Carmen Finestra (born 1947) is an American producer and TV writer who currently is partnered with Matt Williams and

David McFadzean David Campbell McFadzean (born April 9, 1947) is an American television producer, television writer, film producer and playwright. He is best known for co-creating the ABC sitcom ''Home Improvement'' with Carmen Finestra and Matt Williams. C ...

in Wind Dancer Productions, a firm which Finestra also co-owns and co-founded with actor

Tim Allen Timothy Alan Dick (born June 13, 1953), known professionally as Tim Allen, is an American actor and comedian. He is known for playing Tim "The Toolman" Taylor on the ABC sitcom ''Home Improvement'' (1991–1999) and Mike Baxter on the ABC/Fo ...

. For Wind Dancer, Finestra has produced or executive produced '' Where the Heart Is'', ''Firelight'', '' Soul Man'', '' Thunder Alley'' and his company's best known series, ''

Home Improvement The concept of home improvement, home renovation, or remodeling is the process of renovating or making additions to one's home. Home improvement can consist of projects that upgrade an existing home interior (such as electrical and plumbing), ...

'', which starred Allen as a feisty home-improvement host, and in turn based on Allen's stand-up comedy routines. Most recently the firm has released Good Sam on Netflix and children's TV series

Ready Jet Go! ''Ready Jet Go!'' is a children's computer-animated educational television series produced by Wind Dancer Films. The series aired new episodes on PBS Kids from February 15, 2016 to May 6, 2019, although re-runs continue to this day. It was creat ...

Finestra was born to Italian immigrants in

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the 9th largest city and 15th largest municipality in Pe ...

, and initially attended a seminary college for two years to become a

Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the Holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in layman's terms ''priest'' refers only ...

before transferring to

Penn State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a public state-related land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvania. Founded in 1855 as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania, Penn State became ...

, where he was a member of

Sigma Alpha Epsilon Sigma Alpha Epsilon (), commonly known as SAE, is a North American Greek-letter social college fraternity. It was founded at the University of Alabama on March 9, 1856. Of all existing national social fraternities today, Sigma Alpha Epsilon is t ...

fraternity. He earned his BA in 1971. After a stint as an Off-Broadway actor, Finestra turned to writing for the likes of

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his ca ...

(for one of Cash's summer series) and

Steve Martin Stephen Glenn Martin (born August 14, 1945) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and musician. He has won five Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and was awarded an Honorary Academy Award in 2013. Additionally, he was nominated ...

. Finestra's big break came when he began writing for ''

The Cosby Show ''The Cosby Show'' is an American television sitcom co-created by and starring Bill Cosby, which aired Thursday nights for eight seasons on NBC between September 20, 1984, until April 30, 1992. The show focuses on an upper middle-class African- ...

'' in 1984, where he would remain until 1990, leaving the show as supervising producer. Finestra received two

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

nominations as one of the producers of ''The Cosby Show'' and another Emmy nomination for co-writing an episode of the hit series. He also did three guest star appearances on ''The Cosby Show'' (episodes 4.12, 6.2 and 6.14). In 1991, Finestra became a writer and co-executive producer for ''

'', capacities he filled until the series' end in 1999. His work on the sitcom would land three Emmy and two

Golden Globe The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...

nominations for him. Finestra was honored as a Distinguished Alumnus of Penn State in 1998. Penn State named an off campus video editing lab, The Carmen Finestra Digital Editing Lab, in his honor at Innovation Park, an off site technology hub on the University Park campus.

References

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PaBook profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Finestra, Carmen 1947 births American television producers Pennsylvania State University alumni American male screenwriters Living people Writers Guild of America Award winners American male television writers American people of Italian descent Home Improvement (TV series) Sigma Alpha Epsilon members