Television: Mr. Dann of Sesame Street

Through all his 22 years in television, CBS Programming Chief Michael Dann, 48, suffered from insomnia and a nagging conscience. He worked obsessively 17 hours a day producing mass entertainment and trying to win the ratings game. But at the same time, he never let his own kids watch more than one program a week, and that one had to be good. He scheduled plenty of lowest-common-denominator entertainment, but he preferred to be known for quality specials and for the occasional counseling he gave the Democratic National Committee and the staff of Sesame Street. Lately he has talked incessantly about “getting out and doing something for the betterment of the human race.” Last week, with his influence at CBS in decline (TIME, May 25), Mike Dann did get out to become a vice president of Joan Ganz Cooney’s Sesame Street operation. His precise duties are still to be determined, and he will earn only about one-quarter of his CBS salary. Dann brings with him scheduling savvy, promotional wizardry (he started in the business in the NBC publicity department) and competitive fervor—all traits much needed in noncommercial television.