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hollywood
How Jay Leno Screwed Conan O'Brien
The New York Times has a massive piece in this week's Sunday Magazine by Lynn Hirschberg on Conan O'Brien and the changes taking place at NBC as O'Brien prepares to take over as host of the Tonight Show on June 1, while Leno moves into the nightly 10pm slot.
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ben silverman
Why Does Ben Silverman Still Have a Job?: The Bill Carter NYT Profile Edition
Times TV reporter Bill Carter's profile on NBC co-chairman and Executive Bong Smoker Ben Silverman ran today. To put it lightly: Carter takes Silverman by the collar, beats him, and stuffs him in a locker. More » -
failures
Most-Watched Super Bowl Ever Is a Disaster for NBC Universal
Jeff Zucker's division made about half as much money last quarter as it did the year before. So to judge by the upward-failure arc of his career, he'll be running GE in about three weeks. More » -
nbc
Jay Leno Reveals That NBC Chief Jeff Zucker Is Utterly Clueless
Hey, you there! Think you can run a network? You may be able to do it better than NBC's boy-king Jeff Zucker, who Jay Leno has just exposed as a total space cadet. -
tina fey
Tina Fey Breaks Campaign Promise, Forced to Play Sarah Palin Once More
Remember this lady, Sarah Palin? She was famous for appearing every Saturday night on the tee-vee, saying cute things about Russia, gays, and Katie Couric. Or maybe that was her portrayer, Tina Fey? -
television
Ben Silverman's NBC Job Safe, Says Ben Silverman
What does Ben Silverman, skiing enthusiast and co-chairman of craptacular NBC, do when everyone wonders why he's still employed? Judging by today's New York Post, tell his favorite outlet how great he is. More » -
les moonves
Les Moonves Confident 'CSI' Will Crush Leno: 'By A Lot'
As Jeff Zucker foists his last hopes for NBC on Leno and his arsenal of funny newspaper-clipping typos, his arch nemesis—future galactic despot Les Moonves—couldn't help but engage in a favorite pastime: More » -
conan obrien
Conan On Leno: 'Temperatures Rising Rapidly In My Personal Hell'
All eyes were on Conan last night in anticipation of what, if anything, he'd say about NBC's surprise announcement that Jay Leno would upstage his long-planned ascension to The Tonight Show throne. -
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jay leno
Dear SAG: Strike Away! Love, NBC
So SAG's fucked. Wait—did we say "fucked?" There we go again—needless doomsday prophesying where Obaman cool-headedness is clearly required. What we meant to say is: "SAG's probably fucked." Yesterday brought a confluence of Pop Culture Doomsday events that not even a walrus blowing like Bird could have foretold: -
Do Not Ask For Whom The Chimes Toll
Jeff Zucker Sends Out 'You're Fired Unless Your Name Is Ben Silverman' All-Staff NBC Memo
"'They call her the black widow. Every program she touches turns to death,' growled our source. 'She is on very thin ice.'" That was how Page Six described Universal Media Studio President Katherine Pope (pictured) last month in a suspiciously positioned item foisting blame for the network's disastrous string of recent offerings—shows like Bionic Woman, My Own Worst Enemy, Lipstick Librarians, and freshly squeezed lemon Knight Rider—on her fetchingly exposed shoulders. Nikki Finke accuses Silverman of having leaked the items himself ("that's one of the fringe benefits of his selling his Reveille to Elisabeth Murdoch and yachting with her this summer") in her analysis of today's shakeup that saw not just Pope's exit, but that of NBC Entertainment EVP Teri Weinberg, as well. (Weinberg was the D-girl Silverman brought over from Reveille who was later discovered in the compromising position technically referred to in the business as shtupping your showrunner. Because no one ever fucks anyone they work with in Hollywood—ever.) -
helen mirren
Helen Mirren, Nazi Huntress
· Helen Mirren will trade in her two-piece for a gun in The Debt, a remake of an Israeli hit about a Mossad agent who comes out of retirement to track down a war criminal. [Variety] More » -
ben silverman
Forward-Thinker Ben Silverman Safeguards NBC From Inevitable 0/0 Audience Share
Ben Silverman—dubbed by some "the Russell Brand of TV execs" as much for his ids-gone-wild approach to the job as for his untamed nest of rock-star hair and penchant for ultra-skinny jeans—has found himself in recent months the source of much industry deathwatch chatter. By now we're well aware of the criticisms—long absences from the development fold, turning a blind eye to VP-on-showrunner affairs, signing his name and likeness over to a line of Graffix bongs, etc. None of this, however, seems to be of much concern to Ben, who has devised an ingenious way to profit off the one thing NBC has over the other guys: a lack of viewers. He explained the concept to Variety: More » -
jeff zucker
Jeff Zucker and Steve Tisch: Can 80,000 Booing NFL Fans Be Wrong?
