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ABC he has found his spiritual home: a company that is as aggressive, hungry and fast-moving as he is, unencumbered by the bureaucratic snares that come from long years of success. Without so much as making a phone call, Silverman can —and often does—guarantee the commitment of hundreds of thousands of ABC's dollars to a producer. According to lore, Silverman can give a producer a yes or no within 15 minutes. B. Donald ("Bud") Grant, his counterpart at CBS, will say, "I'll think it over." At NBC, Irwin Segelstein will say, "We're having a meeting on it in two weeks."
Though Silverman is given credit for helping boost ABC to the top, most industry observers feel that it would have got there anyway—if not now, then some time soon. Partly because it had fewer affiliates in the boondocks and partly because CBS's relatively sophisticated programs had cornered the older, educated audience, ABC was forced to court younger, urban viewers with fast action, sex and unsophisticated comedies. When the "family hour," the 60 minutes from 8 to 9 o'clock, was instituted in 1975, banishing blood and gore to later hours, ABC was ready with its comedies. Simple enough to appeal to kids, they were yet not so simple as to turn off parents. The mistakes of CBS and NBC, neither of which had done as much as ABC in developing new shows, also helped ABC. About two years ago, CBS's successes seemed to age all at once, while NBC seemed nearly paralyzed by corporate indecision.
ABC was also wise in the choice of Fred Pierce as president in 1974. The best-rounded of all the major network executives, with experience in research, sales, promotion, as well as programming, Pierce moved deftly to take advantage of his rivals' confusion. Almost immediately he tried to hire Silverman away from CBS. It took a while, but finally, in May 1975, Silverman crossed the street. Silverman's own success is tied to Pierce's, and, together, the two form the best team in TV.
Why CBS let Silverman go so easily is a mystery, but Silverman's reasons for leaving are clear enough. Although he was certainly well paid—around $250,000 a year at CBS—he was not given what the trade appropriately calls "keeping money": stock options and other benefits that enable an executive to build personal capital. (His salary at ABC is reportedly about the same now, but will rise to $350,000 next year. In addition, he has stock options and all the perks previously denied ) Worse, he was denied entrance to "the club," an elite group that really runs CBS. Following an unwritten edict from Chairman William Paley, CBS has always been fiercely proud of its image. How an executive looks is often as important as what he does. He must dress right, talk right and live at the right address. He must, in sum, always look as if he had just stepped out of Brooks Brothers and was on his way to have lunch with his former classmates at the Yale Club.