Editing David Mirkin (section)

===''Get a Life'' and ''The Edge''===
[[File:Chris Elliott by Gage Skidmore (cropped).jpg|right|thumb|175px|Mirkin created ''Get a Life'' alongside [[Chris Elliott]], who was also the show's lead actor]]

Mirkin wanted to produce a surreal, ''Monty Python''-esque, single-camera comedy series. He had a development deal with ''Newhart''{{'}}s producers [[MTM Enterprises]] and persuaded them to buy the rights to produce a pilot for an American adaptation of the British sitcom ''[[The Young Ones (TV series)|The Young Ones]]''.<ref name=mean3>{{cite web |url=http://www.nomeanerplace.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=507:mirkin&catid=170:mirkin&Itemid=384 |title=David Mirkin, A Writer I Love Part III |publisher=No Meaner Place |access-date=July 3, 2012 |author=Swanson, Neely |date=March 21, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130330185041/http://www.nomeanerplace.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=507%3Amirkin&catid=170%3Amirkin&Itemid=384 |archive-date=March 30, 2013 |df=mdy }}</ref> The pilot was entitled ''Oh No, Not Them!'', and featured [[Nigel Planer]] from the original series, as well as [[Jackie Earle Haley]] and Robert Bundy.<ref name=life>{{cite video |title=Exclusive Interview with Executive Producer/Director David Mirkin on Get a Life Vol. 2 |medium=DVD |people=Mirkin, David |date=2002 |publisher=Rhino}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hollypowellstudios.com/credits.html#Pilots |access-date=July 21, 2011 |title=Pilots & Series |publisher=Holly Powell Studios |archive-date=October 2, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161002073751/http://www.hollypowellstudios.com/credits.html#Pilots |url-status=dead }}</ref> Mirkin had wanted to cast comedian [[Chris Elliott]] in the pilot, but was prevented by [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]], which wanted Elliott for another show. ''Oh No, Not Them!'', in Mirkin's words, "tested through the floor" because it was too "surreal" and "sarcastic" and was not picked up.<ref name=mean3 /><ref name=life /> Mirkin and Elliott decided to develop a show together, along with [[Adam Resnick]]. In 1990, they created the sitcom ''[[Get a Life (American TV series)|Get a Life]]'', which was conceived as a dark, surreal, psychotic version of the cartoon ''[[Dennis the Menace (U.S.)|Dennis the Menace]]''.<ref name=life /> The show stars Elliott as Chris Peterson, a 30-year-old [[paperboy|newspaper delivery boy]] who still lives with his parents, and who is increasingly losing his grip on reality.<ref name=shales /><ref name=death /> Fox was lukewarm about the idea, but Mirkin convinced them to order a pilot by understating how dark the show would be. The network executives disliked the pilot after seeing an initial run-through, but Mirkin felt that this was because they "didn't get" the show and opted not to change it. The executives enjoyed the finished pilot and it was aired.<ref name=life /> However, throughout the show's run, the network's initially negative attitude prevailed. According to Mirkin, many of the executives struggled to understand it and objected to the darkness and surrealism of the show's humor, which included the frequent death of Elliott's character, and regularly threatened to shut down production.<ref name=mean3 /><ref name=life /> After its first season, on the insistence of the network, Chris moves out of his parents' garage, attempts to get additional jobs to his paper route, and attempts to get a girlfriend. However, Mirkin and Elliott refused to "[compromise on] the essential goofiness of the show".<ref name=second>{{cite news |title='Get A Life' Barely Hanging on New Time Slot Worries Star Chris Elliott |work=[[San Jose Mercury News]] |author=Rea, Stephen |date=November 25, 1991 |page=11B}}</ref>