Touted as a historical television fundraiser and awareness drive across three networks (Fox is sitting it out — stay classy, Rupe!), tonight's Stand Up For Cancer event was momentous enough to commandeer halftime during Thursday's NFL season opener at Giants Stadium. But it wasn't quite momentous enough to keep the sold-out crowd from cascading jeers onto unpopular Giants co-owner/Oscar-winning producer Steve Tisch and innocent bystander Jeff Zucker, whose eventual introduction and comments were only slightly better regarded than his host's, according to a Defamer operative in attendance. (Seriously — did Zucker's infamous My Name is Earl introduction get around to that many people?) A fan captured the video featured after the jump, featuring plenty of middle fingers, chants of "asshole" and a much more benevolent welcome for Zucker-preceder Christie Brinkley. Tough crowd, indeed. [YouTube] -
alec baldwin
Exclusive: 'My Name Is Earl' Creator Greg Garcia Labels Alec Baldwin An 'Unlikeable, Psychotic Narcissist'
While we found yesterday's 8,000 word New Yorker profile of Alec Baldwin to be an engrossing (if entirely too long) read, we were able to find one person who was less than impressed by Baldwin's long-winded rants about the perils of being impossibly rich and famous: My Name Is Earl creator/executive producer Greg Garcia. In the piece, not only did Baldwin blast the suits who run NBC's programming and promo departments for "wring(ing) the last drops" out of Thursday night comedy staples like Earl and Scrubs while 30 Rock is treated like a "red-headed stepchild", he also indirectly criticized the quality of said shows by labeling both as "done" and "cooked." Naturally, this irked Garcia, who spoke exclusively with Defamer this morning about his thoughts on his show's performance, 30 Rock's ratings and, of course, Baldwin himself: More » -
ben silverman
Is NBC Plotting a Fall Schedule With No Time Slot for Ben Silverman?
While it's hardly a secret that embattled NBC chief Ben Silverman likes to party, never have his carousing ways received the sort of harsh buzz dealt out this weekend by Nikki Finke, who spent the better part of a blockbuster post detailing how Silverman's antics are about to cost him his job. No, seriously this time! According to a variety of anonymous NBC sources, Silverman is the network's very own Man Who Wasn't There, missing meetings on a regular basis and spending the entire, crucial month of August in Beijing while his colleagues expected him to decamp for a week at most (in all fairness, those Ryan Seacrest remotes weren't going to tape themselves!). However, it seems that the NBC chief's biggest problem is EVP Teri Weinberg, a Silverman protege whose romantic involvement with an NBC showrunner caused upward-failing NBC Universal head Jeff Zucker to step in and terminate that writer's deal: More » -
jeff zucker
Jeff Zucker: Portrait Of An Upwards-Failing Champion
What better aprรจs-puff-piece aperitif to follow the NY Times's profile of a content-hungry Time Warner than Portfolio's equally attentive servicing of NBC Universal oligarch, Jeff Zucker? Interviewed at his ballroom-sized corner office at 30 Rock, the reporter at first can't resist infantilizing his subject: "Zucker has an appealing, ruddy tint that lends him a cherubic appearance," reads one willies-inducing passage. "When he sits back, his feet actually lift off from the floor a bit, like a boy taking a turn on someone elseโs throne." (We'll assume the part that read, "He then soils his diaper, a mess quickly attended to by the youngest and prettiest of his three assistants..." was edited for space.) More » -
defamer
Drama At The Met: Wedding Rings Gone MIA, Honcho Snubs And Catfights Galore
Mixing two high-profile sects like A-list stars and fashionistas will inevitably result in a bit of drama, but at Monday night's Costume Institute Gala, drama took on a whole new meaning. Catfights! Divas! Public Displays Of Aggression! From Christina Ricci's early departure to Peacock King's Jeff Zucker's bitchy avoidance of Darth Weinstein on the red carpet, everyone's claws were out on Monday night. Adding fuel to the fire, one married actress decided to show up to the event sans wedding ring amid rumors of a pending divorce. All the details, including Jennifer Aniston's fling-of-the-week's comments on whether or not the whole mushy affair is for real, after the jump. More » -
