Why does Fred Silverman get so much flack for his NBC tenure? - Page 4 - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

danderson400 · 06-26-2020, 05:28 PM

Quote:

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.

NBC needed to refresh their daytime schedule. Silverman's biggest problem wasn't Letterman, it was the overlong Another World (which was 90
minutes at the time

, because NBC couldn't find anything better to put on -- by their own admission!

). Fred realized that having a soap for 90 minutes a day was a bad idea.

Sal · 07-06-2020, 11:57 AM

I remember watching the David Letterman morning show on NBC and absolutely hating it. One of the first things he mentioned after appearing on the screen for the first time was how happy he was that NBC had to cancel 3 game shows to put him on the air. (They were great game shows, too! Card Sharks, High Rollers, and Hollywood Squares!) I have refused to watch him on TV ever since, preferring Jay Leno instead, and making no apologies for it! Even Conan can't compare to Leno and he wasn't even half as good as Letterman.

While it's true that "Supertrain" was also an awful show and is seen as one of the biggest bombs of all time, it wasn't the only huge mistake that Silverman made that brought about his downfall. At the same time, NBC also had a variety show called "Pink Lady and Jeff" which he hoped would become a hit like "Donny & Marie" was for ABC when he was there. It turned out to be anything but. It starred comic Jeff Altman, who later found steady work as a director for shows like "Night Court". His two co-stars were the real problem. They were 2 Asian-American girls who called themselves "Pink Lady" and spoke almost no English. Their singing was laughable at best and largely forgettable (like about 90% of what you hear today). From the beginning, the show was a disaster and lasted only 5 episodes. Taken on its own, you can dismiss it as a fluke and an unfortunate mistake. But when you have 2 nuclear failures on the same network in the same year, that reflects badly on the network as a whole and more specifically on the man running it at the top who happened to be Fred Silverman. That's what did him in more than anything. You can commend him and applaud him for bringing "Family Ties" and "Cheers" to NBC, but those 2 great shows weren't enough to save his reputation which by this time had been horribly damaged by both of his "Super" bombs!

TMC · 07-07-2020, 05:43 AM

One argument that I heard after Silverman passed away, was that by the time that he got to NBC in 1978, he was basically competing with himself and the shows that he greenlight over at ABC. Plus, CBS arguably figured out how to do lowest-common-denominator type of TV (Dallas, Dukes of Hazzard, Incredible Hulk, etc.) even better than he did. He had no where to go but down.

Sal · 07-07-2020, 03:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TMC

One argument that I heard after Silverman passed away, was that by the time that he got to NBC in 1978, he was basically competing with himself and the shows that he greenlight over at ABC. Plus, CBS arguably figured out how to do lowest-common-denominator type of TV (Dallas, Dukes of Hazzard, Incredible Hulk, etc.) even better than he did. He had no where to go but down.

Then ABC came along with TGIF and took lowest-common-denominator TV as low as it can get and all of the networks have struggled to raise the bar higher ever since. So that's another thing you can blame him for.

icecream · 07-07-2020, 06:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sal

Then ABC came along with TGIF and took lowest-common-denominator TV as low as it can get and all of the networks have struggled to raise the bar higher ever since. So that's another thing you can blame him for.

TGIF had good shows: Mr. Belvedere, Sister Sister, and the early seasons of Boy Meets World and Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Family Matters started out good but got too focused on Urkel. What is lowest common denominator TV is all the reality garbage that became popular after Survivor hit. Survivor is to blame for reality going from occasional filler to a disease that will never go away now. Comedies started going down on the family comedy side when Home Improvement ended, and overall comedy went down when high class shows like Frasier ended, with garbage like Two and a Half Men becoming popular instead.

danderson400 · 03-24-2022, 10:44 AM

Quote:

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.

One of three things happens....
1. Carson leaves the Tonight Show, NBC keeps The Hollywood Squares, Chain Reaction and High Rollers, and Letterman takes over The Tonight Show.

2. Letterman gets the 90 minute show, NBC keeps Chain Reaction(but moves it away from the noon timeslot because many NBC stations in recent years had taken to sacrificing the network show in that slot in favor of a local newscast) and cancels Hollywood Squares and The Doctors(soap opera).

3. Letterman agrees to do just a 60 minute show, NBC cancels The Doctors(soap) and moves Chain Reaction to that slot.

But would he be that stupid to put a game show on before Another World? That breaks up the soap lineup.

danderson400 · 03-24-2022, 10:52 AM

The result though is, Letterman has a long run hosting The Tonight Show, the three game shows last a little longer, and NBC doesn't need to make too many changes to their daytime schedule.

icecream · 03-24-2022, 10:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by danderson400

The result though is, Letterman has a long run hosting The Tonight Show, the three game shows last a little longer, and NBC doesn't need to make too many changes to their daytime schedule.

I am glad Letterman didn't get the Tonight Show. Jay rules, Dave drools. Dave isn't worthy of licking Jay's boots.

Jamey Greek · 03-26-2022, 06:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WatcherofOldTV

Not quite...according to his interview with Archive of American Television, the idea for the show was pitched to him and he wanted to do "Hitchcock on a train". But, according to Silverman, the guy running the show felt it was best to just throw money at it and hope for the best.

