- published: 23 Mar 2010
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Duncanson McCann "Dick" Ebersol ( /ˈɛbərsɒl/; born July 28, 1947) is an American television executive and a senior adviser for NBC Universal Sports & Olympics. He had previously been the chairman of NBC Sports, producing large scale television events such as the Olympic Games and National Football League broadcasts.
Ebersol was born in Torrington, Connecticut, the son of Mary D. and Charles R. Ebersol, a former chairman of the American Cancer Society. Beginning in 1967, at the age of twenty, Ebersol began his long history with the Olympics when he temporarily dropped out of Yale University to join Roone Arledge and ABC Sports as television’s first-ever Olympic researcher.
In 1974, he joined NBC as Director of Weekend Late Night Programming. It was in 1975 that Ebersol and Lorne Michaels conceived and developed Saturday Night Live. Named as Vice President of Late Night Programming at age 28, Ebersol became NBC's first-ever vice president under the age of 30. After a brief departure, he returned to SNL in 1981 as executive producer and remained until 1985, spanning the Eddie Murphy and Billy Crystal eras.
Alan Stuart "Al" Franken (born May 21, 1951) is the junior United States Senator from Minnesota. He is a member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party, which affiliates with the national Democratic Party.
Franken achieved note as a writer and performer for the television show Saturday Night Live from its conception in 1975 before moving to writing and acting in films and television shows. He then became a political commentator, author of five books and host of a nationally syndicated radio show on the Air America Radio network.
In 2008, Franken narrowly defeated incumbent Republican Senator Norm Coleman, by 312 votes, after a mandatory statewide manual recount. Coleman contested the outcome in court, but the Minnesota Supreme Court unanimously upheld Franken's victory on June 30, 2009. Franken was sworn in to the Senate on July 7, 2009.
Franken was born in New York City. His mother, Phoebe G. (née Kunst), was a homemaker and real estate agent, and his father, Joseph P. Franken, was a printing salesman. The family later moved to St. Louis Park, a suburb near Minneapolis. Franken had a Jewish upbringing. His paternal grandparents were immigrants from Germany, and his mother's family was from Russia. His older brother Owen is a photojournalist; MSNBC's Bob Franken is his cousin. Franken graduated in 1969 from The Blake School, where he was on the wrestling team. He attended Harvard College and graduated with an A.B. cum laude in 1973 in political science.
David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American television host and comedian. He hosts the late night television talk show, Late Show with David Letterman, broadcast on CBS. Letterman has been a fixture on late night television since the 1982 debut of Late Night with David Letterman on NBC. Letterman recently surpassed friend and mentor Johnny Carson for having the longest late-night hosting career in the United States of America.
Letterman is also a television and film producer. His company Worldwide Pants produces his show as well as its network follow-up The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Worldwide Pants has also produced several prime-time comedies, the most successful of which was Everybody Loves Raymond, currently in syndication.
In 1996, David Letterman was ranked #45 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time.
Letterman was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. His father, Harry Joseph Letterman (April 1915 – February 1973), was a florist of British descent; his mother Dorothy Letterman (née Hofert, now Dorothy Mengering), a Presbyterian church secretary of German descent, is an occasional figure on the show, usually at holidays and birthdays.
Actors: Leslie Greif (producer), Patti LuPone (actress), John Turturro (actor), Nicholas Turturro (actor), Eli Wallach (actor), Van Dyke Parks (composer), Steve Schirripa (actor), John Heard (actor), Carson Grant (actor), Al Thompson (actor), Jay Thomas (actor), Tony Devon (actor), Leo Burmester (actor), Barbara Gregson (miscellaneous crew), Laurie Gershon (miscellaneous crew),
Genres: Drama, Sport,Actors: Treat Williams (actor), Little Richard (actor), Lawrence Pressman (actor), Ed Begley Jr. (actor), Daniel Roebuck (actor), John Getz (actor), Aaron Lustig (actor), Michael Chieffo (actor), Nicholas Guest (actor), John Michael Higgins (actor), Michael Fairman (actor), Rich Little (actor), John Kapelos (actor), Bob Balaban (actor), Kathy Bates (actress),
Plot: HBO movie about the behind-the-scenes network politics responsible for the changes in late-night talk-show hosts, after the retirement of Johnny Carson from the Tonight Show on NBC. Jay Leno and David Letterman were both vying for the position, but Leno's tough manager Helen Kushnick got him the spot. In the wake of her 'stepping on the toes' of powerful network executives and 'playing hardball' tactics with guest bookings, she found herself being pushed out of her job as Tonight Show Executive Producer and Jay's manager. Letterman, devastated by his being passed over, brought in superagent Mike Ovitz to negotiate on his behalf, resulting in his move to CBS.
Keywords: 1990s, anger, based-on-book, based-on-true-story, beach, business, business-competition, business-deal, car-phone, comedianActors: Len Lesser (actor), Sharron Reynolds (miscellaneous crew), Martin Mull (actor), Eddie Albert (actor), Art Carney (actor), Fran Ryan (actress), Tim Thomerson (actor), Barbara Hershey (actress), Mike Genovese (actor), Royal Dano (actor), Robert Hays (actor), James Karen (actor), David Keith (actor), William J. Immerman (producer), Virgil Frye (actor),
Plot: The "Alison Group" has bought four beer breweries in difficulties. The young but rising top manager Frank Macklin is sent to reorganize one of them - the one which happens to be the main company in his home town. At first his old buddies are reluctant to have him as new boss, but since he can't save all of them from the severe changes, the climate soon changes. Then he learns that he increased the profit so much, that the his bosses have decided to resell his brewery profitably to an incompetent Texas oil millionaire...
Keywords: brewery, independent-film, iowa, obscene-finger-gesture, title-based-on-song