Results tagged “Is Ben Silverman TV's savior or anti-Christ?” from The Mayor of Television

This is one of the reasons reporters are in a constant state of exasperation with network executives: Today, NBC abruptly calls a press conference for an "organizational announcement." Given that earlier in the day, NBC-Universal uberlord Jeff Zucker had floated the notion of scaling back the network's number of hours of primetime programming - "Can we continue to broadcast 22 hours in primetime? Three of our competitors don't. Can we continue to broadcast seven days a week? One of our competitors doesn't" - we anxiously rearranged our schedules and phoned in, awaiting the big news.

Which, of course, wasn't big news at all, just an executive shuffle that Variety had already reported on. (One of the new executives executive produced "Grease: You're the One That I Want" and "I'm with Stupid" for NBC and "Viva Laughlin" for CBS, proving that if nothing else, he was a courageous man for allowing such failures to remain on his resume.) It was delivered in typical lipstick-on-a-pig fashion, referring to the 500 layoffs at NBC Universal as "right-sizing" the network, and that by "eliminating layers of bureaucracy," NBC was poised to become the "most-talent-friendly organization," because they no longer had anyone around the office with the time or inclination to give show-runners notes on their shows.

(Be sure to use lots of brown!)

So while we were listening to this folderol, Bill Carter was off chasing the real story: NBC actually is kind of ceding its primetime schedule - they're going to give Jay Leno the 10 p.m. hour Monday through Friday. It's, if not win/win, at least win/not-lose-too-much for NBC, who had already promised Conan O'Brien Jay's 11:30 p.m. timeslot five years ago: They keep Jay (and, perhaps more importantly, ABC or Fox don't get Jay), and they get five hours of incredibly cheap (if, probably, fairly low-rated) primetime programming.

But, of course, NBC Entertainment co-chairs Ben Silverman and Marc Graboff didn't mention this. (They will tomorrow, though.) Graboff was asked about Zucker's talking up cutting back primetime, and replied, I haven't seen the comments. (Then he was probably the only person on the phone call who hadn't.) "We're looking at everything [we can to] keep the broadcast network single-revenue stream viable in this economy." The typical non-answer answer.

Also, I think I figured something out about Ben Silverman: Whenever he's lying or just can't or doesn't want to answer a question, he starts jabbering away in industry jargon and keeps saying the same thing over and over.

For example: Asked about NBC's crummy fall, Silverman replied, "We need to be patient. Patience is really where we need to be ... we need to continue to be patient."

But not as patient as the people who have to listen to him speak.

By my estimation, as NBC Entertainment co-chairman Ben Silverman has generated more magazine profiles than hit shows, and now here's another one. It's pretty much the same old same-old, with the requisite party-boy-image and blowing-off-meetings stuff, but here are some of the choice bits:

(Look! It's Ben Silverman in an office!)

"Now Silverman's first real slate is making its debut, and to the horror and fascination of Hollywood traditionalists, he is taking the most overtly commercial approach to programming that broadcast TV has ever seen."

Oddly enough, they don't mean "overtly commercial" in the "mainstream entertainment" sense, but in the "there-are-little-commercials-strewn-throughout-these-shows-in-the-form-of-product-placement" sense. To wit:

"For the first few weeks of the new TV season, NBC was stuck in third place and had no entertainment programs ranked in the top 20 most-watched shows. In the week ended Oct. 12, though, measured by shows with the most product placements, it had four of the top ten spots."

See? And here are the requisite glimpses into his indefatigable personality that are alternately intended to charm/annoy:

"(W)ith a persona that seems equal measures Ferris Bueller and Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs(,) last year he threw a bash in a rented mansion featuring a caged white tiger to greet guests. ...

"Silverman volunteers that one of his colleagues calls him 'the Paris Hilton of NBC.' ...

"At an NBC party in New York several months ago, Silverman shouted, 'Buy culture, not advertising!' ... and a high-five ensued."

