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He presided over one of the strongest decades in the history of NBC. And over the past 11 years, since he left the peacock network in 2000, former NBC president-turned-producer Warren Littlefield has been keeping in touch with his programming team, hosting get-together dinners every couple of years. His next soiree is coming up next month, on the heels of what has been NBC’s worst fall ratings performance ever. “Come celebrate a time when NBC’s Thursday night was must-see and averaged more than a 1.9,” the invites reportedly read. NBC’s once-formidable Thursday lineup, which added mega hits Seinfeld, Friends and ER during Littlefield’s tenure (along with a few duds, like Boston Common), has dipped below a 2 rating among adults 18-49 this fall. Last week, the network’s Thursday demo average was a 1.9; last night, it slipped to a 1.8.
Besides establishing Must-See TV, which is also the subject of Littlefield’s upcoming memoir, Littlefield’s regime is known for assembling one of the strongest 
network programming teams ever. Many young executives and assistants under Littlefield, who often attend his bi-yearly gatherings, went on to run networks, production companies or departments. They include Fox entertainment president Kevin Reilly, FX president John Landgraf, Showtime entertainment president David Nevins, former ABC president Steve McPherson, former ABC entertainment president-turned-producer Jamie Tarses, ABC Family EVP Kate Juergens, DreamWorks TV co-head Justin Falvey, Fox’s head of scheduling Preston Beckman, former NBC EVP/Katalyst president and current UMS-based producer Kerey Burke, Rat TV president and former NBC head of drama Chris Conti, former NBC TV Studios head of comedy and Working Title TV president Shelley McCrory, and former OWN and Regency TV president Robin Schwartz.
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Ummm, sounds good, but if I’m not mistaken it was the late Warren Littlefield who championed the great NBC run of the 80′s-90′s and built that ThursNight.. (Cosby, Seinfeld, Fresh Prince-monday, Wings) Warren regime took over afterwards.
Think you mean the late Brandon Tartikoff
YES!! TARTIKOFF! Sorry folks.
You mean Tartikoff.
this was a rick perry moment–we’re all human, after all (i think).
Would Warren have kept such non performers like Community,Parks and Recreations on the air with minuscule ratings?
Can you really compare these shows to Friends , Seinfeld,Cosby? Those were mass appeal hits.
He definitely wouldn’t have kept them on the air. And it was a huge mistake by NBC to renew any of their comedy shows, except for The Office (the only scripted hit they have left, now that they ruined SVU’s ratings with bad lead-ins!)… NBC’s programming department does horrible work.
Why have Community and Parks and Rec become so joyless? Was there a change in writers?
Lets remember that Brandon Tartikoff handed Warren the NBC powerhouse and Warren proceeded to kill it. Must See TV (Cosby Show, Cheers, Family Ties, Wings) and Seinfeld began under Tartikoff. Warren came up with Must She TV. His greatest contribution was providing a character for Bob Balaban.
“His greatest contribution was providing a character for Bob Balaban.”
Ha…ten points for slightly obscure reference.
Two characters. I played him in The Late Shift, and don’t forget about Russel Dalrimple.
So far, Paul Lee is doing a better job at running a network championing riskier shows (like The River and Once Upon a Time) than McPherson did (except for Modern Family).
And Revenge, another risky show from Paul Lee. Paul Lee seems to have good taste so far with the exception of Work It. Wok It is a horrible idea. I know he grew up on Monty Python, but the execution of Work It is terrible.
Why was Warren Littlefield’s “My Generation” so awful?
As Warren explains in a recent interview, unlike cable, network TV has to be so watered-down and concerned with mass appeal that programming loses any edge through multiple re-writes.
NBC has to keep on keeping on. Keep quality shows like Parenthood and grown from there.
NBC can be the home for intelligent and funny sitcoms as well as very well produced dramas.
They just need to keep swinging for the fences, they will get their home run.
Warren hated Seinfeld, tried to cancel it during it’s first season but was talked out of it again and again. He would hang around the set and force Larry David to sit through ridiculous note sessions.
When Seinfeld finally became a hit he took credit for it, said he was the one who championed the show during the lean first season before it found its legs.
Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld hate…hate…hated Warren Littlefield – once the show became untouchable they wouldn’t take his calls. Warren was even banned from the set.
I think he taught a class at the Learning Annex once and talked for two hours about how he was the genius behind Seinfeld and how he made this little show into a giant. Total bullshit.
You gotta give Littlefield credit that he didn’t cancel that show when it was a non-performer it’s first year. Compared to how the current network heads will yank something in three airings if it doesn’t perform.
I never would have canceled Perfect Couples, which is the only funny, original programming I’ve seen on NBC in the past three years.
What a douchey thing to put on the invitations. The landscape has changed, this sounds like an old man clinging to the past…
CORRECTION: “the late BRANDON TARTIKOFF”
It cracks me up on how these vp’s / ceo’s became legends in their own mind, they quit and now they can’t get arrested,
remember the big machine has the huge budgets to attract the talent / staff that would not give you the time of day,
if you don’t work for the big machine you can’t win, and if you quit working for the big machine you become a legend should retire,
“)
None of those third and fourth season “quality shows” are going to grow. And it remains to be seen how well those ABC freshmen do by year’s end. They are not groundbreaking television.
Well, so far, Revenge, Suburgatory and Once Upon a Time have mostly positive buzz on sites TVLine, TVByTheNumbers and Twitter. With that said, Pan Am does not positive buzz or good ratings. Therefore, it should be canceled.
