Zucker Up

Interesting article in Forbes about Jeff Zucker, CEO of NBC Universal. Like all stories about super high achieving people, it reminds me how I'm not one of those people (Zucker was producing the Today Show at 26; I'm 27 and... not producing the Today show). It's an entertaining portrait of a very competitive, ambitious guy who doesn't sound like a total douche. That role apparently belongs to Les Moonves (head of of CBS), who has some kind of childish vendetta against Zucker. There is something very annoying about wealthy, powerful old men acting like 4-year-olds. This annoyance can probably be traced to my experience with college frat boys.

The story focuses on the criticism Zucker endured as head of NBC television, the post he held for three and a half years prior to ascending to CEO in February. The main complaint was that Zucker failed to develop sitcoms during his three and a half year tenure. While the list of failures is wince-inducing (Emeril? Joey? Did he watch the pilots before giving these shows the thumbs up?), I think the allegation is a little trumped up. Sitcoms have been dwindling since the late 90s on every network. This was unfortunate for NBC long before Zucker nabbed the top job, since NBC's success during the 90s was built around sitcoms like Seinfeld and Friends. CBS overtook NBC by being the first to jump on two big trends: reality television (with Survivor) and the a flashier, high-tech version of the crime drama (with CSI, which has spawned not only two more versions, but influenced shows as varied as Without a Trace and House). Of course, that shift in preferences took place before Zucker even left the Today show, much less took over the entire television unit, so it's hard to pin NBC's recent problems on him.

The article also contains a few clues to NBC's 2007-2008 schedule, including canceling Law & Order (finally and thankfully) and maybe stretching The Office to one hour, which is both exciting and terrifying. No word yet on Friday Night Lights, but I have a feeling we'll know before May 14, when the networks unveil their schedules at the upfronts.