Eric Gilliland, a television producer and writer known for his work on the hit sitcom “Roseanne,” died of colon cancer on Sunday, his sister Lisa confirmed to Variety . He was 62.
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Gilliland served as a producer and writer on the ABC series “Roseanne” from 1992 to 1996. He received a Writers Guild of America Award nomination for the show’s 1992 episode, “The Dark Ages.”
Gilliland went on to work as a consulting producer for two episodes of the “Roseanne” spinoff series “The Conners” in 2019.
After his time on “Roseanne,” Gilliland worked as a consulting producer on “That ’70s Show” from 1998 to 1999, as well as wrote the first season’s third episode, titled “Streaking.” In the episode, Eric (Topher Grace), Kelso (Ashton Kutcher), Hyde (Danny Masterson) and Fez (Wilmer Valderrama) plan on running naked in front of President Gerald R. Ford during his visit to Point Place, Wis.
Gilliland also worked as a producer on TV shows such as “Nurses,” “That’s Life,” “Welcome to New York,” “Mr. Sunshine” and “My Boys.” He wrote episodes for many of these series, including four episodes of the TBS sitcom “My Boys” and two episodes of the short-lived ABC sitcom “Mr. Sunshine,” starring and co-created by Matthew Perry.
Gilliland’s other writing credits include “Women in Prison,” “Live-In,” “Who’s the Boss?,” “Living Dolls,” “Married People,” “Doogie Howser, M.D.” and “The Wonder Years.” He was nominated for a Daytime Emmy in 2019 for his work on Netflix’s historical sketch comedy series, “The Who Was? Show.”
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Many in the industry took to social media to pay tribute to Gilliland after the news of his death.
“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,” “Modern Family” co-creator Steven Levitan wrote in a Facebook post on Monday. “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).”
Actor Martha Plimpton wrote on Instagram , “I don’t have the ability to find the older pictures right now. I don’t know entirely what to do with myself. Today is harder. The world is a less happy and laughter filled place without my friend, Eric Gilliland.”
Actor Dan Bucatinsky called Gilliland “brilliant, sweet, kind, funny, generous” in his tribute on Instagram .
He continued: “His legacy is the wake of love he generated from so many friends.”
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