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Writer Eric Gilliland, famed for his comedy projects, is no more. As per US-based news portal Variety, Eric died on September 1 following his battle with cancer. Gilliland, an Illinois native and 1984 graduate of Northwestern University, wrote for the ABC comedy from 1992 to 1996. He went on to consult on The Conners in 2019.
His first big writing gig in TV was on Who's the Boss? He went on to write for Living Dolls, The Wonder Years, Boogie Howser, M.D., That '70s Show and My Boys. His most recent project was the podcast The Cinnamon Bear: A Holiday Adventure. He received WGA Award nomination in 1994 for Roseanne. In 2019, he received a Daytime Emmy nomination for writing the children's show The Was Was? Show. After learning about his demise, several members from the showbiz took to their respective social media handles and paid their heartfelt condolences. Modern Family co-creator Steve Levitan on Facebook wrote, "Weird, I know, but I found myself thinking this morning that Eric Gilliland would have taken some perverse pleasure in knowing that, of all people, he was outlived by Dick Van Dyke. That's one of the ways Eric and I bonded back in 8th grade, over our mutual love for The Dick Van Dyke Show. And Monty Python, Jack Benny, The Carol Burnett Show, SNL and bad puns. (Yes, people, we started a pun club)." Steve added, "Eric was just plain smart and funny. In high school, we did plays and musicals and comedy assemblies, parts of which we even co-wrote. He somehow pulled off the impossible of being biting and sweet at the same time. While doing a comedy show called, 'Little Bucky' for our local Glenview radio station with our friends Thalia Kalodimos and Betsy Brennan, I was so bad at doing accents that Eric nicknamed me, 'The man with a thousand voices.'" Gilliland's fellow Roseanne scribe Stan Zimmerman also mourned the demise of Eric. (ANI)
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