Home Improvement
About the Producers
MATT WILLIAMS (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) is best known as the creator and executive producer of the hit series "Roseanne" and the co-creator and executive producer of "Carol & Company." He is also the co-creator of "A Different World" with John Markus and Carmen Finestra.
Williams joined "The Cosby Show" during its premiere season and worked as a writer/producer on the show for three subsequent seasons, during which time his work was honored with Emmy and Humanitas nominations, as well as sharing a Peabody Award with the other "Cosby" writers for outstanding achievement in television writing.
He has worked as an actor, director, and writer, and is an accomplished playwright. His first play, "Between Daylight and Boonville," premiered to critical acclaim in New York in 1980, and his award-winning one-act plays have been produced in theaters across the country.
DAVID McFADZEAN (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) served as the executive story editor on the premiere season of "Roseanne," before joining Matt Williams at The Walt Disney Company as an executive producer on "Carol & Company."
A playwright who hails from Chicago's North Side, McFadzean has written for off-Broadway and has had his works produced at Washington's Kennedy Center and in San Diego, where he was the producing director for a professional theater company.
CARMEN FINESTRA (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) is best known as the supervising producer for five-and-a-half seasons of "The Cosby Show." A professional writer since 1976, Finestra has worked on such shows as "Angie," "Good Times," and "Chico & the Man," and has written for numerous variety specials with comedians including Steve Martin, Martin Mull, Andy Kaufman, and Steve Allen.
During his career, Finestra has won three Writers Guild of American Awards, for his work on two Steve Martin specials and for last year's "Time-Warner Presents the Earth Day Special." He was nominated for three Emmy Awards and a Humanitas Prize for "Cosby," and in 1987 shared a Peabody Award with the other "Cosby" writers for outstanding achievement in television writing.
Prior to joining Matt Williams and David McFadzean on "Home Improvement," Finestra served as a consultant last year on "Carol & Company."
JOHN PASQUIN (PRODUCER/DIRECTOR) started his career in the theater, directing off-Broadway plays and productions for the New York Shakespeare Festival, as well as daytime television. He earned an Obie Award for his work on the off-Broadway play "Moon Children," and met his wife, actress JoBeth Williams, while directing her in a production of "The Daughter-in-Law" by D.H. Lawrence.
Once in Los Angeles, Pasquin started in comedy, directing multiple episodes of "Alice," "Family Ties," "Newhart," and other sitcoms and pilots. He then began working on such hour-long dramas as "thirtysomething" and "L.A. Law," the latter earning him an Emmy Award nomination in 1989. Pasquin also directed the second season of "Roseanne," and almost recently completed work on the NBC telefilm "Not Without My Daughter," starring Civtorie Principal.
GAYLE S. MAFFEO (PRODUCER) is executive in charge of production for Wind Dancer Productions, Inc., Matt Williams' production company. As such, she has handled producing responsibilities on all of the company's projects, including the first seasons of the hit series "Roseanne" and "Carol and Company." She also produced "Mary" at MTM and "Head of the Class" at Warner Bros., and served as the executive in charge of production on "Buffalo Bill."
Maffeo began her career in the programming department at CBS and worked as a script supervisor on both "The Sid Caesar Show" and "The Perry Como Show." She also was Jack Benny's associate producer and worked on a number of variety specials with such legendary entertainers as George Burns before moving into situation comedy.
BILLY RIBACK (CO-PRODUCER) a stand-up comic and comedy writer, was a staff writer on "Carol & Company" before joining "Home Improvement." He has written for such diverse shows as "Murphy Brown" and "Friday the 13th: The Series," and has been on the writing staffs of WTBS' "Sage at Home," "Nutt House," and "The Susan Anton Show."
A Montreal native who has done stand-up in clubs across the country, Riback has also written material for Jay Leno, Arsenio Hall, Bob Newhart, David Brenner, David Frye, Gabe Kaplan, Byron Allen, Rodney Dangerfield, and other performers. His hilarious routines have warmed-up studio audiences for "Roseane," "Designing Women," "Murphy Brown," "Chicken Soup," "Dear John," "Head of the Class," and "My Sister Sam." He will also serve as the warm-up for "Home Improvement," in addition to his co-producing duties.
PETER TOLAN (CO-PRODUCER) got his start as a writer and performer with Dudly Riggs' Brave New Workshop in Menneapolis. During this time, he also wrote a series of popular theater pieces, including the music revue "Fixing Men: A Woman's Guide to Home Repair."
In New York, Tolan wrote and appeared in the off-Broadway show "Laughing Matters," and was named the best lyricist of a Broadway or off-Broadway show by the Burns Mantle Theater Yearbook's "The Best Plays of 1989-1990," for that production. As a playwright, he has been represented for the past for years in the Manhattan Punch Line Theater's annual festival of one-act comedies.
Tolan landed his first television job in 1990 with the CBS summer series "Wish You Were Here," and then worked as a story editor on the second season of "Carol & Company." His other television credits include episodes of Billy Crystal's HBO series, "Sessions," and the hit CBS series "Murphy Brown."
Thanks to Touchstone Television for providing the information.
