Ben Silverman on The Huffington Post

Ben Silverman's Electus To Take Over College Humor

2009-11-05T08:48:25Z

IAC is considering throwing CollegeHumor, in addition to cash, into Ben Silverman's nascent branded-entertainment company, Electus.

Jordan Hoffner: YouTube Loses Head Of Content To IAC Venture

2009-11-03T10:11:29Z

Jordan Hoffner, the head of content partnerships for YouTube, is leaving the company, and joining Ben Silverman's new content venture at IAC (NSDQ: IACI), we have learned. The move from YouTube was announced internally today.

Nina Tassler, CBS Executive, Mocks Ben Silverman With "D-Girl" Comment

2009-08-03T14:51:06Z

PASADENA, Calif. — Ben Silverman is gone from NBC as entertainment chief but he's not forgotten by the industry.

CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler was asked by reporters Monday about the departure of Silverman, who declared in a 2007 Esquire magazine article that he was a rare network executive and those who hold the job elsewhere are merely "D-girls."

Ben Silverman's Barry Diller Deal: $100 Million In Development Money: New York Post

2009-07-28T08:18:19Z

Only Ben Silverman could parlay a two-year hitless streak as NBC's chief programmer into a new gig that gives him total control and $100 million in development money.

That's the amount of cash that Barry Diller's IAC plans to use to seed Silverman's unnamed new venture, according to two sources with knowledge of the funding plans

Ben Silverman Leaving NBC To Start Venture With IAC, Jeff Gaspin Taking Over

2009-07-27T09:23:26Z

NEW YORK — Ben Silverman will be leaving his job as co-chairman of NBC Entertainment and Universal Movie Studios to head a new venture with Barry Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp focusing on producing and distributing multimedia content.

NBC named Jeff Gaspin, president and chief operating officer of the company's cable entertainment group, to replace him. Gaspin also will keep his current duties as the new chairman of NBC Universal's television entertainment unit.

Ben Silverman: Upfront Not As Bad As It Seems

2009-07-23T09:22:21Z

The upfronts aren't as bad as predicted, NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios co-chairman Ben Silverman said Wednesday, adding that he is seeing declines in the volume of ads sold but not a drop-off in CPMs.

Ben Silverman Quietly Marks 2nd Anniversary At NBC

2009-06-19T09:24:08Z

A major milestone was reached this week in television.

The event passed quietly without an e-mail pronouncement from NBC Universal, which is really quite remarkable considering the company issues about 19 news releases a day....

Ben Silverman marked two full years as co-chairman of NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios. He officially has entered the third year of his tenure with General Electric Co.

Rob Cohen: I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! Episode 4 Recap: Life Without Antagonists

2009-06-05T13:52:01Z

In just a few days, there's already a lot of controversy surrounding I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! Most of the controversy is fake, manufactured by Heidi and Spencer and perpetuated by columnists and bloggers (like me) who have nothing better to watch now that Lost and 30 Rock are on hiatus. But it's controversy nonetheless, and at least it keeps NBC in the news. Someday, they'll learn. But not today. After a fairly exciting third episode (and words like "exciting" are all relative in this context, of course), the fourth episode--and final one for the week--was enigmatic, awkward, and nap-inducing. Here's a recap.

Act One:
Frances just claimed that this show was "too real" for Heidi and Spencer. Really? Too real? What's "real" about this show? The living quarters--beds in the middle of a jungle? The fact that they have to eat cooked tarantulas and live stick insects? The Lost Chamber--an abandoned room filled with snakes, rats, giant cockroaches, bats, eels, and jungle slime? Chambers like that must naturally exist in the "real" world, right?

And then they spend the entire act debating Heidi and Spencer's return. Shoot me now. I don't care if they return to the show, I just want to see them spend the night in the Lost Chamber.

Act Two:
First we're put through five minutes of the celebrities discussing how charming and helpful Daniel Baldwin is. Then five minutes on Janice spitting all over camp. Followed by five minutes prepping for the food challenge? When is something gonna happen?

Act Three:
This looks like an event straight out of a Real World/Road Rules Challenge. What's hard about this? The puzzle pieces are getting water-logged? Oh no! They're a little bit heavier! The mud is too slippery! The bamboo cage is getting lower and lower and now we have to--dear God--bend down! Riveting.

Act Four:
Uh oh, a jungle thief! Janice is stealing Angela's toiletries... and now she's stealing John's pillow. Which begs the question: if they're supposed to be living in the jungle, surviving their fears and battling the elements, why are they allowed to have toiletries and pillows in the first place? I think Angela can go without her hair pick for a few days.

But the last straw has to be Patti Blagojevich, likening Janice and her kleptomania to an opponent her husband once faced in an election. How did he deal with her? By treating her like a crazy old aunt. That's an interesting insight into the psyche of Rod Blagojevich, but an anti-climactic ending to the Janice conflict.

By the way, Angela, if this is the hardest thing you've ever done in your life--I'd put it on par with a camping trip--you've had a pretty easy life.

Are they really gonna tease the vote-off? That was a waste of three minutes, which is hard to pull off when the entire show is a waste of forty-two minutes, but they've done it.

Act Five:
We don't get to find out if Heidi and Spencer are coming back until Monday? Really? That ought to fuel the entertainment columns and blogs through the weekend. I'm just sad we don't get to see them spend the night in Lost Chamber.

This whole taped/live thing is getting a little weird. We're watching Frances and Angela discuss the idea that one of them might go home, but we already know Frances is safe. Whoever decided to run the show this way didn't think it all the way through. I imagine the conversation went something like this: "Hey, we can combine edited footage with live votes! It's Survivor meets American Idol!" "But wait, it won't make any sense, structurally." "Did you not hear me? It's Survivor meets American Idol!" "It sounds stupid." "You're stupid! And you're fired!"

Wow, I'm so bored watching this show, I'm imagining fake Ben Silverman conversations. This is awful.

Act Six:
I don't think the vote-off could've been less exciting. I guess it was a bit sad. Angela was one of the more likable cast members. And now Frangela has been separated. Now Frances will have to provide twice the charm and wit in her confessionals to make up for it.

Thank God I don't have to watch this show again til Monday.

Holly Cara Price: Rubbernecking: The Hills , Season Five Finale

2009-06-02T07:26:48Z

I've had to really examine my need to write about the finale of The Hills before actually putting pen to paper. You see, a few weeks ago I wrote about the show as part of my Rubbernecking column - which is a glance askance at reality television shows. The Hills is not exactly a reality show, but it's certainly not a scripted drama, or maybe it is, or perhaps it straddles the netherworld between the two. Because these people certainly can't act, and there is no character development.

To my great amusement (and a touch of horror) I found after watching it for the first time that I needed to check in and see what was happening on a regular basis. I'd been sucked in to this show. I think I found myself spellbound by the awesome gaping void that each of the people involved have where we normally find a personality. I'm fairly certain this is not just because they live in L.A., since I know plenty of people in L.A. with personalities.

