Skip to Navigation
TV Video Library: Interviews and Video Clips – Archive of American Television
  • A program of the Television Academy Foundation

Capturing Television History, One Voice At A Time

Home › People

Edgar J. Scherick

Executive / Producer

"I always tell everybody I’m a storyteller, that’s what I do for a living. I tell stories. I spin tales."

About This Interview

Executive/Producer Edgar Scherick (1924-2002) spoke of his founding of Sports Programs, Inc., a sports packager which created ABC's Wide World of Sports. The company merged with ABC in 1961 and Scherick became ABC's Vice-President in Charge of Television Network Sales, and later, Vice-President of Programming. During his tenure, he spearheaded the airing of Batman, Peyton Place, Bewitched and The FBI. He later left ABC to form his own production company, Palomar Pictures, which produced films for theatrical release as well as films made for television.

Related To This Video

  • Shows
  • People
  • Topics
  • Genres

Shows

  • ABC’s Wide World of Sports
  • Batman
  • Ben Casey
  • Bewitched
  • F.B.I., The
  • Hollywood Palace, The
  • Peyton Place
  • Raid on Entebbe

People

  • Jim McKay

Topics

  • Historic Events and Social Change
  • Television Industry

Genres

  • Sports
You need Flash player 8+ and JavaScript enabled to view this video.
  • Chapters
  • Shows
  • People
  • Topics
  • Genres

Chapters

  • Chapter 1
  • On his early years and education; on starting in advertising; on getting started in TV sports programming
  • Chapter 2
  • On producing sports programming for ABC;  on the creation of ABC's Wide World of Sports; on broadcasting the NCAA football games
  • On broadcasting Fight of the Week on closed-circuit television; on the importance of sports to a network
  • On sportscasters including Jim McKay Kim Spence and others; on his experience with the Blacklist; on his company merging with ABC
  • On becoming head of network sales at ABC; on the ABC sports department; on transitioning to become ABC's head of programming
  • On developing Ben Casey;  on being the only ABC executive in the office when President John F. Kennedy was shot; on his programming philosophy; on the development of Batman
  • Chapter 3
  • On the development of various series, feature films, an TV movies
  • Chapter 4
  • On the impact of cable; on then-current television; on mentors

Shows

  • ABC’s Wide World of Sports
    • Edgar Scherick on the creation of ABC's Wide World of Sports (03m 49s)
  • Batman
    • ABC executive Edgar Scherick on the development and promotion of Batman (03m 26s)
  • Ben Casey
    • ABC executive Edgar Scherick on the development of Ben Casey (01m 28s)
  • Bewitched
    • Edgar Scherick briefly on the development of Bewitched (00m 48s)
  • F.B.I., The
    • Edgar Scherick on developing The F.B.I. (00m 45s)
  • Hollywood Palace, The
    • Edgar Scherick on developing The Hollywood Palace (01m 19s)
  • Peyton Place
    • ABC executive Edgar Scherick on the development of Peyton Place (01m 46s)
  • Raid on Entebbe
    • Producer Edgar Scherick on the response to the TV movie Raid on Entebbe (1976) (01m 17s)

People

  • Roone Arledge
    • Executive Edgar Scherick on Roone Arledge (01m 33s)
  • Jim McKay
    • Edgar Scherick on Jim McKay (00m 39s)

Topics

  • Historic Events and Social Change > JFK Assassination and Funeral
    • ABC executive Edgar Scherick on being the only ABC executive in the office when President John F. Kennedy was shot; on the special ABC programming done at the time (03m 06s)
  • Television Industry > Industry Crossroads > Hollywood Blacklist (ca. 1950s)
    • ABC executive Edgar Scherick on his experiences with the Blacklist (00m 48s)

Genres

  • Sports
    • Edgar Scherick on the creation of ABC's Wide World of Sports (03m 59s)
SHARE THIS PAGE Bookmark and Share
Tweet

Be the first to comment!

Post new comment

  • Home
  • Interviews
    • People
    • Shows
    • Topics
    • Professions
    • All Interviewees
    • Featured Playlists
  • About The Archive
  • Resources
  • Blog
  • Search
Academy of American Television
  • Home
  • The Interviews
  • Advanced Search
  • Blog
  • License Our Clips
  • Terms of Service
  • Transcripts
  • Copyright Policy
  • Emmys.com
  • Emmysfoundation.org
  • About The Archive
© 1995-2012 Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation All Rights Reserved Emmy and The Emmy Statuette are the trademark property of ATAS/NATAS
Site developed by FivePaths