October 30, 2026
To: Eddie October, Los Angeles, CA
Dear Eddie,
I was so pleased that you and Michael were able to come up to Comfort Island this summer and experience it firsthand. I’m sure, after years of hearing me describe it, being there made you realize how much I love the place.
This past summer, we had hundreds—literally hundreds—of people come through the house to see the restoration and the artwork. What I try to impress on everyone who comes to Comfort is that none of it would have been possible without Paul Milsap and his team of craftsmen.
Paul and his crew labored for eight years and turned a place that had been featured on CNBC’s “13 Scariest Places to Buy” into what is now arguably, the Queen of the River.
They started in 2014 with the outbuildings, rehabilitating the pump house, the coal house, and the boathouse.
Silly me. I thought that one summer and a boatload of cash would get the house into shape. I was wrong. It was eight boatloads of cash over eight summers.
When folks visit today, they appreciate a beautiful house. It’s not until they see the before pictures that they understand the extent of what had to be done.
Paul and I were, and still are, the perfect team. I speak a design language, and he translates it into construction speak. I’ll show him a tear-out from an interior design magazine and he’ll figure out how he can manufacture it. I imagine an ADA-compliant ramp and golf cart shed, and he executes it.
There is no better partner. It probably does help that he’s in a relationship with my sister, Regan.
And Comfort is the thing that we can both point to and say, “We made that.”
The same goes with my work.
Over the last forty years, I’ve been lucky to work with SO many talented people on a variety of shows. Even the near misses, like The Kris Jenner Show or the downright failures like the six telenovelas we produced in San Diego, brought me together with people I love and respect to this day.
Last night, I was honored by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences with a Silver Circle Award, recognizing achievement in the television business.
I know, burying the Lede. So, kill me.
I don’t really like awards-or being recognized in this way. It makes me feel self-conscious and incredibly uncomfortable.
But then I remembered Aaron, a young man who has worked for me for six years, and Sonja, a trusted Executive in Charge and friend. Together, without my knowledge, they organized a giant write-in campaign and got 46 people in my professional life to write letters on my behalf.
Forty-six people. WOW!
It wasn’t until I saw the other award recipients and heard the organizers speak about the award that I really realized how special this was. And it really moved me.
No one had to do this for me. I could have happily ended my career quietly, with no fanfare. But they cared enough…and that made all the difference.
No one can produce a television show by themselves. No one can rebuild an island by themselves. We all rely on others.
I’m especially happy that you have been a friend and one of the most important parts of those teams over the last forty years. And I’m so grateful that you were there last night, celebrating with me. It really means the world, Eddie.
Stephen