Page 31 - ARUBA TODAY

PEOPLE & ARTS Thursday 1 december 2016
A31

NBC boss and hit-making producer Grant Tinker dies at age 90

FRAZIER MOORE series of a studio whose
AP Television Writer mewing kitten (parodying
NEW YORK (AP) — Grant the MGM lion) came to sig-
Tinker, who brought new nify some of TV’s best.
polish to the TV world and Along the way, MTM be-
beloved shows to the audi- came an incubator for
ence as both a producer some of TV’s best writers
and a network boss, has and producers, many of
died. He was 90. whom — like Steven Bo-
Tinker died Monday at his chco, James L. Brooks and
Los Angeles home, accord- Tom Fontana — continue
ing to his son, producer to excel in TV and films.
Mark Tinker. By 1981, Tinker’s steward-
Though he had three tours ship of MTM had ended (as
of duty with NBC, the last had his marriage to Moore)
as its chairman, Tinker was when he returned to NBC,
perhaps best-known as the where, he recalled in his
nurturing hand at MTM En- book, “the company had
terprises, the production lost its credibility with every
company he founded in important constituency —
1970 and ran for a decade. affiliates, advertisers, the
Nothing less than a cre- press, the general public
ative salon, MTM scored and its own employees.”
with some TV’s most re- Under Tinker’s regime, NBC
spected and best-loved enjoyed a remarkable re-
programs, including “Lou covery. “The Cosby Show”
Grant,” ‘’Rhoda,” ‘’The was an overnight hit, but
Bob Newhart Show” and, thanks to Tinker, slow start-
of course, the series that ers such as “Hill Street Blues”
starred his business partner (which was from MTM),
and then-wife, Mary Tyler “Family Ties” and “Cheers”
Moore. were allowed to find their
“I just had the good luck to audience and became
be around people who did In this Thursday, Dec. 14, 2006, file photo, Grant Tinker, co-founder of MTM Enterprises and a hits, too.
the kind of work that the former NBC chairman, speaks about producer and director James Burrows, who received an “Our practice was to make
audience appreciates,” Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame award in Beverly Hills, Calif. a judgment about a show,”
summed up Tinker with his Associated Press Tinker recalled, “and, if we
typical self-effacement in (who) always needed a Tinker. “I’m proud to be his Meanwhile, he and Moore deemed it worthwhile, to
a 1994 Associated Press in- lot of help.” He also had son, and especially proud became TV’s golden cou- really stay with it until it suc-
terview. “The success just received the Governors of the legacy he leaves ple and, in 1962, they wed. ceeded.”
rubbed off on me.” Award from the Academy behind in business and as a (His first marriage had end- Tinker left NBC in 1986, short-
In 1981, Tinker flourished of Television Arts & Scienc- gentleman.” ed in divorce.) ly after the announcement
with that low-key approach es. Born in 1926, the son of a Tinker stayed at NBC until of its purchase by G.E.
in a last-ditch effort to save “Grant Tinker was a great lumber supplier, Tinker had 1967, after which he had He formed another inde-
NBC, which was scraping man who made an indel- grown up in Stamford, Con- brief stays at Universal and pendent studio, GTG En-
bottom with its earnings, ible mark on NBC and the necticut, and graduated Twentieth Century Fox. tertainment, in partnership
ratings, programs and mo- history of television that from Dartmouth College Then, with an itch to run his with Gannett Newspaper
rale. Five years later, when continues to this day,” said before his first short stint at own shop, Tinker founded Corporation, but its few se-
Tinker left to return to inde- Steve Burke, CEO of NB- NBC. MTM and began develop- ries flopped and the com-
pendent production, the CUniversal, sole owner of Then he moved into ad- ing its first series: a comedy pany was dissolved.
network was flush thanks the network since 2013. vertising. At a time when to revive the flagging ca- Later, in somewhat of a re-
to hits such as “The Cos- “He loved creative people ad agencies were heav- reer of his wife. luctant retirement, Tinker
by Show” and “Hill Street and protected them, while ily responsible for crafting The pilot for “The Mary Tyler spoke out against much
Blues.” still expertly managing the programs its clients would Moore Show” rated poorly of what he was seeing on
Tinker, who had come to business. sponsor, Tinker was a vice with test audiences. The television, particularly “real-
NBC as a management Very few people have president at the Benton & heroine was dismissed for ity” fare.
trainee in 1949 with legend- been able to achieve such Bowles agency when he being over 30 and unmar- “These guys used to be
ary founder David Sarnoff a balance.” helped develop “The Dick ried. Neighbor Phyllis (Cloris corporate good citizens,”
still in charge, left the com- “His level of class set him Van Dyke Show” for Procter Leachman) was deemed he told The AP in 2003, re-
pany for the last time at apart from everyone else & Gamble. There he met, too annoying, best friend ferring to TV programmers,
the end of an era, as NBC, in our business,” said Bob and fell for, the young ac- Rhoda (Valerie Harper)
along with its parent RCA, Greenblatt, Chairman of tress the whole country was “too New Yorky and brassy “and I don’t see how they
was about to be swallowed NBC Entertainment, “and about to fall in love with: (read: Jewish),” as Tinker can close their eyes and
by General Electric. all of us at this company Mary Tyler Moore. wrote in his 1994 memoir, turn their backs on things
In 2005, he won a presti- owe him a debt of grati- Soon after the new CBS “Tinker in Television.” that air on their networks.”
gious Peabody Award hon- tude. In fact, TV watchers sitcom had begun its five- But the show, which pre- Survivors include sons Mark
oring his overall career. In everywhere do.” season run in fall 1961, Tin- miered on CBS in fall 1970, Tinker (an executive pro-
receiving his medallion, he He “set the bar high both ker returned to NBC, this was a critical and popular ducer of NBC’s “Chicago
called himself “a guy of as a television executive time as vice president of smash for seven seasons P.D.”) and writer-producer
no distinct or specific skills and as a father,” said Mark West Coast programming. and became the flagship John Tinker.q