Grant Tinker got a lot of credit for Silverman's work. But, really, as Silverman said, when Tinker got in the door, the network was only 2 or 3 shows away from success and Silverman knew it. Tinker didn't feel that the network was going to make it but did it for the money, basically. He was lucky that he got there with good people and left when he figured it was best to leave when the gettin' was good. He wasn't stupid enough to go into a bad situation with no hope. Tinker said in his interview with AoAT, that it was bad when he got there but that he felt he knew the people enough beforehand to make it happen. Basically, he got lucky...Silverman was scrappy and made Tinker's life easy.

Actually, Tinker was reluctant to take the job at first. If you read his memoirs. When the head of RCA asked him to be chairman he was reluctant to at first. He did not want to move to New York because he hated it and Bradshaw offered to move the company out west to accommodate him and Tinker informed him that was inpossible.

Jamey Greek · 03-26-2022, 07:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by danderson400

One of three things happens....
1. Carson leaves the Tonight Show, NBC keeps The Hollywood Squares, Chain Reaction and High Rollers, and Letterman takes over The Tonight Show.

2. Letterman gets the 90 minute show, NBC keeps Chain Reaction(but moves it away from the noon timeslot because many NBC stations in recent years had taken to sacrificing the network show in that slot in favor of a local newscast) and cancels Hollywood Squares and The Doctors(soap opera).

3. Letterman agrees to do just a 60 minute show, NBC cancels The Doctors(soap) and moves Chain Reaction to that slot.

But would he be that stupid to put a game show on before Another World? That breaks up the soap lineup.

Carson was in talks to.move to ABC during that time and I think Fred was grooming Dave as a successor for Johnny.

danderson400 · 03-15-2023, 12:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jamey Greek

Carson was in talks to.move to ABC during that time and I think Fred was grooming Dave as a successor for Johnny.

Didn't know that. If that happens it makes NBC's daytime and late night schedules look different.

Jamey Greek · 03-18-2023, 11:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bmasters9

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]):

Now I like that logo better than I do the current 6-feather one

bmasters9 · 03-19-2023, 04:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jamey Greek

Now I like that logo better than I do the current 6-feather one

Didn't know the feeling was mutual on that score! Why do you feel that way?

Jamey Greek · 03-19-2023, 04:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bmasters9

Didn't know the feeling was mutual on that score! Why do you feel that way?

I am a sucker for anything 80s

bmasters9 · 03-19-2023, 04:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jamey Greek

I am a sucker for anything 80s

You and I both (and 70s and 60s, and some 50s).

07-06-2020, 11:57 AM	#47
Sal Member Forum Veteran Join Date: Jul 20, 2001 Location: Oakville, Ont. Canada Posts: 6,147	I remember watching the David Letterman morning show on NBC and absolutely hating it. One of the first things he mentioned after appearing on the screen for the first time was how happy he was that NBC had to cancel 3 game shows to put him on the air. (They were great game shows, too! Card Sharks, High Rollers, and Hollywood Squares!) I have refused to watch him on TV ever since, preferring Jay Leno instead, and making no apologies for it! Even Conan can't compare to Leno and he wasn't even half as good as Letterman. While it's true that "Supertrain" was also an awful show and is seen as one of the biggest bombs of all time, it wasn't the only huge mistake that Silverman made that brought about his downfall. At the same time, NBC also had a variety show called "Pink Lady and Jeff" which he hoped would become a hit like "Donny & Marie" was for ABC when he was there. It turned out to be anything but. It starred comic Jeff Altman, who later found steady work as a director for shows like "Night Court". His two co-stars were the real problem. They were 2 Asian-American girls who called themselves "Pink Lady" and spoke almost no English. Their singing was laughable at best and largely forgettable (like about 90% of what you hear today). From the beginning, the show was a disaster and lasted only 5 episodes. Taken on its own, you can dismiss it as a fluke and an unfortunate mistake. But when you have 2 nuclear failures on the same network in the same year, that reflects badly on the network as a whole and more specifically on the man running it at the top who happened to be Fred Silverman. That's what did him in more than anything. You can commend him and applaud him for bringing "Family Ties" and "Cheers" to NBC, but those 2 great shows weren't enough to save his reputation which by this time had been horribly damaged by both of his "Super" bombs!
	__________________ LIVE TV - Updated By Request - April 2026 ANTENNA TV ME TV ME TV TOONS Zerostream - LIVE TV Guide Last edited by Sal; 07-07-2020 at 10:05 AM.

07-07-2020, 05:43 AM	#48
TMC Member Forum Idol Join Date: Jan 09, 2001 Posts: 124,387	One argument that I heard after Silverman passed away, was that by the time that he got to NBC in 1978, he was basically competing with himself and the shows that he greenlight over at ABC. Plus, CBS arguably figured out how to do lowest-common-denominator type of TV (Dallas, Dukes of Hazzard, Incredible Hulk, etc.) even better than he did. He had no where to go but down.

03-24-2022, 10:52 AM	#52
danderson400 Member Forum Regular Join Date: Jan 24, 2015 Location: danderson400 Posts: 650	The result though is, Letterman has a long run hosting The Tonight Show, the three game shows last a little longer, and NBC doesn't need to make too many changes to their daytime schedule.