Television producer and executive Al Burton, known for his work on “The Jeffersons” and “Diff’rent Strokes,” died Tuesday at his home in San Mateo, California. He was 91.
Burton leaves behind a six-decade legacy of hit television shows that also included “One Day at a Time,” “Silver Spoons,” “Square Pegs” and “Facts of Life.”
However, long before Burton started working with producer Norman Lear on several television hits, Burton was a student at Northwestern University where he completed his degree in 1948. In 1970, he teamed up with Lear to co-create the soap opera farce titled, “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman” and continued to work alongside the television legend at T.A.T Communications/Tandem Productions, producing and creating a number of successful network sitcoms.
Burton also developed and executive produced for Universal Television, helping to create “Charles In Charge,” a series starring Scott Baio, and the series “The New Lassie,” which starred Dee Wallace.
Burton leaves behind a six-decade legacy of hit television shows that also included “One Day at a Time,” “Silver Spoons,” “Square Pegs” and “Facts of Life.”
However, long before Burton started working with producer Norman Lear on several television hits, Burton was a student at Northwestern University where he completed his degree in 1948. In 1970, he teamed up with Lear to co-create the soap opera farce titled, “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman” and continued to work alongside the television legend at T.A.T Communications/Tandem Productions, producing and creating a number of successful network sitcoms.
Burton also developed and executive produced for Universal Television, helping to create “Charles In Charge,” a series starring Scott Baio, and the series “The New Lassie,” which starred Dee Wallace.
- 10/23/2019
- by Lorraine Wheat
- Variety Film + TV
Tune in alert for A&E.s hit series .Beyond Scared Straight,. following derailed and disrespectful teens as they enter immersive jail programs aimed at deterring them from a life of crime, which returns for a fourth season Thursday, May 30. Season four premieres at 10Pm Et/Pt immediately following the return of new episodes of A&E.s critically acclaimed real life series .The First 48. at 9Pm Et/Pt. From A&E Inspired by "Scared Straight!," the Academy Award and multiple Emmy-winning documentary film by Arnold Shapiro, .Beyond Scared Straight. follows at-risk teens who have been in trouble for everything from fighting, theft, and drugs to promiscuity, gambling and gang affliations. They are forced to spend a day (and sometimes a night) in...
- 5/22/2013
- by April Neale
- Monsters and Critics
On Friday, December 7, 2012, the biggest names and faces from documentary film and non-fiction production in the past year all gathered at the Directors Guild of America Theater in Los Angeles to celebrate this year's achievements in the medium. Renowned illusionist, comedian, and larger-than-life personality Penn Jillette hosted the 28th year of this Awards program, which recognized a gamut of productions in 15 different award categories. The ceremony, which kicked off after A&E's pre-party honoring Ida Career Achievement Award winner Arnold Shapiro, was full of laughs, heart-felt words about ...
- 12/13/2012
- by krelth
- International Documentary Association
One of my favorite documentaries this year, "Searching for Sugar Man," received top honors at the 2012 Ida Documentary Awards winning the Best Feature prize. The documentary about the search for the elusive musician, Rodriguez, is truly a brilliant film illuminating failed dreams and eventual redemption.
Here's the complete winners list of the 2012 Ida Documentary Awards:
Career Achievement Award
Arnold Shapiro
Jacqueline Donnet Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award
David France
Pioneer Award
Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program And Fund
Best Feature Award
Searching For Sugar Man
Director/Producer/Writer: Malik Bendjelloul
Producer: Simon Chinn
Executive Producer: John Battsek
Red Box Films, Sony Pictures Classics
Best Short Award
Saving Face
Director: Daniel Junge, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
Producers: David Coombe, Daniel Junge, Alison Greenberg, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Sabiha Sumar
Co-Producers: Aaron Kopp, Fazeelat Aslam
Senior Producer: Lisa Heller (HBO)
Executive Producer: Sheila Nevins (HBO)
HBO Documentary Films, Milkhaus, LLC, and JungeFilm, LLC
Best Limited Series Award...
Here's the complete winners list of the 2012 Ida Documentary Awards:
Career Achievement Award
Arnold Shapiro
Jacqueline Donnet Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award
David France
Pioneer Award
Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program And Fund
Best Feature Award
Searching For Sugar Man
Director/Producer/Writer: Malik Bendjelloul
Producer: Simon Chinn
Executive Producer: John Battsek
Red Box Films, Sony Pictures Classics
Best Short Award
Saving Face
Director: Daniel Junge, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
Producers: David Coombe, Daniel Junge, Alison Greenberg, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Sabiha Sumar
Co-Producers: Aaron Kopp, Fazeelat Aslam
Senior Producer: Lisa Heller (HBO)
Executive Producer: Sheila Nevins (HBO)
HBO Documentary Films, Milkhaus, LLC, and JungeFilm, LLC
Best Limited Series Award...
