Why does Fred Silverman get so much flack for his NBC tenure?

[danderson400]

Originally Posted by WatcherofOldTV

Exactly, and I agree wholeheartedly. (As seen in my reply above).
Finally! Someone with some common sense and reason!!

He did a lot for NBC in terms of laying the groundwork. If he'd been there another 2 years or so, he would have been miles ahead of Tinker's "success" from 1985..much sooner than that.

Silverman's biggest contribution was probably bringing back the peacock.
He laid the foundation for:
-Hill Street Blues
-Cheers
-Got Different Strokes and Facts of Life on the air
-Real People (number 1 show in the country)
-Barbara Mandrell and her Sisters...was a big hit
-Gimme a Break..got the deal for it before Tinker came in...
-Wanted to bring General Hospital over to NBC but couldn't get it done. Imagine what that would have done?
-Laid the foundation for Family Ties

Clearly, Tinker came in and figured he had connections with all these shows and could simply just deal with it from and MTM standpoint. Tartikoff (Silverman's protege) is the one who really deserves the credit. Warren Littlefield as well..

imagaine if NBC had not only Sale Of The Century and Wheel Of Fortune but what if Sliverman had gotten General Hospital over to NBC? they might have given ABC a big headache thats for sure!

[glickmam]

Originally Posted by WatcherofOldTV

Not in the slightest..those were shows with potential that needed a LOT of improvement. You can't blame him for adding the comedy side of things. NBC needed to tape back into their comedy side of things such as what they had in the 50's. It hadn't been there in years, and he was right for making the move.

Most importantly, had NBC kept those shows, it would have gone bankrupt thanks to Supertrain. They needed to go el cheapo and take several years to build up their bankroll again. It wasn't until Family Ties and the A-Team came on that it began to improve. Had Silverman been there at the time, he would have probably doubled that improvement. He had much to do for setting the table for Tinker. Including hiring Brandon Tartikoff and various other people who made NBC great in the 80's, and later the 90's.

Oh, please. Everybody knows that game shows are always much cheaper to make than scripted shows.

[WatcherofOldTV]

Originally Posted by glickmam

Oh, please. Everybody knows that game shows are always much cheaper to make than scripted shows.

And your point is??

[glickmam]

Originally Posted by WatcherofOldTV

And your point is??

That he should have left them alone instead of screwing them over, if he really wanted to save the network.

[king of comedy]

Barbra Mandrell was a fun show.

[WatcherofOldTV]

Originally Posted by king of comedy

Barbra Mandrell was a fun show.

Yes, it was, as was "Real People" and "Gimme a Break". Those shows were the beginning of a renaissance for NBC. Once Family Ties came around, it all starting coming together with the foundation that Silverman laid down...not sure why he is seen as having done nothing. It's simply not true!!

And, I'm not even touching the last response about the game shows.
Very ignorant response as NBC was in a heap of trouble.
Seriously, get your facts straight....

[danderson400]

Originally Posted by glickmam

Not to mention vetoing Merv Griffin's choice to succeed Chuck Woolery as the host of Wheel of Fortune, Pat Sajak. It was only because of Grant Tinker's arrival that Sajak was permitted to host. Of course, Tinker had been a close ally of the Wheel staff, and Griffin in particular, since his days as an NBC junior assistant in the mid-1960's, when he persuaded Mort Werner, NBC's senior vice president of programming and talent, to green light Griffin's other best known creation, Jeopardy!.

If Gen. David Sarnoff was around then, he'd likely object to Sliverman's decision to veto Merv Griffin's choice to succeed Chuck Woolery as the host of Wheel of Fortune, Pat Sajak. in fact, he'd likely go against Fred Sliverman, meaning that Letterman would have been in late night to begin with. Would he have canceled The Doctors, given that most stations were airing local news at noon?

[Yong Fang]

I may not understand completely, but I think Silverman inherited a mess at NBC, and NBC was a real low rated network back in the 1970's, NBC was a joke, and even Johnny Carson would make fun of NBC all the time. So probably Silverman took over a complete mess and he did what he did which thought would work, and as the OP stated, Silverman seemed to lay the groundwork for NBC getting back to Number One in the 1980's and 1990's. There were a lot of good NBC shows then. Real People comes to mind. Then the wonderful Hill Street Blues and St Elsewhere.

I think most of the negativity to Silverman was the show Supertrain, which is probably the worst TV show ever made, which cost the network a huge bundle. This show was so bad that again, Carson would make fun of it.

