Executive producer

When the credits of a television show refer to somebody as an Executive Producer, this person is usually one of three things:
#A friend or close personal relative of someone associated with the show.
#A celebrity or other well known person who has agreed to be associated with the show, either for money or other reasons.
#Someone who was associated with the show years ago, whose name was never removed from the credits (either accidentally or on purpose).
Nobody knows just exactly what it is that an Executive Producer does.