- 12/8/2012
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
"Searching for Sugar Man," Malik Bendjelloul's film about lost '70s singer-songwriter Sixto Rodriguez, was the big winner at the International Documentary Association's 2012 Ida Documentary Awards Friday, taking both Best Feature and Creative Recognition Award for Best Music honors. Other prizes went to Werner Herzog's Investigation Discovery limited series "On Death Row" and filmmaker David France, whose debut feature "How to Survive a Plague" was awarded best first feature by the New York Film Critics' Circle and is shortlisted for the Oscar along with "Sugar Man." The Ida's Best Short Award went to HBO’s "Saving Face," directed by Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, while the Ida Career Achievement Award was presented to Oscar-winning producer Arnold Shapiro ("Scared Straight") and the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program and Fund was given...
- 12/8/2012
- by Jay A. Fernandez
- Indiewire
I forgive you. Those are three extremely powerful words and the premise Gmc network (the “uplifting entertainment” net) developed their newest project around. In the documentary pilot I Forgive You, premiering Sunday, Nov. 18 at 9pm Et (repeating 10pm Et, 11pm Et), viewers will witness some very remarkable and inspirational — and true — stories of forgiveness that show the best in human nature. “In none of these stories did people come forward and beg for forgiveness,” said executive producer Arnold Shapiro, the Oscar and Emmy award-winning producer for Scared Straight! “In all of these stories, the forgiveness was voluntarily [...]...
- 11/16/2012
- by Barb Oates
- ChannelGuideMag
Filmmaker Arnold Shapiro and the Sundance Institute's Documentary Film Program and Fund will both be honored at the upcoming 28th Annual Ida Documentary Awards on Friday, December 7, 2012 in Los Angeles. Now in its 28th year, the Ida Documentary Awards is the foremost event dedicated to the art of documentary film. While the winners for Best Feature, Short, Limited and Continuing Series, and others will not be announced until the event, we wanted to announce our honorees for both the Career Achievement and Pioneer Award a little ahead of ...
- 9/1/2012
- by IDA Editorial Staff
- International Documentary Association
Exclusive: A&E Network has renewed docu-reality series Beyond Scared Straight for a third season with a 13-episode order. The series, inspired by Arnold Shapiro’s Oscar-winning documentary Scared Straight!, follows prison and jail deterrence programs aimed at helping at-risk teens. The show’s second season averaged 1.5 million adults 18-49 and 2.6 million total viewers. Its series premiere was A&E’s most-watched original series launch of all-time. Production on Season 3 will begin in late 2011 for a premiere in Q3 of 2012. Season 2 returns with original episodes in December. Beyond Scared Straight is produced by Arnold Shapiro Prods., with Shapiro executive producing.
- 10/25/2011
- by NELLIE ANDREEVA
- Deadline TV
A&E renews reality series Beyond Scared Straight. A&E Network has given a 13-episode order, renewing the series inspired by Arnold Shapiro’s Scared Straight! documentary for a third season run, reports Deadline. Each one-hour episode focuses on a different existing "behind bars" program in the U.S. and follows four or five at-risk teens - before they attend the program, throughout their day behind bars, immediately afterwards - and then following up with them one-month later to see the lasting impact of the experience on their lives. A combination of confrontation...
- 10/25/2011
- Upcoming-Movies.com
A&E renews reality series Beyond Scared Straight. A&E Network has given a 13-episode order, renewing the series inspired by Arnold Shapiro’s Scared Straight! documentary for a third season run, reports Deadline. Each one-hour episode focuses on a different existing "behind bars" program in the U.S. and follows four or five at-risk teens - before they attend the program, throughout their day behind bars, immediately afterwards - and then following up with them one-month later to see the lasting impact of the experience on their lives. A combination of confrontation...
- 10/25/2011
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Tearaway teens beware - Beyond Scared Straight makes The World's Strictest Parents look like the Teletubbies. Kids who have stepped on the wrong side of the tracks are in for a shock when they get a taste of prison life. This documentary film by award-winning director Arnold Shapiro, highlights the radical approach taken by a prisons across the Us in order to keep troubled youth from straying into a life of crime.
