpsons and King of the Hill (1993–2009)

Daniels joined the writing staff of The Simpsons in 1993. He was hired in the fifth season following the departures of many of the original team of writers.^[6] His first day also coincided with O'Brien's last day on the series.^[7] When he initially joined the series, he believed the series had gone past the "glory years" and that he had "missed the boat".^[8] In the fifth season, Daniels penned "The Devil and Homer Simpson" segment of "Treehouse of Horror IV", "Homer and Apu" and "Secrets of a Successful Marriage". Daniels received an Emmy nomination in the "Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music and Lyrics" category for the song "Who Needs The Kwik-E-Mart?" from "Homer and Apu".^[5] For season six, he wrote "Time and Punishment" segment from "Treehouse of Horror V", "Homer Badman" and "Lisa's Wedding". The latter episode became the third of the series to win a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program.^[5] In the seventh season, Daniels wrote "Bart Sells His Soul", which was based off a childhood experience.^[9] His final credit for the series was for "22 Short Films About Springfield" which he served as supervising writer along side show runner Josh Weinstein. They were giving the responsibility of linking all the stories together.^[10]

Daniels left The Simpsons to work on King of the Hill alongside Mike Judge.^[11] Daniels rewrote the pilot script and created several important characters that did not appear in Judge's first draft (including Luanne and Cotton), as well as some characterization ideas (e.g., making Dale Gribble a conspiracy theorist).^[12] Daniels also took the writers to Texas to do some research with reporter notebooks, a process he would use for The Office and Parks and Recreation.^[13] Judge was ultimately so pleased with Daniels' contributions that he chose to credit him as a co-creator, rather than give him the "developer" credit usually reserved for individuals brought on to a pilot written by someone else.^[12] During the fifth and sixth seasons, Judge and Daniels became less involved with the show.^[12] They eventually focused on the show again, though Daniels steadily became more involved with other projects.^[12]

[edit] The Office and Parks and Recreation (2005–present)

In 2005, Daniels adapted the popular BBC mockumentary series The Office for American audiences. The series premiered to low ratings and negative reviews,^[14][15] so the writers worked to make it more "optimistic" and make the lead character, Michael Scott, more likable.^[16] The second season was better received and it was named the second best TV series of 2006 by James Poniewozik, writing that "Producer Greg Daniels created not a copy but an interpretation that sends up distinctly American work conventions [...] with a tone that's more satiric and less mordant. [...] The new boss is different from the old boss, and that's fine by me".^[17] He gave the acceptance speech at the 58th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards when the American version of The Office won the award for Outstanding Comedy Series and he received for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series at 59th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards.^[18][19]

Following the success of The Office, Ben Silverman asked Daniels to create a spin-off for the series.^[20] After considering several ideas, Daniels and co-creator, Michael Schur eventually decided that the series would not be a spin off because "couldn't find the right fit".^[21][20] After Amy Poehler agreed to play the lead, they decided the show would revolve around an optimistic bureaucrat in small-town government.^[21] The premise of Parks and Recreation was partly inspired by the portrayal of local politics on the HBO drama series The Wire, as well as the renewed interest in and optimism about politics stemming from the 2008 United States presidential election.^[22] The series received negative reviews much like The Office in the first season while later seasons would receive critical acclaim.^[23][24] He currently splits his time between The Office and Parks and Rec.^[25]

Future projects (2012)[link]

Daniels recently made a deal with NBC to produce several series for Universal Television.^[26] He was also adapting the British series, Friday Night Dinner, for American audiences.^[26] The remake was picked up for a pilot, which was written by Daniels and directed by Ken Kwapis^[27] and featured Allison Janney and Tony Shalhoub, as the mother and father.^[28] The pilot was eventually not picked up for series.^[29] He is also teaming with Mindy Kaling and Alan Yang to work on two differing animated series for NBC.^[26]

Personal life[link]

Daniels met Susanne Lieberstein while she was answering phones at Saturday Night Live for Lorne Michaels.^[30] They eventually married and had two children.^[30] She is the sister to Paul Lieberstein, writer for King of the Hill and the replacement showrunner of The Office for Daniels.^[31] He is also the brother-in-law to Office writer Warren Lieberstein and Office cast member Angela Kinsey.

