In not exactly news, NBC confirms they've inked Jimmy Fallon to take over for Conan O'Brien when the late night red head does some taking over himself, for Jay Leno, sometime around June 2009. [NYT] There's been mucho speculation about what Jeff Zucker & Co. were going to decide about NBC's late night slate, after rampant rumors about Jay Leno not being ready to give up his post, and NBC's fears that Leno would quickly jump to a waiting competitor like ABC or Fox, allowed for rumormongering about how Leno might not leave, which would mean the network would have to pay O'Brien a rumored $40-45 million penalty fee for not hiring him. That's a lot of cash, yes, but Leno's show is, like the Today show, a cash-frickin'-cow.
The possibility that Leno would stick around carried some weight because, well, he's Leno. And: His ratings consistently beat David Letterman at CBS, and haven't gone down the path like the sinking ship that is NBC's primetime. He remains a huge commodity, and it's certain NBC remained (remains?) nervous about his exit.
But as far back as September 2004, NBC guaranteed O'Brien the 11:30pm slot that Leno holds. They promised it to him, in ink, to keep him from defecting to another network, the very scenario they're wary of with Leno right now. CONTINUED »
Though a Page Six spy spotted NBC chief Jeff Zucker "climbing out of his black SUV" in front of Katie Couric's East Side apartment, a Couric "friend" is preemptively shooting down any rumors that Zucker wants his prized lady back, saying "Jeff and Katie have been friends for 20 years. He asked her to get a Mother's Day gift for his wife, Caryn, and picked it up on the way to his daughter's play." [NYP]
Uh huh.
More curious, beside the terrible and transparent excuse given, though, is who "spots" Zucker exiting his car and walking into Katie's building, except, perhaps, Zucker or Katie themselves.
Zucker has always been rumored to be a serial New York Post leaker, especially when he's got a takedown agenda, like he did with Beth Comstock in September, floating a rumor that Comstock was leaving NBC U and heading back upstairs to GE. (The news panned out.)
So what would either have to gain? CONTINUED »
Earlier this week, New York's attorney general Andrew Cuomo held a press conference where he dragged out 30 Rock star Tina Fey to announce the new Piracy Protection Act, which would turn movie piracy into a misdemeanor crime, which means possible jail time, instead of the lame "offense," equal to a parking ticket, that it is now. As can only be assumed, he had a leisurely lunch with some Motion Picture Association of America reps, who aren't happy with the possibly-inflated figure of $2.6 billion that's supposedly lost to piracy in this state alone. (Actually, he certainly met with the MPAA; flanked by NBC head Jeff Zucker, Cuomo was also joined by MPAA chief Dan Glickman. And a 2005 study by the MPAA says piracy cost the industry, overall, $18.2 billion.)
Your tax dollars are about to be put toward creating a special deputy attorney general post and new efforts to involve the Organized Crime Task Force in intellectual property theft, because as we all know, New York's organized crime families are involved here.
According to Glickman, 90 percent of street and Internet piracy begins with a camcorder. You know, those shady dudes who "cam" movies and then send them off to BitTorrent. But who are we kidding? It's doubtful that New York's law enforcement is going to tread on federal territory and go after Internet file-sharing. Which means most of their efforts will be focused on the streets.
The same streets, in fact, that have all but seen those folding tables and garbage bag sacks of copied DVDs disappear. So, uh, continued success with that.
