Peter Ocko (sometimes credited as Pete Ocko) is an American

television writer A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

and producer. Ocko has had a very diverse 30-year career in television. He has written and produced for a number of popular television series throughout the 1990s, 2000s, and through to today including ''

Pushing Daisies ''Pushing Daisies'' is an American comedy-drama television series created by Bryan Fuller that aired on ABC from October 3, 2007, to June 13, 2009. The series stars Lee Pace as Ned, a pie-maker with the ability to bring dead things back to life ...

The Office ''The Office'' is a mockumentary sitcom created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, first made in the United Kingdom, then Germany, and subsequently the United States. It has since been remade in ten other countries. The original series of ...

, The Leftovers,

Elementary Elementary may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''Elementary'' (Cindy Morgan album), 2001 * ''Elementary'' (The End album), 2007 * ''Elementary'', a Melvin "Wah-Wah Watson" Ragin album, 1977 Other uses in arts, entertainment, a ...

'', and '' Black Sails'' and most recently ''

Lodge 49 ''Lodge 49'' is an American comedy-drama television series created by Jim Gavin. It aired on the cable television network AMC in the United States from August 6, 2018, to October 14, 2019, spanning two seasons and 20 episodes. The title alludes ...

''. Ocko began his career as a staff writer on the HBO series ''

Not Necessarily the News ''Not Necessarily the News'' (shortened as ''NNTN'') is an American satirical sketch comedy series that first aired on HBO in September 1982 as a comedy special, and then ran as a series from 1983 to 1990. For most of the run, the series featured ...

'', followed by a string of single-camera comedies in the 1990s, writing for such shows as ''

Parker Lewis Can't Lose ''Parker Lewis Can't Lose'' is an American teen sitcom that originally aired on Fox from September 1990 to June 1993. It was produced by Clyde Phillips Productions in association with Columbia Pictures Television. During the last season, the se ...

'' and ''

Dinosaurs Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

''. Crossing over to drama, he wrote for ''

Dead Like Me ''Dead Like Me'' is an American comedy-drama television series starring Ellen Muth and Mandy Patinkin as grim reapers who reside and work in Seattle, Washington. Filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, the show was created by Bryan Fuller for ...

'' and ''

Boston Legal ''Boston Legal'' is an American legal drama and comedy drama television series created by former lawyer and Boston native David E. Kelley, produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television for ABC. The series aired from October 3, 2004, t ...

'', and then created and ran the CBS medical drama '' 3 lbs'' starring

Stanley Tucci Stanley Tucci Jr. ( ; born November 11, 1960) is an American actor and filmmaker. Involved in acting from a young age, he made his film debut in John Huston's '' Prizzi's Honor'' (1985), and continued to play a variety of supporting roles in fil ...

. He now lives in California with his wife, Elizabeth, and 5 kids.

Career

Television writer

Ocko's writing career began in 1989 when he was one of the writers on the 41st Primetime Emmy Awards and from there co-wrote five episodes of the series ''Dinosaurs'' with best friend Adam Barr. From the early nineties until the mid-2000s he wrote and produced for a number of well-received series, mostly comedy shows including '' Weird Science'', ''

'', ''

'' and ''

'', both of which under executive producer Bryan Fuller.

Television creator

In the year 2000 he developed an animated series entitled ''

Baby Blues ''Baby Blues'' is an American comic strip created and produced by Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott since January 7, 1990. Distributed by King Features Syndicate from 1995 until January 2022, and distributed by Andrews McMeel Syndication as of Janu ...

'' based upon a comic strip. The series first aired on

The WB The WB Television Network (for Warner Bros., or the "Frog Network", for its former mascot, Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network launched on broadcast television on January 11, 1995, as a joint venture between the Warner Bros. ...

and later on

Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as

dult swim Dult is a village in Batala in Gurdaspur district of Punjab State, India. It is located from sub district headquarter, from district headquarter and from Sri Hargobindpur. The village is administrated by Sarpanch an elected representati ...

and often abbreviated as s is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television Television channel, channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programme ...

. Although the show was pulled from the schedule at the conclusion of its thirteen episode first season, a second season of thirteen episodes was produced but never aired. In 2006 he created a

medical drama A medical drama is a television show or film in which events center upon a hospital, an ambulance staff, or any medical environment. Most recent medical drama (film and television), dramatic programming go beyond the events pertaining to the chara ...

entitled '' 3 lbs'', which aired on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

but was cancelled soon after due to low ratings.

''The Office''

Ocko began working on the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

sitcom ''

'' at the beginning of its seventh season as a co-executive producer. He wrote one episode, entitled " Christening", which aired on November 4, 2010.

''Lodge 49''

Ocko was showrunning and executive producing the

AMC AMC may refer to: Film and television * AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain * AMC Networks, an American entertainment company ** AMC (TV channel) ** AMC+, streaming service ** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company *** ...

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

, which premiered on August 6, 2018. On October 4, 2018, the series was renewed for a second season, which premiered on August 12, 2019. More recently, he signed a deal with AMC Studios.

Awards and nominations

Ocko has been nominated for four

Writers Guild of America The Writers Guild of America is the joint efforts of two different US labor unions representing TV and film writers: * The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), headquartered in New York City and affiliated with the AFL–CIO * The Writers Guil ...

awards, one of which he won for his work on ''Not Necessarily the News'' in 1990.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ocko, Peter American television producers American television writers American male television writers Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people)