Ben Silverman Hopes NBC Will Succeed, Doesn't Care If He Gets Fired Trying
 

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When Jeff Zucker hired Reveille studio head and obnoxious sport spectator Ben Silverman to march NBC out of fourth place, he thought he was bringing a ratings wunderkind on board. He was not.

Instead of caring about ratings, Silverman has taken to saying he cares about profitability, which sounds less like the co-chair of a network's entertainment division than it does a GE board member. (Or worse: A shareholder. Which he probably is.)

As it stands, NBC remains in fourth place — and Silverman's job is jeopardy. Supposedly.

Funny thing is: Silverman doesn't have a reason to care.

If Page Six's report is to be believed, Silverman's fall slate will determine whether Zucker keeps him running the network's programming or not. Thus, if true, Silverman should be out by the holiday season, since his current reality show (Celebrity Circus, American Gladiators) are flops and his mix of new imports, comedies, and dramas (the upcoming Kath & Kim, Without Breasts There Is No Paradise, and The Philanthropist) probably don't have a prayer. Of course, the plant for this slant is Page Six, published by the Post, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch, who has a business motive in seeing NBC fail.

But even if the speculation is right, and Silverman will be ousted if his fall season doesn't perform, there's no love lost: Silverman will walk away a happy man. That's thanks to his contract with NBC, which guarantees him pay-or-play status, such that if NBC decides to remove him from his current gig, they're going to owe him a boatload of penalty fees. It's the same sort of deal Katie Couric's agent secured with CBS News; her kill fee is an estimated $40 million. Silverman's? At least a quarter of that. Plus there's the $200 million that selling Reveille brought in.

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Comments (7)

No. 1 · tyrone

Ben Silverman with all the work they do on him…at the hair salons, day spas, etc…he still looks like a balding, middle eastern terrorist with badly waxed "Mr. Spock" eyebrows. Jeff "Slick Bald" Zucker is the "source" for todays Page Six dish…and Zucker also planted a pro-Bonnie Hammer article in the New York Times weeks ago. Hammer will take over Silverman's job. Sure…Ben will walk away with the money…but he "failed" and ABC's McPherson and Fox's Kevin Reilly couldn't be happier. They're having a great laugh over it. Silverman is a "bridge burner", a loose cannon, an insecure man with a massive ego and insecurity complex. Ben's "girl friday" VP Teri Weinberg who wouldnt know a hit if it hit her in her leathered/withered sun damaged face had deemed mega failure "Fear Itself" a winner and committed to 13 episodes…the show is drawing 3 million viewers with a 1.0 demo…we're talking "Bowling For dollars" numbers here folks. ADVERTISERS BEWARE: Silverman and Weinberg…they manage for "margins" not for "ratings". Hey Ben..go smoke another doobie and order yourself up some "Hooters" girls for lunch. Douchebag!!

Posted: Jul 30, 2008 at 2:59 pm · @Reply · [Flag?]
No. 2 · Believeit

BEAUTIFUL…..TYRONE'

Posted: Jul 30, 2008 at 5:25 pm · @Reply · [Flag?]
No. 3 · Ozmoe

Tyrone, you are my hero. Please do a followup once Mr. Plucked Eyebrows is officially shown the door.

Posted: Jul 30, 2008 at 7:41 pm · @Reply · [Flag?]
No. 4 · Whatta laugh

not to defend him, but at least he's taking a different approach and not hating ..its very easy to hate tyrone, try making something successful yourself instead of trolling the blogs and spewing venom..itll be more productive and maybe you too can afford to say f u to the establishment…good luck ;)

Posted: Aug 16, 2008 at 6:32 pm · @Reply · [Flag?]
No. 5 · tyrone

"WHATTALAUGH" must be Ben Silverman's yenta mother, Esther Silverman of boynton beach, florida. Mrs. Silverman…need i remind you that your son ben was the first to cast stones. Within minutes of being named top dog at NBC, he lashed out at network presidents McPherson of ABC and Reilly of FOX calling them "losers and D-Girls". And what is this so called different approach you refer to? "Celebrity Circus", "Last Comic Standing", "Fear Itself" and his dismal fall slate? Or…Balding Bens old standby…taking overseas hit shows and "americanizing" them? Balding Ben runs NBC the way dick cheney runs haliburton oil. Cheney gave all the iraq no bid contracts to his former companies haliburton and kellog brown and root. And the MAJORITY of balding ben's new shows in development at nbc are being produced by benny boys former company reveille entertainment which he sold to rupert murdoch's daughter. sounds like balding ben is better suited to work at the bush cheney white house rather then running a broadcast network. As for the untimate d-girl, ben's girl friday vp teri weinberg…with that sour puss weather beaten sun damaged face of hers..and the long dried out black hair…she should cast herself as the wicked witch in the re-make of the wizard of oz. teri weinbeg looks at katherine pope's youthful, beautiful, non-jewish face with envy and hatred. have a nice day!!

Posted: Aug 17, 2008 at 11:27 pm · @Reply · [Flag?]
No. 6 · tyrone

NBC's Ben "balding" Silverman is poised to lose the "OLYMPIC'S MOMENTUM"….with ratings challenged "Chuck" and an awful new slate of shows. Jeff Zucker knows it. NBC is the worst drama development team in broadcast network television…in the same league as the CW. NBC will remain a fourth place network and while CBS, ABC reap $2.5 billion dollars in ad revenue…NBC will lag far behind with a measly $1.9 billion. Why would ad agencies put their dollars with Balding Silverman who "manages for margins, not for ratings"? Knightrider, Kate and Kath, Christian Slater show, Chuck…audiences will reject this crap. Silverman and his execs are clueless and as out of touch with the wants of television audiences as Bush and Cheney are with working class Americans. Enjoy the false positive of the Olympics…Silverman you middle eastern looking swine with waxed eyebrows…because your dismal Fall slate is about to go right down the toilet. PS- Since you gave "Chuck" another full year commitment..how about another 13 episodes of "Fear Itself"? PSS- the rogaine aint working pal!!!

Posted: Aug 29, 2008 at 12:18 am · @Reply · [Flag?]
No. 7 · tyrone

Bonnie Hammer and Katherine Pope have Jeff Zucker's ear. They hate NBC VP Teri Weinberg. She's a ten percenter. A fucking agent who was Ben Silverman's girl friday at Reveille…Silverman's production company. She worked long hours, had no life. And being an aging yenta with sun damaged skin she was no threat to Ben's authority. So when Ben was named Prez at NBC he brought old Teri along and made her VP. Remember..Teri was an agent…she knows about developing shows like George Bush fixes troubled economies. Way in over her head. Katherine Pope, Jeff Zucker, Bonnie Hammer are sharpening the knives. Weinberg is fucking some show runner schmuck who lies to her, tells her how youthful she looks, so Teri is doing him favors with NBC's money. Teri the Agent is not qualified to be a VP of a broadcast network. They will soon be retiring her to Boynton Beach Florida with all the other old jews and she can play cards, shuffle board and hit the early bird special dinners at 3 in the afternoon as well as weekly haddassah meetings. There's a nice 80 year old widower waiting for you Teri.

Posted: Sep 12, 2008 at 3:28 pm · @Reply · [Flag?]
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