On a long night of superlative-filled salutes to TV legends, Amy Poehler got the last laugh at the 18th annual Brandon Tartikoff Awards.
Poehler was No. 7 out of the seven honorees who were feted Thursday night at the Beverly Wilshire hotel in Beverly Hills, with the annual TV achievement kudos handed out by the National Assn. of Television Program Executives. The Tartikoff Awards are typically held during the NATPE conference in January, but that annual tradition was tabled this year by the COVID upsurge.
Poehler, the multi-hyphenate “Parks and Recreation” star who has become a prolific producer, made the most of her closing slot. She opened with a wry reference to an earlier snafu when presenter Connie Chung noted that the wrong speech was loaded on to the teleprompter as she delivered her remarks about Tartikoff honoree Maury Povich, who is also her husband.
“For the past 38 years, as I walk into my bedroom every night and get ready to make sweet love to my husband, Maury Povich…,” Poehler said to uproarious applause.
Poehler’s good-natured joke was in keeping with the spirit of the awards, named for the legendary NBC programming executive who was renowned in his drive for innovation and excellence. Among this year’s recipients was Jeff Sagansky, a veteran network and studio executive who worked with first worked with Tartikoff as a peer at NBC in the late 1970s.
Sagansky, who is now a media investor and head of Eagle Equity Partners, shared a few colorful stories of working with Tartikoff, and he urged the crowd of industry veterans to make time for mentoring younger executives and talent. The former head of CBS Entertainment and Sony Corp. in the U.S. also recalled a memorable piece of advice he got from the revered NBC chairman Grant Tinker.
“If you’re ever going to put on a show that you’re not going to watch — don’t put it on,” Sagansky said.
The tribute to Povich came on the heel of the end of his daily talk show after a 31-year run in daytime TV. Povich recalled his early years as a TV radio and news reporter, moving around the country until he settled down to TV as the anchor of the syndicated “A Current Affair.” That was followed by his own daytime talk show that began in 1991.
After reflecting on his long tenure in daytime, Povich realized that he was fortune to have a loyal team of production staffers who were devoted to the show. “Why I stayed so long was the people who work on the show,” he said. “They’re so professional and so good.”
Honorees Channing Dungey, Whoopi Goldberg, Alex Kurtzman and William Shatner ran the gamut of on-air talent to the executive suite to a producer leading the “Star Trek” TV metaverse.
Dungey, chairman of Warner Bros. TV Group, was introduced by “The Flight Attendant” star Kaley Cuoco. After a queuing up a video detailing Dungey’s career highlights and achievement of industry firsts as a Black woman, Cuoco enthused, “Channing, you are such a badass — that is unbelievable.”
(Excerpt) Read more in: Variety