The Legacy of Brandon Tartikoff
Without even knowing it we all have been affected by a man by the name of Brandon Tartikoff. He is responsible for many iconic television shows that are now imbedded into popular culture today. Some of these show include; Hill Street Blues, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, The Cosby Show and Cheers. He also produced the 1990’s comedy classic, Wayne’s World. The influence that Tartikoff has left on the television and mass media industry is tremendous and still prevalent today.
Tartikoff was born on January 13th 1949 in Long Island, New York. He later attended Yale Collage and graduated in 1970 with high honors and a Bachelors degree in English. After graduating college he pursued a job in television with WTNH, which is a local ABC affiliated station in New Haven, Connecticut. The station shot down Tartikoff’s soap opera parody named “George and Martha”. After his first failed pitch, Tartikoff worked as a copywriter for an advertisement agency, but one year later WTNH offered him a position with their promotions department.
Then in 1973 Tartikoff began working in Chicago, Illinois at WLN, which is another ABC affiliate. During his time as the director of promotions and advertising, he was in charge of promoting movies that the television station would air. The last stage in Tartikoff’s ABC career was in 1976 when he became director of dramatic programs for ABC-TV in New York City.
Tartikoff was only with the New York City affiliate for a year until he moved to California where the president of NBC, at the time, Fred Silverman, hired him. From 1977 until 1978 Tartikoff was director of comedy programming and soon became Vice President of programming in 1978. Two years later at age thirty-one, he became President of NBC-TV Entertainment, making him the youngest executive in television history.
When Tartikoff took over NBC the network was dead last in the ratings, but with hard work and dedication in ten years he was able to put NBC at the top of the rating.
The shows Tartikoff created and that are acknowledged for the networks success were; L.A. Law, Cheers, Hill Street Blues, Family Ties and The Cosby Show.
These shows were what brought NBC out of the grave in a sense and put the network in the number one ratings spot for close to seventy weeks in a row. The dramatic nature of these programs were iconic and an essential component to cable television in the eighties. Taartikoff was named chairman of NBC in 1990 after signing an unknown comedian, Jerry Seinfeld, to replace a late night talk show host Johnny Carson but left the television industry for good in 1991.
Tartikoff became the head of Paramount Studios in 1991 and soon created the hit comedy,“Wayne’s World”, released in 1992. The movie was based off of a Saturday Night Live television skit that featured actors Michael Myers, Dana Carvey, Rob Lowe and even had a small appearance by rock and roll legend Alice Cooper.
The movie was about two friends that have a public access show in suburban Illinois. A millionaire soon sponsors the two and their small time public access show hits prime time. With the success of their new show the two friends soon become split between girls and their sponsor contract. This movie was hit at the box office and also for Tartikoff’s career
After his success as the head of Paramount Pictures, Tartikoff left the company after a severe automobile accident, which left his oldest daughter in the hospital for several years that causing the family to move to New Orleans to aid in her recovery. Tartikoff soon started his own production company named H. Beale Productions.
The company was soon sold to New Line Cinemas and Tartikoff was made an executive with the company. Then in 1997, Internet provider, America Online, hired Brandon to create entertainment content.
This new experience was short lived after his third and final battle with Hodgkin’s disease. Tartikoff was first diagnosed with the disease at age 23 in 1974 but soon went into remission until 1982 when he had another run in with the disease but again was said to be in remission a year later in 1983. Tartikoff passed away on August 27, 1997 due to complications associated with Hodgkin’s disease.
Tartikoff is remembered by many of his colleagues as a pioneer of cable television. “At the last great moment when network television was a communal experience for America, Brandon was the one in charge of delivering the programs that created that experience,” said Dick Ebersol one of his former associates. The shows he created were ideas that touched the lives of many people within the television and mass media industry.
To honor the legacy and impact that Tartikoff had on the television industry, several awards have been named after him. One of those awards is the Brandon Tartikoff Legacy award, which is given to professionals that have the drive to make great television programs that push the confines of normal programming, much like the Tartikoff himself.
Recently, the award was given to Steve Livitan at the National Association of Television Program Executives Awards on Tuesday January 13th in Miami, Florida. Livitan created shows such as; Modern Family and the comedy sitcom “Just Shoot Me” and during his acceptance speech acknowledged Tartikoff for his success and said,
“While I never had the pleasure of working with Brandon, I am deeply honoured to accept this award that bears his name…The bottom line is making good television is incredibly hard and you can’t do it without the help of good people like Brandon.”
The influence and passion of Tartikoff’s work set a new standard for professionals in the television industry. The characters, ideas and conceptualized by Tartikoff are still honored and remembered today. At an event to honor his work in 2012, the creator of the iconic Star Wars movie series, George Lucas, maid a statement honoring Tartikoff,
“He let people do their job. There are lots of executives and lawyers in the business who think they understand the creative process. And they don’t. Brandon was someone who enjoyed watching others be creative and he let them get on with their work.”
