#Fred/Alan

[fredseibertdotcom]

This 1994 article in Broadcasting+Cable, a trade magazine, is the only one I can think of that covers the entire sweep of my media career. That is, up through the first phase of producing cartoons. But, the writer (unidentified, sorry) touches on my independent record production era, the promotion and branding work at MTV, the branding company Alan Goodman and I started to work with  Nickelodeon and MTV, and then, Hanna-Barbera Cartoons. It’s before the internet age, of course, so no MTV Networks Online, Next New Networks or Frederator Networks.

Thanks go to Hanna-Barbera’s head of public relations, Richard Lewis, who thought Fifth Estate could be suckered into profiling a polymath.

Broadcasting + Cable Magazine June 27, 1994

Fifth Estater: Fred Seibert

Fred Seibert's rise from cutting jazz albums on the cheap to the presidency of children's television powerhouse Hanna-Barbera Inc. is evi­dence that guts and a willingness to challenge assumptions can pay off. 

But Seibert faces a challenge large enough for even his high standards: returning once-dominant cartoon fac­tory Hanna-Barbera to its former glory under new owner Turner Broadcasting Systems. 

A musical background (piano, flute and accordion) and the lure of free records led Seibert, a student at Columbia University to join the campus radio station, WKCR-FM, in 1969. Seibert spent the next four years as disk jockey, writer, producer and work­ing "nearly every other job" at the sta­tion. Then Seibert set up his own jazz and blues label, Oblivion Records, out of the station's back office. 

Finding the label more interesting than his history and chemistry studies, he left Columbia before graduating and devoted his energies to producing records. 

However, Seibert acts such as Mis­sissippi Fred McDowell, Cecil Taylor and Hank Jones (who was nominated for a Grammy for one Seibert-pro­duced album) never hit a chord with the masses. Seibert served as a tour and sound manager with a jazz orchestra to support himself. 

Fortunately for an impoverished Seibert, a guardian angel intervened. Dale Pon, vice president of creative services, Storer Radio group, was pleased with Seibert's work as a free­lance radio engineer and persuaded him to join the company in 1978 as a promotion assistant, first in Los Ange­les and then back in New York. 

Two years later, in 1980, Pon recom­mended Seibert for the position of pro­motion manager with the nascent Movie Channel premium cable service, then owned by American Express and Warner Communications.

A year later, when The Movie Chan­nel launched a novel music cable chan­nel called MTV, Seibert found himself in the catbird seat as the only Movie Channel executive with a music back­ground. 

Once appointed to head MTV's on-­air promotion effort, Seibert quickly realized the revolutionary potential of the channel and led a group that rewrote the rules of television promotion. Rather than promoting individual shows, Seibert and his team worked to establish the identity of the channel with such devices as the no-famous rotating “M” logo.

"Fred had taste,'' says his former boss, Bob Pittman, who was vice president of programming at The Movie Channel and now chairman of Time Warner’s Six Flags Magic Mountain theme park division. “He was on the cut-ting edge of where things were before we got there. He went against conventional wisdom… That was important because we had no money: originality was all we had.” 

President, Hanna-Barbera, Inc., Los Angeles; born September 15, 1951, New York; attended Columbia University, New York; producer/disc jockey/writer, WKCR-FM, New York 1969-73; self-employed record producer and tour manager, 1973-78; advertising and promotion assistant, later manager, Storer Radio, Los Angeles, New York, 1978-80; promotion manager, The Movie Channel, New York, 1980; vice president, promotion and production, Movie Channel and MTV, 1981-83; co-owner, Fred/Alan, Inc., New York, 1983-92; current position since February 1992. 

Then, in 1983, as vice president of creative services for Warner-Amex, now MTV Networks– Seibert abruptly quit after finding his job increasingly support oriented and less entrepreneurial. He also was disappointed that he had not been rewarded for his role in launching the rapidly expanding music channel.

Seibert and MTV creative director Alan Goodman –now Seibert’s brother-in-law– formed Fred/Alan, a programming and marketing consulting firm for radio, television and cable.

After MTV's wrath at the pair's departure subsided, Seibert and Good­man designed a promotional campaign that helped fledgling children's net­work Nickelodeon, owned by MTV, move from dead last among cable net­works to first place in six months, again by stressing network identity over individual programs. The pair also helped create and promote the Nick at Nite sitcom block.

Finding that the success of the agency was forcing them into more mundane activities, the partners decid­ed to dissolve the business in February 1992. A day after leaving, Turner Entertainment President Scott Sassa called and offered Seibert the presidency of Turner's recently acquired Hanna-Barbera studio.

