Gawker
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fox
Kevin Reilly Will Go To The Ends Of The Westside To Take Your Sitcom Pitch
As we well know, former NBC president Kevin Reilly was thrust aside in a bloody coup in May of 2007, with original programming gangsta Ben Silverman installed in his place, crown cocked B-boy style to one side of his head and tossing Benjamins at assistants' desks as he strutted towards his corner office to the beat of Notorious B.I.G.'s "Ten Crack Commandments." Reilly would quickly land back on his feet, however, appointed FOX's president of entertainment. Buoyed by a little something he likes to call "American Fuck Idol You Money," he's been playing around with the dusty concepts of a rigid development season, telling reporters at TCA that the network plans on dividing theirs in two. What's more, with finding the next hit comedy a top priority, Reilly is throwing all office-bound pitching notions out the window, instead pulling the equivalent of when your 3rd grade teacher used to announce, "It's such a beautiful day outside, I thought we'd hold class in the park!" THR reports: More » -
slips
'American Idol' Premiere Ratings Lowest In Four Years, Delivers Slightly Less Brutal Ass-Kicking To Competition
It was just a little over a year ago when then-NBC president Kevin Reilly, obviously depressed by the prospect of helplessly enduring another winter TV season in which all of his network's midweek offerings would be vaporized by Fox's Nielsen Death Star (obviously not to be confused with Hollywood's other destruction-dealing edifice), when he allowed himself this once delusional-seeming ray of hope at the TCAs: "Not to be shitty about it, but maybe they'll have a bad run. Nothing burns that bright forever. Some day it will be uncool to watch American Idol." More » -
hollywood feudwatch
NBC's Ben Silverman Thinks Network Rivals Reilly And McPherson Are 'D-Girls,' But Not Hot And Fun Enough To Party With
In its new issue, Esquire profiles compulsively quotable NBC perfect storm Ben Silverman, who apparently has not been too busy monitoring the foreign airwaves for lowbrow, easily importable reality TV formats he can plug into the holes the writers strike will soon blow in his network's schedule to publicly invite his favorite rivals over for a good, old-fashioned dick-measuring contest. We begin with Silverman's dismissal of network nemeses Kevin "The One Whose Job I Was Begged To Take" Reilly (now of Fox) and Steve "I Gave Him A Huge Hit He Didn't Even Want" McPherson as D-girls, fightin' words if we've ever heard any: More »
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By MarkComment by sickofthebiz: Hmm- Silverman used to be Brian Fron's bitch at New World Television.....while stabbing him in the back with head honcho... more » | Other threads
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hollywood luncheonwatch
NBC's Silverman, ABC's McPherson Fail To Provide Expected Bloodshed At HRTS Panel
Even though yesterday's Hollywood Radio and TV Society luncheon and panel discussion has to be declared an overall disappointment because NBC perfect storm Ben Silverman and combative ABC president Steve McPherson, appearing together for the first time since McPherson challenged the network rival who took his best buddy's job to "be a man," failed to come to the blows the assembled journalists not-so-secretly hoped for, director/producer Barry Sonnenfeld did earn positive notices ("One of the HRTS' more lively moderators in recent memory!" raves Variety) for his hosting work at the event. THR compiles a greatest hits package of Sonnenfeld's attempts at comic relief: More »
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By MarkComment by gwendemarco: Man, you were on! So fucking on! You blew (insert overpaid undersexed WASP male or overpaid oversexed Lesbian) so away!!!... more » | Other threads
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defamer
NBC's Ben Silverman Handicaps The Fall TV Season
Which network, you might ask, will be washed into fourth place when NBC co-chairman Ben Silverman unleashes his perfect television storm on his helpless competitors? In a Very Special Synergistic Conversation with CNBC chatshow personality Michael Eisner to air tomorrow night, the brash young conqueror of boob-tube worlds predicts it's Fox that will feel the resurgent's Peacock's fury (who can forget those terrifying cake-talons?), as Silverman ironically uses the very programs developed by NBC predecessor/newly appointed Foxster Kevin Reilly to bury his rival's network while it awaits American Idol-led Nielsen salvation. More » -
