Bill Prady

**William Scott Prady** (born June 7, 1960) is an American television writer and producer who has worked on American sitcoms and variety programs, including *Married... with Children*, *Dream On*, *Star Trek: Voyager*, *Dharma & Greg*, *Two and a Half Men* and *Gilmore Girls* and is the co-creator of *The Big Bang Theory* and *The Muppets*.

## Biography

Born to a Jewish family, Prady graduated from Cranbrook Schools in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and attended Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. He began his writing career in Canada with *You Can't Do That on Television* in the early 1980s and also wrote for the animated version of Jim Henson's *Fraggle Rock.*

Joining Henson, he was a production assistant on a TV special about the world of technology. Prady stayed with the company and worked in the merchandising department. With the encouragement of Jim Henson, Prady began writing working on projects from the 3-D movie to *The Jim Henson Hour.* During his tenure at The Muppets, he was visually caricatured as the puppet "Chip" (*The Jim Henson Hour*). In 1991, Prady was nominated for an Emmy award for co-writing the posthumous tribute to Jim Henson entitled "The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson". He wrote the Disney theme park attractions *Muppet\*Vision 3D* and *Honey, I Shrunk the Audience.*

On April 3, 2015, he co-wrote and sold a new version of *Muppet Show* with the working title *The Muppets* to ABC with Bob Kushell, who also served as show runner.

From 2007 to 2019, he was the executive producer and co-creator with Chuck Lorre of the CBS sitcom *The Big Bang Theory*.

## Educator

As of fall, 2012, Prady is an adjunct faculty member in the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California. He is also a Trustee of the Humanitas "New Voices" program.

## Personal life

In 2003, he was one of 135 candidates who ran for Governor of California in the 2003 recall election, receiving 474 votes.

Prady was a Z80 programmer at The Small Computer Company.
In 2010, Prady was given honorary membership in the Royal Canadian Institute for the Advancement of Science. In 2013, Prady was awarded NASA's Exceptional Public Achievement Medal. In 2015, asteroid 8630 (1981 EY35) was designated 8630 Billprady in his honor.

## Selected credits

* *Caroline in the City*, 1995–1997 (writer, producer)
* *Dharma & Greg*, 1997–2002 (writer, executive producer)
* *Gilmore Girls*, 2004–2005 (writer, co-executive producer)
* *The Big Bang Theory*, 2007–*2019* (creator, writer, executive producer)

## References

1. ↑ Template:Cite tweet
2. ↑ Template:Cite tweet
3. ↑ Jewish news of Northern California: "Big Bang stars religious balancing act in Hollywood" By Dan Pine March 8, 2013
4. ↑ "Bill Prady". *Facebook*. https://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Bill-Prady/175110919698.
5. ↑ Adalian, Josef (May 12, 2015). "Everything We Know So Far about the Muppets". *Vulture*. http://www.vulture.com/2015/05/the-muppets-everything-we-know-so-far.html. Retrieved May 12, 2015.
6. ↑ Goldberg, Lesley (May 9, 2012). "'Muppets' Revived at ABC With 'Big Bang Theory' Co-Creator". Retrieved on April 3, 2015.
7. ↑ "Attending my first #USC Trojans football...". *Twitter*. September 1, 2012. https://twitter.com/billprady/status/241940800345358336.
8. ↑ "Our Board of Trustees: Bill Prady". *The Humanitas Prize*. 2015. http://humanitasprize.info/welcome/?page\_id=938. Retrieved August 16, 2015.
9. ↑ "Special Election - Statement of the Vote". 2003. http://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/sov/2003-special/sov-complete.pdf.
10. ↑ Template:Cite tweet
11. ↑ "The Royal Canadian Institute for the Advancement of Science Bestows Honorary Memberships to The Big Bang Theory Creators Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady". *prnewswire.com*. October 7, 2010. http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-royal-canadian-institute-for-the-advancement-of-science-bestows-honorary-memberships-to-the-big-bang-theory-creators-chuck-lorre-and-bill-prady-104488129.html. Retrieved August 16, 2015.
12. ↑ "2013 Agency Honor Awards". *NASA*. 2013. p. 38. https://searchpub.nssc.nasa.gov/servlet/sm.web.Fetch/2013\_Agency\_Honor\_Awards\_Brochure.pdf?rhid=1000&did=1626944&type=released. Retrieved August 16, 2015.
13. ↑ Template:Cite tweet

## External links

* Template:IMDb name

Template:You Can't Do That On Television

Template:Authority control