defamer
Jeff Zucker's Wife and Kids Nervous About Harvey Weinstein's 'Runway' Restitution
Some days we're so full of love for Harvey Weinstein that our weak, arrhythmic blogger hearts nearly explode. It was one thing last week when he brazenly moved Project Runway to Lifetime, pulling the rug out from a supposedly unwitting NBC. It was another thing entirely on Monday when Harvey rolled the rug up and started whacking NBC boss Jeff Zucker over the head with it: More » -
defamer
More Fallout For Controversy Magnet Harvey Weinstein As 'Runway' Heads To Lifetime
Spring 2008 hasn't been kind to Harvey Weinstein and his little production company. First, his close friend Anthony Minghella passed away (prompting a highly critical piece penned by New York Magazine film critic David Edelstein), then he butted heads with the Marley family over his planned biopic on the reggae singer, and now the portly producer finds himself at the center of NBC and Lifetime's battle for Project Runway. Moments after Lifetime announced their five-year $150 million deal with the Weinstein Co. to take over the helm of Bravo's signature show, Jeff Zucker and his peacocked lawyers immediately responded by suing Harvey and his goons for breach-of-contract. And insiders at NBC aren't keeping mum about their feelings towards the money-hungry Weinstein:"Harvey hates us passionately, always did...He despises Bravo because he thinks we didn't pay him enough."
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defamer
Opening Act Jeff Zucker Fails to Rally Crowd For Return of 'My Name is Earl'
The months-long anticipation we've experienced awaiting new episodes of NBC comedies has almost totally destabilized Defamer HQ, particularly in our speculations as to how the network would gently reintroduce us to programming like My Name is Earl. Would we see a brief sketch with Jason Lee agreeing to return to work on the condition of no more Paris Hilton cameos? Would the show go meta, with its cast treating its staff writers to a Earl-esque karma intervention? Or would NBC boss Jeff Zucker hijack the moment and squander yet another two minutes of viewer goodwill? Wait — did we just give it away? More » -
defamer
Jeff Zucker Rumored To Be Seeking Damages From WGA For Pooping On His Golden Globes Parade: UPDATE
With the joyous news that the writers strike has unequivocally ended, an historic accord marked by Nick Counter and Patric Verrone appearing together on the balcony of the Warner Bros. water tower on Valentine's Day eve, as thousands below chant, "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" until the reluctant peacemakers finally acquiesce to a deafening roar of approval, it would seem everything is right again in the magical realm of Hollywoodland. Which makes this rumor all the more disconcerting: Could the NBC Universal ruler, whose upward-failing rise to power was prophesied in lesser-known New Testament appendix The Book of Jeff, really be mulling a lawsuit with the HFPA against the WGA for robbing them of a Golden Globes ceremony? Deadline Hollywood Daily says it could be so: More » -
jeff zucker
NBC Universal To Stop Shooting Pilots Says CEO Jeff Zucker
NBC Universal chief Jeff Zucker announced NBC would no longer blow tons of dough shooting poorly thought-out but memorably expensive television pilots. He says it's due to the recession which totally exists (Zucker was at the bleak World Economic Forum conference in Davos when he made the announcement) but could it also be an act of retaliation against the striking writers? According to the NYT, other studios are likely to follow NBC's move. While this makes fiscal sense for the struggling studios—NBC has, in the well-chosen words of Zucker "At NBC Entertainment weโve been flat on our backs for the last few years.โ—it is bad news for the public. From whence will the next LAX 2194 or Poochinksi emerge? How will future generations be able to sally forth in the absence of Fuzzbucket, a tale of love between a boy and his troll? -
defamer
