Glenn Gordon Caron (born April 3, 1954), sometimes credited as Glenn Caron, is an American writer, director, and producer, best known for the television series Moonlighting in the 1980s and Medium in the 2000s. He lives in Los Angeles, California.

Biography

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Caron was born to a Jewish family[1] in Oceanside, New York. After graduating from the State University of New York at Geneseo in 1975, Caron studied with Del Close and The Second City in Chicago before working at an advertising agency.[2]

While at the ad agency he was invited by NBC to write a pilot for the network. The pilot did not receive a series order, but Caron's work impressed writer-producer James L. Brooks, who invited him to join the writing staff of Taxi, although he only worked on one episode.

Caron subsequently coproduced the first 12 episodes of Remington Steele (NBC, 1982-'87) before leaving to form his own company, Picturemaker Productions. Caron created Moonlighting (ABC, 1985-'89), a worldwide hit that revitalized the career of Cybill Shepherd and launched the career of Bruce Willis. Between its third and fourth seasons, Caron directed his first feature film, Clean and Sober (1988), starring Michael Keaton. He was fired by ABC from Moonlighting before the start of its fifth (and final) season, reportedly because Shepherd demanded it.[3] Caron then directed three more feature films — Wilder Napalm (1993), starring Dennis Quaid and Debra Winger, and written by Vince Gilligan, who later created the AMC series Breaking Bad; the Warren Beatty-Annette Bening vehicle Love Affair (1994), a remake of the 1939 film of the same name; and Picture Perfect (1997), starring Jennifer Aniston — before returning to television in 1999 as the creator of the short-lived series Now and Again (CBS, 1999-2000).[4]

In 2001 Fox ordered 13 episodes of the Caron-created romantic comedy Fling. Seven episodes were shot, but the network became unhappy with the direction of the series during production and canceled it before any of those episodes could be broadcast.[5] Four years later Caron created Medium for NBC. He also served as executive producer of the show, wrote several episodes and directed the series's pilot episode. It ran for seven seasons, with the last two airing on CBS.[6]

In 2008 Caron wrote a pilot for CBS titled The Meant to Be's,[7] about a woman who dies only to find herself sent back to Earth to help people get their life back on track. However, it wasn't given a series order.

In 2013 Caron wrote a pilot for a proposed Fox series titled The Middle Man. Set in the 1960s, a Boston FBI agent and his Irish-American informant take on the Italian-American mafia. Ben Affleck was attached to direct the pilot episode,[8] but it was never filmed. The following year Fox ordered a pilot for The Cure, a medical drama to be cowritten and coproduced by Caron and New Yorker writer Malcolm Gladwell,[9] but it too was never filmed. Caron was also attached to write a pilot for ITV Studios in 2016 based on Alan Glynn's novel Paradime.[10]

Caron wrote and produced episodes of the first and second seasons of the FX series Tyrant, and in the spring of 2017 he joined CBS's Bull as a consulting producer before becoming the series's showrunner at the beginning of season two.[11] In May 2021, it was announced that Caron would be departing Bull, as well as ending his deal with CBS Studios.[12][13][14]

Awards

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Caron received the 2007 Outstanding Television Writer Award at the Austin Film Festival.[15] He also won a Writers Guild of America award for his 1985 pilot script for Moonlighting and was nominated for four Primetime Emmy Awards for Moonlighting between 1986 and 1987.[16]

Personal life

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Caron has been married to his second wife, Tina DiJoseph, since 2006; they have one child. Caron has three children from his first marriage. He is the founder-owner of Picturemaker Productions.[17]

Sexual harassment controversy

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On December 19, 2018, The Boston Globe published an op-ed by actress Eliza Dushku in which she claimed she was fired by Caron from the CBS series Bull in 2017 after she confronted its star, Michael Weatherly, about sexually charged remarks he had made to her while filming the final three episodes of the show's first season.[18] Caron had been hired as a consulting producer for those three episodes, prior to becoming Bull's showrunner and an executive producer for season two. Dushku had been expected to join the series full-time in season two. CBS paid her $9.5 million to settle her claims of wrongful dismissal and sexual harassment.[19] Dushku signed a nondisclosure agreement as part of her settlement, but after news of the settlement leaked and Weatherly and Caron gave statements to The New York Times — "The idea that our not exercising her option to join the series was in any way punitive just couldn't be further from the truth," said Caron — Dushku said she felt compelled to respond, writing, "The narrative propagated by CBS, actor Michael Weatherly, and writer-producer Glenn Gordon Caron is deceptive and in no way fits with how they treated me on the set of the television show Bull and retaliated against me for simply asking to do my job without relentless sexual harassment."[20] Prior to his exit from Bull in 2021, CBS launched an investigation regarding the departures of multiple writers from the show and whether or not Caron allegedly "fostered a disrespectful work environment during his four-year tenure."[21]

