Thomas Harry Cherones, Jr. (/tʃʌˈroʊnɛs/ chə-ROH-ness; born September 11, 1939)[1] is an American director and producer of several TV series.

[3] Cherones began working in educational television while a student at the University of Alabama and later produced and directed programs for WQED in Pittsburgh.

Cherones also worked on Welcome Back Kotter, Caroline in the City, Annie McGuire, and Ellen.

We changed writers almost every season, and finally he just wanted somebody else, another presence, to try to keep it fresh," Cherones said.

[7] He was also inducted into the University of Alabama College of Communication and Information Sciences Hall of Fame in 2001.

From 2002 to 2014, Cherones taught a film production course at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, where he had earned a master's degree in 1976.