Mirkin served as executive producer for the series, directed most of the episodes, wrote several of them, and oversaw the filming and production of them all, to ensure that they had the correct "tone".<ref name=ign /><ref name=anmag /><ref name=life /> The show's production process was lengthy; Mirkin would rise at {{nowrap|5 a.m.}} to film the show, write further episodes from {{nowrap|7 p.m.}} until {{nowrap|1 a.m.}}, and then repeat that the following day. Unlike most single-camera shows, which have around six days to film, Mirkin had to film each episode in two days. He enjoyed doing it, but described it as "not a healthy way to live".<ref name=life /> Due to the logistics of filming the show, especially its many sets and effects, Mirkin convinced Fox to not film it in front of a studio audience and use a [[laugh track]] instead.<ref name=life /><ref>{{cite news |title=Laugh Track No Funny Matter |work=[[San Francisco Chronicle]] |author=Starr Seibel, Deborah |date=August 23, 1992 |page=47}}</ref> The show achieved steady ratings in its first season, finishing 92nd out of the {{nowrap|129 shows}} listed in the [[Nielsen ratings]]. However, for its second season, it was moved from {{nowrap|8:30 p.m.}} on Sunday to {{nowrap|9:30 p.m.}} on Saturday and lost the bulk of its audience; it was canceled after that second season finished in 1992.<ref name=shales>{{cite news |author=Shales, Tom |author-link=Tom Shales |title='Get a Life': Rewind to That Perfectly Silly Sitcom |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=March 11, 1999 |page=C1}}</ref><ref name=second /> In a 1999 piece about the show's DVD release, [[Tom Shales]] praised the show, concluding, "At its best, ''Get a Life'' achieved dizzying heights of surrealist farce. At its worst, it was at least amusingly idiotic existential slapstick. ''Get a Life'' is a television classic unlike any other. For one thing, most of the others are better. We're not talking ''[[Playhouse 90]]'' here, after all. But we are talking riotous nonsense, and that's not to be sneezed at. It's to be laughed at. Hard."<ref name=shales /> A strong [[cult following]] subsequently developed, and Mirkin noted that although the show was canceled "ultimately we got the audience I was hoping for and they are super dedicated and passionate to this day."<ref name=mean3 /><ref name=death />

In 1991, Mirkin wrote a pilot with [[Julie Brown]] entitled ''The Julie Show'', starring Brown, but [[NBC]] did not produce it.<ref name=pit /> Several people at the network enjoyed it and commissioned ''[[The Edge (Fox TV series)|The Edge]]'', a [[sketch comedy]] show also written by Mirkin and Brown, with Mirkin directing. NBC opted against production, but Fox ran it from 1992 to 1993.<ref name=pit>{{cite news |title=Julie Brown Enjoys Living Life On 'Edge' |work=[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]] |author=Lovece, Frank |date=March 16, 1993 |page=D-7}}</ref> Mirkin had long wished to produce a sketch show,<ref name=mean3 /> and designed ''The Edge'' to be "fast-paced" and "some skits overlap, end abruptly or are broken into segments", in order to maintain attention.<ref name=peter>{{cite news |title=Mocking the Material Girl, among others |work=[[St. Petersburg Times]] |author=Froelich, Janis D. |date=September 18, 1992 |page=12}}</ref> ''The Edge'' was a ratings success and was supported by the network. Mirkin considered it "the first time I experienced the feeling of having a hit that I created. It just kept building and growing."<ref name=mean3 /> The show's material often inflamed its targets,<ref name=pit /> particularly producer [[Aaron Spelling]]. Spelling objected to a sketch mocking his series ''[[Beverly Hills, 90210]]'', another Fox show, and its lead actress [[Tori Spelling]], who is his daughter.<ref name=pit /><ref name=spell /> He demanded a public apology and that no further episodes contain the parody, threatening to sue. The show's production company [[TriStar Television]] refused, while Mirkin responded: "The thing about these parodies is they don't hurt a show. It's only cross-promotion. The viewers who like the show always come back the next week. What's upsetting to me is it shows absolutely that Mr. Spelling has no sense of humor."<ref name=spell>{{cite news |title=Television: The Fox network is in the position of having offended its top program supplier. |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=October 19, 1992 |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-10-19-ca-466-story.html |first=John |last=Lippman |access-date=July 11, 2011}}</ref> Mirkin left his role as executive producer of ''The Edge'' during its run.<ref name=pit /><ref>{{cite news |title=Julie Brown, on 'The Edge' of fame Fox's comic chameleon ready for stardom |work=[[USA Today]] |date=November 19, 1992 |author=Green, Tom |page=3D}}</ref> The ''[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]]'' reported that Mirkin had been "forced off the show", due to the negative reaction of Spelling and others,<ref name=pit /> though in 2012, Mirkin stated that he left the series after refusing to accept a substantially reduced budget. The show's producers [[Sony Pictures Entertainment|Sony]] failed to persuade him to stay but he returned to the series to produce its final "Best Of" compilation.<ref name=mean3 />