[Photo: Flickr]
The reason Bravo lost Project Runway to Lifetime is because the show's producers, The Weinstein Company, wanted to force NBC Universal to buy up some of its "second-tier" film projects as part of a contract renewal. NBC balked, but Lifetime was up for the offer, so they took the bait, agreeing to buy "stolen goods." Or at least that's the series of events according to NBC and the lawsuit they filed yesterday against Weinstein. And they're also claiming any cash a court ruling might send its way as punishment to Weinstein for breaking their contract – which promised NBC right of first refusal – wouldn't be good enough. They want to be back in negotiations. CONTINUED »
It's not so much that NBC chief Jeff Zucker has a comedic factor of zero, or that his attempts at synergy are flat, or that his Borat impression hovers around unwatchable. It's that this promo is actually supposed to air on TV next week. CONTINUED »
UGH Rumor has it that NBC might sue the WGA for canceling the Golden Globes. Does NBC even have a PR consultant? [Deadline Hollywood]
Now that the writers strike is coming to a close – though it's not a done deal yet – and you know what to set your TiVo for and when, and what the industry will look like for the next few weeks, it's time to answer the question on everybody's mind: WHO WON THIS MOTHER F-ER?
Lots of people have lots of different answers. CONTINUED »
It took three months, but the public has grown tired of reality TV. Year-to-year ratings comparisons are beginning to reflect the ongoing writers strike. The CW lost 50% of its 18-49 audience from a year ago, ABC slipped by 23%, CBS by 26% and Fox by 15%.
Meanwhile, at the National Association of Television Program Executives conference in Las Vegas, Jeff Zucker called for a change in network programming. With insights like that, we could be CEO of NBC Universal.
COPYING CBS'S STYLE Following an announcement yesterday that CBS has cut 20 projects from development for next season, NBC, FOX, CW and ABC have also made scaled back on pilots. Jeff Zucker blamed the current recession for his network's decision. It's the writers strike, stupid. [NYT, Variety]
"Absolute bullshit" is what some MSNBC staffers are calling the notion that NBC News brass doesn't care about daytime programming. The reaction comes from our item this morning, where a former network staffer with close ties to MSNBC insisted "Zucker does not give a shit about the ratings of the daytime news block on MSNBC. [...] All they care about is MSNBC 'sales prime, because that’s where they think the money is." From what we're hearing from the calls that are coming from inside the house, MSNBC chief Phil Griffin is insisting dayside remains a priority.
If you're working in daytime at MSNBC, start counting your days. Or your hours — because you're the least respected part of NBC News, at least when it comes to Jeff Zucker's interests, and GE's shareholders. You're not making your parent company very much money, or enough to satisfy them when it comes to deciding who's gotta go to save some $40 million. And no matter how hard you try, your ratings and revenue mean little.
"Zucker does not give a shit about the ratings of the daytime news block on MSNBC," says a well-placed network insider. "The sales people are always telling this to the NBC News management. All they care about is MSNBC 'sales prime,' because that's where they think the money is. This in my view is so fucking stupid as to be unimaginable, but that's NBC U."
So what about MSNBC primetime? Peter Lauria called it "sacrosanct" in the Post this morning, but that's not entirely true, either, claims our source. Dan Abrams would've lost his on-air gig had they been able to sign Rosie O'Donnell. Tucker Carlson took a pay cut just to keep his job when his contract was renegotiated. And while MSNBC chief Phil Griffin has always liked Chris Matthews, he is "not happy about Hardball," says a source, and "finds it 'boring.'" Keith Olbermann, with his fat new $4 million contract and respectable ratings, it the only one who should be 100 percent comfortable. Not that folks like Matthews are going anywhere – let's not start that rumor – but it's possible they could lose some authority of their shows in an effort to reinvigorate them.
The Post's Peter Lauria today updates the story we already told you about on Monday: that Jeff Zucker-ordered savings in NBC's news division is going to amount to massive job cuts.
He's looking to save some $20 to $40 million, with pink slips coming this week or next at MSNBC and NBC News; CNBC will be saved, supposedly, because they need all the horsepower against Fox Business Network they can muster. Two big names are known to be out the door: primetime programming chief and Bill Wolf (holdover from Rick Kaplan's era) and editorial director Davidson Goldin (who came over when Dan Abrams was general manager). But those helping build the competitive primetime slate at MSNBC shouldn't have much to fear; Zucker wants to keep that spirit alive. Happy holidays!
