Fred Graver is an American writer. He wrote a Choose Your Own Adventure

Choose Your Own Adventure

Choose Your Own Adventure is a series of children's gamebooks where each story is written from a second-person point of view, with the reader assuming the role of the protagonist and making choices that determine the main character's actions and the plot's outcome. The series was based on a...

 book, number 35, Journey to Stonehenge

Stonehenge

Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument located in the English county of Wiltshire, about west of Amesbury and north of Salisbury. One of the most famous sites in the world, Stonehenge is composed of a circular setting of large standing stones set within earthworks...

.

Fred began performing in 1966 in a small midwestern town called Palos Park, Illinois

Palos Park, Illinois

Palos Park is an affluent village, in southwestern Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 4,689 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Palos Park is located at ....

.

Fred began his professional career in the early 1980s at a small trade book publisher called M. Evans. He forgot to enter one of his author's novels for a Mystery Writers of America "best first novel." In 1982 he authored an early self-help personal finance book, Get Out of Debt Now. Then he moved to the National Lampoon. He was co-Editor in Chief of the Lampoon (with Sean Kelly

Sean Kelly

Sean Kelly may refer to:* Sean Kelly , Professor of philosophy at Harvard University* Sean Kelly , Irish professional road bicycle racer...

) under the pseudonym L. Dennis Plunkett. He left the Lampoon in 1984 to join Late Night with David Letterman

David Letterman

David Michael Letterman is an American television host and comedian. He hosts the late night television talk show, Late Show with David Letterman, broadcast on CBS. Letterman has been a fixture on late night television since the 1982 debut of Late Night with David Letterman on NBC...

, where he worked as a writer until 1990. While at Letterman, he and friend Kevin Curran wrote several unproduced screenplays -- mostly for the fun of being flown out to L.A., living in great hotels, and taking meetings.

In 1990, Graver went to work for Norman Lear

Norman Lear

Norman Milton Lear is an American television writer and producer who produced such 1970s sitcoms as All in the Family, Sanford and Son, One Day at a Time, The Jeffersons, Good Times and Maude...

's production company, leaving a year later to join the staff of In Living Color

In Living Color

In Living Color is an American sketch comedy television series, which originally ran on the Fox Network from April 15, 1990 to May 19, 1994. Brothers Keenen and Damon Wayans created, wrote, and starred in the program. The show was produced by Ivory Way Productions in association with 20th Century...

, where he worked until 1992, when he joined the staff of Cheers

Cheers

Cheers is an American situation comedy television series that ran for 11 seasons from 1982 to 1993. It was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television for NBC, and was created by the team of James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles...

 as a writer and, eventually, co-producer.

While working in what would eventually be called "old media," Graver took up computers as a hobby. His personal email address dates back to 1986, when it was his login for The Well, an online community begun by Whole Earth Catalog people.

In 1994, the Northridge earthquake

Northridge earthquake

The Northridge earthquake was a massive earthquake that occurred on January 17, 1994, at 04:31 Pacific Standard Time in Reseda, a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California, lasting for about 10–20 seconds...

 intensely frightened Graver. For a brief moment, he believed that the quake had been sent to him as a message / warning / punishment -- he immediately regretted both living in Los Angeles and having signed up for an America Online account. He moved back to New York, and gave the account to his wife.

He returned to New York and, with his good friend Charlie Rubin, wrote an article for New York Magazine on the possibility of a major earthquake in New York City.

In the mid-90s, Graver worked with a group of people at ABC / Disney and Walt Disney Imagineering

Walt Disney Imagineering

Walt Disney Imagineering is the design and development arm of the Walt Disney Company, responsible for the creation and construction of Disney theme parks worldwide...

 to explore "Telefusion" -- what would happen when the computer and the television collided. In the late 90s, he joined MTVi, the interactive group at MTV Networks, where he ran VH1.Com, SonicNet and Country.Com.

In 2006, he was Executive Producer and Creator of Best Week Ever

Best Week Ever

Best Week Ever is a weekly television program on the United States cable/satellite network VH1. It started airing in 2004 and was put on hiatus in the summer of 2009...

 on VH1

VH1

VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...

, and runs the Bestweekever.tv http://www.bestweekever.tv website. On July 1st, 2010 Fred was named as SVP of Programming for the Travel Channel.