What do Al Bundy, Vin Diesel, Kunta Kinte, The Rock and Academy Award nominee for best picture Gosford Park have to do with each other?

Barry Diller.

To say that the entertainment executive, who will speak today at 2:00 p.m. in Studio A in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications II as part of the University Lecture Series, has shaped the way that citizens look at the entertainment industry would be an understatement.

“He is one of the most visionary thinkers of where the media is heading,” said Newhouse Dean David Rubin.

“He is not afraid to challenge conventional wisdom,” Rubin said. “And he succeeds.”

He spent his early days in the business as prime time director at ABC where he pioneered the concepts of the movie of the week and the miniseries, including the award winners “Brian’s Song” and “Roots.” Then News Corp.’s Rupurt Murdoch wanted to build a television network, when the very notion of anything on the dial other than ABC, CBS and NBC was laughable. Diller was the man that not only did it but in the process launched the edgy “Fox brand” of programming of which “Married With Children” and “The Simpsons” became staples. But that is not even the half of it.

That time three years ago when Stone Cold Steve Austin won the World Wrestling Federation championship?

Diller’s USA cable network.

Those tickets to Daytona Beach you bought online for spring break?

Diller’s Expedia.com.

Independent movies “Pitch Black,” “Being John Malkovich,” “The Man Who Wasn’t There” and “Gosford Park”?

Diller’s USA Pictures.

The sweater your grandma got you?

Diller has done time at both QVC and the Home Shopping Network.

That is without mentioning the fact that people at Paramount Pictures, Simon & Schuster, Madison Square Garden Corporation and SEGA Enterprises have all called him boss.

Diller’s appearance today will consist of a few opening statements, but will largely be a question-and-answer session, Rubin said. What he wants to do is to find out what is on students’ minds, he added.

There will also be a reception after the session where anyone can speak further with him “if they have the courage,” Rubin said.

Besides the list of accomplishments that Diller’s resume notes, his longevity in the entertainment industry is yet another impressive feat, said Lynn Vanderhoek of the Career Development Center.

“It just goes to show that he has been a player on the scene for 20 years,” she added.

Rubin and Vanderhoek agreed that one of the reasons students choose Newhouse is the opportunity to see speakers like Diller.

He is certainly at or near the top of guests that Newhouse has had speak here, Rubin said. He added that he is excited to meet Diller for the first time.

Television, radio and film professor Sharon Hollenback, who has kept an eye on Diller since the early days of Fox, said that his leadership, as shown in a variety of positions, gives him an appropriate distinction as a key player.

“This is a very influential man in entertainment,” Hollenback said. “He has always been on the edge.”

And he is by no means done.

Late last year he struck a deal with European media giant Vivendi, which owns Universal, merging them with USA and putting him in charge of Universal’s film, television and theme park operations. He is once again in the driver’s seat when it comes to having a major vehicle to pursue his ever-changing view of what is next on the entertainment horizon.

“There are a lot of people who can tell what has worked,” Rubin said. “But not a lot of people who can tell you what will work.”

Published on February 20, 2002 at 12:00 pm