Fred Silverman (born September 13, 1937 in
New York City) is an
American television executive and producer. He worked as an executive at the
CBS,
ABC and
NBC networks, and was responsible for bringing to television such programs as the series
Scooby-Doo (
1969-present),
All in the Family (
1971-
1979),
The Waltons (
1972-
1981), and
Charlie's Angels (
1976-
1981), as well as the miniseries
Roots (
1977) and
Shōgun (1980).
Biography
Early life and career
Silverman graduated from
Syracuse University, where he was a member of Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity, and then earned a Master's degree from the
Ohio State University. He went to work for
WGN-TV in
Chicago, Illinois, overseeing children's programming, as well as at
WPIX in
New York City. His masters thesis analyzed ten years of
ABC programming and was so good it got him hired as an executive at
CBS at the age of 25 in 1963. There, he took over responsibility for all daytime network programming and later, took charge of all of entertainment programming, day and night. Silverman married his assistant, Cathy Kihn, and they had a daughter, Melissa,
and son, William.
CBS
In 1970, Silverman was promoted from vice-president of program planning and development to head the entire program department at CBS.
Silverman was the chief architect of the "
rural purge" of 1971, which eventually eliminated many popular country-oriented shows, such as
Green Acres,
Mayberry R.F.D.,
Hee Haw and
The Beverly Hillbillies from the CBS schedule. In their place, however, came a new wave of classics aimed at the upscale baby boomer generation, such as
All in the Family,
Mary Tyler Moore,
M*A*S*H,
The Waltons,
Cannon,
Barnaby Jones,
Kojak and
The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour.
Silverman had an uncanny ability to spot burgeoning hit material, especially in the form of spin-offs, new TV series developed with characters that appeared on an existing series. For example, he spun off Maude and The Jeffersons from All in the Family, and Rhoda from Mary Tyler Moore (as well as The Bob Newhart Show from MTM's writers). In early 1974, Silverman ordered a Maude spin-off titled Good Times; that show's success led Silverman to schedule it against ABC's new hit, Happy Days, the following fall.
Move to ABC
Ironically, he was named president of
ABC Entertainment in 1975, putting him in the awkward position of saving
Happy Days. Silverman succeeded by bringing
Happy Days to the top of the ratings and generating the hit spin-off from that show,
Laverne & Shirley.
At ABC, Silverman also greenlit other popular shows such as The Bionic Woman (a Six Million Dollar Man spin-off), Family, Charlie's Angels, Donny & Marie, Three's Company, Eight Is Enough, The Love Boat, Soap, Fantasy Island, Good Morning America, and the award-winning mini-series, Roots. These moves brought ABC's long-dormant ratings from third place to first place. However, Silverman was criticized during this period for relying heavily on escapist fare and for bringing T&A; or "jiggle TV" to the small screen with numerous ABC shows featuring buxom, attractive, and often scantily-clad young women.
Move to NBC
Although Silverman's tenure at ABC was very successful, he left to become President and CEO of
NBC in 1978. His three-year tenure at the network proved to be a difficult period, one marked by low ratings in prime time and failures of many of the shows he conceived. Nevertheless, there were high points, including the launch of the critically-lauded
Hill Street Blues (1981), the epic mini-series "Shogun" and
The David Letterman Show (daytime, 1980), which would lead to Letterman's successful
late night program in 1982. Silverman had Letterman in a holding deal after the morning show which kept the unemployed Letterman from going to another network. Silverman also developed successful comedies such as
Diff'rent Strokes,
The Facts of Life, and
Gimme a Break!, and made the series commitments that led to
Cheers and
St. Elsewhere. For Saturday morning, he brought the
Smurfs to children's television. Silverman also pioneered entertainment reality programming with the 1979 launch of
Real People.
In other areas of NBC, Silverman revitalized the news division, which resulted in Today and NBC Nightly News achieving parity with their competition for the first time in years. He created a new FM Radio Division, The Source, with competitive full-service stations in New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Washington. During his NBC tenure, Silverman also brought in an entirely new divisional and corporate management, a team that stayed in place long after Silverman's departure. (Among this group was a new Entertainment President, Brandon Tartikoff, who would help get NBC back on top by 1985.) Silverman also reintroduced the peacock as NBC's corporate logo.
Foundation of The Fred Silverman Company
In 1981, Silverman left NBC and formed The Fred Silverman Company (formerly Intermedia Entertainment) to produce shows to sell to television. The company would generate several hits including the
Perry Mason TV movie series (1985–1994)
Matlock (1986–1995),
Jake and the Fatman (1987–1992)
In the Heat of the Night (1988–1995)
Father Dowling Mysteries (1987–1991), and
(1993–2001). Most of these continue to run in syndication.
During the game-show revival that followed the success of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Silverman resurrected 1950s game show Twenty One for NBC in 2000. A few years later, he returned to ABC in an advisory capacity.
Further reading
Bedell, Sally (1981). Up the Tube: Prime-Time TV in the Silverman Years. New York: Viking Press. ISBN 0-670-51385-7.
References
External links
http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/S/htmlS/silvermanfr/silvermanfr.htm
Fred Silverman Archive of American Television Interview
Category:1937 births
Category:Living people
Category:American Broadcasting Company executives
Category:American television executives
Category:American television producers
Category:Syracuse University alumni
Category:People from New York City
Category:Ohio State University alumni
Category:NBC executives
Category:CBS executives
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