And here is the requisite observation that'll either convince you that he indeed is the future of Television, or make you shudder, or both:

"Silverman isn't sure that scripted fare is the long-term answer for NBC. (Emphasis mine.) 'It would be so much easier to improve the lot of the network if I could find an "American Idol,"' he says."

Honestly, NBC needs to take that bullet magnet out of its shoes so they quit shooting themselves in the foot. Right now, with Tina Fey, they have the hottest star on TV - she won those three Emmys last month for "30 Rock" and her Sarah Palin impersonation is the season's biggest success story (even if she'd rather live on the moon than capitalize on it past November - see entry below).

So, you know, strike while the iron's hot and all that? At NBC, not so much.

Despite Feymania, NBC declined to push up its premiere date for Season Three of "30 Rock," which was and is and will always be Oct. 30. Right now, special primetime Thursday editions of "SNL" are camping out in "30 Rock's" timeslot (9:30 p.m.) and, in fact, the first lured almost twice as many viewers as "30 Rock" manages, even without Fey's participation.

But one wonders - if NBC really wants to cajole viewers into making "30 Rock" a hit, why wouldn't they be bringing it back in a slightly more urgent fashion? A nation hungry for its Tina Fey would've tuned in and maybe even discovered just how funny her full-time day job really is, but already, any heat off its Emmy wins has dissipated, and the show will be back just in time for Fey to have hung up her Palin eyewear for good.

Ben Silverman, one of the two best co-chairmen of NBC Entertainment the network has these days, told the New York Times, "If we knew then what we know today about how hot Tina was going to be, would we do it differently? Maybe."

Maybe? Why not just say, "Would we do it differently? Nah, because here at NBC we can't think on our feet sufficiently to react to an occasional splash of good fortune and besides, we don't care about stuff like getting people to watch our best show."

Obviously, NBC was in a bit of a jam, because it's tough if not suicidal to tinker with a launch of a new show ("Kath & Kim," at 8:30 p.m.) with which you terrorized viewers with ubiquitously unfunny promos during the Olympics. But there are a couple of ways they could've at least tried:

1) Jettison "My Name is Earl" (which, I think we'll agree, is close to over) at 8 p.m. for a couple of weeks and put the "SNL" specials there - this way, they get a stronger lead-in with which to introduce "Kath & Kim" and can heavily cross-promote "30 Rock" in between debate sketches and Weekend Update one-liners.

2) Push "SNL" to 10 p.m., after "30 Rock" (Since "ER's" final season is truncated anyway, it's not going to be hurt too much by a small delay) and pad the episodes out to an hour with classic old political clips or musical guests or, well, anything.

Or, you can do nothing and hope for the best, which seems to be NBC's plan in general.

Another breathtaking example of Hollywood originality and risk-taking: They're working on a "Partridge Family" remake. For NBC; network co-chairman Ben Silverman's old company Reveille is producing it.

Ironically, the motto for NBC parent company GE is "Imagination at Work."

Jeff Rake, the guy who came up with the idea to crib the old idea, explains his bold new vision for the show: "In the original, the kids actually recruited their mom to front the band, which I can't see happening in any family on this planet. The new version will reflect what seems to me to be the more realistic family band scenario these days: a struggling, sort of well-meaning mom pimping her kids in order to create a wholesome-slash-sexy cash cow."

So, wait, I'm confused - is this a remake of "The Partridge Family" or a sitcom version of "Living Lohan?"

That whimper you just heard was Television's last remaining vestige of self-respect.

Here's an interesting business model: Find a show with crummy ratings and then become a co-producer on it, and show it on your satellite network that only has 17.1 million subscribers nationwide.

I'm not sure how that helps anyone, really, except the cast and crew of a show that'd probably be cancelled otherwise. But it explains why the critically acclaimed "Friday Night Lights" will be premiering on DirecTV's 101 Network tonight.

