John Markus

It may seem hard to remember when the prime time American TV airwaves were not saturated with ghostwritten reality series, but during that era, writer John Markus was a man to be reckoned with. What's somewhat remarkable about Markus is how different the two bookends of his career are. First, he helped shape America's favorite African-American family--before the Obamas--via multiple seasons of writing on "The Cosby Show," sharing an Outstanding Comedy Series Emmy in 1985 and then being nominated the following year for that same award, as well as for two individual writing episodes ("Denise's Friend," "Theo's Holiday"). A decade later, Marcus was earning Emmy plaudits again for a completely different kind of comedy, the faux talk show Garry Shandling vehicle, "The Larry Sanders Show." The work done on the program was revolutionary in tone, setting the stage for everything from the mockumentary of highly inappropriate office life in "The Office" (both versions) to Larry David's hilarious interpretation of his own life in "Curb Your Enthusiasm." Amazingly, although Markus wrote only two episodes, he was nominated for one of them, "Ellen, Or Isn't She?," based on a story by future feature film comedy superstar Judd Apatow.