defamer
ABC Very Gay-Responsible
· GLAAD's first-ever "Network Responsibility Index" rates each network for how well they "handle the still-sensitive issue of depicting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals on TV." ABC got the highest rating for shows like Ugly Betty, Brothers and Sisters, and the upcoming Cavemen, sure to stir up much constructive discussion about gay-caveman stereotypes. [Variety] More » -
tca feudwatch
Steve McPherson Vs. Ben Silverman: "Be A Man"
Since there's nothing like a burgeoning feud between two of the most powerful men in television to enliven a seemingly endless string of TCA-generated reports about the coming Fall season, we're delighted to note that ABC president Steve McPherson has come out swinging about newly appointed NBC co-chairman/chime-bearer/rock-star Ben Silverman, whom McPherson apparently felt was a little less than honest in discussing his high-profile adoption of Grey's Anatomy orphan Isaiah Washington and in the way he pleaded ignorance of the bloody execucide of predecessor Kevin Reilly that cleared the path for Silverman to take control of the Peacock. TVGuide.com relates McPherson's comments about the Isaiah situation: More » -
trade roundup
NBC: Kevin Reilly Wasn't Fired, He Just Wasn't Comfortable Sitting In Ben Silverman's Lap All Day
· At the TCAs, non-rock-star NBC co-chairman Marc Graboff repeats the hilarious party line on Kevin Reilly's non-firing "'He wasn't fired,' Graboff revealed, inspiring instant guffaws. 'What happened was when Ben [Silverman] became available, about three months after we made Kevin's new deal, we jumped at the opportunity to bring Ben on board to the company. We thought he would be able to be the person that was going to take us to the next level. Kevin, when that happened, realized or determined, frankly, that there was just no role for him at the company and decided to move on.'" In fairness, it does get a little hard to do your job when the new guy keeps interrupting your meetings to replace another piece of your office furniture with his own. [THR] More » -
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defamer
Other Network Jobs That Might One Day Be Available To New Fox Hire Kevin Reilly
ยท ABC's Steve McPherson on Monday's announcement that pal Kevin Reilly is headed to Fox: "I hear when they fire me, he's going to come run this place," McPherson said. He then continued, his face rapidly draining of blood, "Haha, I'm just kidding guys, my job is completely safe. Guys? Guys? We're fixing Cavemen, I told you that yesterday!" [Variety] More » -
defamer
Kevin Reilly In At Fox, Where He's Now Sworn To Wipe NBC's Class From The Face of the Earth
It's official: the much-rumored-about Fox reunion of former FX pals Peter Liguori and recent NBC Memorial Day Massacre victim Kevin Reilly (pictured above slipping his business card to Liguori at a luncheon two years ago, knowing he'd one day have to hit up his old boss for a job) has come to pass, with Reilly, as expected, taking over the crucial programming responsibility of shouting at panicked underlings, "I don't care how the fuck we do it, but I want American Idol on every night from now until the Earth hurtles into the sun!" Variety notes the irony that Fox's new hire will now have the opportunity to turn the power of that aforementioned Nielsen Death Star against the schedule he meticulously crafted for NBC shortly before his ouster, watching through bittersweet tears as each crass Idol installment wipes out his classy primetime children one by one. More »
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By MarkComment by scroll_lock: Dude's got brows for days. Sorry, what was this all about? more » | Other threads
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defamer
Report: Kevin Reilly Already In Talks To Class Up Fox
Even as NBC janitors continue to scrub away at stubborn blood stains and collect overlooked skull fragments left over from the Memorial Day Massacre that enabled rock-star Ben Silverman's ascendance at the Peacock, freshly whacked president Kevin Reilly is reportedly in talks to reunite with former FX boss Peter Liguori at Fox, an attempt to recapture the magic of a previous collaboration which, in the words of Variety, elevated the then-obscure channel "to a basic-cable equivalent of HBO with cutting-edge fare." More »
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By MarkComment by Sweet Panda Love: New motto: First be first, motherfuckers! more » | Other threads
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introductions
