It's fair to say in the 80s and 90s television was much different than it is today, and one Evansville native is to thank for that.

Sitcoms

Shows that focus on situational comedy are called "sitcoms." According to Britannica sitcoms on television started in the 1940s, but are still around to this day.

Soon to emerge, however, was what would become the staple genre of American television: the situation comedy, or “sitcom.” The sitcom was a 30-minute format featuring a continuing cast of characters that appeared in the same setting week after week. Audience laughter (either live or by way of an added “laugh track”) usually featured prominently in these shows, most of which were built around families.

Just about everyone has a favorite sitcom that they like to watch, whether they're watching repeats on streaming services, or still watching new episodes weekly.  But did you know that two of the most popular sitcoms of the late 80s/90s were created by an Evansville native?

Evansville's Own, Matt Williams

Matt Williams is a writer and producer who has quite an impressive resume under his belt.  He began his career working on The Cosby Show, so he had a great starting point in the television industry.

READ MORE: Evansville's Roseanne House Hits the Market

Matt later went onto create Roseanne which ran from 1988-1997.  Many folks from Evansville know all about Roseanne because many of the still shots of the fictional town of "Lanford, Illinois" are actually of places in Evansville, Indiana.  The famous Roseanne house still sits on Runnymeade!  While you may know about Matt's work on Roseanne because that's an Evansvillian's favorite piece of local trivia, did you know he also helped create another iconic sitcom of the 90s?

Home Improvement

In 1991 the world was introduced to Tim the Toolman Taylor, and his lovable family in the show Home Improvement which aired until 1999.  Matt was a co-creator of Home Improvement.

According to IMDB: 

Matt Williams is best known as the creator and executive producer of the hit series Roseanne and the co-creator and executive producer of Home Improvement, one of the most successful programs in television history. Williams joined The Cosby Show during its premiere season and worked as a writer/producer on the show for three subsequent seasons, during which time his work was honored with Emmy and Humanitas nominations, as well as sharing a Peabody Award for outstanding achievement in television writing. He also served as co-creator of the Cosby spin-off, A Different World

What's Matt up to Now?

According to his bio on Wind Dancer Films (which he created), Matt is passionate about helping children succeed and formed an organization to help children around the world, and recently the foundation helped build a school in Haiti.

Williams recently formed the Laughing Angels Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping children around the world by creating stories that celebrate the human spirit Laughing Angels Foundation's first project is building a school in the Bas-Citronniers region of Leogana, Haiti.

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He also is an author, and his book came out in February 2024 it's called Glimpses: A Comedy Writer's Take on Life, Love, and All That Spiritual Stuff.  The book is about finding goodness in everyday moments.