Who was the best director on the show?

[summer84]

On 11/8/2018 at 12:26 PM, James said:

Really? It's in my upper top 10.  

I agree that Paul Michael Glaser done good episodes too. The Prodigal Son, Smugglers Blues, and Calderone's Demise. And also directed the Michael Mann movie "Band of the Hand" which is a pretty good movie. 

Another notable mention is John Nicolella. Directed 7 of my favourite episodes:

• Milk Run
• Lombard
• Whatever Works
• Bought and Paid For
• Phil the Shill
• Florence Italy
• Free Verse
• Sons and Lovers
• Duty and Honor

Those are some great episodes. Especially like, (had to shorten it) "WW", "BAPF", "PS" and "SAL". Maybe I'll count in "Lombard." 

Very interesting and news to me! I didn't know John Nicolella directed an episode for season 3. The 15th episode "Duty and Honor." Thought the old crew/production team were replaced after season 2. Anybody else knew this? 

Always learn something new about this show. 

Edited May 24, 2019 by summer84

[airtommy]

On 5/24/2019 at 3:53 PM, summer84 said:

Very interesting and news to me! I didn't know John Nicolella directed an episode for season 3. The 15th episode "Duty and Honor." Thought the old crew/production team were replaced after season 2. Anybody else knew this?

No, I had no idea they brought him back to direct an episode!  His IMDB profile confirms this.  It's no surprise that "The Savage" is one of the best eps in the second half of S3 as the show started to fade.

[Robbie C.]

On 11/7/2018 at 8:47 AM, pahonu said:

Perhaps the best way to understand the difference is to take a look at the maxim that “Film is a director’s medium, while television is a writer’s medium.”

Film and television are both about telling stories to the audience. But, because of the differing production processes, it has evolved to the point (in North America, anyway) that the story which gets told in a feature film is the ‘director’s story’ while that which gets told in television is the ‘writer’s story’.

This. Hands down. Directors can have an impact, but if the story's crap they can't save it. Writers are tremendously important for a good series, but easy to ignore when you start focusing on (or obsessing on) camera angles and the like. Any show with a serious cult following is likely to have that because of the writing.