Brandon Tartikoff (January 13, 1949 – August 27, 1997) was an American television executive who was head of the entertainment division of NBC from 1981 to 1991.

[1] He was credited with turning around NBC's low prime time reputation with several hit series: Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, Law & Order, ALF, Family Ties, The Cosby Show, Cheers, Seinfeld, The Golden Girls, Wings, Miami Vice, Knight Rider, The A-Team, Saved by the Bell, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, St.

Tartikoff also helped develop the 1984 sitcom Punky Brewster; he named the title character after a girl he had a crush on in school.

After graduating from Yale, he took a series of jobs in advertising and local television, including WLS-TV in Chicago, Illinois.

A writers' strike was looming, affiliates were defecting, mostly to ABC, and the network had only three prime time shows in the Top 20: Little House on the Prairie, Diff'rent Strokes and Real People.

[5] Tartikoff wrote in his memoirs that his biggest professional regret was cancelling the series Buffalo Bill, which he later went on to include in a fantasy "dream schedule" created for a TV Guide article that detailed his idea of "The Greatest Network Ever".

[13] In the penultimate scene when ALF suggests a sitcom about a family hosting a lovable alien, he replies "Not in a million years, pal, it's too far-fetched."

He hosted Saturday Night Live in 1983 and appeared as himself in an episode of Saved by the Bell, where he briefly entertains the notion of a "show about a high school principal and his kids", before scoffing at the idea.

During his 1983 appearance on Saturday Night Live, one skit featured Tartikoff in a black leather ensemble, with the words "Be There" spelled out in rhinestones on the back of his jacket.

On New Year's Day 1991, Tartikoff was involved in a car crash near the family's Lake Tahoe home that injured him and his eight-year-old daughter Calla, who suffered a severe brain injury and received intense therapy in order to walk and speak again.

[24] Just prior to his death, Tartikoff served as the chairman of the AOL project Entertainment Asylum, for which he teamed with Scott Zakarin to build the world's first interactive broadcast studio.

The Deep Space Nine sixth-season premiere, "A Time to Stand", began with a title card reading "In memory of Brandon Tartikoff."

On August 29, 1997, Dateline NBC ran an extended tribute to Tartikoff that featured many famous figures whose careers he had influenced, including Warren Littlefield, Dick Ebersol, Bill Cosby, Michael J.