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As a kid growing up in Southfield, Stan Zimmerman didn’t pretend to be a superhero or a rock star.

He pretended to run a TV network.

“I had seven nights a week of programming, and I programmed them opposite the three major networks,” says Zimmerman, who grew up to write for hit shows like The Golden Girls, Roseanne, and Gilmore Girls, as well as the Brady Bunch movies.

“If there were comedies on, I would put on a drama opposite them. … I would hold meetings with my staff, all imaginary. I would appear on The Mike Douglas Show, all imaginary, and talk about my network and my shows. … I put on a Lily Tomlin variety show weekly, … and if I saw a movie that I thought would make a great TV show, or if there was a TV show that got canceled that I wanted to keep going, I would put that on my network.”

This unique form of role-play provided Zimmerman with an escape hatch from the bullying he suffered while at Thompson Junior High, he explains in his new book, , which tells the story of his life and career. But it also gave him confidence.

“It led me to believe that I really could have a future out here in Hollywood,” Zimmerman says.

Zimmerman’s time at NYU was indeed pivotal. He discovered acting wasn’t his true calling (“The first few auditions I went to, I was so nervous my face was shaking”) and befriended a journalism student named Jim Berg, who would become his writing partner (“We started writing in between classes and after-school jobs, and suddenly, doors started flying open for us”).

Eventually, the pair made the move to California, and after writing spec scripts for sitcoms like Alice and Cheers, they were hired for a short-lived ABC show called Just Our Luck. Later, after getting an offer to write on the NBC show The Hogan Family, they were invited to pitch story ideas for another new NBC show called The Golden Girls.

The rest is history — but one riddled with all the highs and lows you’d expect in a Hollywood tale.

The Golden Girls

Though much of Zimmerman and Berg’s work made it into Golden’s final scripts, and a friendship blossomed with star Estelle Getty, the duo wasn’t rehired for season 2.

Roseanne

Working on season 5 of comedian Roseanne Barr’s sitcom was tense. Early in Zimmerman’s tenure, Barr and her then-husband, Tom Arnold, distributed numbered shirts to the show’s writers. Zimmerman cheerfully lobbied for number 13 (the date of his birthday), but then, back in the writers’ room, his grumbling co-workers clued him in to the shirts’ dark humor significance: Tom and Roseanne wouldn’t need to know a writer’s name to fire them.

“I could never quite look at the shirt the same way, but it’s like a badge of honor that we survived it,” Zimmerman says.

Gilmore Girls

Zimmerman and Berg worked on season 5 of this now-cult classic, too, and Zimmerman enjoys interacting with the show’s passionate fan base.

“Most people start the conversation with ‘I hope I’m not bothering you,’ but I’m like, ‘No, I want to hear what your experiences are with these shows,’” Zimmerman says. “Mothers watching Gilmore Girls with their daughters — which is so rare to have a TV show they want to watch together. I also know a lot of LGBTQ people were able to sit with their conservative grandmothers and watch Golden Girls and have a bond, have something they shared.”

Zimmerman continues to write and produce for TV and has also returned to theater, his first love, as a director, playwright, and occasional performer.

“But I am so fortunate that I have three TV shows that … have withstood the test of time and are still so popular today,” Zimmerman says. “You’re lucky if you get one hit show in a career. … And then you throw in the Brady Bunch movies, which are iconic unto themselves, and I just light candles and thank whatever god is nearest to me and appreciate the good fortune that I’ve had.”

This story originally appeared in the November 2024 issue of ������ Detroit magazine. To read more, pick up a copy of ������ Detroit at a local retail outlet. Our will be available on Nov. 6.