Topic: "The Serious Art of Comedy Television (well,
maybe not that serious)"
Introduction/Moderator:
Robert Pangborn/ Patty Satalia
Location: The Nittany Lion Inn, Ballroom
Bio: With a resume that includes productions for nine networks and ranges from documentaries to musicals, Don Roy King is one of the most versatile and experienced directors in the television industry today. He has directed more live network television than any director in the history of the medium and his network assignments have taken him to twenty countries and thirty-eight states.
He is now directing his sixth season of NBC's Saturday Night Live. That work has earned him two Primetime Emmys and five nominations. He has also been nominated for five DGA Awards.
Mr. King is also the creative director for Broadway Worldwide, a venture that brings theatrical events to theaters and pay-per-view cable. The company has produced four major productions, all directed by Mr. King: the 2010 Tony- winning musical, Memphis, the final performances of Smokey Joe's Café; the Stephen Sondheim revue, Putting It Together with Carol Burnett; and the musical, Jekyll & Hyde.
In 2001 he ended a fourteen-year run as the creative director of CBS News and director/senior producer for The Early Show and CBS This Morning. Other CBS credits include the live finale shows of the first four Survivor series, Eye to Eye with Connie Chung, Bob Simon: Back to Baghdad, The Smithsonian Anniversary Specials, Camera Three, and daytime Winter Olympics coverage in France, Norway and Japan.
After leaving CBS, he directed the network pool coverage of the first September 11th Memorial Service at Ground Zero in Manhattan. In addition, he directed numerous talk show pilots including, The Robin Quivers Show, Fergie, and Day to Day with Rachael Ray. He periodically sits in as the director of The View on ABC.
For over six years Mr. King directed Good Morning America for ABC. He also directed numerous Barbara Walters Specials and two seasons of the variety series, Kids Are People Too.
Other network credits include: Judgment Night: DNA for Fox; America Alive, a daytime series for NBC; and A War Called Peace for PBS.
Mr. King has won three other Emmys for his work - one for directing The Mike Douglas Show; another for producing and directing Toys on the Town, a musical special with Shields and Yarnell; and the third for heading the design team that revamped the graphic look of CBS News. He has also been nominated for twenty-one Emmys as a writer, producer and director. Other recognition includes two Ohio State Awards, an American Bar Association Award, a San Francisco State Award, a New York Public Relations Award and three Golden Quills. (Mr. King is most proud, however, of several amateur boxing titles he won in his thirties. His ring career, by the way, had nothing at all to do with the tonsorially-challenged man whose name he shares.)
Mr. King also has a broad theatrical background; and his television credits include the original cast versions of the Broadway musicals, Tintypes and The Me Nobody Knows. Other theatrical productions for television include Monteith and Rand on Broadway, The Passion of Dracula, and Richiardi's Chamber of Horrors, a magic special. His collegiate acting training has come in handy, too. This year he played Daybreak director Merv in the Harrison Ford big-screen comedy, Morning Glory. He also served as the 2nd unit director and television consultant on that movie.
His other credits range from telethons to sports: concerts for MTV, including its first two New Year's Eve parties; The Easter Seal Telethon; two seasons of the syndicated series, Comedy Tonight; The Charles Perez Show, the pilot for Paramount's Entertainment Tonight; The David Susskind Show; An All-Star Tribute to Jazz with George Benson, Dizzy Gillespie and Stan Kenton; WFL Football and Pittsburgh Pirate Baseball.
As a producer, director, writer and composer, Mr. King has developed a variety of series, specials, documentaries and musicals. Many of these were produced for local stations including WCBS and WNEW, New York; KDKA, Pittsburgh; KGSC, San Jose, California; and WPSX, State College, Pennsylvania.