Paul Brownstein is a director, writer,

stage manager Stage management is a broad field that is generally defined as the practice of organization and coordination of an event or theatrical production. Stage management may encompass a variety of activities including the overseeing of the rehearsal p ...

, and

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...

, working in the fields of television, music, recording, radio, concert touring, and

home video Home video is prerecorded media sold or rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD, Blu-ray and streaming me ...

. Brownstein’s company owns worldwide TV and digital distribution rights to more than 4,000 hours of classic

TV comedy Television comedy is a category of broadcasting that has been present since the early days of entertainment media. While there are several genres of comedy, some of the first ones aired were variety shows. One of the first United States television ...

and variety series and specials, for clients like ''

The Dick Van Dyke Show ''The Dick Van Dyke Show'' is an American television sitcom created by Carl Reiner that initially aired on CBS from October 3, 1961 to June 1, 1966, with a total of 158 half-hour episodes spanning five seasons. It was produced by Calvada Product ...

'',

Cher Cher (; born Cherilyn Sarkisian; May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Often referred to by the media as the Honorific nicknames in popular music, "Goddess of Pop", she has been described as embodying female ...

Don Rickles Donald Jay Rickles (May 8, 1926 – April 6, 2017) was an American stand-up comedian and actor. He became known primarily for his insult comedy. His film roles include ''Run Silent, Run Deep'' (1958) with Clark Gable, Carl Reiner's '' Enter La ...

, and The

Robin Williams Robin McLaurin Williams (July 21, 1951August 11, 2014) was an American actor and comedian. Known for his improvisational skills and the wide variety of characters he created on the spur of the moment and portrayed on film, in dramas and come ...

Trust. Brownstein lives in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

Executive producer

Brownstein was executive Producer with Carl Reiner and George Shapiro for three annual CBS specials featuring

colorized Film colorization (American English; or colourisation [British English], or colourization [Canadian English and Oxford English]) is any process that adds color to black-and-white, sepia, or other monochrome moving-picture image ...

episodes of ''The Dick Van Dyke Show'', entitled ''The Dick Van Dyke Show: Now in Living Color''. Paul Brownstein Productions distributes the original series. A prolific DVD producer, his most recent release is ''Robin Williams: Comic Genius'', a 22 disc DVD set for Time-Life. As an executive producer for

CBS Home Entertainment CBS Home Entertainment (formerly CBS Video Enterprises, Inc., MGM/CBS Home Video, CBS/Fox Video and CBS Video, currently branded as CBS DVD for DVD releases and CBS Blu-ray for Blu-ray releases) is a home entertainment company owned by Paramoun ...

, he created special features for the 50th Anniversary of ''

Gunsmoke ''Gunsmoke'' is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston. It centers on Dodge City, Kansas, in the 1870s, during the settlement of the American West. The central character ...

,'' ''

The Phil Silvers Show ''The Phil Silvers Show'', originally titled ''You'll Never Get Rich'', is a sitcom which ran on CBS from 1955 to 1959. A pilot titled "Audition Show" was made in 1955, but it was never broadcast. 143 other episodes were broadcast – all half-a ...

,'' and ''

Perry Mason Perry Mason is a fictional character, an American criminal defense lawyer who is the main character in works of detective fiction written by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason features in 82 novels and 4 short stories, all of which involve a cli ...

,'' the 40th Anniversary of ''

The Wild Wild West ''The Wild Wild West'' is an American Western, espionage, and science fiction television series that ran on the CBS television network for four seasons from September 17, 1965, to April 11, 1969. Two satirical comedy television film sequels w ...

'' and ''

Hogan's Heroes ''Hogan's Heroes'' is an American television sitcom set in a Nazi German prisoner-of-war (POW) camp during World War II. It ran for 168 episodes (six seasons) from September 17, 1965, to April 4, 1971, on the CBS network, the longest broadcast ...

,'' and full season DVDs of ''

The Odd Couple Odd Couple may refer to: Neil Simon play and its adaptations * ''The Odd Couple'' (play), a 1965 stage play by Neil Simon ** ''The Odd Couple'' (film), a 1968 film based on the play *** ''The Odd Couple'' (1970 TV series), a 1970–1975 televisi ...

,'' ''

The Beverly Hillbillies ''The Beverly Hillbillies'' is an American television sitcom that was broadcast on CBS from 1962 to 1971. It had an ensemble cast featuring Buddy Ebsen, Irene Ryan, Donna Douglas, and Max Baer Jr. as the Clampetts, a poor, backwoods family from ...

,'' ''

Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. ''Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.''The show (and CBS) renders the title as ''Gomer Pyle – USMC''. is an American situation comedy that originally aired on CBS from September 25, 1964, to May 2, 1969. The series was a spin-off of ''The Andy Griffith Sho ...

,'' and ''

The Twilight Zone ''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology television series created by Rod Serling. The episodes are in various genres, including fantasy, science fiction, absurdism, dystopian fiction, suspense, horror, su ...

''. For

public television Public broadcasting involves radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing ...

, he was an executive producer for 19 seasons of the ''My Music'' series of Pledge break specials with the original artists of

Doo-wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a genre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chica ...

, Soul, Disco,

Folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

, and the popular music hits of legendary artists like

Johnny Mathis John Royce Mathis (born September 30, 1935) is an American singer of popular music. Starting his career with singles of standard music, he became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum s ...

and

Dionne Warwick Marie Dionne Warwick (; born December 12, 1940) is an American singer, actress, and television host. Warwick ranks among the 40 biggest U.S. hit makers between 1955 and 1999, based on her chart history on ''Billboards Hot 100 pop singles cha ...

