Ken Keeler
Kenneth Keeler (born 1961) is an American television producer and writer. He has written for numerous television series, most notably "The Simpsons" and "Futurama". According to an interview with David X. Cohen, he proved a theorem that appears in the "Futurama" episode "The Prisoner of Benda". Education and early career. Keeler studied applied mathematics at Harvard University, graduating summa cum laude in 1983. He then gained a master's degree from Stanford in electrical engineering before returning to Harvard. He earned a PhD in applied mathematics from Harvard in 1990. His doctoral thesis was "Map Representations and Optimal  Encoding for Image Segmentation". After earning his doctorate, Keeler joined the Performance Analysis Department at AT&T Bell Laboratories. Career. He soon left Bell Labs to write for David Letterman and subsequently for various sitcoms, including several episodes of "Wings", "The Simpsons", "Futurama", and "The Critic", as well as the short-lived Fox claymation show "The PJs". For "The Simpsons", Keeler has written such episodes as "A Star Is Burns" (which Matt Groening refused to be credited for, as he was opposed to the idea of "The Simpsons" crossing over with "The Critic") and "The Principal and the Pauper" (which many  fans – including series creator Matt Groening and voice actor Harry Shearer – disliked due to the massive changes in Principal Skinner's backstory). Keeler was instrumental in the creation of "Futurama", and served as a co-executive producer in its first three years, and as an executive producer in its fourth year. He was one of the show's most prolific writers, with fourteen episodes to his name (including the original series finale, "The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings", the Writers Guild Award-winning episodes "Godfellas" and "The Prisoner of Benda," and the series finale "Meanwhile"). Keeler wrote many of  the original songs on both "The Simpsons" and "Futurama" during his time with the shows. He also wrote the direct-to-DVD "Futurama" movies "" and "". Personal life. Keeler is also a fan of (but of no relation to) Harry Stephen Keeler and won the fifth and twelfth annual Imitate Keeler Competitions. His "Futurama" episode "Time Keeps on Slippin'" was partly inspired by the Harry Stephen Keeler story "Strange Romance" from the novel "Y. Cheung, Business Detective".