CBS CBS Corp

By Joe Flint 

Grant Tinker, the prolific television producer and former NBC chairman and chief executive whose mantra of "first be best, then be first" lifted the network from worst to first in the 1980s, died Monday. He was 90.

Shows produced by Mr. Tinker's MTM Enterprises -- named for his then- wife, the actress Mary Tyler Moore -- included classic sitcoms "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," "The Bob Newhart Show" and "WKRP in Cincinnati" and the groundbreaking dramas "Hill Street Blues" and "St. Elsewhere."

When Mr. Tinker was tapped to run NBC by then-parent company RCA in 1981, the network's prime-time lineup was a perennial loser and his task was seen as akin to turning to around the Titanic.

"Everything was in shambles and the morale was down the tubes," Mr. Tinker said in a 1998 interview with the Television Academy. It was in a meeting with the network's anxious affiliates that Mr. Tinker came up with "first be best, then be first" but it was a bit of wishful thinking on his part. "I was just faking it," he said in the Television Academy interview.

Faking it or not, it paid off. NBC already had a couple of strong dramas courtesy of Mr. Tinker's MTM Productions. Working closely with his top lieutenant, the late Brandon Tartikoff, the pair green lit future hits "The Cosby Show," "Cheers," "The Golden Girls" and "Family Ties" as well as "Miami Vice."

Not every move Mr. Tinker made at NBC paid off. He fired radio personality Howard Stern, whose raunchy humor he felt was inappropriate.

"I did him, as it turns out, a big favor," Mr. Tinker later said.

In 1987, Mr. Tinker left NBC to return to independent production with GTG Entertainment, a partnership with the media company Gannett. However, the third time wasn't a charm and Mr. Tinker tasted defeat for the first time.

"I don't ever remember failing before," he told the Los Angeles Times in 1990. GTG struggled to get shows on the air and was a money loser for Gannett.

Born in Stamford, Conn., Mr. Tinker got his start in radio at NBC before seguing into advertising and then television as a writer on Sid Caesar's "Your Show of Shows." After stints at Fox and Universal Studios, Mr. Tinker and Ms. Moore formed MTM Enterprises to produce the iconic "Mary Tyler Moore Show" for CBS.

At the time, a show about a single woman entering the workforce was far from an easy sell. Originally, Mary was to be divorced but CBS balked at that. The show turned into a huge hit and led to spinoffs "Rhoda," "Phyllis" and "The Lou Grant Show."

Mr. Tinker is survived by his wife, Brooke Knapp; sister Joan Swift; children Mark, John, Michael and Jodie; and several grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Write to Joe Flint at joe.flint@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 30, 2016 14:24 ET (19:24 GMT)

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