Anyway, before we get to the dramatic conclusion of Season Five, I'd like to note that no less an expert than Paris Hilton called the show "lame and fake" as well as "cheesy" according to the New York Post's coverage of the MTV Movie Awards on May 31. And she, of all people, should know from lame, fake, and cheesy.

So to sum up: as you all know unless you've been living in a cave in Afghanistan, the season finale was also Lauren Conrad's last show of the series. Lo and Lauren are moving out of their house and going who knows where. They wax nostalgic in the opening scene about the first party they ever had there.

Lo: Remember our first crazy party for Audrina's birthday.
Lauren: There was nudie men in our pool and there were mohawks and lucite heels in my backyard and I didn't really know what was going on.
Lo: Well we should do it one last time. I'm excited.
(all dialogue delivered in flat-toned Valley speak, natch)

Lo asks Lauren what's next, to which Lauren replies, "To be honest for the first time in a really long time I don't know. It's kind of nice not knowing what I'm going to do next." This is actually quite hilarious since without The Hills producers concocting plotlines for her, it's probably true.

Random things I love about this show:
- the shots of people walking around Beverly Hills shot from the waist down walking in front of chichi boutiques and restaurants. No talent releases needed!
- the ubiquitous chryons so we can keep everyone straight. By now I think we know that Brody is Lauren's friend, Stephanie is Spencer's sister, and Spencer is Heidi's fiancée.

Heidi is seen rhapsodizing about the wedding to Stephanie - flowers galore, diamonds dripping, a princess dress, real swans, and a white chocolate mousse truffle vanilla you know with the berries in it princess cake. "The best cake anyone's ever had because that's the most important part I think." Meanwhile, H tells S she's choosing her sister Holly as Maid of Honor "just because she's been my sister my whole life" and S is none too pleased as it's quite clear she will be doing all the work. It's dialogue like this that makes the show completely addictive.

Meanwhile, Spencer indicates he's turned over a new life and become a new person to everyone who will listen. He apologized to Lauren last week, on this show he confronts Heidi's mother Darlene and tells her he's finally grown up. The best scene in this regard is when he meets up with Brody and tells him he is seeing a therapist and finding out what his issues are. In perhaps the only real moment ever on The Hills, Brody loses it completely and starts laughing uncontrollably into his hands. Spencer is not happy with this reaction. Methinks Brody is on to something.

So Heidi has her shower at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel and everyone's there except Holly shows up a half hour late, some Maid of Honor she is. Stephanie ends up writing down the list of gifts since Holly's just quaffing champagne and giggling. It's pretty amazing when Stephanie looks like the responsible party in any situation. Another delicious turn of events on The Hills.

Lauren and Brody have dinner together and Brody tries to talk her in to going to the wedding. Lauren thinks Heidi is making a big mistake and if she attends, she is putting her seal of approval on it. "I feel like while everyone else is attending a wedding I'd be attending a funeral." Zinga!

The rehearsal dinner is rife with drama, as they so often are. Stephanie does a weepy toast about how happy she is that Heidi and Spencer found each other. Maid of Honor-Elect Holly gets up to do her toast and rambles on drunkenly about how Heidi used to pray and make concoctions from sticks and berries in the woods because she was so desperate to find the perfect man. "I'm so thankful that she's found her love match finally after all her digging in the woods." Say what?!?

Holly is obviously trashed, tries to high five one of the waiters, then throws food at her brother that boomerangs and ends up staining Heidi's expensive designer clutch. In the hallway, Spencer tells Holly and mom Darlene that throwing food is rude at a rehearsal dinner (Darlene disagrees) and Holly starts to cry and then stalks out. It's a fine how-do-you-do when Spencer calls someone out on being rude, I must say. And...scene.

Lauren and Lo have their final blowout at the house the night before the wedding and Stephanie gives it one last college try to convince Lauren she should go to the big event. "She needs me to go so she thinks what she's doing is okay, and I don't think what she's doing is okay," says Lauren sagely as she rolls up a bag of potato chips. The sound of the bag being rolled is unmixed and now I get it: this is MTV's way of convincing us that this is a reality show.

The final scene is of course the wedding, which is held at a church in Pasadena. Simply everyone is there, quel surprise, and they're all looking around to see who else is there and with whom and what are they wearing. Bartender/homewrecker Stacie comes in as Spencer's friend Charlie's guest. Kristin Cavallari (who introduced Heidi and Spencer four years ago) comes bouncing in braless up the aisle, seems like Heidi may have secretly invited her, and apparently she's the new bitch in town for when the show comes back in the fall.

Lauren of course does show up and visits Heidi in the back when she's getting ready in her swan dress bedecked with bling. Lauren is happy that Heidi is happy, or at least that's what she says to Heidi's face. The ceremony takes place; H & S are joined together by God and the State of California; H throws her bouquet which is caught by Kristin. H embraces S before they go to their getaway car and H catches a glimpse of Lauren leaving from the side exit.

To sum up; last night H & S were part of the cast on the premiere of NBC's I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! along with celeb-lites including Sanjaya, Stephen Baldwin, Janice Dickinson, and Patti Blagojevich (Rod's wife - since the courts told him he couldn't travel outside the U.S.). The defining moment of the show, which was just about as bad as shows like this can get (by which I mean you can't stop watching it), was Spencer calling the president of NBC Entertainment, Ben Silverman, on a cellphone from the Costa Rican jungle and screaming, "I'm too rich and I'm too famous to be sitting with these people and cleaning up their shit in the jungle....Don't throw me in the jungle and try to make me your little guinea pig torture act."

Ah yes, a changed man indeed.

Lee Schneider: Weapons of Mass Distraction

2009-05-25T13:27:07Z

Larry Gelbart, writer of M*A*S*H and Tootsie, wrote an HBO movie called Weapons of Mass Distraction. The title is one of the best things about it.

Mass distractions distract everyone from thinking about war, help us stop thinking about Dick Cheney or the share price of AT&T. Mass distractions help keep us focused on which guy with sticky hair will win "American Idol" and encourage us to become hypnotized by Britney Spears, a mentally unstable hillbilly.

I'm not coming at this from a cultural mountaintop. I'm a veteran of E! Entertainment Television, have produced bio-docs on Arnold Schwarzenegger and Warren Beatty and have been doing pop culture movie segments for ReelzChannel. I'm in this pop culture thing really deep, ok? Lots of my colleagues in cable are doing great things melding pop culture with science. Exciting pop media is on the horizon with iPhone and Motorola phone aps. I get that pop culture is a powerful engine. But who's driving?

Diane Keaton: It's so clean out here [in Los Angeles.]
Woody Allen: That's because they don't throw their garbage away, they turn it into television shows.
-- Annie Hall.

