Jay Daniel, 1943 – 2026

TV producer Jay Daniel, 82, died on May 27. Daniel produced such TV shows as Moonlighting (one of my favorites!), Roseanne, and Cybill. Daniel studied acting at UCLA and first set out to be a performer before turning to producing. He worked on numerous TV-movies before making his first film, Clean and Sober, with future Moonlighting creator Glenn Gordon Caron. He became famed for calming the trouble waters of many a show, even luring Cybill Shepherd back to TV for her own sitcom, post-Moonlighting. Daniel explained to writer Diane Maiocco that “I dictated what the shooting schedule was going to be, which locations or stage sets were going to be shot when, etc., etc. I hired the crew and made sure they had the equipment they needed and the locations and sets they needed, and that it was all there on time. You know, all of those sort of mundane things like, ‘How many hair dressers do we need tomorrow?’ and what not. I was involved in every aspect of the show with the exception of sitting down and writing a script.” He is survived by his wife, dancer Vicky Daniel.