Bonnie Hammer, a legendary TV executive who has had a hand in popular programs ranging from “This Old House” and “Zoom” to “Monk” and “Mr. Robot,” plans to leave her role as vice chairman of NBCUniversal at the end of the year, according to two people familiar with the matter, exiting after the expiration of her current contract with the company.
Hammer has been with NBCU since 2004, when Universal Television, once part of Barry Diller’s entertainment empire, merged with the NBC portfolio. In all, she has spent around 50 years in the TV business, also working for Lifetime and Boston’s public-TV outlet WGBH. At NBCU, she has helped orchestrate the merger of some of the company’s big TV production studio assets and worked on the launch of its Peacock streaming service.
The decision not to renew her contract is hers, according to these people, and not tied to the decision revealed this week to spin off the bulk of NBCU’s cable assets into a separate company.
NBCUniversal declined to make executives available for comment.
Hammer is known best, perhaps, for a long tenure overseeing NBCU’s general-entertainment cable networks, where her team launched a wide array of popular “blue skies” series that featured optimistic protagonists and provided contrast with a wide range of grittier programs at places like FX and HBO, where flawed anti-heroes anchored shows like “The Sopranos” and “The Shield.” At NBCU’s USA cable network, executives launched series such as “Royal Pains,” “Psych” and “Burn Notice.” Hammer’s time overseeing USA, dovetailed with a 13-year streak as the most-watched entertainment-focused cable network.
Before she moved to New York City, however, Hammer shook things up in Boston during an early stage of her career. Working at WGBH, the Boston PBS affiliate, she had a hand in seminal public-TV series like “This Old House” and the kid-series “Zoom.” She would go on to executive produce the local morning-news program “Good Day!” for ABC affiliate WCVB.
Before moving up the ranks at NBCU, Hammer would work on documentaries at Lifetime, and then work for Diller at Universal Television, where she would help boost the fortunes and acceptability of what was once known as the World Wrestling Federation and also to manage a nascent cable network known as the Sci-Fi Channel.
She would work with a number of prominent TV executives and producers, including Frances Berwick, Jeff Wachtel and Chris McCumber. Hammer also built up a reputation as a photographer, and her work has been used in the Boston Globe and the Los Angeles Times, among other outlets.
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