ted did. innovative businessmen create markets. superstation tbs. we created one by putting us on tv. he knew eventually we were going to play some better baseball but we needed to get this product out there and create that market. when we bought them in 1976 the were terrible. we finished last many more times than we finished in the first division in baseball. but ted could even make the best out of a bad situation. ted came into the clubhouse. he yelled across the room, murph, don t worry about that slump you re in. you re saving me thousands of dollars in our next no. from the clubhouse to the dugout, ted was there. he even put on a uniform and managed the team for a day. i figure this is a good time for me to get down and find out what goes down here for me on the field. i think he may have had the shortest career as a manager in the history of the game. by 1981 the team had gone
he would start thinking about all the things that he was grateful for. children and his grandchildren, all the other blessings. and that got him through those thoughts of suicide. and he ultimately made it through that night, deep in insomnia, deeply depressed. and he saw the rising sun out here in montana. and he thought to himself, i want to live and i want to make the world a better place for them. coming up, ted s nine lives. hi. it was kind of a blessing in disguise. [ tires screech ] [ male announcer ] 1.21 gigawatts. today, that s easy. ge is revolutionizing power. supercharging turbines with advanced hardware and innovative software. using data predictively to help power entire cities. so the turbines of today. will power us all.
south, ed turner took a risk to make it the biggest. he borrowed $4 million, bought out his largest competitor, and then lost his nerve. he had kind of a nervous breakdown. fear of defaulting on the loan consumed him. and he went against everything that he taught me, to be courageous and hang in there. and so it was it really shook me. then a couple of days later, he killed himself. ed turner shot himself in his bathtub in march 1963. the loss left a void ted has felt ever since. are you the man you are today, at least in part because of your father? oh, sure.
he says, listen, we d like to have you come to cnn. i had never seen cnn. that wasn t the only obstacle. larry already had a job. and ted wanted him to start at cnn just four days late. the called the show larry king live. i knew ten minutes into that show, ten minutes talking to mario cuomo that show was going to make it. ted saw that. ted saw that. cnn was growing. and so was the rest of ted s empire. he bought mgm s entire library of films, including his favorite movie gone with the wind. frankly, my dear, i don t give a damn. that launched tnt, a network that would air them. after that, cartoon network, turner classic movies, and networks in latin america, asia, europe and the middle east. ted s next conquest would be personal.
restructured the company. ted was shut out. the offered me an extension on my contract at $1 million a year. and i said, well, what are me duties going to be? the said, you re not going to have any duties. ted got shafted. and it hurt. the idea that the guy who built all of it was no longer responsible for overseeing it, mind boggling. you were quoted as saying for the first time in my life i had been fired. that s right. none of news our wildest dreams at that moment knew that it could end like it did. it s been a very painful experience, obviously. because i really loved the company. to make matters worse, during the tumultuous merger, ted had been dealing with even more pain. the death of his marriage. jane fonda says to you, i want a divorce. yeah.