ABC Sports Ohlmeyer began his career with
ABC Sports. A disciple of
Roone Arledge, he worked on
Wide World of Sports, was the first hired producer of
Monday Night Football, brought
Superstars to television, and also produced and directed three
Olympics broadcasts (including the
Munich Olympics).
NBC Sports Ohlmeyer later moved to NBC as executive producer of the network's
sports division, a position he held from 1977 to 1982. Over those five years, he created the popular sports anthology series
SportsWorld and served as Executive Producer of NBC coverage of the
Super Bowl and
World Series. He also earned notoriety for the prime-time series
Games People Play and the made-for-television movie
The Golden Moment: An Olympic Love Story. Ohlmeyer became well known for expanding the network's sports coverage as well as introducing innovative production techniques. He launched
NFL Updates, NCAA Basketball 'Whip-arounds,' and instituted NBC's live coverage of
Breakfast at Wimbledon. Ohlmeyer is credited with conceiving the one-time experiment of airing a
1980 NFL telecast
without announcers.
Ohlmeyer Communications Company Ohlmeyer formed his own production company, Ohlmeyer Communications Company (OCC), in 1982. While there he produced several made-for-television movies, network series, and specials. He won an
Emmy for
Special Bulletin, a harrowing 1983 depiction of nuclear terrorism. His company was also responsible for producing
CART IndyCar World Series race telecasts, and golf, including PGA Tour events, "
The Skins Game", and Senior PGA TOUR broadcasts. While at OCC, Ohlmeyer also oversaw
Nabisco's 20% stake in ESPN. Ohlmeyer also gained a 49% controlling interest in
Hockey Night in Canada starting in 1986, taking over the Canadian Sports Network that ran the program under the
MacLaren Advertising agency. He later sold his interest to Molstar Communications, the company which already possessed the other 51%.
Return to NBC Ohlmeyer returned to NBC in 1993 to become president of its West Coast division at a time when the network was in third place in the ratings, following the conclusion of popular shows such as
Cheers and
The Cosby Show. During his tenure, NBC returned to first place with such hits as
Seinfeld,
Friends,
ER,
Homicide,
Frasier,
Providence,
Will & Grace, and ''
Late Night with Conan O'Brien''. While Ohlmeyer was at the helm of the West Coast division of NBC, it was the only profitable national network in America. Ohlmeyer also spearheaded NBC's adoption of an aggressive promotional campaign to
brand the network such as superimposing the Peacock logo in the corner of the screen and coining the phrase "
Must See TV." During the
1997 World Series, Ohlmeyer caused a stir when he publicly wished that the
World Series would end in a four-game sweep so that its low ratings wouldn't derail NBC's primetime leading Thursday "Must See TV" entertainment schedule. The series went the full seven games.
Firing of Norm Macdonald In early 1998, Ohlmeyer had
Norm Macdonald fired from his role as anchor of
Saturday Night Lives popular
Weekend Update segment, claiming supposedly declining ratings and a drop-off in quality as the reason. It is widely speculated that the actual reason for the decision was retaliation for Macdonald's inclusion of a series of scathing jokes calling
O. J. Simpson a murderer during and after his
murder trial (1994–95). Shortly after Macdonald was taken off the
Weekend Update desk,
David Letterman (during a taping of the
Late Show) called Ohlmeyer an "idiot" and made a reference to his
alcoholism by labelling him "
Happy Hour Don". Letterman later reconsidered and had the remarks removed for broadcast, but the comment was publicized shortly thereafter in a report in the
New York Post. During subsequent televised interviews with Macdonald, Letterman stated that Ohlmeyer "fancies himself creative" and disparaged that notion, saying "Here's a man who could not create gas after a bean dinner". In an appearance on
Live with Regis and Kathie Lee, Macdonald said, "Ohlmeyer is best friends with O.J. Simpson. If he can like O.J. Simpson, he can like me." Ohlmeyer's animosity toward Macdonald continued when he caused NBC to block a promo spot for Macdonald's 1998 film
Dirty Work from airing and would not allow the film studio to buy air time during other times to promote the film. Ohlmeyer said, "I just don't think it would be appropriate for us to turn around and take a check for a movie that's promoting somebody who has badmouthed
Saturday Night Live and NBC." However, Ohlmeyer was later overruled by his bosses. One of them,
Warren Littlefield, later wrote that "he made life a lot more difficult than it needed to be at NBC. Don was first a drunk bully and then a sober bully, but always a bully.” In September 2021, following Macdonald's death,
Late Night host
Conan O'Brien revealed that Ohlmeyer had ordered him to stop booking Macdonald as a guest. O'Brien protested and ultimately won out, later booking him numerous times in the years that followed while he was at NBC.
Return to Monday Night Football After his time at NBC, Ohlmeyer was lured out of retirement in 2000 to spark interest and provide some vigor to the
MNF broadcast. Besides the on-air talent, Ohlmeyer's changes included clips of players introducing themselves, new graphics, use of a sideline
Steadicam, and music. In another temporary change, the
score bug used nicknames of teams, such as "Skins" and "Fins", instead of the teams' actual names or cities (the Washington Redskins and Miami Dolphins, in this instance). He also made the controversial decision to hire comedian
Dennis Miller to join
Al Michaels and
Dan Fouts in the broadcast booth, an experiment since widely regarded as a failure. Ohlmeyer left
Monday Night Football after one season. Ratings for the program had dropped 7% compared to the previous year. He later served as
ombudsman for ESPN.com for 18 months between 2009 and 2011.
Death After a month of poor health, Ohlmeyer died from cancer in
Indian Wells, California, on September 10, 2017, at the age of 72. ==Personal life==