DirecTV's Eric Shanks explains how this works for them: "It was the perfect show to really start to execute a content strategy based around high quality, premium entertainment. DirecTV believes in delivering a unique content experience to its customers with the goal of retaining our existing customers and trying to attract new customers. So 'Friday Night Lights' was the absolute perfect fit: It's the most upscale drama on television and it's adored by a loyal group of very passionate fans. The goal for us isn't necessarily to be a huge ratings hit, because we've chosen not to sell commercials. Instead, we're going to look to find those passionate niches. ...

"Halfway through the season, we'll go back and do research with the customers who joined during that period to find out if 'Friday Night Lights' had an effect. This is the start of this premium content strategy for us - there's no particular number that we have in mind, we just need to find out if this strategy is going to start to resonate with people."

After each episode, for the show's most obsessive fans, they'll present "Live from Dillon," featuring interviews with cast members (successful series don't get their own talk shows!). The season will run 13 episodes and focus more on football again rather than murder like it did last season. It'll show up on NBC next year, to, likely, worse ratings that it had last season. But I guess we'll see just how passionate those fans are. Remember how all those "Jericho" fans besieged CBS with peanuts and then when the show came back almost no one watched?

DirecTV sent me a "Friday Night Lights" screener, but it was for next week's episode, not tonight's. Go figure. Maybe we'll discuss it next week.

- "Friday Night Lights:" 9 p.m., 101 Network (DirecTV subscribers only).

Well, good news - mere hours before the fall season begins, NBC has taken a vested interest in getting its new programming sampled. A screener of "Knight Rider's" pilot showed up yesterday; today, an episode of "My Own Worst Enemy" and two episodes of "Kath & Kim" turned up.

(Since there's apparently only a couple of shots of "Kath & Kim" out there, both pretty much looking the same, here're stars Molly Shannon and Selma Blair without their goofy costumes. There - not so bad, right? They look like folks you might want to spend some time with, right? But then, this isn't how they dress on the show.)

We'd grouse about the paucity of episodes to sample and note that pilot episodes aren't a reliable gauge for the potential ongoing quality of a series, but none of the networks have exactly been sharing much beyond the pilots. The fact that the networks have been so generous with screeners for returning shows (except for "The Office" - where's that?) suggests they have more confidence in their venerable fare rescuing them from audience attrition than their new (and in more than a few cases, slapped-together-haphazardly) programs.

Time to pop "Knight Rider" into the DVD player! David Foster Wallace, I may be seeing you soon.

For all that slick surface demeanor and glad-handing prowess, NBC Entertainment co-chairman Ben Silverman has the soul of a poet.

Herewith, the powerful protest verse from Silverman, as delivered at Wednesday's press conference announcing NBC's 2008-09 schedule:

*

Fight the Power

We all deal with
a cacophony
of bad news

We want to give
an opportunity
to our audience
to have some fun

and enjoy their lives

watching our TV
programs

*

A World Without Laughter

I've watched
the other comedies
on the other networks

and

I've never laughed

*

End the Madness

If I had
one
more
person
sitting next to me
on a plane

and tell me
Friday Night Lights
was their favorite show
I
was going
to lose my mind

*

A Prison in My Own Mind

We all go home
at the end
of the day
with an ankle bracelet

For me, it's a Blackberry.

*

Untitled: The Office Spinoff

We will not go forward
and
put it on the air

if it's not absolutely
what we want
it to be

and only
if it doesn't
damage the mothership.

*

Ode to "Chuck"

Zach Levy
is a guy

Who is totally
accessible
to any generation

A ton
of young people
are tuning
into that show

Zach does crazy
stupid stuff

That resonates a with a young audience

*

Surrealism in the 21st Century

What's wrong
with the car

Saving the day

And the good
guys winning?

That's NBC's big strategy to lure you back to the network, according to this story in Variety. Marc Graboff, co-chairman of NBC Entertainment alongside Ben Silverman (who will unveil the networks new fall - and year-round - schedule on Wednesday), declares:

"People need to escape. Ben's programming strategy is to find some shows where people can tune in and then mentally tune out. That's his directive, and I think you'll see that reflected in the programs."

