Word: tartikoff
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...Brandon Tartikoff s ideas do not always follow such a smooth path to success, but no one is more entitled to celebrate. For nearly five years the boyish but driven president of NBC Entertainment has been trying to write a happy ending for one of the longest-running sob stories in TV history. Season in, season out, NBC rethought its strategy, retooled its schedule, introduced a slew of new shows-and wound up, as usual, deep in the ratings cellar. Asked early this fall if he had anything else to throw in if his new schedule fizzled, Tartikoff replied...
...That Tartikoff was able to survive so long and eventually prevail in a notoriously precarious job is just one of many anomalies about him. A graduate of Yale, where he majored in English, Tartikoff, 35, has the wit and offhand manner of a hip assistant professor. In the office he often appears in crew-neck sweaters and never wears a watch. The modest three-bedroom home where he lives with his wife Lilly and daughter lacks such California status symbols as a swimming pool and tennis court. During off-hours, Tartikoff enjoys shooting baskets (on his one extravagance, a home...
...clothing manufacturer, Tartikoff grew up on Long Island, where he used to stay home from school to watch sitcoms like December Bride and My Little Margie. He foresaw his calling on a Sunday night in 1959, when he sat cross-legged in front of the family set to watch the premiere episode of Dennis the Menace. "After it was over," Tartikoff recalls, "I turned to my parents and said, 'They could have made that show much better...
...Tartikoff began to prove he could do better when, at 23, he went to work as director of advertising and promotion at WLS-TV in Chicago. He impressed his boss, Lewis Erlicht (now president of ABC Entertainment), with successful gimmicks like "Gorilla My Dreams Week," a festival of ape movies. Fred Silverman, then ABC'S programming chief, soon hired him, but Tartikoff left after a year to join NBC. Silverman later became president of NBC and promoted Tartikoff to the top programming slot in January...
After Grant Tinker replaced Silverman in 1981, Tartikoff seemed a sure bet to take the fall for NBC's ratings troubles. But Tinker stuck with him. "I think he is the best guy to do that job - it's that simple," says the NBC chairman. One of Tartikoff s severest problems was that top producers were reluctant to bring their shows to NBC. "The unfortunate thing for the last-place ball team is that you don't get to hit against your own pitching," he explains. "Producers went to NBC third because they didn't want...