(January 13, 1949-August 27, 1997)
President of NBC (1982-1991)
Also worked for Paramount Pictures, ABC Sports, New World Communications, America Online

He was partially responsible for 'Supertrain' and many other bad NBC shows of the late 70s/early 80s.
He is also responsible for 'Must See Thursday' (which wasn't a bad thing at first, right?).
He created Punky Bruster and based the title character's name after a girl he had a crush on in school.
He is partially responsible for the stereotype that the Jews run Hollywood.

He had 2 successful fights with Hodgkin's disease, which eventually killed him.
He turned NBC from a joke to a powerhouse.
He made several memorable appearances on NBC shows.
He was patient with shows like 'Cheers' and 'Hill Street Blues' and gave them time to find an audience, even though ratings were not good at first.
He got more African-American characters on TV without making things too politically correct.
He left his post at Paramount in the mid 90s to care for his injured daughter.

Credit: Eric Hartman

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• Baby Faces
• Coolest Jews in Hollywood
• Entertainment Weekly's 101 Most Influential People [1990] (Ranked: 5)
• Entertainment Weekly's 101 Most Influential People [1992] (Ranked: 33)
• I Attended Lawrenceville [New Jersey]
• I Attended Yale
• I Died in 1997 (Ranked: 48)
• I Have Lymphomas [Hodgkin's & Non-Hodgkin's]
• I'm Buried at Mount Sinai Jewish Cemetery [Hollywood, Ca]
• McFly's Profiles [Series 2]
• Members of the Television Hall of Fame (Ranked: 16)
• Profiles 7751-8000 (Ranked: 7796)
• Saturday Night Live Hosts [1980-84] (Ranked: 1983)