It's relaxing to watch garbage on TV, more relaxing than taking out the real garbage. ("Is that starting to smell bad, or is it the television?") People say mass media is dead, but nearly 29 million people watched the finale of American Idol. The most popular video on YouTube has been viewed about 56 million times. The pop audience is big and it's a cultural powerhouse.

We need better shows."
-- Jeff Zucker, chief executive of NBC Universal, quoted in the New York Times.

Zucker's network is struggling in the ratings so making better shows seems an admirable directive. But what does better mean? I'm willing to bet that for Zucker and his product placement guru Ben Silverman, better means servicing the advertisers who pay for the shows. Judging by the garbage NBC puts on they haven't been thinking much about the viewers.

Why do they put garbage on TV, anyway? Because people will watch it. If people will watch singers singing off key, that's what goes on. Network TV programming, like banking these days, is a remarkably morality-free occupation. There is no cabal determining what goes on. (Sorry, Dan Brown, no Illuminati.) It's all market driven. So who's driving the culture train? Nobody, really. It's kind of driving itself.

Here's the thing: I believe in editors. As in Managing Editors, as in people who make a point of figuring out what might be visionary, necessary and important to know. I believe you can do this and cater to pop culture and mass culture.

Now that I have trashed the soldiers of television and maybe irritated some hard-working and dedicated others who could pay me good money, may I issue a few retractions? Britney Spears is a good entertainer who can draw and hold an audience. Naked celebrities are entertaining. Some of the people on "American Idol" can carry a tune. The dry humor of "The Office" is almost as funny as a real office. Tyra Banks might not be completely evil. Kittens are really cute. Kittenwar.com is an important website that has sucked down hours of my time. Just another weapon of mass distraction.

NBC Still Waiting for A Hit From Wunderkind Ben Silverman

2009-05-16T23:49:33Z

WHEN NBC hired Ben Silverman in May 2007, he was the hottest executive in the television business, the man who had a hand in bringing reality shows and "The Office" to America. He also happened to be taking a job he had dreamed about as a junior high schooler hooked on television: the top programmer position at NBC.

Ben Silverman, "Friday Night Lights" Savior: Saved Show By "Yelling At A Lot Of People"

2009-03-31T18:32:00Z

NBC completed a deal Monday with DirecTV that will again split the next "Friday Night Lights" season between the satellite company and the NBC network. The new episodes will play first on DirecTV in the fall and be rerun on NBC in the winter and spring.

But the deal -- whose terms were not disclosed -- almost didn't happen, mainly because of the price of the license fee for DirecTV. Eric Shanks, the executive vice president for entertainment of DirecTV ... credited the NBC entertainment co-chairman, Ben Silverman, with saving the deal. "Ben called and said he was yelling at a lot of people," Mr. Shanks said.

Obama Team Wanted To Drive Limo Onto "Tonight Show" Stage

2009-03-19T18:45:05Z

As final preparations are made at NBC Studios in Burbank, CA for President Obama's visit to the Tonight Show with Jay Leno studio, network chairman Ben Silverman filled Ryan in on the details of his visit.

"To get him into the stage, they literally wanted to have the ability to drive his limo into the set and onto the stage," said Silverman.

Sacha Baron Cohen's Bruno Set-Crashing Secret: Being Ben Silverman's Cousin (VIDEO)

2009-02-16T14:26:46Z

Is one of Sacha Baron Cohen's tricks to getting access for his character Bruno feigning blood relationships to top executives?

Last November Cohen, in character as flamboyant fashion journalist Bruno, disrupted NBC's "Medium," where he had landed a role as an extra.

Around the same time he was also crashing fashion shows and Prop 8 rallies.

Monday on "The View" "Medium" star Patricia Arquette relived the Bruno-crashing day and then explained how Cohen, at least temporarily, got away with repeatedly ruining a courtroom scene.

"One of the heads of the network is Ben Silverman," Arquette explained. "And they said it was Ben Silverman's cousin, so everyone was scared of him. Like, what do we do? But it was Sacha Baron Cohen."

WATCH:

Chez Pazienza: One Last Look Back: The 10 Most Ridiculous, Shameful, or Generally Unfortunate People and Events of 2008

2009-01-07T11:12:05Z

Well, it could've been worse.

As 2008 mercifully ends, we're left to ponder a year in which the real and the surreal were pretty much indistinguishable, where insanity actually became tedium, and where every silver lining was eclipsed by a brand new dark cloud. Sure, O.J.'s going to prison, but think about the absurdist comedy-of-errors it took to finally put him there. Yeah, gas is technically affordable again, but who has money to make car payments -- and for that matter, will anyone in Detroit still be in business in the coming months should you, for whatever reason, feel like buying American? True, Barack Obama was elected president in a political upheaval that can only be described as epochal, but, well, you don't really think Cheney's just going to quietly vacate his office come January 20th, do you? Not when construction on the new Death Star is so far from completion.

2008 will be remembered as the year that a simple "hockey mom" from Alaska, an ex-beauty pageant contestant and political neophyte, paved the way for history and helped prove once and for all that anyone can ascend to the highest levels of government in the United States -- even a black man. It will be remembered as the year that Beyoncé inexplicably demanded that everyone call her "Sasha Fierce" and Britney Spears demanded that somebody call her an ambulance. Then leave her alone. Then give her back her kids. Then buy her album. 2008 was the year that Michael Phelps won enough Olympic gold to make him the most financially secure man in America. It was the year that the flagging economy, taxpayer-funded bailouts and a holographic image of Will.i.am dominated the news coverage. It was the year that Katherine Heigl could claim to be better than the material being given to her and actually be right (only because that material happened to be the scripts for Grey's Anatomy). It was the year that an unknown plumber who wasn't really a plumber became a household name and a singer who was really an unknown bartender became the latest American Idol. Eliot Spitzer and John Edwards fell from grace and turned into national punchlines and Heath Ledger died tragically but still had the last, and lasting, laugh. Prop 8 passed and civil rights lost.

Everything changed. And not much changed at all.

So, as we watch that giant ball drop like the value of your 401k, ushering in 2009, let's take a look back in anger at the people and events that make us think that no matter what's to come, it damn sure can't be any worse than what we've already been through. In the words of Crowded House: Don't scream -- it's over.

That's not how the song goes? Well it should be.

We'll start at the bottom -- literally.

