Jack O'Brian

John Dennis Patrick O'Brian (August 16 1914 in Buffalo, New York – November 5 2000 in New York, New York) was a "New York Journal American" television critic and supporter of Joseph McCarthy.

His series of published attacks on CBS News and WCBS-TV reporter Don Hollenbeck, who eventually committed suicide, was referenced in the 2005 motion picture "Good Night, and Good Luck."

O'Brian was also pivotal in the exposure of the quiz show scandal centering around the quiz show "Twenty-One". In 1958, he published the contention by former contestant Herbert Stempel that the NBC game was rigged. Later came an investigation by New York County Assistant District Attorney Joseph Stone that led to Grand Jury testimony and ultimately Congressional hearings in 1959. The House probe, led by Congressional investigator Richard N. Goodwin, the dramatic admission by the man who had defeated Herb Stempel on "Twenty-One," Charles Van Doren, that the program was fixed.

In the 1970s and 80s, O'Brian helmed a daily afternoon interview show on WOR Radio in New York, "The Critic's Circle," focused on entertainment.

External links

* [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/printout/0,8816,830803,00.html Time Magazine Article]