Jeff Zucker: "NBC Won't Survive Another Strike" (1 Viewer)

[MatthewA]

Movie & TV News @ IMDb.com - Studio Briefing - 8 April 2008

They said NBC would perish after the 1980 Summer Olympics Boycott, and they didn't, but it was still a triopoly then.

Do you really think one of the three legacy networks will actually go the way of the Edsel? I don't know what to think. Except that they need to hold a seance to conduct Brandon Tartikoff from the great beyond.

 

[John Kilduff]

I think it would survive, but then again, I don't watch the channel. I'm just going with my gut feeling here (and I have a very big gut...I should start working out).

Anyway, speaking for myself, I don't really watch any of the major networks. I watch ABC's broadcast of the Academy Awards every year, and I always watch the AFI "100 Years..." special that airs every year on CBS, but other than that, nothing. I don't watch NBC or FOX or the CW or MyNetwork TV. When I go to sleep, I leave either The Weather Channel or the listings channel on while I sleep. Most of my day is spent watching VH1, DVDs, or old VHS tapes, or listening to music and using the computer. If my mom's out of the house, I'll dance around the house.

The big networks really hold no interest for me anymore...With the exception of the Oscars and each AFI special, it's cable for me all the way.

Sincerely,

John Kilduff...

I'm probably the only one on here who thinks that way.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

It can't help that Jeff Zucker the boy moron has taken NBC from first to fourth during his tenure at the top rungs of the network ladder. And with each increasingly large failure, he's just gets promoted higher yet. Maybe if NBC does go the way of the doodoo, the GE board will give him control of the entire company...

 

[Chris Lockwood]

Zucker should stick to making "Airplane!" style movies and let someone else run the network.

 

[MatthewA]

They brought in a guy named Ben Silverman to run programming. Last time they had a Silverman in charge the same thing happened, yet they claimed in their ads they were "Proud as a Peacock." They can bring back the melody and update it for today: "NBC, Dead as a Dodo!"

Difference is, Fred Silverman had success programming CBS and ABC.

What is it that makes Jeff Zucker such a moron? Seeing how I haven't voluntarily watched NBC since the last episode of "Cheers," I am unfamiliar with what he has done. And if he is as bad is you say, maybe all hope is not lost for NBC.

This network is losing to Fox in the ratings. Fox.

 

[Greg_S_H]

You're missing some good TV by closing off NBC. Chuck, Heroes, the deleted Journeyman, Friday Night Lights. And, Fox is no longer a joke network. 24? American Idol? The Simpsons and Family Guy have helped make them a powerhouse, too.

 

[RickGr]

NBC has some good sitcoms as well with The Office, Earl and 30 Rock.

 

[Lenny Rakes]

The shows listed above is the very reason NBC is sinking in the ratings. None of the shows mentioned are family friendly shows. Right now there is a big segment of viewers that are made up of families who are entertainment starved and none of the major networks especially NBC offers many shows of real value.

 

[Ted Todorov]

Jeff Zucker has nothing to do with Airplane! (made by David & Jerry Zucker no relation to Jeff) or any other funny movie. He is just an incompetent TV exec.

Jeff Zucker is the genius who pulled NBC's shows from iTunes, thus angering a whole bunch of viewers and killing one of NBC's best ways to promote its shows.

 

[Walter C]

Zucker is the one who started the idea of not starting and ending shows on time, starting with the Supersize versions of shows.

Now, other networks have abused this practice big-time.

 

[Malcolm R]

I think he's engaging in a bit of hyperbole, but I wouldn't really miss them if they did disappear.

NBC owners should really get rid of Jeff Zucker. He's the one driving the network into the ground. It'll be sad if they let him kill it completely.

 

[RickGr]

Like those family friendly sitcoms on CBS like 2 1/2 Men, How I met Your Mother and Christine, all of which are doing well in the ratings?

The only family friendly sitcoms I know of are on Disney, Hannah Montana is a funny harmless show that would have fit in on ABC's TGIF night oh so many years ago.

 

[MatthewA]

I can barely watch network TV at all thanks to what they do to the programs. All those obnoxious squeezed credits, bugs, and what not have made it a burden to watch in addition to the overall mediocrity of the shows.

 

[Walter C]

The only way I can see Zucker gone, if the network gets surpassed by the CW.

 

[MatthewA]

Then he's got a job for life.

 

[mylan]

I could be wrong but I think Ted Turner was the first to do this on his TBS network. All programming it seemed started at five minutes after, like 7:05, 7:35, etc. I read that he figured people would channel surf and not find anything on the big three networks and settle in to TBS just as "The Andy Griffith Show" was beginning. I think Zucker stole this from Ted but yeah, he might have revived it in the time-shifting age to thwart VCRs and DVRs from changing the channel to record another show and risk cutting off the recording.

 

[Mary_P]

Well, I can tell you that the tactic of starting shows before the hour has failed spectacularly with me. When "ER" shifted to starting two minutes before "CSI" had ended, I just stopped watching "ER." I've caught the occasional episode since then, but I used to watch it weekly. Now it's more like a handful episodes a year.

 

[Brent M]

What is so "family unfriendly" about The Office? The only reason it and 30 Rock don't do well in the ratings is because most people wouldn't know a good, well-written comedy if it punched them in the throat. It absolutely pains me that shows like those aren't watched, but crap like According to Jim and King of Queens stay on the air for what seems like decades.

 

[RickER]

I have not watched network TV in years, and very little of cable for the very reasons you mention Matthew. Those pop ups, and bugs really make me mad! They take me out of the show.
Some network shows, Heros, and My Name is Earl, among others, I have discovered on DVD.