10. Madonna

Title: Cinquagenarian Entertainer, Gay Icon, Homewrecker

Big Pharm Recommended Treatment: Cymbalta, Viagra, Geritol

The Facts: You've really got to hand it to Madonna. Most waning sexpots adopt a nauseatingly pretentious air of faux-class in their twilight years (and indeed that's the territory Madge seemed to be staking out exclusively for a while). But only the truly self-absorbed can manage the kind of scandalous second-wind that catapults them back into the tabloids for breaking up not one but two celebrity marriages at age 50. 2008 was a banner year for the Immaterial Girl: She incomprehensibly got herself inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, very comprehensibly got divorced, had a hit single whose only appealing characteristic was the fact that its video was thoughtful enough to feature a large digital clock which counted down the time until the song finally ended and something else came on, and caused "Controversy™" by bombastically comparing George Bush and John McCain to Hitler and Mussolini. Oh yeah, and she brashly flaunted the apparently Benjamin Button-esque nature of her sex drive by fucking Alex Rodriguez and helping to land him in divorce court (Note to A-Rod: Being able to say that you're nailing Madonna doesn't carry quite the amount of clout that it used to. You may as well be the new bass player for Bon Jovi -- the guy who missed the stadium tours but gets to be on board during the state fair years). In between all of this -- somewhere in that hectic schedule -- Madonna found the time to get in a work out. Quite a few, actually. As in, she looks like a piece of driftwood that's been beaten by the ocean and left in the sun for a hundred years or so.

Mitigating Factor: Her succubine presence and presumed vagina dentata probably spared the country the hell of another Yankees World Series run.

"By This Time Next Year, She'll Be..." Post-menopausal.

Dishonorable Mention: Ben Stein, who pulled off the somewhat laudable feat of being on the wrong side of almost every argument in 2008, notably culminating in the theatrical and DVD release of the documentary Expelled, in which Stein insurgently railed against Darwin's Theory of Evolution in favor of the unadulterated nonsense that is Intelligent Design. I wrote it at the time but it bears repeating: The SNL writing staff, circa 1977, couldn't have created a more audaciously comical premise than Ben Stein -- a man so square he craps cubes -- writing "I Will Not Question Authority" on a blackboard while dressed like Angus Young. Stein is a Dangerous Mind only if you see mark-to-market accounting as a ballsy show of defiance, which makes him the perfect impertinent hero for the God-said-it-I-believe-it set.

9. The American 'Tween

Title: Consumer, Arbiter of All Entertainment, Not the One Paying the Goddamned Cell Phone Bill

Big Pharm Recommended Treatment: Ritalin (for the Kid), Xanax (for the Parents)

The Facts: If you're the relatively sane parent of a 13 year old girl, chances are you love the Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus, right? No, of course you don't. What you've done is ceded your own tastes to those of your kids, who robotically inundate you with the same crappy music, movies and TV shows that Disney giddily bombards them with 24/7. This wouldn't be such a big deal were it not for the fact that your children are no longer harmless islands unto themselves; thanks to the internet and cell phone text messaging, they've coalesced into a hive mind and, what's worse, one that's turned them into a giant conduit/amplifier for whatever garbage is being cleverly and cynically marketed in their direction. In our new Wiki-world, those with the loudest voices can dictate what we all see and hear -- they can literally adjust reality to suit their needs and, well, have you ever heard how loud a 'Tween girl screams for the fucking Jonas Brothers? In 2008, the 'Tween demographic asserted its authority in unprecedented ways, forcing the rest of us to endure a seemingly endless cavalcade of Disney "Stepford Teen" entertainment, from High School Musical 3 to Miley and, by extension, her father -- the honest-to-Christ most spectacular douchebag on the planet -- Billy Ray Cyrus. We listened to the music, paid to see the movies and bought every manner of merchandise until our kids became walking billboards for this shit. Parents willingly allowed a million little Veruca Salts to inflict their will on the world, and did nothing to stop it.

Mitigating Factor: Well, they did almost nothing to stop it. David Cook somehow managed to wrestle the American Idol crown away from frumpy, willowy-voiced 'Tween fave David Archuleta. That's gotta be a step in the right direction.

"By This Time Next Year, She'll Be..." More than likely, pregnant. Or a member of the Pussycat Dolls. Or maybe suckered into sex with a guy like Chuck Bass on Gossip Girl, who'll then turn around and post naked pictures of her on the internet so that she can be just like her erstwhile idol, Vanessa Hudgens. But none of this will happen before she drags you kicking and screaming to see The Jonas Brothers: 3D in February.

Dishonorable Mention: Speaking of graduating to the big leagues of noxious teen entertainment, MTV's The Hills is so utterly devoid of any value whatsoever that the craft services truck could catch on fire, turning the entire cast into running, screaming balls of flame, and the correct response would be to sigh and flip your pillow over to the cool side. And among that show's collection of future has-beens, no two have been more overexposed than Spencer Pratt and his idiot pretend girlfriend, Heidi Montag. Their tabloid-friendly relationship, a triumph of post-modern meta-reality, peaked just a couple of weeks ago when the two returned from their fake fake elopement to Mexico to engineer a fake real wedding in a Beverly Hills courtroom, which the court happily went along with while presumably telling a truly in love gay couple to go fuck themselves.

8. CNN's "Hologram" Technology

Title (On the Record): The New Standard in Live News Coverage and Proof of CNN's Journalistic Dominance; Title (Off the Record): A Much Cooler Way to Spend the Salaries of 21 People

Big Pharm Recommended Treatment: Primidone, Lasik, Changing the Channel to the Jim Lehrer NewsHour or BBC World News America

The Facts: The ability to lay claim to the biggest "What the Fuck?" moment of the seemingly interminable coverage of the 2008 presidential election is a little like being able to say that you're the gayest man at a Scissor Sisters show. An exhausted America had already endured approximately 623 sponsored debates (including ABC's unforgivable gossip-and-conjecture-fest), the "lipstick on a pig" non-story and of course Fox's famous "terrorist fist jab" comment by the time election night proper rolled around. Yet CNN, obviously saving the best for last, somehow managed to make all of that inanity seem like the work of amateurs by pulling out its secret weapon when it really mattered. And so, on the night that millions tuned in to find out who would become the 44th president of the United States, CNN gave them something they'd really be able to tell their grandkids about: an uncomfortable conversation between Anderson Cooper and a supposedly holographic image of the Black Eyed Peas' Will.i.am. It was Vaudevillian theater in its purest and most ridiculous form, especially when you considered that the "hologram" in question wasn't really a hologram at all and that, as Wolf Blitzer had done earlier in the evening, Anderson Cooper was essentially talking to himself on national television. Taken on its own merits, this would've seemed like nothing more than a silly ratings-grabbing gimmick, and indeed it was swiftly and roundly panned as being just that. But the fact that it was the culmination of a garish year-long spending spree by CNN -- one that was immediately and conspicuously followed by a series of high-profile layoffs that included respected flesh-and-blood veterans like Miles O'Brien, Kelli Arena and the network's entire Science and Technology Unit -- made it clear that network president Jon "Diddy" Klein's priorities and his head were in pretty much the same place: his ass. When all was said and done, an interview with the New York Observer in which Klein had bragged less than two weeks before the layoffs, "We can afford more people on our air and off our air. So, goddamn it, we're going to have more people," would become the icing on the irony cake and an almost amusing epitaph for those who'd lost their jobs. But hey, at least audiences could still count on being able to tune in and be dazzled by the pretty special effects.

