In Defense of Ben Silverman

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.