RIP Don Ohlmeyer

[Riptide]

Don Ohlmeyer, whose influential television career ranged from producing ABC’s “Monday Night Football” during its 1970s heyday to guiding NBC to No. 1 in prime time two decades later on the strength of programs like “Seinfeld” and “ER,” died Sunday in Indian Wells, Calif. He was 72.

His family confirmed the death in a statement, saying the cause was cancer.

Don Ohlmeyer, ‘Monday Night Football’ Producer, Dies at 72

 

[The Big Ragu]

With all of he accomplished. ... for a lot of people, he is the guy who fired Norm MacDonald from SNL for making jokes about OJ Simpson (Ohlmeyer's buddy).

 

[CD Boogie]

Will all of he accomplished. ... for a lot of people, he is the guy who fired Norm McDonald from SNL for making jokes about OJ Simpson (Ohlmeyer's buddy).

Guess he should have picked better friends

 

[Vombatus]

Guess he should have picked better friends

That's a cutting remark.

 

[swingline]

Booooooo.

I'm going to hell for a lot, and now even a little more for laughing, VB.

 

[lcjjdnh]

With all of he accomplished. ... for a lot of people, he is the guy who fired Norm McDonald from SNL for making jokes about OJ Simpson (Ohlmeyer's buddy).

 

[CD Boogie]

When Mr. Ohlmeyer stepped down from NBC in 1999, he told The Los Angeles Times: “There’s two reasons to do this job. One is you desperately want and need to win. The other is you care about what people say about you in the press, and what people say about you at cocktail parties.”

He added, “And they are mutually exclusive.”
​

And he said this AFTER he went to Betty Ford. Sorry, but that comes off as really shallow. Still, this is a cool tidbit:

While attending the University of Notre Dame, he made money hustling pool in local bars.

One night, he won $200 from an ABC Sports director, who then hired him as a $25-a-day gofer for a coming Notre Dame-Purdue football game. Mr. Ohlmeyer received similar assignments around the Midwest from ABC, hitchhiking to each event from the Notre Dame campus, in South Bend, Ind.​

 

[Joe Williams]

Did Ohlmeyer stand by OJ to the end or did he eventually bail on him and his claims of innocence? I seem to remember seeing or hearing about the latter.

 

[LongTimeListener]

Did Ohlmeyer stand by OJ to the end or did he eventually bail on him and his claims of innocence? I seem to remember seeing or hearing about the latter.

Not sure about that.

I do remember that the only time I've ever been angry enough to write a letter to the editor was after the first post-OJ Dateline, when they sought to tell the world that welcoming him back was the right thing to do.

This is one of those "media elite" things that's a huge deal because they all knew him but is getting wildly disproportionate coverage compared with its significance in the world at large.