- Born
- Died
- Nicknames
- Freddie
- The Man with the Golden Gut
- Fred Silverman was born in 1937, and quickly grew up into the television business. After starting out in the mail-room of ABC-TV in the late 1950s, he rose to director of program development at WGN-TV, Chicago in the early '60s. One day, he abandoned his car during a snowstorm and boarded a plane for New York, where he gained a position as head of Daytime Programming at CBS-TV. In 1970, he became the programming head of CBS, where he programmed such hits as The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970), All in the Family (1971), M*A*S*H (1972), The Jeffersons (1975), Kojak (1973) and The Sonny and Cher Show (1976). In 1975, he left for ABC-TV, where he worked closely with Michael Eisner and Brandon Tartikoff. He developed such new hits as Laverne & Shirley (1976), The Love Boat (1977), Donny and Marie (1975) and Soap (1977). By the end of the 1977-8 season, ABC was number one, Daytime and Nigttime. In 1978, he joined NBC as President and CEO. His presence helped stem the audience erosion of the prior 5 years with new programs such as Diff'rent Strokes (1978), Real People (1979) and Hill Street Blues (1981). During his tenure, he made program commitments that led to St. Elsewhere (1982) and Cheers (1982), promoted Brandon Tartikoff to President of Entertainment and laid the groundwork for NBC's turnaround in the 80s. Management changes at parent RCA led to Silverman's departure in June, 1981 and his replacement by Grant Tinker. Silverman formed "The Fred Silverman Company" and became an independent producer. Among his successes were "Perry Mason Movies", Matlock (1986), In the Heat of the Night (1988), Jake and the Fatman (1987) and Diagnosis Murder (1993). Silverman remains in the independent production business and also does program consulting.- IMDb Mini Biography By: L.L Hubbard
- SpouseCatherine Ann Kihn(October 30, 1971 - January 30, 2020) (his death, 2 children)
- Over-active cancelor!
- Following his huge successes as Head of Programming at both CBS and ABC, he managed to astound everyone by giving NBC some of its worst seasons in years. Many of the shows that premiered on his watch failed, the situation getting so bad that Johnny Carson quipped that NBC stood for Nine Bombs Cancelled.
- Another purge that Silverman had a hand in was the cancellation of all the game shows that CBS aired in prime time: What's My Line? (1950), I've Got a Secret (1952), To Tell the Truth (1956) and Password (1961).
- During his 1978-81 run as president of NBC, he was often lampooned by John Belushi on Saturday Night Live (1975).
- Program Executive, WGN-TV, Chicago, 1959-63. Vice President of Daytime, CBS; 1965-70. Vice President of Programs, CBS; 1970-75. President, ABC Entertainment, 1975-78. President & CEO, NBC; 1978-81. Independent Producer, 1981-2020.
- Many of his early attempts at television series until 1985 were failures. His first major success was the series Matlock (1986), followed by In the Heat of the Night (1988).
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