Jessica Goldstein

Jessica Goldstein was an American TV writer and producer who, along with her writing partner Chrissy Pietrosh, executive produced the NBC comedy "Telenovela" (NBC, 2015), as well as other hit sitcoms. Goldstein's first TV writing gig came in 2002 when she joined the staff of "Family Affair" (CBS, 2002-03), a remake of the popular sitcom from the 1960s. That show, however, was cancelled after one season. Undeterred, Goldstein continued landing staff writing gigs on short-lived shows like "Cuts" (UPN, 2005-06) and "Big Day" (ABC, 2006-07), but none of those show lasted beyond a single season. Goldstein's first big break came in 2008 when she, along with Pietrosh, joined the writing staff of the popular NBC sitcom "My Name Is Earl" (NBC, 2005-09). Together, Goldstein and Pietrosh served as writers/producers on 41 episodes of the series, which ended its six-season run in 2009. After "My Name Is Earl" ended its run, Goldstein and Pietrosh joined the staff of ABC's "Cougar Town" (ABC/TBS, 2009-2015). The show, about a recent divorcee, played by Courteney Cox, who has to learn how to date again after years of being happily married, ran for six successful seasons on both ABC and TBS. Once again, Goldstein and Pietrosh served as producers and writers on the series, thus further honing their TV writing chops. When "Cougar Town" ended its run in 2015 Goldstein and Pietrosh quickly picked up where they left off by writing a pilot script about a telenovela star that does not speak Spanish. The show, called "Telenovela" was read by "Desperate Housewives" (ABC, 2004-2012) actress Eva Longoria, who quickly fell in love with it. Once Longoria signed on to produce and star in the series, NBC picked it up. "Telenovela" debuted on the network in December of 2015, with Goldstein and Pietrosh serving as writers and executive producers. The show received mostly positive reviews upon its debut, thus further establishing Goldstein as one of TV's most successful writer/producers.