Obituary: David Lyle

David Lyle, the Australian TV producer who became a producer and television executive in the US, has died at the age of 67.

Lyle had been battling cancer and died at his Los Angeles home.

His early career was as a geologist and high school chemistry teacher, before a shift to television, working as a writer and producer for ABC and Network Ten.

It was at Ten that Lyle also became a TV presenter, as host of the weekly Golden Years Of Television in the 1980s. The Monday late night program which presented episodes of long lost TV programs, mostly from the US but also local shows like Number 96‘s ‘bomb-blast’ episode, gained a cult following.

He later became an executive for the Nine Network and brought The Golden Years Of Television with him. At Nine he became involved in program development and acquisitions, developing local adaptations of international franchises like Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.

Lyle then went from Australia to production company Pearson Television in the United Kingdom.

He moved to Los Angeles in 2001 as head of FremantleMedia North America and helped launch American Idol for the Fox network.

He later headed the cable channels Fox Reality and Nat Geo Wild.

He most recently served as president of Pact US, an advocacy organisation for unscripted TV producers which later merged with the Nonfiction Producers Association, forming NPACT.

David Lyle is survived by his wife Janne and three children.

Source: Variety

 

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2017/09/obituary-david-lyle.html

1 comment

    • Chris Keating on 25 September 2017 at 12:29 PM
    • Reply

    Very sad – it was largely David who sparked my interest in archival TV, I owe him very much…

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