- 7/29/2011
- Sky TV
"Beyond Scared Straight" is the hit new documentary series airing on A&E, which began this January. The series is executive produced by Arnold Shapiro, who graciously answered one of our questions in a vlog posted below. Mr. Shapiro based this series on "Scared Straight!", his Academy Award and multiple Emmy-Winninng documentary. "Beyond Scared Straight" profiles a unique approach to keeping today's teens from becoming tomorrow's prisoners. This new show was the most successful launch of A&E history TVByTheNumbers.com reports that A&E.s Beyond Scared Straight debuted to record-breaking ratings on Thursday night. Watch a clip of 10 at risk teen girls, travel with them inside the walls of Valley State Prison for Women in Chowchilla, CA, and experience their...
- 1/21/2011
- by April MacIntyre
- Monsters and Critics
The launch of A&E’s Beyond Scared Straight on Thursday attracted a record-breaking 3.7 million viewers and 2.2 million adults 18-49 — making it the most-watched original series launch in the network’s history among key demos.
The 90-minute premiere grew each half hour, climbing from 3.4 million viewers at 10 to 3.9
million at 11 p.m. Beyond Scared Straight also grew from its lead-in, a premiere episode of The First 48 (2.7 million
viewers) by 32%.
A repeat of Straight’s premiere will air this Saturday at 8 p.m. “We could not be more proud to have undertaken this groundbreaking series and the audience response is extremely rewarding,...
The 90-minute premiere grew each half hour, climbing from 3.4 million viewers at 10 to 3.9
million at 11 p.m. Beyond Scared Straight also grew from its lead-in, a premiere episode of The First 48 (2.7 million
viewers) by 32%.
A repeat of Straight’s premiere will air this Saturday at 8 p.m. “We could not be more proud to have undertaken this groundbreaking series and the audience response is extremely rewarding,...
- 1/14/2011
- by Lynette Rice
- EW - Inside TV
The premiere of A&E's new unscripted series Beyond Scared Straight last night became the most watched and highest rated original series debut on the network ever. The series, based on the award-winning documentary Scared Straight! and executive produced by Arnold Shapiro, drew 3.7 million viewers, 2.2 million of them in the 18-49 demographic and 2.1 million in 25-54 for the 90-minute premiere, which aired at 10 Pm.
- 1/14/2011
- by NELLIE ANDREEVA
- Deadline TV
A&E and Arnold Shapiro's new reality series Beyond Scared Straight, which follows kids kids got in trouble as they go prison to get the shit scared out of them by actual inmates, became the network's most-watched new series ever. It's based on the Oscar-winning 1973 documentary. An average of 3.7 million people tuned in on Thursday, including 2.2 million ages 18 to 49, "making it the most-watched original series launch in the network's history among...
- 1/14/2011
- by Andy Dehnart
- Reality Blurred
"Walk a mile in my shoes, and learn from my mistakes" is the premise of a reality series that takes kids who are messing up and reveals what awaits them if they don't wise up. A&E Network presents .Beyond Scared Straight,. a new series executive produced by Arnold Shapiro and based on his Academy Award and multiple Emmy-Winning documentary .Scared Straight!,. that will profile unique approaches to juvenile crime prevention in prisons around the U.S. From A&E: The series premieres Thursday, January 13 at 10Pm Et/Pt with a special 90-minute episode at a women.s prison in central California. .Scared Straight!" has become an iconic name and a cultural phenomenon over the years. The film made a huge impact -...
- 12/13/2010
- by April MacIntyre
- Monsters and Critics
A&E Network has ordered a documentary pilot from producer and director Doug Liman (The Bourne Ultimatum) titled “The Unexplained,” which will focus on strange phenomena and paranormal experiences. Additionally, A&E has ordered “Beyond Scared Straight!,” a four-hour special event executive produced by Arnold Shapiro and based on his Academy Award and multiple Emmy-Winning documentary “Scared Straight!,” that will profile unique approaches to juvenile crime prevention in prisons around the U.S. “The Unexplained,” Liman’s first foray into non scripted television, uses his world renowned storytelling and filmmaking expertise to deliver real-life stories that take audiences to places they have never been before: investigating, questioning, experiencing and chasing down answers to the most bizarre stories and strangest paranormal occurrences. Possible topics for the series are past life regressions, real-life hauntings, near-death and out-of-body experiences and other chilling personal encounters. These are first-person emotional stories of life,...
- 8/6/2010
- by NELLIE ANDREEVA
- Deadline TV
A&E has ordered a sequel to the hugely influential and Oscar-winning 1978 documentary "Scared Straight!"
Teaming with the documentary's original producer, Arnold Shapiro, the cable network has ordered four one-hour specials of "Beyond Scared Straight!" that will chronicle modern confrontational approaches to juvenile crime prevention.
The original version of "Scared Straight!" showed a then-radical inmate-led intervention program for young offenders at a New Jersey prison. Teens ages 12-18 were subjected to a brutal reality check from hardcore prisoners about what it's like to spend time behind bars.