Are broadcast journalists and NBC network execs skeptical about Brian Williams upcoming stint on SNL? Possibly!
But not Jeff Zucker, who gave Williams the okay (possibly because he has some "influence" over at 30 Rockefeller Center) and Tim Russert, who considers it "an honor for this news division" and, coincidentally, is Williams co-moderator for the Democratic debates.
Frankly, we'd be more interested to hear what Katie Couric thinks about all this. But strangely, after that whiny interview she gave to NY Mag a few months back, she's been letting her third-place ratings do most of the talking.
NBC Universal prez Jeff Zucker sums up his impressions of the Fox Business Network: "Looking at the channel for about five seconds, I happened to catch one of their anchors interviewing the Naked Cowboy (street busker Robert Burck, who performs in his underwear) in Times Square. When I saw that, I decided it was time to turn back to CNBC." [TVNewser]
In a decent interview (we just talked about) with NBC Universal chief Jeff Zucker, The Hollywood Reporter posed this hypothetical: "Rupert Murdoch could acquire the Wall Street Journal. If he integrates that with Fox Business Channel, what does that mean for CNBC?"
Now that Rupert has bought Dow Jones, let the fun begin in changing Jeff's response from a "could acquire" to a "did acquire" situation. CONTINUED »
• Rupert Murdoch buys Dow Jones. For real, this time.
• Which kinda makes this whole "Bancrofts Close to Accepting Murdoch Bid" story sort of outdated. Then again, who cares? It's over!!
• After her catastrophic television debut last week (a.k.a. the funniest thing we've seen all month) the big question on everyone's mind is: will Merry Miller will get another on-air opportunity? "Perhaps, if it's done on tape, but not live," says Debbie Downer Jessica Stedman-Guff, a.k.a. exec producer of ABCNewsNow. Sigh. The show's over, people.
• Ad sales/readership for Women's Health have never been, well, healthier.
• Jeff Zucker on Ben Silverman: "Ben brings great enthusiasm, optimism and energy, so it's always exciting to have Ben around because his enthusiasm and excitement is boundless." How…enthusiastic. And exciting!
• Citizen journalism: it's not just for underfunded barely read news publications anymore.
Oh Hell's To The Yeah, Kevin Reilly. After being ousted as head of NBC's entertainment division so Jeff Zucker could make room for Ben Silverman, Reilly has landed atop Fox as its entertainment prez.
We always knew Jeff Zucker would do whatever it takes to nail Paris Hilton nail that Paris Hilton out-of-jail exclusive.
With Jon Stewart's contract with The Daily Show up in 2008, it's only a matter of time before the (fairly lucrative) offers start pouring in. And Jeff Zucker is the first to toss his hat into the ring, wooing Stewart with a romantic dinner, an NBC tote bag and, potentially, an offer to take over Conan O'Brien's soon-to-be former job as host of Late Night.
NBC Universal President/Chief Executive Jeff Zucker and NBC Entertainment/Universal Media Studios Co-Chair Marc Graboff recently wined and dined the satirical news anchor and his agent, James Dixon.
According to a network source, Zucker and Graboff didn’t focus on pitching any specific role at the dinner meeting. “They just made their interest known in finding a way to do business together if Jon was ever available,” says the source, who categorized the talks as “exploratory.”
Kim Masters can pull off a hit job with a quick toss of her long brown locks. But her power is so great, so unruly, she must keep it under control in times like these — times when the urge to hunt down NBC's peacock, shoot a bow through its neck, grill it in the background, and dive into it with steak knives sounds oh so appealing.
But that would be for amateurs. Byline-everywhere and NPR host Masters, however, knows how to keep her awesome power cooled. Especially when she's talking about NBC great white hope Ben Silverman.
But, thankfully for us, not when she's discussing NBC chiefton Jeff Zucker. With him? It's a bloodbath. CONTINUED »
Editorial Director