Work[link]

Reception[link]

Daniels work has received mainly positive reception. Out of the six TV series that Daniels has worked on, four of them: Saturday Night Live, The Simpsons, King of the Hill and The Office were named among Time reviewer James Poniewozik's All Time 100 TV Shows.^[1] His work on The Simpsons has received acclaim from critics and fans. Two of his episodes: "Bart Sells His Soul" and "22 Short Films About Springfield" were listed among the shows creative team's top five episodes in 2003.^[32][33] Series creator Matt Groening and executive producer James L. Brooks have named his episodes among their favorites.^[34][35] Other staff members and several critics have praised his work.^[36][37][38] His other animated series and his first credit as a creator, King of the Hill has received positive reviews as well. IGN named it the 27th best animated television series and it mainly complemented the series for its subtle character humor.^[39] The series currently ranks as the third longest running animated television series after The Simpsons and South Park.

His next television series, The Office ranks as the highest rated NBC series.^[41] The series was initially met with mixed reviews. Starting with the second season, the series received better reviews and has also been put on several top series lists by many publications including Time,^[17][42][1] BuddyTV,^[43] Metacritic, ^[44] The Washington Post,^[45] and Paste.^[46] His writing credits for the series are often considered the best of the series.^{[40][47][48][49]} Despite, its early acclaim, later seasons have received a criticism for a dip in quality.^[50][51][52] Daniel's most recent series, Parks and Recreation was initially met with negative reviews much like The Office. According to a March 18, 2009, report that was leaked to television journalist Nikki Finke, focus groups responded poorly to a rough-cut version of the pilot.^[53] Many critics said the series was too similar to The Office.^{[22][54][55][56][57]} The following seasons received better reviews and it was called "the smartest comedy on TV" by Entertainment Weekly.^[58]

Awards[link]

Daniels has received several awards and nominations. He has been nominated for twelve Emmys and has won four. Those wins are for: Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program for his work on Saturday Night Line, Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program for the Simpsons episode, "Lisa's Wedding", Outstanding Comedy Series for The Office and Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for The Office episode "Gay Witch Hunt".^[5]

Credits[link]

• Not Necessarily the News (TBA) – writer
• Saturday Night Live' (1987–1990) – writer
• The Simpsons (1993-1996) – co-executive producer, producer, co-producer and writer
  • "Treehouse of Horror IV" ("The Devil and Homer Simpson" segment co-written with Dan McGrath)
  • "Homer and Apu"
  • "Secrets of a Successful Marriage"
  • "Treehouse of Horror V" ("Time and Punishment" segment co-written with Dan McGrath)
  • "Homer Badman"
  • "Lisa's Wedding"
  • "Bart Sells His Soul"
  • "22 Short Films About Springfield" (supervising writer)
• King of the Hill (1997–2009) – co-creator, executive producer and writer
  • "Pilot" with Mike Judge
  • "Hank's Unmentionable Problem" with Mike Judge
• The Office (2005–present) – developer, show runner, executive producer, director and writer
  • "Pilot" (writer)
  • "Basketball" (writer and director)
  • "The Dundies" (director)
  • "Halloween" (writer)
  • "The Client" (director)
  • "Booze Cruise" (writer)
  • "Valentine's Day" (director)
  • "Drug Testing" (director)
  • "Conflict Resolution" (writer)
  • "Gay Witch Hunt" (writer)
  • "The Coup" (director)
  • "Traveling Salesman" (director)
  • "The Return" (director)
  • "Beach Games" with Jennifer Celotta (writer)
  • "Fun Run" (writer and director)
  • "Baby Shower" (director)
  • "Niagara" with Mindy Kaling (writer)
  • "Murder" (director)
  • "PDA" (director)
  • "Goodbye, Michael" (writer)
• Parks and Recreation (2009–present) – co-creator, executive producer, director and writer
  • "Pilot" (co-written with Michael Schur; director)
  • "Hunting Trip" (director)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Greg Daniels at the Internet Movie Database

Michael Herbert^[1] Schur (born October 29, 1975) is an American television producer and writer, best known for his work on the NBC comedy series The Office and Parks and Recreation, the latter of which he co-created along with Greg Daniels. Schur is also known for his small role on The Office as Mose Schrute, the cousin of Dwight Schrute, who is played by Rainn Wilson.

Biography[link]

Michael Schur said he first became interested in comedy when he was 11 years old, when he read Without Feathers, a 1975 collection of humorous essays by Woody Allen. Schur said he found the book on his father's bookshelf and stayed up reading it until 4 a.m.^[2]

Schur wrote for six seasons on NBC's Saturday Night Live until 2004. Soon after, he became producer and writer for The Office on NBC, for which he has written ten episodes so far. He is a graduate of William H. Hall High School in West Hartford, Connecticut and of Harvard University (class of 1997) where he was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa and was a member of the Harvard Lampoon. He is married to Jennifer Philbin, who was formerly a writer on The O.C. and is television star Regis Philbin's daughter. Their first child, son William Xavier Schur, was born on Feb 18, 2008. His middle name, Xavier, is in honor of Regis Philbin's confirmation name. At 7:54 p.m., on July 14, 2010, Jennifer Philbin gave birth to a daughter, Ivy Elizabeth, in California. Schur appeared on The Office as Dwight's cousin Mose in the episodes "Initiation," in which Dwight takes Ryan to his beet farm, "Money," in which Jim and Pam spend a night at the farm, "The Deposition", "Koi Pond", and "Counseling." He also co-wrote The Office: The Accountants webisodes with Paul Lieberstein.

