Episode 95 - Discovering The Fantastic TV Shows of Writer-Producer-Director Kenneth Johnson - Part 1

In the latest episode of Hollywood Obsessed, host Tony Miros speaks to Kenneth Johnson, the successful writer-producer-director who created many Emmy Award Winning shows including The Bionic Woman, The Incredible Hulk, V :The Original Mini-Series, and Alien Nation.

During their fascinating conversation, Kenny tells podcast host Tony Miros that his fascination with radio and TV production began when he heard Orson Welles' "War of the Worlds", which led him to become 'The Drama Guy' in school, and how he later attended Carnegie Mellon University where he joined the Theater Department. After graduating, he moved to New York to direct and produce live television, eventually becoming the executive producer of "The Mike Douglas Show." He later relocated to California to make movies but struggled to find directing jobs until he became a TV writer. His talent was recognized by successful producer Harve Bennett, who discovered Kenny through a spec script and invited him to write for "The Six Million Dollar Man." Kenny's creation of the character Jaime Sommers resulted in the spinoff series "The Bionic Woman." During this time, he served as writer, director, and producer for both "The Six Million Dollar Man" and "The Bionic Woman" simultaneously. Following their success, Universal Studios asked Kenny to develop a series based on Marvel's "The Incredible Hulk," where he cast Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno and ran for five-seasons on CBS, earning him the nickname 'The Sci-Fi Guy' in Hollywood.

KENNETH JOHNSON

Kenneth Johnson is a successful writer-producer-director who created many Emmy Award Winning shows including “The Bionic Woman”, “The Incredible Hulk”, The Original Mini-Series “V”, and “Alien Nation”. He also wrote and produced “The Six Million Dollar Man” and directed numerous TV movies including Disney Channel hits “Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century” and “Don’t Look Under The Bed” as well as the feature films “Short Circuit 2”, and “Steel”.

Kenneth has received multiple Saturn Awards from the Academy of Science Fiction, the Sci-Fi Universe Lifetime Achievement Award and their Directorial Award, plus the prestigious Founders Award from the Viewers for Quality Television. He has been nominated for the Writers Guild of America Award for and the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Allan Poe Award.

His novels include, “Holmes Coming”, “The Darwin Variant”, “V The Second Generation” and “The Man of Legends” – An Amazon Bestseller.

He has presented his unique graduate-level filmmaking seminar, The Filmmaking Experience: Life in The Trenches at USC, UCLA, NYU, The New York Film Academy, Loyola, Columbia and numerous universities, including his alma mater Carnegie-Mellon, as well as The English National Film School, The State University of Moscow and others. He and his wife Susan, married 46 years, live in Los Angeles.

Kenneth Johnson Website – https://www.kennethjohnson.us

To purchase Kenny’s books go to Amazon - https://tinyurl.com/52zj45kj

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