Probably Silverman was like the college football coach that takes a 0-11 team and makes then a 5-6 team but still gets fired for not producing a winning record, and the next guy comes in and the team goes 9-2 and then 11-0 and takes all the glory. Happens a lot.

[bmasters9]

Originally Posted by WatcherofOldTV

He really gave Grant Tinker a free pass. Had Silverman stayed, he probably would have had just as much success as Tinker, if not more!! And, he needs to be given credit for resurrecting the peacock. Tinker took the logo and said, "this is great, let's use it." Otherwise, he probably would have kept that ugly "N". It looked much better with the peacock superimposed over it.

It certainly did, especially for NBC Sports (like with this example from 1984, stadium banner on a broadcast of the Bengals against the 49ers from Candlestick Park in San Francisco [captured from YouTube clip of that broadcast; clip may no longer exist]):

[danderson400]

Originally Posted by WatcherofOldTV

Tinker had it easy. Silverman set the groundwork by bringing back the Wheel of Fortune I doubt Tinker would have even thought to do that. He got much more credit than he deserved. Took advantage of a good situation. If he had been there during 78-81 (instead of Silverman), I doubt there would have even been as much "success". Probably worse...Tinker had success but he really didn't have much to do with it.

And, as we learned after he left, he didn't have much a philosophy. Bob Wright saved NBC from once again going down. Had Silverman stayed, I bet he would have been even more successful than Tinker. He just needed more time. Imagine taking over a near bankrupt company? You'd be throwing out most of the geriatric game shows too.

It was when Sliverman(and the affiliates) found out quickly that Letterman ddin't fit the morning schedule, he very quickly kept Wheel, and to get the affiliates back, he got Blockbusters with Bill Cullen into production.

Actually before that, he had issues with the 10am timeslot, because that slot was frequently pre-empted in medium-large markets for "Donahue" and since Phil was still pretty big at the time. But Fred should have kept both Card Sharks and Hollywood Squares in place, and to allow those stations to air "Donahue" maybe change the Today Show feeds to where the Midwest and West stations could take Today live at 6am, then Phil Donahue at 8am.(that would have solved the problem.)

[danderson400]

The issues with Card Sharks and Hollywood Squares wasn't that they weren't ratings winners(against sitcom reruns on CBS and local programming (a movie, I think) on ABC.) Fred could have, based on the competition decided the best way would be to keep both. Meanwhile, CBS which is eager to get into the late night game, signs Letterman, and he begins to cut into Carson's audience and NBC likely regrets letting him go.

[Mario500]

Originally Posted by danderson400

The issues with Card Sharks and Hollywood Squares wasn't that they weren't ratings winners(against sitcom reruns on CBS and local programming (a movie, I think) on ABC.) Fred could have, based on the competition decided the best way would be to keep both. Meanwhile, ABC which is eager to get into the late night game, signs Letterman, and he begins to cut into Carson's audience and NBC likely regrets letting him go.

(wonders whether "CBS" was intended for the part of the message I had embolden rather than "ABC" or not)

[MIKEPR]

Originally Posted by Yong Fang

I may not understand completely, but I think Silverman inherited a mess at NBC, and NBC was a real low rated network back in the 1970's, NBC was a joke, and even Johnny Carson would make fun of NBC all the time. So probably Silverman took over a complete mess and he did what he did which thought would work, and as the OP stated, Silverman seemed to lay the groundwork for NBC getting back to Number One in the 1980's and 1990's. There were a lot of good NBC shows then. Real People comes to mind. Then the wonderful Hill Street Blues and St Elsewhere.

I think most of the negativity to Silverman was the show Supertrain, which is probably the worst TV show ever made, which cost the network a huge bundle. This show was so bad that again, Carson would make fun of it.

Probably Silverman was like the college football coach that takes a 0-11 team and makes then a 5-6 team but still gets fired for not producing a winning record, and the next guy comes in and the team goes 9-2 and then 11-0 and takes all the glory. Happens a lot.

I wonder if their situation played the part in trying to keep Sanford & Son on when Foxx & Wilson left calling it "Sanford Arms?"

[Schmo]

Let’s not forget the huge amount of money NBC spent getting the rights to broadcast the 1980 Summer Olympics, only for it to be flushed down the toilet when President Carter decided to boycott the games. That wasn’t Silverman’s fault.

[MIKEPR]

Who said it was?