Schur also wrote for "Fire Joe Morgan", a sports journalism blog, under the pseudonym "Ken Tremendous."^[3] Schur resurrected the pen name on March 31, 2011, when he began writing for SBNation's Baseball Nation site. Ken Tremendous is also Schur's Twitter username.

In April 2008, Schur and Greg Daniels started working on a pilot for Parks and Recreation as a proposed spin off of The Office. Over time, Schur realized Parks and Recreation would work better as a show if they made it separate from The Office. While Parks and Recreation received negative reviews in its first season, it received critical acclaim in the second much like The Office.^{[citation needed]}

Schur collaborated with The Decemberists on their music video for Calamity Song from the album The King Is Dead.^[4]

Episodes written[link]

[edit] The Office

1. "The Alliance" (April 12, 2005) – Season 1
2. "Office Olympics" (October 4, 2005) – Season 2
3. "Christmas Party" (December 6, 2005) – Season 2
4. "Valentine's Day" (February 9, 2006) – Season 2
5. "Branch Closing" (November 9, 2006) – Season 3
6. "Traveling Salesmen" co-written with Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky (January 11, 2007) – Season 3
7. "The Return" co-written with Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky (January 18, 2007) – Season 3
8. "The Negotiation" (April 5, 2007) – Season 3
9. "The Job" co-written with Paul Lieberstein (May 17, 2007) – Season 3
10. "Dunder Mifflin Infinity" (October 4, 2007) – Season 4

[edit] Parks and Recreation

• "Pilot" – Season 1
• "Greg Pikitis" – Season 2
• "Christmas Scandal" – Season 2
• "Galentine's Day" – Season 2
• "The Master Plan" – Season 2
• "Time Capsule" – Season 3
• "End of the World" – Season 4

Episodes directed[link]

[edit] Parks and Recreation

• "Rock Show" – Season 1
• "Sister City" – Season 2
• "Time Capsule" – Season 3

References[link]

1. ^ "Jennifer Philbin and Michael Schur". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. 2005-10-09. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/09/fashion/weddings/09phil.html. Retrieved 2008-09-15. 
2. ^ Martin, Denise (2009-11-18). "Making bureaucracy work: How NBC's "Parks and Recreation" overcame bad buzz". Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, California). http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2009/11/parks-and-recreation.html. Retrieved 2009-12-06. 
3. ^ Fire Joe Morgan: About Us
4. ^ Carlin, Shannon (2011-08-22). "First Watch: The Decemberists, 'Calamity Song'". NPR. https://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2011/08/22/139033489/first-watch-the-decemberists-calamity-song. Retrieved 2011-08-23. 

External links[link]

• Michael Schur at the Internet Movie Database
• Michael Schur on Twitter
• Fire Joe Morgan
• Interview with Michael Schur
• Where are they now? Interview About His Public Schooling

Mindy Kaling
Mindy Kaling, 2008
Born	Vera Mindy Chokalingam (1979-06-24) June 24, 1979 (age 33) Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
Occupation	Actress, comedian, writer, producer
Years active	2004–present

Vera Mindy Chokalingam (born June 24, 1979), better known as Mindy Kaling, is an American actress, comedian, writer and producer who plays Kelly Kapoor on the NBC sitcom The Office. Kaling is also a co-executive producer and writer of several of the show's episodes.

Early life[link]

Kaling was born Vera Chokalingam^[1][2] in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to a Tamil father and Bengali mother from India.^[3] Her father, Avu, is an architect, and her mother, Swati, is an obstetrician/gynecologist.^[4][5]

She explains that she has been known as Mindy ever since her mother was pregnant with her when her parents were living in Nigeria. They were already planning to move to the U.S. and wanted a "cute American name" for their daughter, and liked the name Mindy from the TV show Mork & Mindy. The name Vera is the name of the "incarnation of a Hindu goddess."^[6]

She graduated from Buckingham Browne & Nichols, a private school in Cambridge in 1997. The following year, she entered Dartmouth College, where she was a member of the improvisational comedy troupe "The Dog Day Players" and the a cappella group "The Rockapellas", and the creator of the comic strip "Badly Drawn Girl" in The Dartmouth (the college's daily newspaper), as well as writing for the Dartmouth Jack-O-Lantern (the college's humor magazine). She graduated in 2001.^[7]

Career[link]

In 2003, she portrayed Ben Affleck in a play titled "Matt & Ben", which she also co-wrote with Brenda Withers. The play was named one of Time magazine's "Top Ten Theatrical Events of The Year".