Now, Seibert is stoking the creative engines at the company. The studio is implementing a six-year plan to promote a different group of its classic characters each year, beginning with The Flintstones this year.

Next year it will be '60s series The Adventures of Jonny Quest. Efforts include producing a live-action feature film based on the series, a two-hour animated movie for Turner Network Television and a new animated Jonny Quest show for syndication in fall 1996. The division also will begin regular production of animated feature films. 

The company also has stepped up production of syndicated projects by launching weekly this season, 2 Stupid Dogs and SWAT Kats, both distributed by Turner Program Services.

The company in October began producing 48 shorts for Turner's Cartoon Network, designed to entice top cartoon producers to experiment with radical new cartoon concepts in flexible seven-minute segments. "If you attract the top talent, you will get the hits and the money will follow," Seibert says. -DT

[fredalan]

Hangin’ at 870.

The first Fred/Alan office was pretty funky. At the top of a mid-priced Manhattan, New York hotel at 870 7th Avenue, was a hastily assembled tower, only accessible by going to the top floor of the hotel and then squeezing into an elevator the size of a large phone booth.

When you got off on our floor –not for nothing, the original Jackie Gleason production company– you saw stucco stalactites above and pop art rug fragments from every floor in the hotel.

But, like any workplace it was the people who gathered that made the difference. Over the years we had three office locations and about 100 co-workers. On a lot of posts in this archive they get mentioned or credited, but it’s about time we showed some of them from 870 in photos taken around 1987. 

Clockwise from the top left corner: Jessica Wolf, Ed Levine, Tom Leonardis, Tom Pomposello and Marietta Szubski, Lori Jacobsen, Nancy Nalven, Mike Shavelson, Elliot Krowe, Chris Strand, Albie Hecht, Janet Gutyan; Marietta Szubski; Nancy; Lori Jacobsen; Barbara Powers, Alan Goodman and Len Fischman.

[skullislandproductions]

I painted Fred and Daphne, as they head off together to “investigate,” in this preliminary art for a “Scooby-Doo! Abracadabra-Doo” poster.

[jemthespud]

In memory of Rik I'm posting pictures from all of his great work that has spanned the decades.

Bottom:

The Young Ones:

The New Statesman:

Bad News:

Drop Dead Fred:

Lord Flashheart:

Comic Strip:

Dangerous Brothers:

Kevin Turvey:

We miss you Rik can't believe its been 10 years without you. :((

You'll forever be one of my heroes x 💝

[doorshop]

inspired by the infamous david tennant trinity!

some of these maybe feel like a stretch (COUGH kevin turvey COUGH SPLUTTER) but I couldnt rest until I at least TRIED my hand at it

[lazarusoftevmeck]

Galaxy Quest crew + text post (Pt. 1)

[vintagetvstars]

Alan Alda Vs. Fred Rogers

Propaganda

Alan Alda - (M*A*S*H) - He is both the saddest wettest little meow meow and your kindly grandfather and your favourite eccentric uncle (mom's side). Somehow it works. Passionate Democrat, feminist, great writer, he and his books are hilarious. Did a cartwheel when he won an Emmy! How he met his wife is the best meet cute of the last two centuries, and they've now been married over 60 years!!!

Fred Rogers - (Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood) - Okay he may not have been Hot per se, but you know that man would take better care of you than anyone else on planet Earth. And that's hot af.

- No Negative Propaganda Please -

Master Poll List | How to submit propaganda | What is vintage? (FAQ)

Additional propaganda below the cut

Alan Alda:

he’s just so good in MASH

he put so much bisexuality into hawkeye i think it fundamentally changed me when i was little and watching mash for the first time. anyway do we all know the story about how he met his wife when they were at a party together and they were the only two people eating the cake that fell on the floor and he fell in love with her over her laugh. i just think hes neat :) i love when theres a strange looking man. also feel it necessary to say that the guy that wrote the book mash was based on wrote himself as hawkeye and HATED alda's hawkeye bc he displayed his morals too much (alda had it in his contract for the show that every episode had to have an operating room scene bc otherwise you arent backdropping the fact that war is Not fun. actually. he almost didnt take the role bc he thought a war comedy would make too much light of the horrors)

please please please use this picture of him, he's so hot in it

His comedic delivery in MASH...

The story of how he met his wife is charming and sweet, and they've now been married 65 years

Just look at him. He's the most beautiful man I've ever seen but also he's completely average. He's got a weak jawlines and a round face and these big soft eyes and he's just so beautiful. He's capable of playing a silly charismatic sitcom protagonist in one scene, and a jaded army surgeon haunted by the deaths he's witnessed in the next. He's so hot that my dad once told me he decided to apply to medical school because of how much he was attracted to Hawkeye Pierce. That's literally how I learned that my father was bisexual.

