Robert Butler was one of the most important people in US TV... that you likely haven't heard of. RIP.

The TV director was once a pretty thankless job. In TV, the power was always with the showrunner, who was usually the head writer on a show (often the creator, but certainly not always). In recent years, TV directors are getting their recognition outside of the industry, but for the most part they were journeyman going from one show to the next with the…