Given that we could all use a breather from the impending financial apocalypse (not to mention if Cheney decides to invade Iran as an October surprise), and given that the brain-dead "Deal or No Deal" outperformed the dour "Journeyman" this past season, you can't really argue with Silverman's strategy. The question, of course, is whether the programming will be up to snuff. Some of the series that may make the schedule include the "Knight Rider" retread and shows about a telepathic paramedic, an "adrenaline-charged" "Robinson Crusoe," a sexy former FBI agent and "My Own Worst Enemy," starring Christian Slater as a suburban man leading a double life as a spy (which sounds like the Schwarzenegger vehicle "True Lies"). Draw your own conclusions.

(Aside: Do you think advertisers will be lured by the image of slack-jawed viewers mentally tuned out? Or is that their target audience?)

NBC's other bold initiatives are to cycle out failing shows quickly with similar new series in the same time slot and to try to whittle down the number of repeats to just about none - which, naturally, will mean a lot more reality shows plugging holes in the schedule.

"Repeats don't work anymore, but we have a finite amount of money to spend," Grabhoff told Variety. "We're trying to do some things that are cheaper so that we can have more original programming."

The other networks, meanwhile, will unveil their fall schedules during the traditional May upfront. It's gutsy for NBC to move its announcement up so early, particularly given how pilot season was left in tatters by the writers strike. One just hopes the schedule that results isn't obviously slapdash. We'll find out Wednesday - if I don't mentally tune out during Silverman's phone press conference.

NBC co-chairmen Ben Silverman and Marc Graboff treated local journalists covering the TV beat to a lunch Monday at the Polo Lounge at the Beverly Hills Hotel, which sort of suggests the poverty producers are claiming during this writers strike may be somewhat overstated (on the other hand, the penne with rock shrimp featured fewer shrimp than usual, so there's that). (Oh, who are we kidding: The food was delicious.)

Given that NBC was the first to pull out of January's TV Press Tour, which subsequently led to scrapping the whole thing (see previous entry), it seemed a little odd that Silverman and Graboff agreed to a confab in which they were pretty mercilessly honest about a whole host of topics, including their own programming (particularly given that the other networks don't offer a similar holiday-season state-of-the-industry event for journalists, or, at least, me). One thing, though: The whole shebang was off-the-record.

Which means I, as a putative professional, cannot tell you:

* The exact day and hour the writers strike will come to an end (as divined via AMPTP's contract with the Illuminati), or which cultish deities will lord over the industry after the strike is resolved.

* Whether or not the next cycle of "The Biggest Loser" will eschew chubbies looking to shed pounds in favor of people who are, in general, just big losers. (And a contractual agreement forces me to refrain from mentioning whether or not I was personally invited to be a competitor if that was the case.)

* Whether viewers should expect the return of their favorite late-night hosts anytime soon, and the progress NBC has made in its development of a fully animatronic Jay Leno.

* How "Scrubs" will find closure despite the writers strike by using "Dawson's Creek's" series finale script, looking five years into the future with J.D. (Zach Braff) a successful filmmaker and Eliot (Sarah Chalke) suddenly and tragically dying.

* How many network reality shows would involve puppies playfully rolling over one another or reality contestants virulently lambasting one another would be aired in the coming months, and what that said as to whether puppies or humans should be in charge of the U.S. Government.

* Who Jeff Zucker keeps forever ensconced with peacock-emblazoned ball gags in GE-sanctioned S&M chambers.

* What Ben Silverman has in mind next for his competition after telling Esquire magazine that ABC's Stephen McPherson was "a moron" and Fox's Kevin O'Reilly (whom he replaced at NBC) "shockingly lacking grace," except to advise those living in Pacific Palisades to wear Hazmat suits on Dec. 17.

You have to love a guy mired in fourth place filled with swagger: NBC's Ben Silverman sat still (sort of) for a profile by Esquire magazine whereupon he proceeded to dump on his more successful rivals:

"'The industry hasn't seen an executive like me in a long time,' Silverman says. 'Traditionally, development executives rise through a specific subsection of the TV business - prime time, network, scripted programming. They're basically D-girls,' he says, using the derogatory industry slang for cute young development execs with little power. "That's what [ABC Entertainment president] Steve McPherson is, that's what [Fox Entertainment president] Kevin Reilly is. That's bad vernacular, but they're all D-girls.'"