NBC Uses Fear Of Jeff Zucker's Wrath To Scare 'SNL' Writers Away From Doing Letterman's Top Ten List
Did upward-failing NBC Universal Chief Executive Golden Boy Jeff Zucker, enraged at the galling disloyalty of striking SNL writers who planned to participate in the delivery of a Top Ten list on hated CBS talk-show rival David Letterman's WGA-sanctioned return to the airwaves last Wednesday night, threaten to dispatch a flock of ravenous, flesh-craving demon-peacocks to eat the defenseless babies of anyone who dared betray their corporate family by appearing on a competing network's late-night telecast? Sources tell Slate's Kim Masters that once Zucker got word of the impending treachery, Warnings Were Issued, and a hasty retreat beaten by some of those reminded where their bread was buttered: More » -
nbc
In news sure to rock the voiceover world, the Eat the Press blog's audio forensics lab has revealed that the new, disembodied voice of NBC Nightly News is...[SFX: drumroll] Michael Douglas. (In fairness, we should note that some false positives—like Richard Dreyfuss and Alan Alda—preceded the final announcement.) We're not sure which NBC official is responsible for this coup, but we wouldn't be surprised if co-chairman/designated big-idea-haver Ben Silverman called up boss Jeff Zucker and demanded that he patch this latest hole in the their leaky network with the finest celebrity spackle available. [Eat the Press] -
trade roundup
NBC U's Jeff Zucker Issues Timely Reminder That There's No Money To Be Made On The Internet
ยท NBC Universal boss Jeff Zucker whines that his company wasn't making much money from iTunes downloads of its TV shows, and that the control-freaky Apple wouldn't allow him to "experiment" with raising the prices for one of its series. Also, the greedy Apple is apparently to blame for denying them revenue they would then immediately share with their beloved partners in content creation, their writers: "Apple sold millions of dollars worth of hardware off the back of our content and made a lot of money. They did not want to share in what they were making off the hardware or allow us to adjust pricing." [Variety] More » -
defamer
Taunting Pinkberry
· By the time you get to the end of this video, the man with the microphone will already be dead, with Oreo crumbs and a curiously yogurt-like substance found near his lifeless body the only clues as to who did him in. More » -
short ends
How To Fuck Up The American Version Of Your Hit British Sitcom
· "I can answer that with three letters: N-B-C. Very, very good writing team. Very, very good cast. The network fucked it up because they intervened endlessly. If you really want a job to work, don't get Jeff Zucker's team to come help you because they're not funny ...." [Note: This is a (slightly) revised transcription of the quote reported by TV Week that we originally posted.] More » -
defamer
NBC Chief Silverman Wins Goldenseal Of Approval
Let the networkwide party begin: today's Page Six reports that allegedly 420-friendly NBC co-chairman Ben Silverman has jumped over the last mellow-harshing hurdle erected by the killjoy suits of his parent corporation, finally taking- his company drug test: More » -
defamer
HBO Hoping New CEO's Tenure Remains Refreshingly Mugshot-Free
· Time Warner officially announces that interim CEO Bill Nelson will be permanently replacing the recently shitcanned Chris Albrecht, confident that their newly installed leader will keep himself free of PR-nightmare altercations at Vegas valet stands. [Variety] More » -
defamer
Jeff Zucker's Internal Memo Offers Cheery Take On The Difficult Process Of TV Executive Termination And Rebirth
Because no seismic shift in the Hollywood power matrix feels fully complete without the requisite internal memo patting the ousted exec on his recently axed head for a job well done—but not quite well enough to warrant not getting fired!—while welcoming with great fanfare his more promising replacement, we offer the following message from NBC Universal President and CEO Jeff Zucker. It introduced new co-chairmen, Ben "Zucker II" Silverman and Marc Graboff, to his army of blind followers, who know better than to question the at times brutal wisdom of their sheeny-scalped overlord. The rest of the memo and press release follow after the jump: More » -
