NBC President Mocks Writers, Strike In Upcoming

NBC President Mocks Writers, Strike In Upcoming "My Name Is Earl" Commercial

Huffington Post   |   March 27, 2008 08:18 AM



Jeff Zucker, President and CEO of NBC Universal, will appear in a commercial to run before the April 3 return of NBC's "My Name is Earl." In the commercial, Zucker appears to mock both the writers and the strike that sidelined Hollywood for months.

"We put together a little recap to get everybody back to speed," Zucker says. "It's right here on NBC.com, where you can watch all of your favorite shows, preferably within the first 17 days." A key point of contention in the writers' strike was that the writers received no residuals for any content downloaded online — and the strike agreement now provides a 17-day window during which studios can stream content without paying the writers royalties. Zucker also references online advertising, another centerpiece of the strike.

Zucker also took a non-strike-related dig at the writers, saying, "Earl gets hit by a car, just like he did in the pilot episode. Writers refer to that as a 'callback.' I call it getting paid twice for writing the same thing."

Watch:


 

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everyone go on to NBC's website and download and stream as much stuff as possible that is over 17 days old.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 06:48 PM on 03/28/2008

If nbc were a network dependant on writers' content he'd be screwed; in the meantime just wave goodbye to him as he goes down with the sinking ship. He has a grudge against writers, because all the good ones are elsewhere. nbc scripted shows tank (except L&O's and do they need writers anymore?). I haven't watched anything on nbc this entire year, obviously a problem overall since they had to payback their advertisers in December.

nbc had the least viewership lost during the strike, because they didn't have viewers to start with. This man is a lunatic trying the schizophrenic "kitchen sink" method of running a network - we won't have pilots, but we will; we won't have upfronts, but we will. GE should dump the whole thing.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 09:29 AM on 03/28/2008

One of the oligarchs.

The wealth of this country is so concentrated at the top, it's just unbelievable.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 08:36 AM on 03/28/2008

What a PRICK!

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 08:12 AM on 03/28/2008

How did I know that a teeeeeeeeeveeeeeeee network would by run by a bozo?

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 01:53 AM on 03/28/2008

Last night I made the mistake of tuning into "Criminal Minds"

Every time they showed graphic depictions of torture, I changed the channel until it was over.

What is the FCC thinking. Two people having sex isn't obscene. Showing graphic depictions of torture, murder, mutilation, dismemberment, rape, all of the violent behavior on CSI, Criminal Minds, Dexter and these other shows, THIS is what is obscene.

How are boobs and penises and vaginas obscene. I'd rather the "susceptible" people in our civilization get crazy ideas about having sex than watch realistic depictions of torturing and hurting other people.

America has let its media go down completely the wrong path. It's no wonder every small town needs a SWAT team now.

Criminals today know to destroy evidence with bleach and fire. Every single one knows about GSR tests. Thanks a lot, Grissom, and Zucker.

The studios have found an area in which the FCC apparently has NO LIMITS, and they're every week seeing just how far they can push into that zone.

Please, please, just bring back good clean, naughty sex.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 03:44 PM on 03/27/2008

Pick a one liner:
This proves that irony is dead.
Dramatic irony gasps it's last weakened breath.
The establishment has co-opted sarcasm.
The avant-garde has gone mainstream.
More proof that corporate hegemony has taken over our minds.
If this is funny, then our collective distraction has already overtaken us.
The writers are back, and they come back with this?
The counterculture is square.
The only way to rebel now is to become a republican.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 02:45 PM on 03/27/2008

Isn't that like doing heroin because you think it makes you hip?

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 01:24 PM on 03/29/2008

Oh yeah, after 17 days for sure. Solidarity. Because it was written by a writer doesn't mean the writer has free will as to what to write. So that point is useless. Seems to me that the self-perceived big guys can't stand to see the little guys get anything. How very reptilian!