Wow. The TV wars haven't been this much fun since Les Moonves and Jeff Zucker delighted those who covered the industry with their wry potshots at one another. But Silverman may not exactly understand how the game is played, as he demonstrated with this verbal scud:

"'We were friends,' Silverman says of Reilly. 'But he's been shockingly lacking grace. Everyone knows that somebody doesn't show up and say, "Hey, I want that job." That's not how it works. You get pursued.'"

Hmm. Silverman's slagging Reilly, who aired a lot of Silverman's shows when the guy was a producer and kept "The Office" on despite low ratings and has kept fairly mum since Silverman got his job a couple of months after he signed a new, multimillion-dollar deal, and Reilly's the guy who shockingly lacks grace. Silverman also attacked some of Reilly's programming choices, which were questioned by many at the time (airing two "Apprentices" and two shows about late-night TV simultaneously), but which also had the fingerprints of Zucker, Silverman's new boss, all over them.

Oh, but Silverman's not done: He also sticks the knife further into McPherson, who defended his pal Reilly when he got axed in favor of this tyro:

"'He's a moron,' Silverman says of McPherson, his voice raising. 'I delivered him a huge hit that he didn't want: "Ugly Betty." He hated the show, he didn't want America Ferrera, he didn't understand why I pitched it to him seventeen times and wouldn't stop. Then it delivered despite that. And every time we would do well, he'd try to find some issue with it. I think he wishes he had been a producer. He's a sad man, like a miserable guy stuck operating as an executive. And it probably makes him nuts that this kid who's five years younger than him is producing hit shows and then goes and gets his job in an end run - and a much bigger job than he has."

Silverman makes it sound like he snuck into ABC's programming offices late one night and surreptitiously added "Ugly Betty" to the network's schedule, and then, when McPherson discovered what had been done, decided, oh, well, can't change it back now and then "Ugly Betty" single-handedly made ABC No. 1. In other words: Can't put too much credence in this.

Or this, a little myth-making anecdote that Ben apparently fed his mother to contribute to the article:

"'I came home from work one day, and Ben said "You know what, Mom, this [NBC] is my channel and I'm going to run it when I get big,"' Mary Silverman says."

Silverman's known to party hearty, and some suggest that diminishes his intellectual rigor (when, of course, partying doesn't diminish one's intellectual rigor; not having much intellectual rigor diminishes it). So Silverman does his best Bush imitation:

"'Bring it on,' Silverman says. 'I'll play any game -- intellectual, physical, or otherwise -- with anyone who would ask me [the maturity] question. I'll go on "Jeopardy!" with them. I will play Trivial Pursuit.'"

Well, there you go: Silverman is a guy who measures intellectual rigor in terms of a TV game show and a board game.

We've delighted in using NBC's new creative head as a punching bag since he took the job (and will continue to do so in the future), but would be remiss in pointing out that Silverman, much as his rep would promise, has been making himself very visible and very available to reporters. Now, network heads generally are visible during their portions of press tour, but a lot of them also sort of give off this "unless-you're-Bill-Carter * -please-consider-finding-someone-else-to-talk-to" vibe. Silverman, on the other hand, is sidling up to groups of journalists, introducing himself and sticking around to chat.

Of course, he's asking a lot of the questions, such as what series they think Michael Richards might be a good fit for.

No, seriously, think about it: NBC has become the YouTube Celebrity-Meltdown Network. Hamburger aficionado David Hasselhoff's on "America's Got Talent." Australian media terrorist Jon Stamos stars on "ER." And now, Isaiah Washington's going to appear on "Bionic Woman," and the network's ostensibly interested in Rosie O'Donnell, too. Soon, NBC could stand for Nothing But Crazy.

