demonstrated that his relationship with filmmaking extended beyond performing. He became an established television director rather than merely an actor occasionally trying another job.
His work on Orange Is the New Black became particularly notable. McCarthy directed multiple episodes of the acclaimed Netflix series during its run. The show was dramatically removed from the romantic comedies that had established him three decades earlier. Its ensemble storytelling, darker subject matter, comedy, and social themes required a very different directing sensibility. For viewers who knew McCarthy only from Pretty in Pink, discovering
