NBC: Quality Honesty with Noise

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.)