Mitigating Factor: As far as anyone knows, the CNN "hologram" was built without the use of illegal Mexican labor -- which gives Lou Dobbs one less thing to bitch about.

"By This Time Next Year, It'll Be..." Obsolete.

Dishonorable Mention: Former wunderkind and current wunderkind (if you define "wunderkind" as a megalomaniacal tool who's inexplicably been allowed to run a television network into the ground with zero accountability) Jeff Zucker and Ben Silverman, respectively. The two top dogs at NBC, Zucker and Silverman bear most of the responsibility for making the network what it is today: 4th place. The former's handiwork can be seen in the almost preternatural level of cross-promotional whoring between NBC Universal entities (the Today show interviews contestants on Bravo's Top Chef who cook for the cast of The Mummy: Tomb of Whatever the Hell using GE appliances); the latter's handiwork could be seen in network television's tribute to the absolute lowest common denominator, The NBC All American Summer. Beyond that, well, his handiwork can't really be seen unless you're lucky enough to nab a seat next to him at the bar of whichever exclusive party he happens to be attending at that moment. Put it this way: Silverman bears an uncanny resemblance to "Girls Gone Wild" CEO and overgrown frat-boy Joe Francis -- and the similarities don't end there.

7. Joe Lieberman

Title: Independent (as in, He Doesn't Have a Friend in the World) Senator from Connecticut, Political Opportunist, Embarrassing Jewish Stereotype, Guy You Never Want to Take Handicapping Advice From, Mr. Excitement

Big Pharm Recommended Treatment: Dexedrine, Pharmaceutical Cocaine

The Facts: It takes a special kind of personality to go from being one party's candidate for vice president to being the go-to political hitman for the opposing party in the span of just eight years -- and that personality is, apparently, no personality at all. 2008 was the year that Joe Lieberman finally proved just how shamelessly and entirely he was willing to screw over those who'd spent a good portion of their careers supporting him. Like a desperate high school girl who flits from one clique to another sharing gossip in an effort to be liked, he'd spent years playing both sides of the fence and every conceivable angle hoping to stay one step ahead of political irrelevancy. But it wasn't until the last few months of last year's presidential race that the true evanescence of Lieberman's loyalty -- and therefore the general worthlessness of his friendship -- became clear to pretty much everyone. Old Droopy didn't just turn his back on the Democrats; he took center stage at the Republican National Convention. He didn't just support John McCain; he insinuated that Barack Obama might be a Marxist and, what's more, questioned his overall ability to lead (a somewhat laughable implication, considering the source). In the end, though, Lieberman's gambit didn't pay off -- so now, in wholly expected fashion, his one-time campaign battle cry, "Joementum," has taken on an entirely new meaning: "Joe meant... um..."

Mitigating Factor: Yup, it sure is fun watching as Joe sucks up to the Democrats, blissfully unaware that being their short-leashed bitch will almost certainly wind up being more humiliating than banishment to the Beltway's Phantom Zone.

"By This Time Next Year, He'll Be..." Exactly what he is right now: A lame duck. On the other hand, a couple of years from now you'll probably be able to find him trying to send back the Reuben at Ben's Kosher Deli in Boca. Or maybe on the Fox News Channel, where he'll be a full-time contributor.

Dishonorable Mention: Zimbabwean, ahem, "President" Robert Mugabe. To twist a line from Craig Ferguson, you know what Zucker and Silverman are doing to NBC? Well Mugabe's doing that to an entire country.

6. Tyra Banks

Title: TV Host, Former Supermodel (Current Plus-Size Model), Self-Parody, Harbinger of the Apocalypse

Big Pharm Recommended Treatment: Topamax, Potassium Cyanide

The Facts: There's no better caricature of fame in the 21st century and all that it represents than Tyra Banks. No one is more pristine an example of an entity whose entire existence is about the relentless pursuit of self-obsession simply for its own sake. Seriously, name one thing Tyra has done -- not just in 2008 (although it really was an ascendant year for the "fierce" one), but ever -- that benefited someone else more than it did her. Submerse yourself in Tyra's admittedly mesmeric vortex of televised self-love long enough and you actually begin to subscribe to the alternate universe she inhabits: one where she's the reigning queen of pop culture, where people actually believe that being a shallow and superficial fashion icon is an entirely noble endeavor, and where words like "booty" and "badonkadonk" can be uttered in the same sentence as "Mr. President" and no one finds it the least bit unusual. Like her idol in the talk show game and rival in the battle for media ubiquity, Oprah, Tyra Banks has an affinity for taking any subject, really anything, and somehow twisting it inside out until the focus winds up being her and only her. But whereas Oprah has mastered the art of self-promotion to such an extent that it's become an almost exquisite thing to behold, Tyra's strictly a novice, clumsily bludgeoning the conversation -- to say nothing of the audience -- then propping up its limp body and putting her arm around it like some kind of trophy. And that's just on her talk show. Best we not even get into the grotesque minstrel show of gay and urban elitist clichés that is America's Next Top Model.

Mitigating Factor: Two words: Joel McHale

"A Year From Now, She'll Be..." If she has her way, holding Oprah's severed head aloft on the end of a spike and bathing in the blood draining from it.

Dishonorable Mention: Send the children out of the room; they shouldn't be exposed to the kind of unrestrained venom I'm about to unleash: CNN's Nancy Grace is the most loathsome, feckless troll to currently, unfathomably have a forum on national television. She's a vile, unscrupulous monster who peddles morbid prurience like a five-dollar streetwalker and whose brand of rank solipsism is matched only by her near-sociopathic disregard for the lives she's ruined and exploited and by her apparent contempt for the tenets of responsible journalism (to say nothing of basic human decency). Nancy didn't do anything in 2008 that she hasn't done in years past, but then again she wasn't unceremoniously kicked off the air either -- hence, a place on this list. Incidentally, if that kid I mentioned a few seconds ago happens to be white and cute and disappears on his or her way out of the room, you can expect to see a hell of a lot of Nancy in the near future.

5. The Death of Heath Ledger

Title: Unqualified Shame

Big Pharm Recommended Treatment: USE ONLY AS DIRECTED

The Facts: Certainly the single most startling event in the world of entertainment in 2008, Heath Ledger's sudden and untimely death last January initially left millions scratching their heads in shell-shocked confusion. But what made it truly noteworthy was that as questions were answered and the facts began revealing themselves, it all provided little comfort and almost nothing in the way of macabre titillation. The fact is that Heath Ledger was so damn talented -- his death, such a tragic loss -- that even the typically scandal-hungry public found nothing to revel in, snicker about, or wag its collective finger at. The whole thing was just so sad. So heartbreaking. There were the constantly televised and published images of Ledger with his young daughter, Matilda, and the ugly debate over her financial security; the threats of protest at Ledger's memorial service by the reprehensible psychopaths of the Westboro Baptist Church; the grief of watching his past films -- most memorably, his astonishing and anguished performance in Brokeback Mountain -- and realizing the true measure of what was lost. And then, of course, came The Dark Knight -- and Heath Ledger's awesome, iconic reimagining of the Joker. It's a testament to the man's excellence as an actor that we could become completely lost in the character he created while he was onscreen and really only remember as the credits rolled that we'd never see him again.

