Let me start with a story
which I’m sure has had many iterations over the years so here it goes:
Back in the early 80’s a
bunch of NBC suits including Irwin Segelstein and Ray Timothy were in Irwin’s office
at 30 Rock for a meeting when Segelstein’s assistant came barging in with a
note. Irwin read it, turned ashen and told the room “Bob Hope is dead”.
In the 70’s and 80’s Bob Hope
was the motherlode of ratings and advertising revenue with his NBC specials. Back
in the day those Bob Hope Specials were really special and were always among
the highest rated shows of the TV season. I remember as a kid
watching the annual visit to the troops with Joey Heatherton, Lola Falana and,
just to keep my hormones in check, Jerry Colonna.
This was devastating for the
NBC executives until Segelstein looked at the note again which actually said “The
Pope is dead”. A sigh of relief swept through the room.
Rick Ludwin would appreciate
that story, I actually think he was the first to share it with me. Rick passed
today.
He was the head of Specials
and Late Night during my tenure at NBC….oh and SEINFELD.
Rick was the consummate
professional and it was an honor to share a suite with him and his staff Betty,
Todd, Christy and Lisa. My good friend Vince Manze who was the head of
marketing and promotion at the Peacock was also part of the suite. Vince and I
were the rowdy east coasters while Rick was the button-downed clean cut “kid”
from Cleveland who would often come out of his office to tell Vince and me to
tone it down.
I started with the Bob Hope
story since Rick was the executive in charge of the Hope specials. Those
specials meant everything to him and he would often visit the Hopes in their
home which was not far from the Burbank offices.
In addition to overseeing the
many NBC specials Rick had the responsibility for late night and devoted himself fully to The Tonight Show, Late Night and Saturday Night
Live. Rick lived his job. I remember one Saturday early evening when some emergency was going down (these were
24/7 jobs back then) and I needed to reach Rick. I had no idea what his home
number was and I remember telling my wife “ I bet I know where he is”. I called
his office around 6 on a Saturday night and he answered. He wondered how I knew
he would be there and I said “Rick, SNL is original tonight. You’re not in New
York so I assumed that you were at the office watching the dress feed.” That
was Rick.
Right before I came out to
Burbank from New York Johnny Carson announced at the upfront presentation that
he was leaving The Tonight Show the following May. Because I shared the suite with
Rick I witnessed first-hand the emotional and physical toll the Leno/Letterman
battle took on him. He always handled it professionally but it was brutal.
After I left he had to do it all over again with the Conan/Leno situation. I
think that was what finally ended his outstanding career at NBC.
….and then there was
SEINFELD. So much has been written about how Rick took money out of his
specials budget to fund the Seinfeld pilot. I was fortunate enough to be in the
pilot screening room when Rick, as only he could, sheepishly explained the
pilot’s origins and never oversold it. Trust me I have seen development execs
oversell pilots in that room. For me and others the heavens opened as we
screened what was going to be one of the foundations of the “Must-See-TV” era.
To Jerry and Larry David’s credit
they asked my boss Warren Littlefield not to give the show over to a current
executive and allow Rick and his team play that role which they did for the life of
the show.
I remember a retreat where we
had a discussion of the role of Current Executives and Don Ohlmeyer asked Rick
to describe how he handles SEINFELD. With classic mid-west demeanor Rick said “
I show up, shake everyone’s hand and laugh a lot during the table read and then
I leave.” Classic Rick.
When it was time for SENIFELD
to move on we were in the scheduling room. Rick was there and we were putting
up the first post-SEINFELD schedule. I remember, like it was yesterday, Warren
taking the magnetic SEINFELD tile off the board and respectfully handing it to
Rick.
Towards the end of my time at
NBC “reality TV” was becoming red hot thanks in no small part to my future
partner in crime Mike Darnell who was over at FOX. Don Ohlmeyer wanted us to
get in the game and, to Rick’s credit, he sort of refused to go there which afforded
me the opportunity to oversee a few of our more dubious programs like “I-Witness
Video”. Rick never complained that we were going there. He had enough on his
plate.
When I got the text this
morning from Vince that Rick had died I was deeply shaken and that has been the
feeling among several of us who were fortunate to have had Rick as part of the
MSTV team.
I wish peace to his soul and
send love to his family and friends.
A real professional who
contributed so much to the history of TV. Love to you Rick.