“Would Warren have kept such non performers like Community,Parks and Recreations on the air with minuscule ratings?
Can you really compare these shows to Friends , Seinfeld,Cosby? Those were mass appeal hits.”
@Mark Brandon Tartikoff would have stuck behind shows like those. Bob Greenblatt is just copying the Brandon Tartikoff playbook seemingly.
He also hated the ER pilot until it tested through the roof. (Like ER, Friends was from Warner Bros. too – aka Leslie Moonves.)
He is a class act. Period.
Many who work with him would agree. Period.
I concur, He was a class act. Unlike today, Warren L, woud allow time for people to find a show. For example, I’ll fly away was a show that lasted say longer than it should have, but it had a loyal but small viewership and because the show was so great, he allowed it to stay on TV much longer than he should have. And for that matter, he also allowed the great television show Homicide to stay on longer than he should have as well. “Homicide” was on seven long years thanks to Warren Littlefield, for this, I am greatful. I have’t watched NBC since then. Homicide was also given the opportunity to wrap up its show in 2000. I know there were some hard feelings at that time about cancelling Homicide, but, given the atmosphere of the day, a show like Homicide would not have lasted four shows – let alone seven years. So cheers to Warren.
Brandon Tartikoff famously referred to Warren as a cockroach. This guy did nothing original while at NBC
It must be nice to harken back to your glory days, especially when you have chosen to rewrite history. If Warren was such a genius network executive with an eye for great material, explain why he has not been able to translate that genius into success as a television producer? He hasn’t had one show that has made it to air get even a full season order! He’s a legend in his own mind.
I wonder if Warren’s book will address his failure to find a decent show to launch after Friends and Seinfeld. 2 insanely good timeslots and for years NBC put on nothing but unmemorable slop like SIngle Guy, Jesse, Caroline in the City, Veronica’s Closet, Suddenly Susan, etc. Its unlikely anything could have held onto those massive numbers, but couldn’t you air good shows? And will the maskedscheduler address why NBC stupidly bounced shows like 3rd Rock and Just Shoot Me all over the lineup?
This is like Ernie Grunfeld holding a party to remember the days he masterminded the success of the New York Knicks. In other words, meaningless.
NBC has really no one to blame but themselves — you ask any tv analyst — the entire thursday lineup should have been scrapped years ago for mass appeal hits — multi camera shows akin to friends. They are the do nothing network or the do stupid network — why program the sing off and the voice on a very competitive monday opposite dancing with the stars and CBS’s lineup when they can actually win the night on Tuesdays — where there is no reality competition and the voice did very well there. They basically killed Heroes on monday by leaving it there on mondays as well. They will leave a show in a time slot until it completely dies instead of trying it in a different time period to see if it will work there.
Right now, i would move up all night to thursdays and bring chelsea handler on. I hope that Roseanne’s show can save this network, like Cosby did.
You think the way to go is copying a show that came on the air in ’94? So give up on anything new? I do not think that will help anything. Why even bother developing shows at all. People are already frustrated by no new ideas in movies. They will turn off the tv eventually if everything is the same as what came before. CBS could be in for a world of hurt if people start to turn off of their safe shows that are all the same.
No one is saying copy a show from 1994. That’s like saying the 90s hits copied the 80s hits.
Just because the marketplace has changed doesn’t mean there isn’t room for mass appeal hits. I like “Whitney” for three reasons: it’s filmed in front of a live audience, it reminds me of those 90s hits and Chris D’Elia.
Everything can’t be “The Office” and “30 Rock” if you expect to get a rating. Mass appeal doesn’t mean old. Look at “Big Bang Theory”. Look at “Two and a Half Men”. Look at “Modern Family” — they each generate 13-15 million viewers each week in live viewing and 3-4 more with DVD viewership added in.
Niche programs like “The Office” and “30 Rock” have never and will never do that. It’s called balance. You can’t rely on reality. You can’t rely on football. You can’t rely on upscale viewers. You can’t rely on an antiquated demo.
They drank a cup of bile, ate ash, and thanked god they all had jobs, went home and hugged their love ones…
Warren went to bed…alone…wept…about what could have been…if you wasn’t such a graceless, unpleasant, bitter, manipulative, no-talent.
Wow, what an accolade – the people that worked for you.
@Lucius, Just because they aren’t groundbreaking, doesn’t mean they’re bad. In fact, Once Upon a Time, Revenge and Suburgatory have great writing. And ABC has great show in The River coming up.
Remember, back in my day, when Gunsmoke had a 60 share?
Damn, how about M*A*S*H with that routine 40 share.
Bah, humbug, where’s my bourbon neat.
(Sorry Brandon, the marketplace has changed)
Warren Littlefield is one of the worst executives in the history of television. He loathed SEINFELD and ER and championed SUDDENLY SUSAN. He is hated by creative people and the fact that he brought Kate Juergens into the entertainment industry is further testament to a legacy of lousy.
This guy looks NOTHING like Bob Balaban!
Give me a break. Warren was lucky enough to inherit a strong business from Brandon Tartikoff. By the end of his tenure, he had managed to completely squander it. Couldn’t come up with a new hit by 2000 if he had sold his soul. Suddenly Susan and Caroline in the City, anyone?
“After the nuclear holocaust the only survivors will be cockroaches and Warren…”–Brandon Tartikoff