He never acted on a show, he never appeared on any program at all, but every viewer would have been far less enriched without Grant Tinker. Even if you've never heard of him, you certainly know the shows he shepherded to success on TV in the 70s and 80s. Here's a partial list:

-The Mary Tyler Moore Show. (He was her husband at the time.)
-Lou Grant
-Rhoda
-Phyllis
-St. Elsewhere
-Cheers
-The Bob Newhart Show
-Family Ties
-The Cosby Show (before the troubles)
-The Golden Girls
-Night Court
-The White Shadow
-Hill Street Blues and one of the most meaningful for fans of this board
-WKRP In Cincinnati.

Quite an amazing track record and TV would have been a far worse medium without him. It wasn't just the great shows - he left them on when the ratings were non-existent. Everyone forgets how poorly "Cheers" and "Hill St." did in their first year or so on the tube, before viewers started to notice. Now, like many of those other titles, they're considered classics of the medium.  

Tinker died Wednesday at age 90. They truly don't make television executives like this anymore.

But we'll always have reruns. 

NBC Legend Grant Tinker Dead at 90