Now, we have been guilty as much as anyone else in the gossip media industry for picking on NBC's perpetual smug fuck-up Ben Silverman. He's an easy target, seeing as how he sort of reminds everyone of a more legitimate Joe Francis, and takes his star-power as NBC's wunderkind way too much to heart.
But in case you wanted evidence that Silverman's got a flipbook of Popeye where his frontal lobe should be, then may we present to you exhibit A, entitled "Why Ben Silverman keeps pushing back the 30 Rock premiere":
So where is “30 Rock?” The hugely praised but ratings-challenged comedy has yet to return to NBC even as interest in its creator and star, Ms. Fey, has exploded. Several executives inside NBC asked last week why NBC’s entertainment division was waiting until Oct. 30 to get “30 Rock” back on the air.
Ben Silverman, the co-chairman of NBC Entertainment, said, “If we knew then what we know today about how hot Tina was going to be, would we do it differently? Maybe,” he said.
If he knew when? Because scheduling this season of 30 Rock wasn't some process that took place years ago: in fact, as the article points out, Silverman could have bumped the poorly-reviewed Kath and Kim, or his love-baby Knight Rider, and given Tina's show the spot as recently as this month. But he didn't. Because Ben Silverman hates shows that win his station Emmys.
Ben Silverman is probably in the works right now to make Beverly Hill Chihuahua into a hit TV series, because it's doing so well in the box office. With that kind of person leading NBC's schedule, so you should just be grateful there are any good shows left on the station at all.
Update: A tipser pointed out that Silverman has indeed paid lip-service to the greatness of 30 Rock at some point, so maybe the blame rests on the viewers who refuse to tune in for the program. Still, pushing back the premiere of the season till almost-November does not jive with Silverman's claim that he thinks Fey's 30 Rock is "the best show on TV."
What? Maybe Silverman does dislike 30 Rock, but that article is not a reason to post a headline like that. What benefit does Silverman gain from putting three episodes of Saturday Night Live (or whatever it is) on the weeks leading up to 30 Rock's premiere? Its ratings are not good and they're hoping for them to improve.
NBC has — finally — slotted "30 Rock" after its Number One comedy ("The Office") … is scheduling the show so that there are no in-season reruns … and is paving the way for it to assume the halo effect that the time slot has gained from running the very-successful "SNL" specials on Thursdays at 9:30.
What more could they do for the show?
FOX President Kevin Reilly hasn't done smack this new Fall 2008 Season. Look at FOX's numbers…They blow!! Reilly ok'd a jj abrahms show big deal. JJ could shit on a page and a wanker like Reilly would buy it. Why gang up on Balding Ben Silverman when Kevin Reilly aint doin' any better. Why does Reilly get a free pass here? Why dump Silverman when the next exec you'd hire couldn't produce hit, compelling scripted shows either. Reilly did Ok 30 Rock when he was running NBC. To date that show does "christmas yule log" numbers.
NBC's "Carusoe" which costs a fortune to produce..did a 1.6 in the key 18-49 demo…a frickin' 1/6…that means the average age of the "Carusoe" audience was "deceased". Ben The Balding Silverman and his girl-friday Teri "the sun damaged leather face" Weinberg were way off base when they told us all how audiences were gonna love this one…"chuck" renewed for a full season, "life", "molly shannon's slop", "christian slater's bore", remakes of crud like knight rider…what a fall slate…and jeff zucker is cutting the budget by half a billion dollars but jeff should cut his salary, perks and bonuses first thing. these tv execs…where did they find them?…at the bush/cheney white house?