* New York Times TV reporter with a Rolodex probably as large as the CIA database in "Chuck's" brain.

In NBC-Land, no one ever gets "fired." * They either "become available" or, when someone else is given one's job, "determined, frankly, that there was just no role for him at the company and decided to
move on."

That's what I learned today at TV Press Tour during the NBC executive session. Marc Graboff and Ben Silverman, co-chairmen of NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios, conducted their first press conference before America's crack TV reporters, and already they were prevaricating like old pros.

(Another thing I learned: Executives have poor spacial skills. We were handed seating charts for attendees in advance of each press conference, and although there were only two of them, Graboff and Silverman sat in the wrong chairs.)

We've previously discussed Isaiah Washington's reprieve from Governor Silverman, getting added to the cast of "Bionic Woman." From the transcript:

BEN SILVERMAN: Yes. He's a wonderful actor and a
great performer, and he became available, and we
thought he would be --

(Laughter.)

-- we thought he would -- I started talking to him
before he was available -- to deal with the
laughter. And the idea when he told me he was
available, I was like, "You are? Wait. They
let -- I don't understand. What do you mean?
You're a huge star on a star television show." I
didn't quite understand what had gone on there.
But the bottom line is he's a wonderful actor, and
we think inside "Bionic Woman," the character
that's been created for him is really strong and
one that he'll do a great job at, and that's what,
I think, people will respond to, and we're excited
to see come to fruition his portrayal of that character.

QUESTION: You're not worried at all about
potentially alienating a segment of the audience
of a new show that you kind of need to work?

BEN SILVERMAN: You know what, I think people are
tuning in to the "Bionic Woman," and whatever
support we can give to the "Bionic Woman" as
possible, we will give, and I think that he is a
wonderful actor. I think he is really talented.

As we've noted, Washington was dropped from "Grey's Anatomy" before Silverman joined NBC, so what he was doing talking to Washington before he had a network at his disposal to offer him a job is anyone's guess. Perhaps they were arranging a golf date.

As for Kevin Reilly's ash-canning, here's the official NBC-Land version of events:

QUESTION: Ben, what would you say about a company
that hires somebody for $6 million and fires them
after a month? Is that a good company or a bad
company?

BEN SILVERMAN: Do you know what, I hope that our
shows and our results speak for what we're doing.
And, you know, I only arrived, so all I can say is
we're really excited about what we're doing today and
what we're going to be doing tomorrow and what you'll
be watching in the Fall.

MARC GRABOFF: Let me address that, if I could,
because I think you're obviously referring to Kevin
Reilly, and I just want to kind of hit that on the
head a little bit. He wasn't fired. What happened
was when Ben 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.

(Laughter.)

QUESTION: Thank you for that clarification.

(Laughter.)

Any questions? If so, don't bother directing them to NBC, because the above underscores what sort of answers you'd get.

* (Unless, of course, they're on "The Apprentice," which NBC has decided to renew with a special "celebrity" version.)

Phoenix-like, Isaiah Washington has survived T.R. Knight's insidious plot to have him ousted from "Grey's Anatomy:" NBC has cast him in its upcoming remake of "Bionic Woman."

Ben Silverman made the announcement today at TV Press Tour, and seemed oblivious to - or at least extremely unwilling to discuss - Washington's penchant for controversy. "He's a wonderful actor," Silverman declared. "He became available."

When critics laughed at Silverman's euphemistic way of putting things, he became a tad defensive. "To respond to the laughter," he said, "I started talking to him before he became available."

Well, sure, because network executives are always trying to poach stars off hit shows. Of course, Washington was bounced before Silverman took over at NBC.

* UPDATE: Silverman didn't say this at the press conference, but the press release is now only touting his appearance as a "guest-star in an arc of five episodes." Just a guess, but that might be subterfuge to justify not presenting Washington at the "Bionic Woman" press conference tomorrow, where he'd become the story and no one else'd be able to get a word in edgewise.

Other goings-on at the NBC executive session, but we'll discuss them later.