I'm glad that once again the whole idea of who cares about the main network, look what he's doing for cable!! did not guarantee employment. Cable might be more popular than in past years but it's still limited in reach and increasingly formulaic and not much more different than anything on a network.

NBC's arrogance was off the charts beginning in the mid-90s and for many years to come. Not only their ads, which were very smug and phony, but also the way they ran off talent by demanding too much control.

They are actually fairly lucky, in that they still have SVU and Biggest Loser, and one or two of their new shows is performing well. The building blocks are still there. And they are very lucky that the public did not fall for the cheap stunt that was Leno in primetime.

Too bad no one told them putting Parenthood on at 10 PM is a way to kill ratings...

Edited September 24, 201015 yr by CarlD2

NBC can rebound in all dayparts, but they've got just wipe the slate clean with these ridiculous "niche shows" and especially late-night. I think the next prexy should just get rid of Leno altogether, end The Tonight Show, and do a half-hour of Dateline five days a week to directly compete with the buzz and momentum Nightline has gained. If anyone can do interviews, undercover stings, and prostitution stories better than the badass bitches at Nightline, it's Chris Hansen and the people at Dateline. And then, if they choose to keep Fallon, he can get the leftover audience from Dateline(a la Kimmel) and hopefully, that will help his show.

Gotta love bellcurve and his love of Nightline.

Gotta love bellcurve and his love of Nightline.

But I'm kind of serious about this: news shows, in general, are cheaper to produce than late night talk shows. And during the week Michael Jackson died, the ratings for Nightline beat everything else in late-night. NBC would have to crazy not to at least consider the idea of replacing Leno with Dateline or another newsmagazine. It makes perfect sense. And Leno is bleeding NBC dry.

Give Ann Curry that co-anchor spot so she can stop being jealous of Meredith.

I wonder when they'll announce his replacement...

I'm willing to bet that the fortunes of NBC will start going up immediately following this long overdue announcement.

Also, I'm surprised that nobody has yet to comment on what impact (if any) Zucker's departure will have on DOOL. I'm guessing that it won't have much of an impact. However, I have always believed that Zucker has been modestly supportive of that show (despite his early 2007 statement that he would soon cancel it; which was a threat that was never carried out).

I wonder when they'll announce his replacement...

http://www.deadline.com/2010/09/toldja-steve-burke-to-become-nbcu-ceo/

Good, I have optimistic hopes for Stephen B. Burke. Let's hope he delivers.

Given his background, I can't see him being too happy about NBC being a network led by niche programming.

The Event is the only show that had modest ratings. The rest of the new shows have been failures. I was so sick of them promoting their new shows like ever 5 seconds...especially....Undercovers, Outlaw..and The Chase. Even Blue Blood a Friday show did better than all of them including The Event.

http://livefeed.hollywoodreporter.com/2010/09/hollywood-hopeful-for-nbc-without-jeff-zucker.html

"There's a certain amount of responsibility that comes when one runs a media company," he said. "They set the tone for the pop culture for the country. Pop culture is our No. 1 export. Zucker took the single most important piece of real estate on NBC -- and perhaps TV in general -- and reprogrammed it with a reality series [scheduling 'The Apprentice' on Thursday at 9 p.m. in 2004]. It never recovered."

Greenburg also noted that under Zucker, NBC never found a breakout sitcom for that once-dominant Thursday night lineup. "'The Big Bang Theory' and 'Two and a Half Men' prove there were half-hours to develop," he said. "It's not as if the medium was dead."

Getting rid of Zucker is "step one by Comcast, a statement that they believe in broadcast," he said. While Comcast hasn't tipped its hand yet to the changes that will likely be made atop the leadership of the broadcast network, Greenburg added, "It would be great if they hire somebody who really wants to run a network, and not someone who wants to be a corporate CEO. Zucker clearly disregarded the creative community."

An industry source familiar with the thinking of Burke said that NBC Uni's soon-to-be CEO was astonished that Zucker had had been publicly negative about the future of broadcast.

"Steve was like, how can you have any kind of morale and spirit at a network when the head of the company is telling everybody how bad business is?" he said. "And the fact is, the network business is not that bad. Les Moonves had done pretty well [at CBS] ... What they want to do is turn the peacock into a proud peacock."

Exactly.

They've got to get rid of those ridiculous single-camera comedies. End The Office when Steve Carrell leaves. End 30 Rock(it's already got 100 episodes, put in syndication and give it a movie starring Tina Fey). I will love this guy forever if he orders a traditional, multi-camera sitcom. Just one.

Edited September 26, 201015 yr by bellcurve

I'd love to see both of those cancelled too!

There's already some panic among Chuck fans that it'll be canceled with Burke coming on. Part of me wishes it was true because some of those fans piss me off to no end. I'm sure any changes to NBC will be the next season.

Edited September 26, 201015 yr by lovely_m

There's already some panic among Chuck fans that it'll be canceled with Burke coming on. Part of me wishes it was true because some of those fans piss me off to no end. I'm sure any changes to NBC will be the next season.

God, Chuck is LAME!