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 01:38 PM on 03/27/2008

Wow! I haven't seen such an amateurish performance since the stage manager in Our Town in junior high. But at least the teenager had a good script to work with. This CEO should never quit his day job. Or maybe he should and just retire. Flat, flat, flat. Now we know why there are writers and real actors.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:43 PM on 03/27/2008

If the character description for this segment was "A smug ass who is unfunny" then he nailed it! Boo Yah!

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:21 PM on 03/27/2008

It's called comedy... Lighten up.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 10:55 AM on 03/27/2008

Phew! Now I don't have to waste precious moments left of my life watching THAT worthless show.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 10:46 AM on 03/27/2008

He's not mocking the writers; he's mocking himself. And yes, obviously, writers wrote the material, portraying Zucker as a suit.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 10:33 AM on 03/27/2008

Why no one else on here can see that beats me...no sense of humor? Then again majority of americans think 2guys half boy (or whatever its called) is the funniest thing to happen to television so I understand.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 06:00 PM on 03/28/2008

^^^ this

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:20 AM on 03/27/2008

I'll be sure to wait 18 days before watching anything on line.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 10:27 AM on 03/27/2008

Absolutely. Solidarity!

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 10:40 AM on 03/27/2008

Oh please. He's making a joke in his role as "number crunching studio exec guy". Nothing more.

And that's besides the point that regardless of the fact that it's Zucker himself, this commercial was probably written by... get this... a writer.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 10:19 AM on 03/27/2008

You don't think Zucker wrote this commercial, do you? I'm sure it was a writer.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 10:14 AM on 03/27/2008

I just hate sore losers.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 09:59 AM on 03/27/2008

like algore?

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 10:09 AM on 03/27/2008

Actually the American public. We haved been reamed by the criminals that were installed into the executive branch(not a capitalization error, these are very "small'humans, a buttstain on humanity).

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:43 PM on 03/27/2008

Want to talk about the actual performance record of your vaunted "party of family values:"

http://www.armchairsubversive.org

"Family values" like the locals in THE HILLS HAVE EYES.

If it weren't for vote caging, voter intimidation by Florida state troopers, a state governed by brother Jeb, Jeb's pathetic little lapdog of a secretary of state, the deliberate listing of thousands of law abiding Florida voters of colour as felons in time for election day, and a stacked Supreme Court that *appointed* Chimpy "Mission Accomplished" McFlightsuit to the White House, we would have had *President* Gore and no war for oil and empire based upon over 900+ *documented* lies about WMDs and spurious links between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda, an illegal war that has produced 4,000 dead Americans, twelve thousand wounded, some 80-100,000 dead Iraqi civilians including children, God-knows-how-many wounded Iraqis including children, an estimated 4 million refugees, the dollar in free fall, the foreclosure debacle, ad infinite nauseum.

Sore loser? Or a righteously angry patriot?

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 10:38 AM on 03/27/2008

BLACKWIDOW PILOT, DIDYA KNOW AL GORE HAD THE "R's" on the ropes and if IF HE HAD NOT FIRED (REPLACED) HIS TOP PEOPLE SEVERAL TIMES BECAUSE HE WAS ANTSY (TOO MUCH STARBUCKS) HE WOULD HAVE WALKED RIGHT INTO THE OFFICE....ALL THE R's HAD WAS A BLUFF (BY BAKER) GOING FOR EM. SAD AIN'T IT BUT IT IS VERY TRUE.........

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 03:21 PM on 03/27/2008

Blaming the victim, whatsmyname? The details of the stolen election(s) I cite above are a matter of public record. What you cite is more like Fake News punditry at its best.

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 07:26 PM on 03/27/2008

ha, i just stared at the word 'algore' for a good minute trying to define it.... i blame the lack of coffee :

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 10:34 AM on 03/27/2008

I blame the writer... :)

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 10:38 AM on 03/27/2008

Haha!

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 06:36 PM on 03/28/2008

Wow...I guess he forgets, without the writers, he'd be stuck writing the gags himself.
And, judging from this commercial, he'd crash and burn.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 09:59 AM on 03/27/2008
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