He is best known as the creator of several television series, including Relativity (1996), Roswell (1999–2002), Friday Night Lights (2006–2011), Parenthood (2010–2015), About a Boy (2014–2015) and Rise (2018).

[3] His father Robert Katims was an actor and a salesman; his mother Ruth Sandra Ohsie, an English and philosophy major, "did some teachings".

Katims was a playwright in New York until director and producer Ed Zwick asked him if he wanted to write for television and films.

He was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for Best New Series at the February 2007 ceremony for his work on the first season of Friday Night Lights.

He was nominated for the WGA Award for Best Dramatic Series the following year at the February 2008 ceremony for his work on the second season of Friday Night Lights.