8 The Daily Collegian Thursday, Aug. 28, 1997
ew welfare program yields promising results
By BETH SILVER
Associated Press Writer
ST. PAUL, Minn. A Minnesota pilot
welfare project that combines a work
requirement with generous cash benefits
shows promise for moving long-term
recipients off assistance, traditionally the
toughest group to help.
According to a study being released
today, the program was most successful in
urban areas, where long-term single par
ents were 39 percent more likely to be
employed and 16 percent less likely to con
tinue living in poverty.
Long-term clients are those on assis
tance for more than two years.
"It is among the most significant efforts
Former NBC entertainment head dies of cancer at age 48
By JOHN HORN
AP Entertainment Writer
LOS ANGELES Brandon Tar
tikoff, the former NBC program
ming wizard who transformed
primetime television in the 1980 s
with such landmark shows as "Hill
Street Blues," "L. A. Law" and "The
Cosby Show," died yesterday of
Hodgkin's disease. He was 48.
Tartikoff died at UCLA Medical
Center, where he had been under
going chemotherapy. The onetime
chairman of Paramount Pictures
was hospitalized earlier this year
after suffering his third recur
rence of the disease, an often fatal
cancer of the lymph nodes. He had
battled it off and on since he was
23.
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in the nation and it is now proved to be so,"
said Deborah Huskins, assistant commis
sioner at Minnesota's Department of
Human Services.
However, the study of 9,000 welfare
recipients found the program did not move
people off the welfare rolls any faster.
And it cost the state $45 more per per
son.than the old welfare program, called
Aid to Families with Dependent Children.
"It's awful early to say that we have any
answer to the long-term dilemma or even
the medium-term dilemma," said Sid John
son of the American Public Welfare Asso
ciation.
Like other states, Minnesota's welfare
rolls have dropped over the past few
years, down 19 percent since 1993.
Tartikoff became the youngest
entertainment president in net
work history in 1980 when he took
over NBC's moribund program
ming at age 30. He promptly
turned the lowest-rated network
into the nation's most popular
through groundbreaking comedies
and dramas, including "Cheers,"
"Family Ties," "Miami Vice" and
"The Golden Girls." NBC was the
No. 1 network for five consecutive
seasons under his leadership.
In the 1982-83 season, his first
building of the schedule from top
to-bottom, Tartikoff's slate includ
ed "Cheers," "Family Ties,"
"Knight Rider," "The A-Team" and
"St. Elsewhere."
Other highly rated series he
introduced included "Night Court,"
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"Not only did (Minnesota) increase employment . . . more
unusual is that it reduced poverty for people who were
working."
But the pilot program found a way to Welfare reforms that push people into
increase employment while reducing jobs often fail to pull them out of poverty
poverty a unique achievement, said the because the work pays so little, the
report by Manpower Demonstration research firm explained.
Research Corp. of New York, a social sci- The key was requiring single adults to
ence research firm that has evaluated start working within two years of receiv
dozens of welfare-to-work programs ing benefits while also allowing them to
across the country. keep more of their monthly welfare check,
"Hunter," "Highway to Heaven,"
"Matlock," "227," "ALF" and
"Empty Nest."
He left NBC for Paramount,
where his 15-month tenure was met
with mixed results. The studio
released the smash hit "Wayne's
World" as well as the disappointing
"1492: Conquest of Paradise" dur
ing that time.
He left Paramount in 1992 to
spend more time with his daughter
Calla, who was seriously injured in
a car crash at the family's Lake
Tahoe vacation home.
Most recently, he was hired by
America Online in March to bolster
its development of online programs
focusing on the entertainment
industry. He previously had served
as head of New World Entertain-
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ment and ran his own production
company, called H. Beale, named
after the "mad prophet of the air
waves" character in the movie
"Network."
Tartikoff's management of
NBC's schedule made him one of
show business' brightest lights, and
he generally succeeded through
innovation, not sleaze. In his first
season with the network, he intro
duced "Hill Street Blues," a low
rated police series that he stuck
with while it won critical acclaim
and developed a loyal following.
In one of his last years at NBC,
the network introduced "Seinfeld."
NBC also had its share of cele
brated failures during Tartikoff's
watch. They included
"Manimal," "Beverly Hills
rz e i - ii- wr.
145 S ALLEN ST
Virginia Knox
one of the authors of the study
Buntz," "Bay City Blues" and
"Berrenger's."
He was pilloried by the media
for broadcasting a "news" special
by Geraldo Rivera about Satanism,
and in his typical self-deprecating
style, Tartikoff brought the inci
dent up himself for years after
ward.
Tartikoff was born on Jan. 13,
1949, in Freeport, N.Y., a Long
Island suburb of New York City.
Tartikoff is survived by his wife,
the former Lilly Samuels, a dancer
with the New York City Ballet
whom he married in 1982. The cou
ple had two children, daughters
Calla and Elisabeth. He is also sur
vived by his father, Jordan, of San
Francisco and a sister, Lisa Rosen
thal of Burlingame.
u 3.
We're sure you'll like it better than he does
said one of the study's authors, Virginia
Knox.
Families on the pilot project received
benefits until their combined incomes
reached $22,470, or 40 percent above the
federal poverty level, for a family of four.
Under AFDC, they would have lost assis
tance once their income reached about
$13,600.
"Not only did (Minnesota) increase
employment ... more unusual is that it
reduced poverty for people who were
working," Knox said.
Sontha Reine of Minneapolis, who has
been on assistance since her husband left
five years ago, said the differences
between AFDC and the trial program were
astounding.
Brandon Tartikoff
former NBC entertainment president
AP Photo