He's also just a really great dude? He's been outspoken about his political beliefs for a long time, and has always been strongly and vocally anti-war, pro-feminist, and pro lgbt. He served a tour in the Korean war, and his experiences there informed his performance in the show. He (and honestly the entire cast, but especially him) really just soared above and beyond the standard for comedies of the day.

He's so funny and his eyes are pretty

He loves and is a champion of science (Source).

[thewatcher98]

| ENDEAVOUR X MISS AMERICANA AND THE HEARTBREAK PRINCE (TAYLOR SWIFT)

Don't know if I like it. Let me know.

Anyway you can find more posts like this here. At the moment there's just two but there's gonna be more.

[entheognosis]

[aliesafenlock]

Looks like there are some Cabaret fans here, so I found my programme of Roundabout Theatre Company's production I saw many years ago.

This Broadway revival was was based on the 1993 London production, directed by Sam Mendes, and performed at Club 54!

The main cast were:

Alan Cumming as the Emcee

Natasha Richardson as Sally Bowles

John Benjamin Hickey as Cliff Bradshaw

Mary Louise Wilson as Fräulein Schneider

Ron Rifkin as Herr Schultz

[completebastardsweek]

Complete Bastards Week 💥

***************COMING JANUARY 2025***************

[fredseibertdotcom]

Photograph by Elena Seibert 1989

Albie Hecht.

It’s great when you can live through several lives with a true friend. That’s my story with Albie.

Albie Hecht is one of the most important television and film producers and creative forces of the past 30+ years. And, lucky me, he’s been one of the most important people in my personal and professional life for even longer. In fact, it’s safe to say that after my surprising turn into animation, which seemed like a temporary detour, without Albie, I probably would’ve/could’ve moved into other media areas instead of cartoons. 

(In fact, at a meal we shared recently [August 2023] Albie asked me, during these chaotic times in the media industry, whether I was comfortable in the dark times. What I should have answered, but I didn’t, is, “I am. No small thanks to you.”)  

Most importantly, Albie has proven himself to be the definition of a wonderful and steadfast friend.  

My initial draft of this post went into excruciating and dull detail of the 50+ years we’ve known each other and how we bobbed and weaved in and out of each other’s lives. Instead, you’ll find a (still long, but edited) timeline of our common work lives.

But, it was a life lesson I got from Albie that sticks with me the most. My friend and 1980s partner, Alan Goodman, talked ourselves into a gig that was over our heads, producing a 24 hour live concert in Texas for Willie Nelson’s Farm Aid, which was our first foray into long form producing. After primarily doing short form promos and advertising, we’d jumped from the frying pan into the fire.

I decided we needed a producer who’d done such things before. We brought along our treasured companions, including Albie, to manage various pieces of the production. And wouldn’t you know it, the producer we picked was pretty much a bust. We got through the thing by the skin of our teeth.

Afterwards, Albie took the two of us to the woodshed.

“Why would you depend on someone you’d never worked with?! We’ve worked together forever, your friends are talented and would walk through fire for you!”

Albie taught me to never give up on the loyalty of friends. I’ve tried, not always successfully, to honor that devotion. I wasn’t as good at it as Mr. Hecht, but I really pray that I’m an OK junior partner in the enterprise.

This post could be as long as a novella, but I think I’ve hit the high points. In case I’ve missed something, let me lay out how we’ve crossed our professional lives more than a few times.

1970 Albie was dorm friends with Alan Goodman, my friend and to-be partner, brother-in-law and ex-brother-in-law. We all worked together in college radio.

1976 Lifesong Records was formed by the Jim Croce estate, his former producers and their attorney. Albie managed a band of some college friends that was signed to the label, and eventually they all had jobs there. I was desperate for a gig in the music business, having produced several jazz and blues albums for, shall we say, below a living wage. I visited Albie, who informed me that he wished he was doing what I was doing, “sitting behind the recording console.” Needless to say, no job for me.

1980 I started working in television, at the company that would make me a co-founder of MTV. Alan asked me to have lunch with Albie, who was writing for music magazines, and who wanted a television gig. At this point, we knew each other, but I don’t think we actually understood each other. At that point, I returned the Lifesong favor and couldn’t help him get a job.

1986 Alan and I started a production/branding/consulting/advertising company and Albie did some work with us. He traveled with us to Texas where we produced the second Farm Aid concert festival for VH1, where he ran various production units creating interstitial material. And taught me an invaluable life lesson.

1988 Albie became our production partner, running Chauncey Street Productions, where we hoped (and succeeded!) in creating our first series and specials, including creating Nickelodeon’s Kids’ Choice Awards. He also helmed the Fred/Alan advertising agency commercial productions.

