Tartikoff to Programmers: Time to Stop Being Timid : Television: The ex-NBC chief says risks are needed to tackle a ‘brave new world of 500 channels.’

SAN FRANCISCO —  Former NBC Entertainment President Brandon Tartikoff called on TV producers and programmers Tuesday to take more chances with innovative programming for viewers faced with a widening choice of channels.

“I’ve heard predictions that having 500 channels of programming will be nirvana for viewers, an unlimited amount of video choices,” Tartikoff said in a speech at the opening of the annual convention of the National Assn. of Television Program Executives, where syndicated TV producers sell programs to individual stations.

“But,” he added, “I seem to remember somebody once saying that hell is the place where you get everything you’ve ever wanted.

“Why is it that as the brave new world of 500 channels comes rushing toward us, our programming choices seem to be getting more and more timid?” he asked. “I’m not naive, I’m not somebody stuck in a time warp of those good old days of the mid-’80s. . . . But I also know that a little long-term thinking and some creative and fiduciary vision can turn that glass from being half empty to one bubbling to the brim-point before you can say Joey Buttafuoco.”

Tartikoff’s appearance here was one of his first public engagements since resigning as chairman of Paramount Pictures last October to move to New Orleans to be with his daughter, who is undergoing rehabilitation there from head injuries suffered in a New Year’s Day accident in 1991.

He told reporters that his daughter’s recovery “is going right according to plan.”

Tartikoff said he is trying to apply some of his philosophy of fostering unique programming in several ventures at independent television stations in the New Orleans area. Saying he was involved in “everything from a kids’ show to a game show to a topical serial,” Tartikoff said that he was having “the most fun in years, probably since the ‘80s.”

He added, “For me, it’s a return to my roots--local TV--but I hope some of my experiments in terror can lead to programs that will not only prosper locally but can be rolled out regionally or nationally.”

He said he hoped to develop situation comedies and other projects for national distribution in the future, and noted that he would be traveling to Los Angeles today to help secure funding for those projects.