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Todd A. Kessler

Todd A. Kessler

Writing

Biography

Todd A. Kessler (born 1972) is an American screenwriter, playwright, television producer and director. Kessler wrote and produced the second and third seasons of HBO's The Sopranos, Michael Mann's Robbery Homicide Division and the first season of NBC's Providence. Kessler began his career as a playwright working with David Rabe, moving into film and television when Spike Lee hired him as a screenwriter. Kessler is credited with co-writing (with David Chase) the Sopranos season 2 finale Funhouse -- widely lauded as one of the best episodes of the series. Despite his success on The Sopranos, HBO did not retain Kessler beyond season 3, an experience Kessler described as "painful and formative." Kessler and Sopranos actor James Gandolfini became close friends during Kessler's time writing for the show. He is the co-creator and head writer of the Golden Globe award-winning FX drama series Damages along with his older brother, Glenn Kessler, and Daniel Zelman. He also has a small role in Damages as Perry the Doorman. In 2015, his Kyle Chandler-led Netflix series Bloodline premiered. In 2016 it was cancelled, and ended its run after its third season in 2017. After graduating from Cranbrook Kingswood School, Kessler graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with a degree in dramatic literature and playwriting, and has twice been a visiting artist at Harvard, teaching screenwriting seminars. Kessler has been nominated for several Primetime Emmy Awards. Todd A. Kessler, Glenn Kessler and Daniel Zelman were nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for their work on the Damages pilot episode "Get Me A Lawyer". Kessler has been nominated for five Emmy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards.

Known For

Blue's Room
5.0

Blue's Room is a children's puppet show television series which is aimed at preschoolers, aged 2–6, and it is a spin-off series of the popular Blue's Clues series. It originally started as a short segment that came near the end of the original Blue's Clues show, originally cast off as Blue's personal imaginary world once Joe took over the show after his brother Steve "went to college". Later on, when Joe also decided to leave the show Blue's Clues, the short segment became a show itself, with Joe appearing in some episodes. What distinguishes Blue's Room from Blue's Clues is that Blue herself transforms from an animated blue puppy into an English-speaking puppet that directly interacts with the child with open ended questions or asks if a presented idea or solution is correct. The Season One episode "Meet Blue's Baby Brother" is a turnaround episode for this series, bringing most of the concepts of Blue's Clues into the new series and getting additional interest in the series.

Blue's Room

2004Series