defamer
NBC Head Kevin Reilly Relieved Of His Classy-TV-Making Duties
NBC head Kevin Reilly, who just weeks ago optimistically unveiled his network's fall slate to advertisers with the fighting, Muhammad-Aliesque couplet: "We've got the class and next season we're ready to add some mass," has been relieved of his Deal or No Deal-replicating duties once and for all, in a Memorial Day weekend surprise shakeup ordered from on high by NBC Universal's Peacock King, Jeff Zucker. Reports LA Weekly's Nikki Finke: More » -
defamer
Les Moonves Finishes Off Gutshot Imus
For those of you unable to concentrate on your jobs, family, or the heartbreaking news that Angelina Jolie seems unable to love her lone biological child because you've been sick with worry about this Don Imus situation, relief: He's been shitcanned by CBS, and shitcanned good. Our east-coasted siblings at Gawker have smiling CBS Corp. despot Les Moonves' announcement of the firing, who is no doubt a little annoyed that sworn NBC enemy Jeff Zucker beat him to the kill yesterday; he hates being the guy to fire the second bullet at a public execution. More » -
jeff zucker
Jeff Zucker Delicately Explains Don Imus's Shitcanning To NBC Universal Employees
We haven't exactly been eager to dive into the Don Imus controversy that has erupted since some ugly words regarding the Rutgers women's basketball team slipped from the dessicated radio host's slackened jaw. We can no longer avoid it, however, now that a reader has forwarded us an internal missive from reigning NBC Universal oligarch Jeff Zucker, explaining, with heavy Golden Boy heart, the thought process that led to the dismantling of Imus's MSNBC talk show and expulsion from the General Electric kingdom. It's not the kind of letter a chief executive ever wants to have to compose, but let's face it—these things happen, and not every every company-wide correspondence can begin with a horn-tooting intro like, "Please join us for an afternoon ice cream social in the lobby to celebrate Heroes landing at #1 in the 18-49 demo AGAIN, folks!" The e-mail, and NBC Universal's official statement, is after the jump: More » -
kevin reilly
Kevin Reilly Renews NBC Contract; Credits Jeff Zucker And 'Those Models With The Briefcases'
It took a little longer than expected, but beleaguered NBC Entertainment president/Dwight Schrute-comic-foil Kevin Reilly, who for years was expected to be but one axe-swing away from being ejected from his Burbank offices via medieval catapult, has renewed his contract:
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defamer
Trade Round-Up: NBC Madness!
ยท NBC will hand over Aaron Sorkin's 10 p.m. Monday night Studio 60 timeslot to Paul Haggis' drama The Black Donnellys starting on March 5, hoping that the heavy-handed, fender-bender-loving double Oscar winner's new series will hang on to some of hit lead-in Heroes' viewers, but promises that S60 will return to their airwaves at an unspecified date. Also: 30 Rock's slot is being temporarily donated to the Conan O'Brien/Andy Richter midseason comedy Andy Barker, PI, but will be back on April 19th. [Variety] More » -
trade roundup
Trade Round-Up: More Layoffs 2.0 Fun!
More on NBC's Layoffs 2.0: Corporate hatchetman Jeff Zucker says that the 700 pinkslips they're expected to hand out aren't some kind of punishment for Aaron Sorkin's inability to singlehandedly save their primetime schedule from fourth place. OK, he didn't mention Sorkin specifically, but we know what he was getting at. [Variety] More » -
nbc
Inside The Layoffs 2.0 Town Hall Meeting: NBC's Must See Pinkslip TV
In every outpost of the NBC Universal empire, just a little while ago anxious employees were huddled around closed-circuit broadcasts of their fearless leaders' "town hall" meeting explaining the corporation's new, streamlined, and more cost-conscious push into the digital media age enabled by the immediate, selfless sacrifice of 700 or so of their jobs. We asked one LA-based operative stationed inside the rapidly shrinking NBCU 2.0 family to briefly describe what was covered in Jeff Zucker's you're-all-firedside chat: More »










































