ENTERTAINMENT
June 12, 1987 | Arts and entertainment reports from The Times, national and international news services and the nation's press
Former "Today Show" producer Steve Friedman has been named president of GTG Entertainment. Grant Tinker's new company, it was announced Thursday. Friedman will head up a new, as-yet-unnamed New York division of the company that the former NBC chief started with Gannett. Its principal focus: reality- and news-related programs. Friedman announced his departure from "Today" last week; his move to GTG was widely speculated before the announcement.
SPORTS
February 8, 1987 | LISA DILLMAN
For Steve Friedman, his home debut on the U.S. national volleyball team basically amounted to a cameo appearance in Saturday night's exhibition match against China in UC Irvine's Bren Center. He spent more time on the bench--actually, Friedman stood with the other reserves on the sideline, arms folded--than on the playing court. But for a brief moment he escaped anonymity, making a kill in the second game. The PA announcer's voice boomed: STEVE FRIEDMAN. And, that was it.
ENTERTAINMENT
November 11, 1988 | JOHN VOLAND, Arts and entertainment reports from The Times, national and international news services and the nation's press
Steve Friedman has turned over to James Bellows day-to-day management of the syndicated "USA Today: The Television Show." Friedman says plans for the transition were announced Oct. 11 when he hired Bellows as the show's managing editor. Friedman, executive producer of "USA Today," also wears another hat--that of president of GTG East, the New York branch of ex-NBC chairman Grant Tinker's GTG Entertainment, which produces the TV show.
BUSINESS
May 11, 1989 | JAY SHARBUTT
Steve Friedman, the brash "Today" show producer whom Grant Tinker lured from NBC in 1987 to create the TV version of the USA Today newspaper, said Wednesday he's quitting Tinker's company on May 29. While the announcement was a surprise--Friedman's contract runs through September, 1990--both he and Tinker, the former chairman of NBC, emphasized in interviews that the parting is amicable. They said it was prompted by the desire of Friedman, 42, to produce shows, but not to have to sell them to sponsors and networks.
BUSINESS
June 24, 1987 | JAY SHARBUTT, Times Staff Writer
USA Today, the national newspaper whose short stories and flashy graphics remind some readers of television news coverage, plans to hit the airwaves itself in the fall of 1988. The proposed video version of the newspaper was unveiled here Tuesday by Grant Tinker, former chairman of NBC, and Steve Friedman, former executive producer of NBC's top-rated "Today" show.