Don Ohlmeyer
Don Ohlmeyer (born
February 3,
1945 in
New Orleans, Louisiana) is an
American television producer and former president of the
NBC network's West Coast division. He began his work as the producer of
ABC's
Monday Night Football before moving to NBC, initially as executive producer of the network's
sports division. It was Ohlmeyer who conceived the one-time experiment of airing a
1980 NFL telecast without
announcers.
During his tenure as president of NBC's West Coast division, Ohlmeyer oversaw the resurgence of the network following the departure of
Cheers and
The Cosby Show from its lineup. The phrase "
Must See TV" was coined during this period, as well as innovations such as superimposing the network's logo in the corner of the screen, thus
branding the shows. Moreover, it began new era of television advertising where the major networks would actively deride their competitors. Many credit Ohlmeyer with bringing a "swagger" to the network, although critics described it as arrogance instead.
During the
1997 World Series, Ohlmeyer disturbed
Major League Baseball when he publicly wished the
World Series to end in a four game sweep so that it wouldn't derail NBC's fall entertainment schedule.
In
1997, "
Weekend Update" host
Norm MacDonald was fired from
Saturday Night Live by Ohlmeyer, who said that MacDonald was simply "not funny". Some have speculated that MacDonald was fired because of his frequent jokes on the show about
O. J. Simpson, who happens to be a good friend of Ohlmeyer's. Norm, however, left the show on good terms with Mr. Ohlmeyer one year later. It was also Ohlmeyer who initially pressured Saturday Night Live producer
Lorne Michaels to place Norm on Weekend Update.
In response to Ohlmeyer firing MacDonald,
David Letterman, during a taping of his
CBS network television program
The Late Show, referred to Ohlmeyer as "Happy Hour Don" (a reference to Ohlmeyer's problems with alcohol and sobriety). After the taping, Letterman decided that his comment was inappropriate and had the reference edited out of the broadcast. But the comment (which was heard by the entire live studio audience) was publicized shortly thereafter in a report in the
New York Post.
Currently, Don Ohlmeyer is a Professor of Television Communications at
Pepperdine University in
Malibu, California. He helped found the radio program "Making Waves," hosted by Steven Dhillon and produced by Keith Adam which is broadcast on 101.5 KWVS.
*
"Master of Its Domain",
Entertainment Weekly, issue 343, September 6, 1996 (AOL subscription, magazine subscription or purchase required)