1992 We closed Fred/Alan. Albie “bought” Chauncey Street for $1. Alan wrote and produced TV shows, and consulted on branding for cable networks. I moved to Los Angeles and became the last president of Hanna-Barbera Cartoons.

Albie created a huge hit for Nickelodeon. They went on to hire him to run network production where he continued to create a multitude of hits for the network, live action and animation, and brought them into the movie business, where among other things, he produced the first non-Disney animated feature film to earn more than $100,000,000. 

1996 Ted Turner sold his company, including Hanna-Barbera. While scrambling for my next gig, Albie, Herb Scannell, Judy McGrath and Tom Freston allowed me to start Frederator in January 1997 as an independent producer of cartoons, exclusively for Nickelodeon.

Albie was the greenlight for Frederator to produce four cartoon series, including our most long lived hit (which is being rebooted as CG animation right now).

2003 MTV Networks buys TNN (the Nashville Network) in 1999, and Albie becomes the founding president of Spike TV.

2007 Albie adapts Worldwide Biggies, his longtime production company, as a digital multiplatform media startup. With partners, I started a different venture backed digital video startup.

2013 Albie becomes the head of CNN’s HLN.

2023 Albie and I have continued to travel on some parallel paths through the years. We’re both producing TV series and movies. 

Thanks Albie, I couldn’t be who I am without you.

I’ve posted often about my mentors, the people I’ve learned the most from. And I’ve noted how often how many of them beg to differ as to whether or not I should credit them as such. So, I’ve calmed down in my titling. But still…

[neil-neil-orange-peel]

Complete Bastards Week!

Thank you to whoever was the last to vote yesterday - you fixed the ties! I can now reveal our seven NSFW and SFW prompts:

NSFW ~

Loss of virginity

Obsession/Voyeurism

Cross dressing

Wet dreams

Edging/Orgasm denial

Exhibitionism/Public sex

Touch starved

SFW ~

Childhood/Nostalgia

Falling piano/Cartoon violence

Drunk

Gender roles

Daddy/Mummy issues

First date

30 years later

Bonus prompts (for switching with one if it really doesn't appeal to you) ~

NSFW - Hurt/Comfort

SFW - Transformation

I can also reveal that the most popular prompts of each list were cross dressing, with 15 votes (to the shock of no one 😂), and drunk, with 12 votes.

So, what do we do next? Well, we need to agree on a week that will actually be Complete Bastards Week, like, officially. It shouldn't be too far away, but not too close either - we need to give people a hot second to actually create for this! Let me know if you guys want it to be before or after Christmas. I know the next few months are typically a busy time, so maybe this could be something to brighten up gloomy January? Let me know what you're thinking!

Some simple guidelines:

*Each day will be represented by a single prompt (one from each list in this case), but it doesn't really matter if you don't end up posting what you make to its allotted day. Posting at all is what counts!

*You don't have to commit to doing all seven if you're too busy or not all of them appeal to you.

*You can fill out all NSFW prompts, all SFW prompts, or a mix of both!

*Try to tag anything you post #complete bastards week so I can reblog it to a blog for curating this event (@completebastardsweek). Tagging the blog when you post would be a good idea too - especially if you make something NSFW, as Tumblr keeps hiding NSFW stuff from the tags. Of course, I'll mostly check the tags the week of the actual event, but I'll be keeping a cursory eye on things before and after, in case we have any early birds/latecomers.

*It goes without saying, but feel free to post whatever you make elsewhere too!

*You can make work for any of the shows/films featuring our favourite bastards. Feel free to stage crossovers too, if that's your thing! All ships (including X Reader and OCs) are welcome, as are no ships at all. Go mad!

I'll make another post with a fancypants graphic assigning the prompts to the days of the week once we've settled on a week. Thank you once again to everyone who voted! I hope some of the prompts you picked won and ideas are coming to you. 😊

[scoobydoobaday]

The New Scooby-Doo Movies S02E02 - The Haunted Showboat (1973) Hanna Barbera Productions

[brevoorthistoryofcomics]

GH: SAGA OF THE SWAMP THING #9

As I got older, my tastes in comics began to change, or at least to grow more expansive. And so I wound up trying titles that might have done nothing for me before, like SAGA OF THE SWAMPO THING, The series was a bit of a hybrid, existing in a world halfway between that of DC’s other mystery/supernatural series and a horror hero title like Marvel’s INCREDIBLE HULK or WEREWOLF BY NIGHT. So I could…

[lazarusoftevmeck]

Galaxy Quest cast photos in the “Galaxy Quest: The Inside Story”