Alan Rafkin's sitcom direction put actors where they could be funny and cameras where the joke could be seen. We value that practical skill, while leaving the writers and ensembles their proper share of the credit.
Fi1m perspective
Mary Tyler Moore's patience is part of the joke in The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970). We laughed at her restraint, and at how much the programme gets from people simply talking. Alan Rafkin directed four early episodes; that is a contribution worth noting, not a licence to claim the whole programme as his achievement. Its sharp writing and unusually good ensemble deserve their share of the credit, which is a useful starting point for judging a director so often employed to keep other people's comedy working.
Rafkin specialised in multi-camera sitcoms, staging episodes like short plays and adjusting camera positions to catch the jokes. In his work on Laverne & Shirley, framing mattered, as did keeping the actors' energy up through demanding physical comedy. We value that practical attention: the audience needs to see what the performer is doing, and a fussy shot can get in the way. His method gave actors room to work without asking the camera to advertise itself. It also left him dependent on the quality of the joke being performed.
His early-1960s sitcom work included The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Andy Griffith Show. With Don Knotts in The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966), he took that experience into feature comedy. The scale of the later television work makes his priorities clearer: he directed 123 episodes of One Day at a Time between 1978 and 1983. A run of that length makes consistency a serious part of the job. His 48 episodes of It's Garry Shandling's Show (1986) put those practical skills to use on a sitcom that made jokes about its own form.
Some of the broader jokes in The Mary Tyler Moore Show have aged less well than the pleasure of its ensemble talking. Putting the camera in the right place cannot make every line funny. We still recommend the programme warmly for its writing and cast, and it is a better introduction to Rafkin's work than a tally of credits. Watch the people listening as closely as the person speaking.
Biography
Alan Rafkin (born Alfred Irwin Rafkin) was an American television director, producer and occasional actor. He was born on 23 July 1928 in New York City and died on 6 August 2001 in Los Angeles, California.
Rafkin directed episodes of more than 80 sitcom series over four decades. His credits include The Andy Griffith Show, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970–1974), MASH, Get Smart, Sanford and Son, Murphy Brown and It's Garry Shandling's Show (1986–1989). He also directed feature films such as The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966). His 1998 autobiography was titled Cue the Bunny on the Rainbow*.
Rafkin won a Primetime Emmy Award in 1982 for directing an episode of One Day at a Time and received two CableACE Awards for his work on It's Garry Shandling's Show. He began his career in television as a stage manager on Captain Kangaroo and earlier worked as a nightclub comic.
