Legendary TV programmer Fred Silverman, nicknamed "The Man with the Golden Gut," dies at 82

The Hollywood Reporter

Silverman, the only executive to have programmed CBS, ABC and NBC, died at his home in Los Angeles Thursday. Silverman, who was so influential he was a Johnny Carson punchline and was once on the cover of Time magazine, put on the air All in the Family, Roots, Hill Street Blues, Scooby-Doo, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, M*A*S*H, Three's Company, Kojak, Cannon, Diff'rent Strokes, The Love Boat, Eight is Enough and Charlie's Angels. He also gave David Letterman his first show and was responsible for hit spinoffs The Jeffersons, Rhoda, Laverne & Shirley, The Bionic Woman and The Facts of Life. In 1970, Silverman took over CBS programming, jettisoning rural comedies like The Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction in favor of smarter shows like All in the Family and M*A*S*H. "We had an old schedule that was directed at old people in rural areas," he said. "Our company-owned stations in cities like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles were dying with this schedule. Something had to be done." Silverman once said of picking up All in the Family:  "I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Compared to the crap that we were cancelling, this was setting new boundaries." Silverman later became a TV producer with such hits as Matlock, Diagnosis: Murder, Jake and the Fatman and In the Heat of the Night. Jimmy Kimmel credits Silverman with giving him his first "shot" in TV. "He saw something that even I didn't," Kimmel tweeted. "He was a great character, very kind to me and I am grateful to him always." ALSO: Watch Fred Silverman discuss his career in a 13-part oral history.