• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, May 10, 2007

As TV journalists we hear all the time how network executives are a "team," always deferentially spreading credit among all.

When something goes wrong, however, there's really only one person to blame. All this usually ends with the big TV executive suddenly leaving to pursue "other opportunities," or to front some social networking site or fringe entertainment company that no one has ever heard of.

HBO chief Chris Albrecht didn't get that kind of exit -- nor should he. After the Oscar De La Hoya-Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight, Albrecht, who started drinking again after 13 years of abstinence, decided to get into a fight of his own.

Perhaps if the fight was with another guy, say another Time Warner executive, it would have been brushed under the rug. But no -- it was with his girlfriend. As a result, he spent many hours in a Las Vegas jail.

Worst still, the Los Angeles Times says Albrecht -- unbeknown to the public --had a similar incident with an ex-girlfriend in 1991. Lawyers were involved -- and some $400,000 of Time Warner's money went to pay for the damages.

No doubt, Albrecht's most recent girlfriend will ask for at least as much.

I'm happy there are plenty of jerks in the television and advertising business, and I've had  the privilege of dealing with many of them. I say this because it's always good to be reminded the business world has its share of unsavory people.

The Times said Albrecht was given to violent temper tantrums. Since he's an ex-alcoholic, unfortunately this makes sense.  That's the sad part.

Even sadder is the fact that Time Warner kept up the façade this long. And what did we get as a result? One great TV series after another at HBO: "Sex and the City," "The Sopranos," "Six Feet Under," and so on.

"Chris has been the architect of some of the greatest entertainment of the last quarter century," Brad Grey, chairman of Paramount Pictures, told the Times.

Was it worth it? Sure, individual producers Darren Star and David Chase, respectively, had a lot to do with it -- as well as the hard work of other HBO executives. Still, Albrecht was the one who pulled no punches when making the singular decision to green-light these shows.

Some call Albrecht a TV visionary. But how many other incidents were there with executives? I wonder whether they have the same lofty opinion of him. 

We do a lot of things in our jobs for entertainment. In the end, though, the world isn't going to change that much when one out-of-control executive needs to take a sudden quick exit to get some much-needed help.