Kaling's TV appearances include a 2005 episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, playing Richard Lewis's assistant. ^[8] Kaling is also featured on the CD Comedy Death-Ray and wrote for one episode of Saturday Night Live in April 2006.^{[citation needed]}

Kaling's first film role was in The 40-Year-Old Virgin, which starred Steve Carell. She also made an appearance in the film Unaccompanied Minors as a waitress. In 2007, she held a small part in License to Wed starring fellow The Office actors John Krasinski, Angela Kinsey and Brian Baumgartner. Recently, Kaling was in Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian as a Smithsonian Museum of Air and Space tour guide. She also voiced the character of "Tourist Mom" in the animated comedy Despicable Me. In 2011, she played the role of Shira, a doctor who is a roommate and colleague of the main character Emma (played by Natalie Portman) in No Strings Attached.

Prior to acting, one of her "worst job" experiences was as a production assistant on the Crossing Over With John Edward psychic show.^[6]

Kaling used to maintain a blog called “Things I’ve Bought That I Love,", which reemerged on her website on September 29, 2011.^[9] She is the author of the comic memoir Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns).^[10] The book is a collection of essays about her early life and career, intertwined with short observational essays about her friends, family, and relationships.

In 2012, Kaling pitched a comedy to Fox, currently titled The Mindy Project written by her. She will serve as both the series star and the executive producer for the pilot episode.^[11]Fox plans to show the series Tuesdays at 9:30 Eastern Time starting Fall 2012.^[12]

[edit] The Office

Kaling first joined The Office as a writer when she was 24, as the only woman on a staff of eight,^[10] and then took on the role of character Kelly Kapoor. She has written at least 22 episodes,^[10] including "Niagara", for which she was co-nominated for an Emmy with Greg Daniels. Kaling also wrote and directed the webisodes "Subtle Sexuality" in 2009. In a 2007 interview with The A.V. Club, Kaling stated that the Kelly character is "an exaggerated version of what I think the upper-level writers believe my personality is."^[13] After the "Diwali" episode, Kaling appeared with Daniels on NPR's Fresh Air.^[14]

Most recently, Kaling directed The Office webisodes titled The 3rd Floor.^{[citation needed]} She also directed the season 6 episode titled "Body Language", which marked her television directorial debut.

Kaling's contract was set to expire at the end of Season 7. On September 15, 2011, she signed a new contract to stay with the show for Season 8 and was promoted to full Executive Producer status.^[15] Her current NBC contract includes a development deal for a new show for which she will both write and act.^[10]

Episodes written[link]

1. "Hot Girl" (April 26, 2005) - Season 1
2. "The Dundies" (September 20, 2005) - Season 2
3. "The Injury" (January 12, 2006) - Season 2
4. "Take Your Daughter to Work Day" (March 16, 2006) - Season 2
5. "Diwali" (November 2, 2006) - Season 3
6. "Ben Franklin" (February 1, 2007) - Season 3
7. "Branch Wars" (November 1, 2007) - Season 4
8. "Night Out" (April 24, 2008) - Season 4
9. "Frame Toby" (November 20, 2008) - Season 5
10. "Lecture Circuit: Part 1" (February 5, 2009) - Season 5
11. "Lecture Circuit: Part 2" (February 12, 2009) - Season 5
12. "Golden Ticket" (March 12, 2009) - Season 5
13. "Niagara" co-written with Greg Daniels (October 8, 2009) - Season 6
14. "Secret Santa" (December 10, 2009) - Season 6
15. "The Manager and the Salesman" (February 11, 2010) - Season 6
16. "Secretary's Day" (April 22, 2010) - Season 6
17. "The Sting" (October 21, 2010) - Season 7
18. "Classy Christmas" (December 9, 2010) - Season 7
19. "Michael's Last Dundies" (April 21, 2011) - Season 7
20. "Christmas Wishes" (December 9, 2011) - Season 8
21. "Test the Store" (March 9, 2012) - Season 8

Episodes Directed[link]

1. "Body Language" (April 29, 2010) - Season 6
2. "Michael's Last Dundies" (April 21, 2011) - Season 7

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]