Getting To Know New NBC 'Rock Star' Ben Silverman
TVWeek corralled just-installed NBC Entertainment co-chair Ben Silverman (pictured above enjoying himself in the general vicinity of soon-to-be sworn enemy Les Moonves of CBS) for a "getting to know you" chat, in which the recently anointed New Peacock Messiah reveals that while he has managed to chug the company's "Choke on Our Quality" Kool-Aid, his acceptance of the gig progressed so quickly that he hasn't yet had time to take care of certain details unimportant to taking the job, like watching all of the network's Fall pick-ups. Reports TV Week: 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 »
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By SethComment by insert_namehere: Does broadcast television even matter anymore? Seriously - I think 1 person per watercooler actually watches things, then sends out... more » | Other threads
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trade round-up
Addiction's Silent Victim, Lindsay Lohan Vehicle 'Poor Things,' To Continue With Shoot As Planned
· As we mentioned earlier, there's a new Golden Boy at NBC: Jeff Zucker reconfigures the executive structure at the once great, now consistently fourth-place network, essentially drop-kicking Kevin Reilly and luring Ben Silverman away from his successful production company to take over West Coast operations. [Variety] More »
1,297
By SethComment by Her Royal Empress Dr. Bufflekins III, Esq.: @Little Mintz Sunshine: Don't forget, Kiefer in Romania... more » | Other threads
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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
Saying Goodbye To 'Studio 60'
As the TV upfronts are intended to be a weeklong celebration of possibility and hope, there is generally no place in a network's presentation to advertisers to pause briefly and remember the once-beloved projects that won't be going forward into the Fall season; accordingly, it took a reporter's uncomfortable question to get NBC president Kevin Reilly to reflect upon the legacy of the newly euthanized Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, whose uncompromising, visionary showrunner was just one year ago anointed the savior of the last-place network. Notes the TV Week upfronts blog: More » -
upfronts
NBC Hoping Your Appetite For Its High-Quality Hits Is Insatiable
Having spent the last year riding president Kevin Reilly's "First be best, then be first" programming strategy from an embarrassing fourth place in the ratings to a more critically acclaimed, if still sparsely watched, 2006-07 TV season, NBC today officially announced its Fall schedule, with an exuberant Reilly introducing an equally exciting organizing philosophy for a new and improved slate that includes a six-episode Heroes spin-off, 30 episodes of The Office (with five super-sized installments!), and 25 of My Name is Earl. Reports Variety: More » -
defamer
NBC To Try To Nurture 'Friday Night Lights' To Eventual Nielsen Health
ยท NBC has pre-upfront pick-up fever, renewing the critically beloved, but anemically rated, Friday Night Lights for a second season. ("First be best, then be first" is the Peacock motto stitched into a throw pillow on Kevin Reilly's couch.) Also making the schedule: new dramas The Bionic Woman, Chuck, Journeyman and Life. [Variety] More »
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By MarkComment by raincoaster: "new drama" The Bionic Woman. Best laugh all day. more » | Other threads
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defamer
NBC Gives You A Chance To Say A Proper Goodbye To Matt, Danny, Jordan, And Lobster Boy
NBC's website quietly brings good—nay, great, shout-Huzzah!-to-the-heavens-and-slaughter-the-fatted-calf—news to Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip's legion of affluent, upscale, and long-suffering fans: The show will return to the airwaves on Thursday, May 24, presumably to burn off the remainder of its first-season episodes, just one day after the end of May sweeps and a week after the network is expected to announce a Sorkin-free Fall lineup at the upfronts. Of course, maverick NBC president Kevin Reilly could shock the world by taking the stage in NY and announcing he's giving the show another 22 episodes, explaining to a room full of disbelieving advertisers, "Come on, it's Aaron Fucking Sorkin! He made The West Wing! I know this sounds crazy now, but If you'd read his breakdown for the second season, where Matt and Danny decide to run in the presidential primary against Obama and Hillary, you'd understand. It's going to work this time, I can really feel it." More » -