Mitigating Factor: It seems sickening to find a silver lining to this cloud, and really there isn't one. That said, it will be an ironic final tribute to Ledger's abundant talents that Warner Bros. can't bankrupt the power and novelty of his Joker character by milking it to death in sequel after sequel (see: Hannibal Lecter, Jack Sparrow, the last two Matrix films). It was lightning in a bottle -- and it gets to remain that.

"A Year From Now, He'll Be..." If there's any justice in the world, an Academy Award winner.

Honorable Mention: Although many would rightly argue that Tim Russert's sudden death by heart attack had a much bigger impact across a larger swath of the public, for my money the shocking suicide of writer, columnist, and masterful cultural observer David Foster Wallace was a loss of staggering proportions. Like Heath Ledger, Wallace was a brilliant practitioner of his craft -- at once comical, challenging, and an unparalleled chronicler of the human condition. And, like Ledger, Wallace suffered alongside his art without in any way intending to. Unlike Ledger, though, David Foster Wallace lived with the pain inside himself until he simply couldn't anymore. He took his own life after battling depression for more than 20 years. His work, however, endures -- with his masterpiece, 1996's Infinite Jest, deservedly hailed as one of the greatest novels ever written.

4. Rod Blagojevich

Title: Governor of Illinois (For Now), "Entrepreneur," Asshole

Big Pharm Recommended Treatment: A Huge Rail of Blow Done Off a Stripper's Boob and Washed Down with Five or Six Quaaludes

The Facts: Alright, Andy -- enough already. Listen, man, it was fucking brilliant -- and I mean brilliant -- but it's time to take off the ridiculous outfit and just admit that it's you. I mean, we already knew you were a genius even before you faked your death back in '84, but obviously that was just the set-up for your biggest and best piece of performance art yet -- the greatest practical joke of all time. Only you could pull off a character like this and somehow get people to buy it: A foul-mouthed, belligerent and shamelessly corrupt politician; a Serbian-American with an Adrian Zmed circa 1981 haircut; a guy who's first name is actually a euphemism for "dick." Man, how the hell did you get away with this for so long? I mean, you publicly fought with your own cabinet, tried to smuggle flu vaccine past the FDA, threatened to beat the shit out of state senator Mike Jacobs, and called yourself "the first African-American governor of Illinois." Did you finally decide to go all out and try to sell Barack Obama's Illinois senate seat when you realized that no one was picking up on the gag -- or did you really just want to see how far you could push it? Either way -- fucking magnificent, dude. You're gonna go down in the history books. We're talking legendary. One problem, though -- you really need to cop to this thing, and soon. Really. 'Cause the alter-ego you created and have been nurturing for the past fifteen years or so is now facing a 78-page federal indictment -- and probably a shitload of jail time. Then again, knowing you Andy, that's all part of the joke. Genius.

Mitigating Factor: Not a one.

"A Year From Now, He'll Be..." Inmate #2259836

Dishonorable Mention: Proof that the left and the right are basically interchangeable, particularly at the "Craven Political Operative" level, Mark Penn was the Democrats' answer to Karl Rove before getting his substantial ass kicked out of the Hillary Clinton campaign in April of 2008. The CEO of public relations behemoth Burson-Marsteller -- in other words, the top liar at a firm whose bread-and-butter is lying as creatively as possible and doing it inexhaustibly -- Penn is one of those guys whose physical appearance perfectly reflects his personality: In this case, he looks like he should have a bikini-clad Princess Leia chained to his bulbous frame somewhere while a little Muppet-like minion cackles mindlessly from the rafters. It was Penn's brilliant strategy to suggest that Hillary Clinton and her surrogates bring up Barack Obama's past drug experimentation whenever possible, and it was he who took the are-you-fucking-kidding-me prize by saying that Obama couldn't take the Democratic nomination by winning a lot of states he deemed not to be "major." Penn managed to drag the campaign of the famously opportunistic Clinton even deeper into the mud, if such a thing were possible. Oh yeah, and he did it all while his firm was busy repping PR-challenged organizations like Blackwater and Countrywide and lobbying for a free trade deal with Colombia that Clinton herself was against.

3. Kanye West

Title: Voice of a Generation (Just Ask Him), Auto-Tune Afficionado, Little Boy Who Just Wants To Be Loved, Douchebag

Big Pharm Recommended Treatment: Zoloft, Stick One Ball of Cotton in Each Ear

The Facts: Let's just say it: Kanye West isn't nearly as talented, important, or distinguished as he thinks he is. He couldn't be. It's simply impossible to be a carbon-based life form and have achieved the kind of preeminence Kanye insists he has. If he were even half the omnipotent cultural juggernaut he believes himself to be, he would've shed his physical form and morphed into a phantasmal ball of pure energy years ago. For the most part, 2008 didn't really bring anything new from Kanye that we hadn't already come to expect: There were the usual boasts about possibly being the most influential human being since Christ; the inescapable guest appearances on the records of lesser musicians (the year's nadir being his irritating cameo on the already irritating-as-hell American Boy); and of course the petulant whining about how no one shows him the adequate level of respect and everyone is out to get him because he's black. But toward the end of the year, we were treated to a new, yet not even slightly unexpected, side of Kanye: that of the self-loathing mega-star. Certainly, the death of his mother took an emotional toll on him. But the supposed result of it and a few other recent personal catastrophes -- his latest release, 808s and Heartbreak -- plays exactly the way you'd figure an "introspective" album from Kanye West would. Even at its quietest and ostensibly least obtrusive, the whole thing exudes its creator's legendarily gargantuan ego. Kanye can do self-pity; God knows we've heard it from him before. But after being asked to tolerate his narcissistic swagger for so long, it's just not very easy to feel sorry for him. And 808s, with it's ironically bombastic sadness, makes Kanye seem all the more like the kid who, even at his lowest suicide-threatening point, is just looking for attention.

Mitigating Factor: You know what almost did make me feel sorry for Kanye? His performance on Saturday Night Live a couple of weeks back -- when his Auto-Tune malfunctioned and he was left standing there onstage, looking and sounding like a really lousy karaoke act.

"By This Time Next Year, He'll Be..." Complaining about (fill in the blank).

Dishonorable Mention: Speaking of ego-driven bombast -- you can go back into hiding now, Axl. Chinese Democracy sucks.