. Brownstein was an executive producer of VH1’s ''The Best of

American Bandstand ''American Bandstand'', abbreviated ''AB'', is an American music-performance and dance television program that aired in various versions from 1952 to 1989, and was hosted from 1956 until its final season by Dick Clark, who also served as the pro ...

''. He also produced the highly rated '' VH1 Archives'' series of episodes from the Mike Douglas,

David Frost Sir David Paradine Frost (7 April 1939 – 31 August 2013) was a British television host, journalist, comedian and writer. He rose to prominence during the satire boom in the United Kingdom when he was chosen to host the satirical programme ' ...

, and

Dick Cavett Richard Alva Cavett (; born November 19, 1936) is an American television personality and former talk show host. He appeared regularly on nationally broadcast television in the United States for five decades, from the 1960s through the 2000s. In ...

talk show A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show ...

s with artists like

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

, and

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the honor ...

. Brownstein was executive producer with Jeff Margolis for ''

The Honeymooners ''The Honeymooners'' is an American television sitcom which originally aired from 1955 to 1956, created by and starring Jackie Gleason, and based on a recurring comedy sketch of the same name that had been part of Gleason's variety show. It fol ...

50th Anniversary Celebration'', and appeared as a guest on ''

Larry King Live ''Larry King Live'' was an American television talk show hosted by Larry King on CNN from 1985 to 2010. It was the channel's most watched and longest-running program, with over one million viewers nightly. Mainly aired from CNN's Los Angeles s ...

''. Brownstein also supervised the digital remastering of the "Classic 39" ''Honeymooners'' episodes for

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 ...

. Other TV credits include executive producer of ''VH1 Goes Inside the

American Music Awards The American Music Awards (AMAs) is an annual American music awards show, generally held in the fall, created by Dick Clark in 1973 for ABC when the network's contract to air the Grammy Awards expired, and currently produced by Dick Clark Produc ...

'', and consulting producer on ''CBS…50 Years From

Television City Television City, alternatively CBS Television City, is an American television studio complex located in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles at 7800 Beverly Boulevard, at the corner of Fairfax Avenue. Designed by architect William Pereira and Ch ...

.''

TV's supersleuth

Variety once called him "TV’s supersleuth", for his unique role as "Raider of the Lost Archives". For all of his DVDs, Brownstein has

digitally remastered Remaster refers to changing the quality of the sound or of the image, or both, of previously created recordings, either audiophonic, cinematic, or videographic. The terms digital remastering and digitally remastered are also used. Mastering A ...

the original negatives and master tapes and tracked down never before seen outtakes, promos, behind the scenes footage, and rare clips from other programs as DVD bonus footage, plus recording audio commentary. As executive producer for the revival of the original ''

Smothers Brothers The Smothers Brothers are Thomas ("Tom" – born February 2, 1937) and Richard ("Dick" – born November 20, 1938), American folk singers, musicians, and comedians. The brothers' trademark double act was performing folk songs (Tommy on acoustic gu ...

Comedy Hour'', he restored segments deleted by CBS censors from that TV series, which enjoyed renewed success when it found a new generation of fans on the E! television channel. Brownstein also saw an eight-year project come to fruition in 1995Morehouse III, Ward
"Burton's back on Broadway, but how?"
''

Manila Standard The ''Manila Standard'' is a broadsheet newspaper in the Philippines. , it is owned by the Romualdez family. The Romualdezes, through incumbent speaker of the House Martin Romualdez, also own Journal Publications, Inc., the owner of tabloid pap ...

'', April 11, 1995, p. A4. Retrieved on May 29, 2013. with the completion of a fully remastered ''

Richard Burton's Hamlet Richard Burton's ''Hamlet'' is a common name for both the Broadway theatre, Broadway production of William Shakespeare's Hamlet, tragedy that played from April 9 to August 8, 1964 at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, and for the filmed record of it that h ...

''—a filmed record of the 1963 Broadway stage , production, acknowledged as the high point of the actor’s theatrical career. After Brownstein's discovery of the original 35mm negative, negotiations of the production rights and digital remastering, the restored film premiered at the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

in London as the final event in its yearlong festival of Shakespeare On Film. The Burton Hamlet is now available on DVD and was the subject of a new play at

The Public Theater The Public Theater is a New York City arts organization founded as the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954 by Joseph Papp, with the intention of showcasing the works of up-and-coming playwrights and performers.Epstein, Helen. ''Joe Papp: An American Li ...

in New York in 2008.

Awards

He won the DVD Exclusive Award for Best Overall TV DVD as well as the TV on DVD Award for 2004 as producer of ''

'' DVD, and also won multiple DVD awards for ''

Get Smart ''Get Smart'' is an American comedy television series parodying the secret agent genre that had become widely popular in the first half of the 1960s, with the release of the ''James Bond'' films. It was created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, an ...

.'' Brownstein’s other DVD releases include ''

Here's Lucy ''Here's Lucy'' is an American sitcom starring Lucille Ball. The series co-starred her long-time comedy partner Gale Gordon and her real-life children Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz Jr. It was broadcast on CBS from 1968 to 1974. It was Ball's thir ...

,'' ''

The Richard Pryor Show ''The Richard Pryor Show'' is an American comedy variety show starring and created by Richard Pryor. It premiered on NBC on Tuesday, September 13, 1977, at 8 p.m. opposite ABC's '' Laverne & Shirley'' and ''Happy Days''. The show was produced ...

,'' and ''

The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour ''The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour'' was an American variety show that starred American pop singers Sonny Bono and Cher, who were married to each other at the time. The show ran on CBS in the United States, and premiered in August 1971. The show was ...

''.

References

External links

IMDb - Paul Brownstein Productions [us]

TVClassics.com
- Brownstein's TV retail site {{DEFAULTSORT:Brownstein, Paul Writers from Los Angeles Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American television directors