defamer
'30 Rock' Finally Vanquishes 'Studio 60'
From the very moment that NBC controversially decided to greenlight two different series (one hourlong, one a half-hour) set behind the scenes at an SNLesque sketch comedy show and named for the numbered structures (one fictional, one real) in which they were produced, the fates of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and 30 Rock (one disappointing, one vastly superior) were inextricably linked. With Studio 60 indefinitely yanked from the airwaves and creator Aaron Sorkin failing thus far to live up his billing as Peacock Messiah (or even to a lesser, personal mission as Redeemer of a Debauched Medium), the network is now placing its sketch-comedy-related hopes for eventual Nielsen salvation in 30 Rock's Tina Fey, reports Var: More »
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By MarkComment by IKnowThings: But whyatever happened to Rachel Dratch? Now that it has been renewed, can she be a cast member again? more » | Other threads
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trade roundup
Trade Round-Up: Bart Plans Trip To Next 'Viking Quest' Convention
ยท After stumbling upon some screeners for its new season, Var's Peter Bart finally discovers The Entourage, which he believes pampers Hollywood's sexy underbelly but neglects the stepchildren. [Variety] More » -
defamer
Trade Round-Up: Russell Crowe Set To Go Mad With Directorial Power
ยท Famously temperamental thespian Russell Crowe will make his directorial debut on a feature adaptation of the documentary Bra Boys, about three brothers who started an underground surf movement in Sydney, during which the novice helmer will learn precisely how much damage a hurled megaphone can do to a mouthy PA's skull. Imagine's Brian Grazer to superproduce. [Ed.note—Since an update to this morning's Grazergate story is possible at some point today, we're forced to spare you the headshot at this time due to image bandwidth issues that could arise from its repeated posting.] [Variety] More »
597
By MarkComment by raincoaster: Tell me he bowed out and Stephen Chow is in and I'm there. more » | Other threads
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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:
More »
1,970
By SethComment by ZippyTheChimp: The hottest of the Deal chicks, the original #16, Kim Estrada, got the hell out of there and did a... more » | Other threads
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defamer
'Studio 60' CancellationWatch Renewed: Early Yanking Can't Be A Good Sign
This morning brings ominous news for Studio 60's legion of upscale, affluent, and Nielsen-confounding, TiVo-time-shifting fans: Variety reports that NBC is moving up by a week its previously announced indefinite yanking of the series following the show's worst ratings to date, handing over its juicy, post-Heroes Monday night timeslot to [pause for reflexive tightening of the sphincter] Paul Haggis' The Black Donnellys on February 26th. Says Var: More »
3,031
By MarkComment by whoneedslight: I am a Friday Night Lights junkie. The theme music alone makes me weepy. more » | Other threads
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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 »
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By MarkComment by Moonshine Mike: Gotta go with PuppyBowl....at least they can piddle at midfield and not get called for a foul... more » | Other threads
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nbc
NBC's Kevin Reilly Just Waiting For This 'Idol' Hype To Blow Over
Network presidents tasked with counterprogramming American Idol's 37 million viewers (a job further complicated by the Mandatory 'Idol" Viewership Act For Citizens 18-34 just passed by the newly Democrat-controlled Congress under heavy lobbying by News Corp.) find themselves with precious few practical options for combating the Nielsen juggernaut; those brave enough to resist the easy out of simply scheduling two hours of test-patterns in their Idol-opposing timeslot and then splattering their brains on the windows of their corner offices really have only one reliable strategy for surviving their Sisyphean labor: burying their heads in the warm sands of total denial. TV Week's Critical Eye TCA blog notes how NBC's Kevin Reilly is dealing with the Idol problem: More »
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By MarkComment by air polloi: If you're 'cool' you don't work in Burbank. more » | Other threads
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By MarkComment by Moonshine Mike: I must be an inbred, uncooth hillbilly from west virginia with no cable, as I found that particulay hysterical. ... more » | Other threads
