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Former NBC Execs Gather to Remember Glory Days of 'Must-See TV'

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Former NBC Execs Gather to Remember Glory Days of 'Must-See TV' HRTS State of the Industry: Former NBC Execs Gather to Remember Glory Days of 'Must-See TV' 02.07.2017 Top television network executives gathered at the Hollywood Radio and Television Society's Newsmaker Industry luncheon to look back at NBC's early-mid 1990s "Must See TV" era in Beverly Hills on Tuesday. Rick Rosen, WME partner and head of television, moderated the discussion which looked back at a seminal moment in TV history through the eyes of the executives who experienced the era firsthand. All of the panelists on stage worked at NBC during that time, including Preston Beckman, chairman of The Beckman Group; Karey Burke, executive VP of programming and development at Freeform, John Landgraf, CEO of FX and FX Productions; Warren Littlefield, executive producer of FX's Fargo and Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale; David Nevins, CEO of Showtime; Kevin Reilly, TBS/TNT president; and Robin Schwartz, head of television at Big Beach. During the reign of Warren Littlefield, who was senior and executive vice president of NBC Entertainment in the network's "Must See TV" years, the network garnered 168 Emmy wins and attracted 75 million American viewers to its series. Among the iconic shows discussed in the intimate chat that are now television classics included ER, Law & Order, Seinfeld, Friends and Will & Grace, which is in the process of being rebooted as a 10-episode limited series for NBC with the original cast. Littlefield recalled the advice given to him by legendary NBC CEO and chairman Grant Tinker, who Littlefield said told him "stop thinking about the audience as a bunch of aliens out there that you're trying to figure out what they would watch. Just put shows on that you would watch. If you want to run home and see them, then that should be your programming philosophy." In the early 1990s, NBC was mired in last place. "First be best, then be first," recalled Littlefield, "those were the words that sunk in, that was part of our ethics and our philosophy." The panel touched on how drama was out of favor and comedy was king at the time, as well as how viewers were starting to turn away from broadcast TV in favor of cable, a trend that continues today with the rise of streaming television. "In a world of infinite choice, we had to ask 'who are you NBC?'" said Reilly, who supervised Law & Order in its first season and developed ER. "We were watching cable and found that 24/7 they were delivering a message to the audience that said 'this is who we are.'" NBC had to figure out what it wanted to be and quick. Shortly thereafter, series such as ER and Law & Order helped transform the drama genre on TV and became big ratings draws for the network. Still, getting both series off the ground-like most pilots-proved to be a challenge. "When they screened [ER] it was like somebody farted in the room," said Reilly. "We had a tough boss that we had to work for," said Littlefield, a protege of iconic NBC programming chief Brandon Tartikoff, who taught his team "if you believe in something you had to fight for it." Fighting and taking risks were both key themes during the hour-long discussion. Robin Schwartz touched on both points when talking about the development of Will & Grace from script to primetime success. Schwartz had mentioned how she went to a executive mentorship retreat and Littlefield gave everyone in attendance their own rocks with the word "risk" written on them. "We put the script for Will & Grace on Warren's desk with those same rocks," said Schwartz. "We did have to stand up and use our voice." Schwartz recalled facing an uphill battle getting the series, which featured two gay men in leading roles, off the ground. Ellen was cancelled shortly after the comedian's famous "coming out" episode in 1997. Littlefield-aware that the show had very funny, strong writing-- wanted to make it anyway. "Most pilots don't work, we're just going to make it, and that was it." Surprising everyone, there seemed to be a big response to Will & Grace from the start. Littlefield remembers how raucous the studio audience was for the first few episodes that were filmed. "They were stomping, screaming-that was it, it was good, this was a hit show," Littlefield said. "This show was embraced by real people, who lived in the Valley, and this is a monster, monster comedy." NBC also was hesitant at the time to air what became the iconic TV series Seinfeld. The network initially offered the comedian an order of just four episodes. As everyone who watches TV today knows, the series also turned out to be a huge hit for NBC, powering its Thursday night for years. Seinfeld, Littlefield notes, "was a beacon that said to the creative community, when their agents said, 'you don't want to pitch to NBC, they don't have any room on their schedule.' And writers would look at their agents and say, 'they get me, they've got Seinfeld, they've got Friends, I have to go to NBC.' And it was those kinds of beacons that kept all of us in our jobs.".
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