Don Ohlmeyer
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Don Ohlmeyer (born circa 1945) is an American television producer and former president of NBC. He began his work as the producer of Monday Night Football.
During the 1997 World Series, Ohlmeyer disturbed Major League Baseball when he publically wished the World Series to end in a four game sweep so that it wouldn't derail NBC's fall entertainment schedule.
In 1997, "Weekend Update" host Norm MacDonald was fired from Saturday Night Live by Ohlmeyer, who said that MacDonald was simply "not funny". Some have speculated that MacDonald was fired because of his frequent jokes on the show about O. J. Simpson, who happens to be a good friend of Ohlmeyer's. Norm, however, left the show on good terms with Mr. Ohlmeyer one year later. It was also Ohlmeyer who initially pressured Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels to place Norm on Weekend Update.
In response to Ohlmeyer firing MacDonald, David Letterman, during a taping of his CBS network television program The Late Show, referred to Ohlmeyer as "Happy Hour Don" (a reference to Ohlmeyer's problems with alcohol and sobriety). After the taping, Letterman decided that his comment was inappropriate and had the the reference edited out of the broadcast. But the comment (which was heard by the entire live studio audience) was publicized shortly thereafter in a report in the New York Post.
Currently, Don Ohlmeyer is a Professor of Television Communications at prestigious Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. He helped found the radio program "Making Waves", hosted by Steven Dhillon and Justin Reininga.