Filmography

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Television

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Year Title Director Writer Creator Executive
Producer
Notes
1979 Taxi No Yes No No Episode "The Great Race"
1980 Good Time Harry No Yes No No Episode "Harry Kisses Death on the Mouth"
1980–1981 Breaking Away No Yes No No Episodes "Knowing Her", "Grand Illusion" and "La Strada";
Also supervisor producer
1982 Fame No Yes No No Episode "Alone in a Crowd"
1982–1983 Remington Steele No Yes No No 4 episodes;
Also supervisor producer
1985–1988 Moonlighting No Yes Yes Yes Wrote 7 episodes;
Writers Guild of America Award for Episodic Comedy
Nominated- Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing
1999–2000 Now and Again Yes Yes Yes Yes Directed episode "Origins";
Wrote episodes "Origins", "On the Town" and "Over Easy"
2001 Fling Yes Yes No Yes Unaired
2008 The Meant to Be's No Yes No Yes Unaired pilot
2005–2011 Medium Yes Yes Yes Yes Directed "Pilot"; Wrote 10 episodes
2014–2015 Tyrant No Yes No Yes 4 episodes
2017–2021 Bull Yes Yes No Yes Directed 4 episodes;
Wrote 11 episodes;
Also consulting producer on 3 episodes

TV movies

Year Title Writer Executive
Producer
Notes
1984 Concrete Beat Yes Yes Unsold pilot
1986 Long Time Gone Yes Yes

Film

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Short film

Year Title Director Writer Note
1989 The Making of Me Yes Yes Created for Disney World's Epcot Center

Feature film

Year Title Director Writer
1988 Clean and Sober Yes No
1993 Wilder Napalm Yes No
1994 Love Affair Yes No
1997 Picture Perfect Yes Yes

References

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  1. ^ Howowitz, Joy (March 30, 1986). "The Madcap Behind 'Moonlighting'". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 27, 2019. Retrieved October 31, 2018.
  2. ^ Glenn Gordon Caron, Creator and Executive Producer Archived March 18, 2020, at the Wayback Machine, AllBusiness.com; accessed December 5, 2017.
  3. ^ Clark, Kenneth R. (May 21, 1989). "Why 'Moonlighting' Went Bust". Chicago Tribune. Tribune Publishing Company. Archived from the original on April 7, 2019. Retrieved December 22, 2018.
  4. ^ Tomashoff, Craig (December 12, 1999). "Just a Regular Guy, Who Can Outrun a Car". The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 15, 2016. Retrieved February 19, 2017.
  5. ^ Adalian, Josef (May 9, 2001). "Fox's 'Fling' flung". Variety. Archived from the original on September 9, 2018. Retrieved December 22, 2018.
  6. ^ Bitalac, Labelle (November 19, 2010). "CBS cancels Medium". The News Chronicle. Archived from the original on November 23, 2010. Retrieved June 4, 2014.
  7. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (October 11, 2007). "Caron, CBS Par into the future". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on December 23, 2018. Retrieved December 22, 2018.
  8. ^ FOX Gives Pilot Order to Crime Drama 'The Middle Man' Executive Produced by Ben Affleck & Glenn Gordon Caron, tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com, September 13, 2013
  9. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (August 25, 2014). "Fox Takes 'The Cure,' Put Pilot From Malcolm Gladwell, Glenn Gordon Caron, Imagine". Deadline. Penske Business Media, LLC. Archived from the original on December 23, 2018. Retrieved December 22, 2018.
  10. ^ O'Connell, Michael (May 12, 2016). "'Moonlighting' Creator Adapting Alan Glynn Novel for ITV Studios America". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on November 28, 2019. Retrieved November 28, 2019.
  11. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (March 20, 2017). "Glenn Gordon Caron Tapped As New 'Bull' Showrunner Under CBS TV Studios Deal". Deadline. Penske Business Media, LLC. Archived from the original on March 1, 2020. Retrieved December 21, 2018.
  12. ^ Petski, Denise; Patten, Dominic (May 21, 2021). "Glenn Gordon Caron Out As 'Bull' Showrunner, Deal With CBS Studios Ends". Deadline. Archived from the original on May 21, 2021. Retrieved May 22, 2021.
  13. ^ Nemetz, Dave (May 21, 2021). "Bull Boss, Co-Star Freddy Rodriguez Both Out After Workplace Investigation". TV Line. Archived from the original on May 22, 2021. Retrieved May 22, 2021.
  14. ^ Otterson, Joe (May 21, 2021). "'Bull' Showrunner Glenn Gordon Caron Exits Series". Variety. Archived from the original on May 22, 2021. Retrieved May 22, 2021.
  15. ^ "Honored Guests at 14th Annual Austin Film Festival". Austin Film Festival. October 2, 2007. Archived from the original on December 23, 2018. Retrieved December 22, 2018.
  16. ^ "Glenn Gordon Caron: Awards". IMDb. Amazon. Archived from the original on June 14, 2023. Retrieved December 22, 2018.
  17. ^ "Glenn Caron". Variety. December 5, 1948. Archived from the original on July 24, 2017. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
  18. ^ "Eliza Dushku: I worked at CBS. I didn't want to be sexually harassed. I was fired - the Boston Globe". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on January 22, 2022. Retrieved December 20, 2018.
  19. ^ Abrams, Rachel, and Koblin, John (December 13, 2018). "CBS Paid the Actress Eliza Dushku $9.5 Million to Settle Harassment Claims". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 14, 2018. Retrieved December 21, 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  20. ^ Buell, Spencer (December 20, 2018). "Breaking Her Silence, Eliza Dushku Shares New Details of Harassment". Boston Magazine. Metro Corp. Archived from the original on December 23, 2018. Retrieved December 22, 2018.
  21. ^ Kiefer, Halle (May 21, 2021). "Showrunner Glenn Gordon Caron Out at CBS's Bull Following Internal Investigation". Vulture. New York Magazine. Archived from the original on May 22, 2021. Retrieved May 22, 2021.
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