2. Bernard Madoff

Title: Investment Banker, Two-Bit Con Man, Shakespearean Figure Sold Out by His Own Sons

Big Pharm Recommended Treatment: Find the Nearest Window, Jump

The Facts: When all is said and done, the financial scandal surrounding Bernie Madoff won't be remembered as the costliest or even most brazen of 2008. But his arrest coming so close to the end of the year -- simultaneously bookending and providing an almost mind-boggling crescendo to the economic disaster that began with the subprime mortgage and credit crises and escalated to titanic financial institutions folding and taxpayers being forced to buy up most of Wall Street -- Madoff has become the one instantly recognizable face of unfettered greed in America in 2008. Sure he bilked investors out of billions of dollars -- perpetrating the largest fraud of its kind by a single person ever -- but more than that, he symbolized, maybe better than anything or anyone, the end of hands-off capitalism. The death of a political and economic era. Thanks to government deregulation and a complete lack of oversight, guys like Madoff had been able to run the table with impunity, turning Wall Street and the global market into their own personal sandbox at the expense of the average person looking to carve out his or her slice of the American dream. It's simply staggering when you consider what Madoff got away with; or the fact that AIG's top executives treated themselves to a half-million dollar spa vacation just a few weeks after the government bailed out their company to the tune of 85-billion dollars; or the fact that JP Morgan is still being arrogantly cryptic about what it's doing with the 25-billion that it received in the bail-out; or that the heads of the big three automakers flew private jets to D.C. to ask taxpayers to foot the bill for their flagging companies. I swear, in another time and place, the struggling masses would've carried these people kicking and screaming to the public square and joyously guillotined them.

Mitigating Factor: Like an raging alcoholic who suddenly wakes up one morning to find himself broke and beaten nearly to death in a gutter, it took hitting rock bottom for this country to finally decide that it's fucking had enough.

"By This Time Next Year, He'll Be..." Inmate #2259837

Dishonorable Mention: It's probably a tie between corrupt-as-hell Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens -- now a convicted felon but always in our hearts as the man who lobbied for the infamous "Bridge to Nowhere" and who understands the profound differences between the internet and a truck -- and New York Times columnist and neo-con architect Bill Kristol, who best symbolizes the far right's pig-headed tenacity when it comes to being unwilling to admit to its mistakes. Kristol was wrong about everything -- seriously, everything -- and yet continues to walk around with that Cheshire-Cat-on-Valium smirk on his face while espousing a political philosophy which failed in devastating fashion over the last eight years and was soundly rejected by voters in November of 2008.

1. Sarah Palin

Title: Alaskan Governor (Still), Political Nobody (Formerly), Likely Leader of the Republican Party (Currently), Fashion Plate, Punchline

Big Pharm Recommended Treatment: Oxycodone, Hyrdocodone, Haloperidol, Lithium, All Taken by the Handful; Nitrous Oxide, Prozac

The Facts: Man, oh man. It would be great to be able to throw some sort of Shyamalanian twist in here at the end, but there's just no way to escape the inevitable: Sarah Palin was hands-down the dumbest thing going in 2008. A comedian's wet dream -- and Intelligent America's worst nightmare should her political aspirations have come to fruition -- Palin was so astonishing in her provincial arrogance, so spectacular in her lack of knowledge or shame, and so admittedly awe-inspiring in her commitment to overlooking her own obvious deficiencies while putting absolute faith in both Jesus and the notion that a well-placed wink and a little small-town sweet talk was all she'd need to succeed on the world stage that her campaign instantly became a benchmark in unabashed folly. The new gold standard for idiocy in the 21st century. We could run down the moments that will be etched in our collective memory for years to come (at least one would hope they will; the alternative could be disastrous) but that would take all day. Instead, best we just cut to the chase: Sarah Palin was almost single-handedly responsible for turning the 2008 Presidential Election into a referendum not on left vs. right or rural vs. metropolitan -- but on smart vs. dumb. Her invocation of the supposed moral and political authority of "Joe Six Pack," particularly as opposed to everyone else in the country, and her smug and insulting implied denunciation of those who place a high value on intellect and education trod all-too-familiar ground for the Republicans; it reduced what had been an election season focused, for the most part, on issues to what some in the party hoped would be a fear-based culture war that would once again lead them to victory. But here was the best part: Palin never really saw herself as the small-town hick she pretended to be and hoped to ingratiate herself to. This was proven by the lavish spending spree that transformed her and her family into, literally, the Beverly Hillbillies. The truth is that she always aspired to be a fashion icon, some hyper-hottie in a tight leather blazer and knee-high black boots, someone worthy of a $75,000 shopping trip to Neiman Marcus. Sarah Palin became everything she ever dreamed of being: Sex and the City, right down to the "city" part. Sure, publicly she rebuked and ridiculed those cosmopolitan urbanites in their bustling elitist hubs, but she knew damn well that she couldn't buy Valentino and Louis Vuitton at the Wal-Mart in Wasilla -- and if you don't think that Sarah Heath Palin had always fantasized about wearing Valentino and carrying Louis Vuitton, I've got a bridge to nowhere I want to sell you. She was always a backwater dingbat, but she became a very well put together backwater dingbat -- which likely convinced her that she was no longer a backwater dingbat. If this is true, then it would mean that Palin essentially ascended to the same position as George W. Bush and her GOP benefactors: she only played the part of the rube and was, in fact, secretly talking down to every one of those pick-up-driving Toby Keith fans who showed up to her rallies -- the Dickies-clad folk not lucky enough to have won the Miss Vice Presidential pageant and been scooped up to a life of charter jets and appearances on Saturday Night Live. Sarah Palin was and remains completely full of shit, but we should be willing to concede that perhaps she's dumb as a fox -- which doesn't negate the fact that she's still dumb. Still a triumph of style over substance. And still dangerous.

Mitigating Factor: President Barack Obama, Tina Fey

"By This Time Next Year, She'll Be..." Already on the ticket in at least 23 states. And a great-grandmother.

Dishonorable Mention: Joe the Plumber -- who was neither named Joe nor a plumber. Tell me you don't roll your eyes at the mere mention of this entirely fictional mascot for the McCain campaign. Uh-huh -- I thought so.

Postscript: For those who have expressed curiosity as to why George W. Bush -- or for that matter Hillary Clinton -- wasn't chosen for this list, the answer is simple: The Bushes and Clintons are practically emeritii at this point when it comes to being the worst of the worst. I figured I'd give a few new folks a chance to compete. See you again in January of 2010.

Jeff Gaspin: NBC Universal's Cable King

2008-12-22T08:30:54Z

Some mogul. Making the rounds at Malibu's annual Labor Day weekend chili cook-off, Jeff Gaspin's 10-year-old son spotted Jeffrey Donovan of USA's Burn Notice. A fan of the show, his son wanted to meet the series' star.

"So go say hello," Gaspin, the 47-year-old president and chief operating officer of the Universal Television Group, suggested, too shy to do it himself.

