The Best Seat in the House: The Golden Years of Radio and Television - Hardcover

Weaver, Pat

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0679408355 ISBN 13: 9780679408352

Publisher: Knopf, 1993

Synopsis

The creator of such television mainstays as the "Today Show" and the "Tonight Show" discusses his years as president of NBC, his stormy relationship with the head of RCA, and his friendships with television greats. 17,500 first printing.

About this title

Reviews

Weaver was instrumental in creating, maintaining and then changing the style of electronic entertainment in this country. Born to affluence in California in 1908, he graduated from Dartmouth and went into radio in Los Angeles. He became a show-biz factotum--writer, producer, announcer, salesman--doing whatever it took to get shows and news on the air. Joining an advertising agency in Manhattan as Fred Allen's producer, he was soon working with Bob Hope and Jack Benny. During WW II he married Liz Inglis (actress Sigourney Weaver is his daughter), skippered a navy sub-chaser in the Caribbean and later produced such GI radio favorites as Command Performance. In 1949 he assumed the presidency of NBC Television, where he revolutionized the industry by having the network program and own its shows. (Previously, the sponsors controlled the production and contents of shows.) Weaver then sold advertizing time to sponsors, changing commercial TV forever. At NBC he husbanded such programs as The Today Show , The Tonight Show , Your Show of Shows and Victory at Sea , plus the creation of NBC News. Writing with freelancer Coffey, his positive, can-do attitude comes through anecdotally to not only enchant, but inform as well. Photos.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

An agreeable and evocative trip down Memory Lane with an erstwhile prodigy who, in a variety of posts including the presidency of NBC, left an enduring mark on commercial broadcasting as well as on the enterprises that provide its financial support. Focusing on a 25-year span that began in 1932, when he went to work for the CBS radio station in L.A., Weaver recalls a varied, creative career that took him to many a high-profile post. Early on, as a top hand at Young & Rubicam, he was responsible for producing network programs starring the likes of Fred Allen (one of whose writers was Herman Wouk), Kate Smith, Phil Baker, and Goodman Ace. Moving from the advertising agency to American Tobacco, he helped revive the flagging market fortunes of Lucky Strike cigarettes, only to return to Y&R after WW II service as skipper of a US Navy sub-chaser. Subsequently recruited by NBC, Weaver helped shape TV during its formative years, putting on the air such landmark programming as Your Show of Shows and the ever-popular Today Show and Tonight Show. In the process, he helped wrest program ownership from the ad agencies; instituted multiple sponsorship of telecasts; pioneered public-service programming (including news coverage); and otherwise tried to ensure that the fledgling medium met its social/cultural obligations. Constant battles with David Sarnoff (the autocratic head of FCA--NBC's parent organization) took their toll, however, and, in 1956, the author left the network. While Weaver has little to say here about an evidently happy personal life (he's the father of Sigourney) or his post-NBC activities, he offers an amiable, anecdotal chronicle throughout. A low-key rerun, then, that's well worth catching. (Sixteen pages of photographs, many of which appear to be candid shots from family albums--not seen) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Those in the broadcasting know are familiar with the name Pat Weaver. As the head of programing and president of NBC during the 1950s, Weaver was responsible for such groundbreaking (and enduring) programs as the Today and Tonight shows. He was also instrumental in structuring programs so that the networks owned the shows rather than advertising agencies, the norm in radio. No tell-all, this memoir is more of a straightforward bio that parallels Weaver's career with the explosive growth in popularity of first radio, then TV. Despite the all-star cast--Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, David Sarnoff, and many others--Weaver's story never really takes off; the facts are there, but the energy and vitality are lacking. Still, Weaver saw it all during TV's infancy, and that alone is reason enough to recommend the book to broadcasting aficionados. Ilene Cooper

As president of NBC from 1949 to 1956, Weaver is credited with creating the popular Today and Tonight shows. More importantly, he led the charge to wrest control of program content from advertising agencies, which produced radio shows and some early TV shows for single sponsors. In this memoir, the author claims that an agency's main concern lies in not offending its client, which translated into bland TV. Weaver knows whereof he speaks, having come to NBC after many years at the Young and Rubicam advertising agency. This account is strictly business; there are few stories about Weaver's actress daughter Sigourney or his comedian brother Doodles. In 1956, Weaver resigned when NBC chair David Sarnoff stripped him of his power and the story virtually ends there. Still, this is a worthwhile look at a transition period for our culture. For most public libraries.
- Thomas Wiener, formerly with "American Film"
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Knopf
• Publication date: 1993
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0679408355
• ISBN 13: 9780679408352
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 275