Mitchell D. Hurwitz (born May 29, 1963) is an American television writer and producer. He is best known as the creator of the television sitcom Arrested Development as well as the co-creator of The Ellen Show, and a contributor to The John Larroquette Show and The Golden Girls.
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Hurwitz was born Jewish[1] in Anaheim, California. In 1976, when Hurwitz was 12, he co-founded a chocolate-chip cookie business called the Chipyard, with his older brother, Michael. A Chipyard store, opened at a later date by their father, is still in operation in Boston.[2] He graduated from Estancia High School in Costa Mesa, CA, and from Georgetown University in 1985 with a double major in English and Theology.[3]
Hurwitz worked on several sitcoms in the 1980s and 1990s, including Nurses, The Golden Girls, The Golden Palace, The John Larroquette Show, The Ellen Show, and Hench at Home. He also created, "Everything's Relative," a midseason comedy starring Jeffrey Tambor and Jill Clayburgh for NBC in 1999.[4]
Hurwitz was chosen by Ron Howard to create a sitcom about a rich dysfunctional family, which eventually turned into Arrested Development. Hurwitz wrote the pilot in 2002, which was filmed in March 2003. FOX added the show to its schedule in May. Although the show premiered to stunning reviews from television critics around the country, the show was plagued by low ratings throughout its three-season run. In July 2004, the show was nominated for 7 Primetime Emmy Awards and won 5, including Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series and Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series. Hurwitz won two of the awards: Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series ("Pilot") and Outstanding Comedy Series, along with the other producers of the show.
In the second season, ratings decreased further and the show was cut down to 18 episodes instead of the planned 22 episodes. Nevertheless, the show was still critically acclaimed and was nominated for 11 Emmy Awards. Hurwitz won one (Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for "Righteous Brothers", which Hurwitz wrote along with Jim Vallely, Hurwitz's writing partner in many other Arrested Development-related projects) out of the two nominations he received (the second being Outstanding Comedy Series along with producers of the show). The award in the category of Outstanding Comedy Series went to Everybody Loves Raymond, which was in its final season.
In the show's third and final season, Hurwitz tried to keep Arrested Development on the air, but did not have the advertising funding to promote the series. The show was again cut down, from 22 episodes to 13. FOX announced the cancellation of the show before the production of the final five episodes. For the third season, Hurwitz was nominated for two Emmys: Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for the series finale, "Development Arrested," along with Chuck Tatham, Jim Vallely and Richard Day as well as for Outstanding Comedy Series along with the other producers of the show.
Hurwitz was presented with the Outstanding Television Writer Award by Ron Howard at the 2009 Austin Film Festival.
Hurwitz created FOX's animated comedy Sit Down, Shut Up, based on an Australian TV series of the same name, for the 2008 season.
Among Hurwitz's projects have been the US television adaptations of the British comedy shows The Thick of It[5] (which was not picked up in the running for ABC's 2007-2008 TV season, though other networks such as HBO, Showtime and NBC have expressed interest)[6] and Absolutely Fabulous.[7]
My World And Welcome To It was a 2009 CBS television pilot. The executive producers were Jay Kogen, Kim Tannenbaum, Barry Sonnenfeld & Hurwitz. It was a comedy based on James Thurber's collection of essays about being a dad in the 1960s, based on an earlier series My World and Welcome to It.
Happiness Isn't Everything[8] was a CBS pilot written by Hurwitz and Jim Vallely, starring Richard Dreyfuss, Jason Biggs, Ben Schwartz and Mary Steenburgen.
Hurwitz was the recipient of the Outstanding Television Writer Award at the 16th Annual Austin Film Festival & Conference in Austin, TX in October 2009.[9] Past Outstanding Television Writer Award Recipients include Greg Daniels, Glenn Gordon Caron, David Milch, David Chase, Tom Fontana, Gary David Goldberg, Darren Star, Garry Shandling, and Mike Judge.
His latest creation was Running Wilde, which premiered in the fall of 2010. It was a collaboration with Arrested Development star Will Arnett. It was later canceled.
Mitch co-starred in an episode of Workaholics titled "Dry Guys." In this role, Hurtwitz plays the clan's HR representative and is aiding them in their pursuit to become sober.
Hurwitz is married to actress Mary Jo Keenen. The two have two daughters: Maisie Asami, born in 2000, and Phoebe Hitomi born in 2002.
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