The resulting documentary won an Academy Award for best documentary feature and, after airing on TV, won two Emmys in documentary categories. The film spawned similar programs across and the country, was shown in school classrooms for years afterward and was even spoofed on NBC's "The Office."
For a generation, "Scared Straight!" was the first glimpse of "reality TV."
"Beyond Scared Straight!" will...
Teaming with the documentary's original producer, Arnold Shapiro, the cable network has ordered four one-hour specials of "Beyond Scared Straight!" that will chronicle modern confrontational approaches to juvenile crime prevention.
The original version of "Scared Straight!" showed a then-radical inmate-led intervention program for young offenders at a New Jersey prison. Teens ages 12-18 were subjected to a brutal reality check from hardcore prisoners about what it's like to spend time behind bars.
The resulting documentary won an Academy Award for best documentary feature and, after airing on TV, won two Emmys in documentary categories. The film spawned similar programs across and the country, was shown in school classrooms for years afterward and was even spoofed on NBC's "The Office."
For a generation, "Scared Straight!" was the first glimpse of "reality TV."
"Beyond Scared Straight!" will...
- 8/5/2010
- by By James Hibberd
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
I’m not sure quite what to make of us this, as I was recently questioned about a container of contact lens solution in my duffle bag yet previously boarded a plane with a canister of mace, unbeknownest to me at the time, without having to remove a single shoe. But yes, ABC announced yesterday that it will be premiering Homeland Security USA on January 6th. According to the official press release, the show is: “based on a popular Australian series now in its fifth season. Produced by Oscar and Emmy-winner Arnold Shapiro ("Scared Straight,” “Big Brother"), the series takes cameras into situations never before seen on television, with each episode covering eight or more locations on the “front lines” where the officers and agents work each day. They have a job that is dangerous, difficult and always unpredictable. These aren’t heroes. They’re average men and women working against an epic landscape.
- 12/6/2008
- UGO TV
A new ABC unscripted series will take an unprecedented look behind the scenes at the government's fight against terrorism.
The network has ordered 11 hours of "Border Security USA" from executive producer Arnold Shapiro ("Big Brother"). Shot on location throughout the United States, the series will focus on the efforts of border protection agencies to halt illegal smuggling and immigration.
A typical episode might jump from a border patrol in Texas to security screeners at a New York airport to a Coast Guard boat off Puerto Rico.
"Border" is billed as the first multiepisode television series to be shot in cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security, as well as several other government agencies.
"We're showing everyday heroes who are risking their lives to protect us," said Shapiro, who also produced the law enforcement series "Rescue 911" and the classic jailhouse documentary "Scared Straight". "Every mode of transportation to get into the country, we have covered."
"Border" is based on the Australian series "Border Security: Australia's Front Line," which debuted in 2004. ABC purchased the rights to the format and tapped Shapiro to shepherd the U.S. version. Shapiro wrangled the cooperation of the DHS (as well as the Transportation Security Administration, U.S. Coast Guard, United States Citizenship & Immigration Services, the Secret Service, Customs & Border Protection and Immigration & Customs Enforcement).
The network has ordered 11 hours of "Border Security USA" from executive producer Arnold Shapiro ("Big Brother"). Shot on location throughout the United States, the series will focus on the efforts of border protection agencies to halt illegal smuggling and immigration.
A typical episode might jump from a border patrol in Texas to security screeners at a New York airport to a Coast Guard boat off Puerto Rico.
"Border" is billed as the first multiepisode television series to be shot in cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security, as well as several other government agencies.
"We're showing everyday heroes who are risking their lives to protect us," said Shapiro, who also produced the law enforcement series "Rescue 911" and the classic jailhouse documentary "Scared Straight". "Every mode of transportation to get into the country, we have covered."
"Border" is based on the Australian series "Border Security: Australia's Front Line," which debuted in 2004. ABC purchased the rights to the format and tapped Shapiro to shepherd the U.S. version. Shapiro wrangled the cooperation of the DHS (as well as the Transportation Security Administration, U.S. Coast Guard, United States Citizenship & Immigration Services, the Secret Service, Customs & Border Protection and Immigration & Customs Enforcement).
- 5/28/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Oscar and Emmy-winning producer Arnold Shapiro and his company Arnold Shapiro Prods. have signed with ICM. Shapiro has produced 28 series, five telefilms and more than 90 primetime reality specials. His most recent credits include CBS' Big Brother, which recently wrapped its sixth season; Bravo's Blow Out and Situation: Comedy; TBS' Minding the Store; ABC's Brat Camp; and UPN's The Road to Stardom With Missy Elliott. Shapiro previously was at CAA.
- 9/21/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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