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377
By MarkComment by Hullacious: One of nbc's problems, aside from Zucker, is that they believe this is all cyclical, they've bottomed out and will... more » | Other threads
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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
Three Rumors About NBC Layoffs We've Read Today: A Round-Up
In the interest of paying some attention, warranted or not, to various rumors about NBC layoffs both "massive" and very targeted circulating on these internets, we present this very special round-up for discussion on your afternoon commute: More » -
tv
Dick Wolf: Anybody Who Says They Know Something Is On Drugs
With a background in advertising and roughly sixty-eight versions of his Law & Order franchise currently on the air, cops-and-lawyers-procedural brandmaster Dick Wolf is uniquely qualified to declare that anyone who thinks they know how commerce, emerging platforms, and traditional programming will intersect in the future is quite obviously hitting the pipe. Reports the WSJ: More » -
trade roundup
Trade Round-Up: Fictional 'Studio 60' Rising, Actual 'Studio 60' Falling In Nielsens
20th Century Fox wins a bidding war for the rights to Moneyball author Michael Lewis' just-released football book The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game, his latest sport-related tome that a studio hopes to one day figure out how to make into a movie. [Variety] More » -
kevin reilly
Kevin Reilly Caught Rearranging His 'Product'
The NY Times delves into NBC's unprecedented rejiggering of their fall schedule, which began with a scuttling of Aaron Sorkin's drama-about-a-comedy Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip away from the Thursday night competition, and, like a bored, jittery housewife on a furniture-rearranging rampage, led to drastic tinkering with the rest of the schedule : More » -
nbc
NBC Chokes In Game Of Programming Chicken
Having found himself in the unenviable position of having his peacock messiah, Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip, grabbed by its feathered neck and thrown into a Burbank back alley for a proposed cockfight with ABC's unstoppable Grey's Anatomy, NBC president Kevin Reilly has finally succumbed to the deadly game of network programming chicken, moving 60 from the Thursday at 9 p.m. slot to the more poultry-friendly waters of Mondays at 10 p.m.:
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defamer
The Upfronts: Playing Thursday Night Chicken
When NBC's Kevin Reilly made a bold move in the chess match that is this week's fall schedule announcements at the upfronts by advancing his most beloved pawn, Aaron Sorkin's Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, into the 9 p.m. Thursday night slot, ABC's Steve McPherson responded by picking up his queen, Grey's Anatomy, and tossing it into Reilly's face. NBC hasn't officially retreated, but the LAT's Scott Collins blogs that some think that Reilly may ultimately concede the position to the competition: More » -
upfronts
The Upfronts: ABC Moves 'Grey' To Thursday, Realizing NBC's Fears
ABC's deliberate strategy of slowing feeding bored, disenchanted Desperate Housewives viewers to the infant Grey's Anatomy monster has finally come to fruition, as the Nielsen beast is now fully grown and ready to be sent out to wreak havoc on the network's competition. At a press conference this morning, ABC announced that it's moving Grey's to 9 p.m. on Thursday, where it will compete with CBS's CSI and, in a realization of NBC president Kevin Reilly's most career-chilling fears, the fledgling Aaron Sorkin drama Studio 60. Reports Var: More » -
nbc
The Upfronts: NBC Insubordination Edition
NBC president Kevin Reilly's admission of scheduling fear at the upfronts seems to have opened the door for his own employees to take some pokes at him. Blogs the LAT: More » -
upfronts
The Upfronts: Kevin Reilly Talks Fear, Strategy
NBC might be inspiring poetry in some of its underlings, but at the top of the executive food chain, there still seems to be a touch of post-traumatic stress disorder following their cellar-dwelling season. At NBC's upfront presentation earlier today, president Kevin Reilly explained how too many shakedowns for his Nielsen milk money by the other network bullies informed his decision to go with just two sitcoms on their traditionally comedy-heavy Thursday night. Reports the LAT: More »
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