Since the Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Awards were inaugurated in 2004, several of television's brightest producers and executives have been feted at the NATPE event. Below is a list of the luminaries whose vision, passion and bold ideas are so reminiscent of Tartikoff's unique greatness, and who were honored with a Legacy Award over the years.
2007
Harry Friedman, executive producer, Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune
Anthony Zuiker, creator of the CSI series
Bonnie Hammer, president of USA Network and Sci Fi Channel, two of basic cable's most innovative networks
Stephen J. Cannell, creator and/or executive producer for series including The Rockford Files, The Greatest American Hero, The A-Team, Hardcastle & McCormick and 21 Jump Street
2006
Steven Bochco, executive producer and creator of Hill Street Blues and other ground-breaking dramas
Pat Mitchell, former PBS president, former news executive and currently head of The Paley Center for Media (formerly the Museum of Television and Radio)
Marc Cherry, executive producer and creator of Desperate Housewives, the quirky ABC series that helped revive the network
2005
Carole Black, former Lifetime President/CEO, who built Lifetime into a powerful cable brand
Dick Wolf, executive producer of the Law & Order series, which are staples on NBC and ubiquitous in reruns on cable
James Burrows, famed director best known for his work on Will & Grace, Cheers, Taxi, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Show and Wings, to name just a few
2004
Gail Berman, former president of Fox Entertainment, who helped bring Malcolm in the Middle, 24, House and American Idol to television viewers
Marcy Carsey, Tom Werner and Caryn Mandabach, who as team brought The Cosby Show and other quality comedies to network television at a time when some thought the sitcom was dead
Ken Lowe, president and CEO of E.W. Scripps; it was his vision that gave birth to HGTV, the enormously popular cable network
Mark Burnett, the creator of Survivor, whose success spawned the huge interest in reality television—much to the surprise of CBS
