Alan Eliot Goodman is an American actor and media marketer. He is one of the founders of TESTD Inc, a health and data management products company. He was formerly a television writer and producer who has worked in media since 1981.

Early life and education

Goodman began his media career while still in high school as a reporter at The Hunterdon County Democrat in

Flemington, New Jersey Flemington is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in and the county seat of Hunterdon County, New Jersey, Hunterdon County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

in 1970, he joined the college radio station,

WKCR-FM WKCR-FM (89.9 FM broadcasting, FM) is a radio station licensed to New York, New York. The station is owned by Columbia University and serves the New York metropolitan area. Founded in 1941, the station traces its history back to 1908 with the fi ...

where he first encountered his future collaborators, Albie Hecht and

Fred Seibert Frederick G. Seibert is an American television producer and media proprietor. Seibert began his professional career as a jazz and blues record producer and audio engineer in the 1970s. He co-founded the record label Oblivion Records by 1972 an ...

Cable television

In 1981, Goodman was part of the team that launched

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

alongside his college radio alum

. Goodman supervised hundreds of animations and their accompanying soundtracks depicting the MTV trademark designed by Manhattan Design. Seibert and Goodman resigned from MTV and started their own company Fred/Alan in New York. Together, they consulted with MTV's sister channel,

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

, which was having challenges finding audiences for their quality kids programming. They led the efforts to rebrand the network as "The First Kids' Network" and help build its new vocabulary, promotional strategies and execution. Fred/Alan were MTV Networks' advertising agency, conceiving and creating Nick-at-Nite and launching VH-1. Goodman worked with

MTV Networks Paramount Media Networks is the division of Paramount Global that oversees the operations of its television channels and online brands. The division was originally founded as MTV Networks in 1984, named after MTV. It would be known under this ...

, the parent company of both

and

, for over 30 years.

Writing and production

Goodman co-created the television series '' Kids' Court'', '' The Movie Masters'' (both with Albie Hecht) '' Hey Dude'', '' The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo'', among others. He also co-created the

Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards The Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, also known as the KCAs or Kids' Choice, is an American annual awards ceremony show produced by Nickelodeon. Usually held on a Saturday night in March or early April, the show honors the year's biggest in tel ...

. Goodman also wrote scripts for several television shows including '' Hey Dude'', ''

Clarissa Explains It All ''Clarissa Explains It All'' is an American teen sitcom created by Mitchell Kriegman for Nickelodeon. In the series, Clarissa Darling ( Melissa Joan Hart) is a teenager who addresses the audience directly to explain the things that are happeni ...

'', '' Clifford's Puppy Days'' and '' JoJo's Circus''. He was the co-producer and show runner for two seasons of ''Clarissa Explains It All''. Since 1984 Goodman has been the primary writer and creative director for the brochure and website essays of

Mosaic Records Mosaic Records is an American jazz record company and label established in 1982 by Michael Cuscuna and Charlie Lourie. It produces limited-edition box sets. The sets recordings are leased from the major record companies, usually for a three- or f ...

' jazz boxes. This work is in addition to his liner note writing for various independent jazz recording labels. During his consulting engagement at BBC America, Goodman wrote and produced entertainment news content and specials for the network. He was also one of the developers and first creative director at COZI-TV, a free-to-air television network owned by the NBC Owned Television Stations division of NBCUniversal. At COZI-TV he also wrote, directed, and produced original content, including the first ever fully auto-tuned TV program, ''Autotune The Munsters''. Goodman has written three books -- ''A Slash in the Night'', the first in a series of novels based on characters in Goodman's Nickelodeon series ''The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo''

and ''The Big Help Book'', and ''Fred/Alan: A Decade in Media History 1983-1992'', a chronicle of his time running the world's first branding agency with his partner

. He also was a contributor to ''The Rolling Stone Record Guide''. Goodman was a co-creator of the Virgin Comics (now Liquid Comics) title ''The Econauts''.

References

External links

The MTV Logo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goodman, Alan Living people American advertising executives American television producers American television writers American male voice actors American male television writers MTV executives Nickelodeon executives American voice directors 1953 births Columbia College (New York) alumni