William Fredrick Geddie (born July 17, 1955) is an American television producer. He is best known for being co-creator and the former

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights ...

ABC Daytime ABC Daytime (sometimes shortened to ABC-D or ABCD) is a division responsible for the daytime programming block on the ABC Network and syndicated programming. The block has historically encompassed soap operas, game shows and talk shows. Histor ...

's '' The View'', on the ABC television network. He is also a partner with

Barbara Walters Barbara Jill Walters (born September 25, 1929) is an American broadcast journalist and television personality. Known for her interviewing ability and popularity with viewers, Walters appeared as a host of numerous television programs, including ...

in ''BarWall Productions'' and is responsible for co-producing popular American television shows such as ''The Barbara Walters Special'' and ''The 10 Most Fascinating People'' annual special. Bill Geddie is also owner of ''May Avenue Productions''.

Early life

Geddie was born in San Antonio, Texas. He graduated from the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

in 1977, majoring in communications/film. He started out buffing the floors at KOCO-TV, in

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, and ...

and Geddie has stated that "When you buffed the floors—this is how informal television was back then—they let you run camera for the local news. What got me off the floor was that I went to the news director and said I had shot film before, so he gave me a job shooting film."

Professional life

Geddie is the co-creator and the original executive producer for '' The View'' from its launch in August 1997 until his ouster in 2014. His role on ''The View'' came into question at times. Geddie was frequently featured on the show, acknowledging "If I can be the brunt of a joke, if I can do to get a laugh or if I can help in any way that's what I'll do.' Otherwise, that is it. I stay out of the way... if you watch the show, you see that generally speaking I'm a side player and I'm basically there to get a laugh." He had well documented disagreements, in particular, with former hosts

Star Jones Starlet Marie Jones (born March 24, 1962), better known as Star Jones, is an American lawyer, journalist, television personality, fashion designer, author, and women's and diversity advocate. She is best known as one of the first co-hosts on the ...

Rosie O'Donnell Roseann O'Donnell (born March 21, 1962) is an American comedian, television producer, actress, author, and television personality. She began her comedy career as a teenager and received her breakthrough on the television series '' Star Search'' ...

, and guest host

Kathy Griffin Kathleen Mary Griffin (born November 4, 1960) is an American comedian and actress who has starred in television comedy specials and has released comedy albums. In 2007 and 2008, Griffin won Primetime Emmy Awards for her reality show '' Kathy ...

. He was pushed out after

announced her retirement from the show in May 2014. ABC Entertainment named Geddie as executive producer for ''

Tamron Hall Tamron Hall (born September 16, 1970) is an American broadcast journalist and television talk show host. In September 2019, Hall debuted her self-titled syndicated daytime talk show, which earned her a Daytime Emmy Award. Hall was formerly a ...

'' on January 22, 2019. He left the show in March 2020.

Awards & nominations

Geddie has received six

Emmy Awards The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

nominations and two wins. In 2003, he won a

Daytime Emmy Awards The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (N ...

in the Outstanding Talk Show category for his work as executive producer of ''The View''. To date, he has scored ten Daytime Emmy nominations. He was presented the Lifetime Achievement Award at the

39th Daytime Emmy Awards The 39th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards presented by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), "recognizes outstanding achievement in all fields of daytime television production and are presented to individuals and programs broadca ...

on June 23, 2012 for his contributions as writer, producer and director in his more than 30-year television career. Malachy Wienges, chairman of

NATAS The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) is an American professional service organization founded in 1955 for "the advancement of the arts and sciences of television and the promotion of creative leadership for artistic, edu ...

, stated: "Bill Geddie is an icon in the television industry." Geddie is a screenwriter in his spare time. He wrote the script for ''Unforgettable'', a movie starring

Ray Liotta Raymond Allen Liotta (; December 18, 1954 – May 26, 2022) was an American actor. He was best known for his roles as Shoeless Joe Jackson in ''Field of Dreams'' (1989) and Henry Hill in Martin Scorsese's ''Goodfellas'' (1990). He was a Primet ...

and Linda Fiorentino.

References

External links

*
Bill Geddie
at ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news. The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008. Corporat ...

''
Bill Geddie
interview with Katie Dickman {{DEFAULTSORT:Geddie, Bill 1955 births Television producers from Texas Daytime Emmy Award winners Living people People from San Antonio Moody College of Communication alumni Television personalities from Texas