 "Fresno" was created and co-written by Barry Kemp, Mark Ganzel, and Michael Petryni, and was produced for CBS by Mary Tyler-Moore's MTM Productions.The miniseries was directed by Jeff Bleckner, who had previously directed episodes of some of the shows parodied in "Fresno", including "Dynasty", "Knots Landing", and "Falcon Crest".The miniseries starred Carol Burnett and Dabney Coleman, with Charles Grodin, Terri Garr, Valerie Mahaffey, Bill Paxton, Anthony Heald, Gregory Harrison, Luis Avalos, Jerry Van Dyke, Charles Keating, Pat Corley, and Jeffrey Jones.