Fred Silverman, a titan of television who championed some of the most influential and groundbreaking shows of the 1970s and 1980s, died Thursday at the age of 82 at his home in Los Angeles’s Pacific Palisades, according to his spokeswoman.
The cause of death was cancer, the spokeswoman said.
The only person to ever oversee entertainment for three networks—CBS, ABC and NBC—Mr. Silverman was dubbed “the man with the golden gut” by Time magazine, for his ability to pick shows that would strike a chord with the audience.
At CBS, Mr. Silverman was instrumental in pivoting CBS away from safe programming aimed at rural America, such as “The Beverly Hillbillies,” “Hee Haw” and “Green Acres” to more contemporary fare, including “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “All in the Family” and “M*A*S*H.”
Talking about the decision to bet on “All in the Family” in an interview with the Television Academy, Mr. Silverman said, with his typical candor, “Compared to the crap we were canceling, this was really setting new boundaries.”
In 1975, Mr. Silverman moved to ABC, where his programming acumen soon lifted the network to new heights.he put programs such as put on the network included as “Charlie’s Angels,” “The Love Boat,” “Three’s Company” and “Fantasy Island.” He also greenlit the miniseries “Roots” and “Rich Man, Poor Man.”
Mr. Silverman moved to NBC as president of the network in 1978, but his time there was not nearly as successful as his stints at CBS and ABC. Many of the shows he ordered flopped, and he was eventually forced out.Still, even during that dark period of his career, Mr. Silverman made some big finds, including David Letterman. Mr. Silverman gave Mr. Letterman his first television job as a daytime host. While the show foundered, Mr. Silverman believed in Mr. Letterman and signed him to a deal that paved the way for his late-night career.
Although Mr. Silverman didn’t take credit for it, “Hill Street Blues” also made its debut on his watch.
After leaving NBC, Mr. Silverman went into television production. Shows he produced included the hits “Matlock” and “Diagnosis Murder.”
Mr. Silverman was born Sept. 13, 1937, in New York City and grew up in Queens. His father did television and radio service work for Sears, Roebuck & Co. He was intrigued by radio in his youth and later, as television grew in popularity, he pursued a career in programming and landed entry-level jobs at local TV stations.
Mr. Silverman caught the eye of CBS executives after they read his nearly 600-page master’s thesis analyzing the ABC network from 1953 to 1959, a period of strong growth for the network.
“I tried to figure out what were the factors that were responsible for this meteoric rise,” Mr. Silverman told the TV Academy. Mr. Silverman was hired by CBS to oversee daytime programming, which was primarily soap operas and game shows. In 1970 he was tapped to run prime-time programming for CBS, which started a rise that led to top positions at all three broadcast networks.
Mr. Silverman is survived by his wife, Cathy, their two children, Melissa and Billy, and his daughter-in-law, Anna.
Write to Joe Flint at joe.flint@wsj.com
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