Donald Winfred Ohlmeyer Jr. (February 3, 1945 – September 10, 2017) was an American television producer and president of the NBC network's west coast division.
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.
[4] Ohlmeyer also gained a 49% controlling interest in Hockey Night in Canada starting in 1986,[citation needed] taking over the Canadian Sports Network that ran the program under the MacLaren Advertising agency.
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.
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.
In early 1998, Ohlmeyer had Norm Macdonald fired from his role as anchor of Saturday Night Live's popular Weekend Update segment, falsely citing declining ratings and a drop-off in quality.
[9] 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".
[11] 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".
[14] 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.
Besides the on-air talent, Ohlmeyer's changes included clips of players introducing themselves, new graphics, use of a sideline Steadicam, and music.
He also made the controversial decision to hire comedian Dennis Miller to join Al Michaels and Dan Fouts in the broadcast booth, an experiment widely regarded in hindsight as a failure.