"No, you introduce me," his son snapped back.

"No, you go say hello."

Recalling the story a few weeks later in his corner office on the NBC Universal lot, Gaspin shrugs. "I really was not comfortable going up to him and saying, 'Hey, you work for me but ...," his voice trails off. "I don't know; it's just a weakness."

It doesn't hurt him much. This shy guy oversees NBC Universal's entertainment cable networks, including top-rated USA Network, Bravo, Oxygen and Sci Fi, as well as distribution, syndication and Spanish-language network Telemundo.

Never heard of him? That's probably because broadcast cousin NBC--languishing in last place in prime time four years running--and its boy-wonder chief Ben Silverman get the lion's share of attention, despite accounting for just 5% of NBC Universal's revenue. By comparison, Gaspin's stable of entertainment cable channels account for nearly 40%.

Ben Silverman Staying At NBC

2008-12-12T13:42:14Z

NBC Universal president and CEO Jeff Zucker pulled off a surprising coup this week in keeping Jay Leno at NBC, and now he says he is retaining another high-profile name.

Zucker says NBC Entertainment and studio co-chairman Ben Silverman is going to sign a new deal to stay at the company.

"Ben will continue to be here at NBC, yes," Zucker told B&C as part of a candid Q&A that runs in its entirety in the December 15 issue.

Zucker's decision comes despite the network's continuing primetime struggles after a fall in which none of its high profile launches, from Knight Rider to My Own Worst Enemy,caught on despite the strong promotional launch pad of a wildly-successful, record-setting Olympics from Beijing.

Lee Stranahan: Five Reasons NBC's Leno Move Is Brilliant

2008-12-11T02:33:09Z

Usually the comment thread on a subject like this turns into a referendum on which late night personality people like best or hate most, spiked with the occasional person bragging that they don't watch TV at all.

I'd ask you to forget who you like or don't like for a moment and realize that everyone who currently hosts a late night TV show has their appeal to consistently large audience segments. The trick here is not to think like a fan but like a businessperson. By that standard, NBC's bold move of giving Jay Leno five nights a week in primetime is the smartest thing they've done in years. Here's why...

1) Less Programming Works, Higher Margins Are Better

For several years now, Fox has generally been the number one network. They have just two hours of programming per night and they don't seem to be in any hurry to add a third hour. Everyone considers them a broadcast network.

Less programming has worked to get Fox ratings but ratings aren't the only thing on NBC's mind. NBC Entertainment co-chair Ben Silverman recently described a strategy that is more based on profit margins then ratings. In other words, which would you rather have from a business perspective - the show with the higher ratings or the show that makes the most money?

Bear this idea of margins vs ratings in mind next time you hear Les Moonves brag that CSI will crush Leno. NBC may replace that Law And Order DA-WOOOOOOM sound with the sound of a cash register cha-ching.

2) Do What You Do Best

This is NBC playing to its obvious and entrenched strengths. The most two most profitable shows on NBC are The Today Show and The Tonight Show. These are decades old franchises that are as essential to the NBC brand as the Big Mac is to McDonald's or as Tide detergent is to P&G. If you want an equivalent show at another network in terms of brand importance, it's probably 60 Minutes at CBS. Of course, CBS tried to clone 60 Minutes a few years ago and it only proved it's a very hard show to clone, especially when you've decimated the news department.

Putting Leno in at 10pm allows NBC to double down on The Tonight Show. In name, there will only be one Tonight Show and Conan will be hosting it. The prime time Leno show won't be exactly the same show but it's really as close to a viable clone of a show that already works as one can imagine. If this move works, when Jay does decide to retire don't be surprised if Conan ends up in the prime time slot.

3) Jay Leno At ABC Would Have Been A Disaster For NBC
Here was the scenario NBC was facing and it wasn't pretty. It's Fall 2009. Jay has been sent packing and he's moved two blocks down Alameda Avenue to the Disney lot at ABC. (There have been whispered rumors in Burbank for months now that a stage there was already being readied for Jay.) Now, it's Conan on NBC vs. Dave on CBS vs. Jay on ABC.

This would have been a dream scenario for Leno and ABC and a nightmare for NBC. Speaking broadly, Jay's appeal is more working class and plays to middle of the country. Conan and Dave play to roughly the same audience - people on the coasts with a taste for smart alec, frat boy humor..

The Leno audience would follow him to ABC while Letterman and Conan split Letterman's current audience, which is already smaller to begin with. In this case, Leno's audience lead over Letterman would actually grow and Conan and The Tonight Show franchise would end up in third place. There's a vicious cycle here, as the larger Leno audience allows it better leverage to book guests. Any celebrities doing the media rounds in California would have had to choose whether their limo stops at number one Leno or down the street with number three Conan.

Now, the lose-lose for NBC is avoided. Moving Leno to Conan's early lead-in will create a stronger Conan Tonight Show by allowing him the breathing room to adjust to the earlier time slot and build his own audience. (Probably won't be seeing the masturbating bear as much.)

4) No Drama Leno Is A Good Guy To Be In Business With
This move makes NBC more immune to the cutthroat contract drama and infighting that often ends up happening on scripted series - particularly those one hour dramas that are usually in the 10pm time slot. You know the scenario - a show gets big in the ratings and the actors all want more money, eventually driving the production costs through the roof. Even casual TV viewers hear about stories from shows like Desperate Housewives or CSI or ER or...almost any of them, really.

Jay Leno is about as drama free as you'll find in the entertainment industry. He's well known for not having an agent or manager and he negotiates his own contracts by going into the room with executives and walking out with a deal. In the press conference on Wednesday, Leno made it clear that he's not interested in trying to be the best compensated person in show business because he feels he already makes a great living. The Big Three Automakers CEOs could take more than one lesson from Leno, including the one about driving themselves to work.

5) It's A Chance For Jay 2.0
One interesting possibility of the show is that it gives Leno and NBC a way to get a little viral video street cred. The topical nature of the show is part of this but I think it really depends on how much Leno and his staff decide to experiment.

Leno said Wednesday that the format of the 10pm show would be different from the The Tonight Show format but he wasn't sure in what way yet. One smart tactic would be to follow the lead of Saturday Night Live's 'Digital Short' series, which has spawned viral video hits like Lazy Sunday, Dick In A Box, and the latest Genitals-In-Something themed sensation Jizz In My Pants. If Leno can get a team or two of talented, hungry young video comedians and give them a little bit of free reign to create original pieces, he could not only create a new 'must see' segment but also start to generate internet buzz in the way that segments like Jaywalking aren't able to do - that is if NBC lets anything go viral beyond their own Hulu service.

Epilouge
So there you have it. Now feel free to jump into comments and say you hate Dave or that Conan isn't funny or that you don't watch Leno or that you don't understand how anyone can stand Jimmy Kimmel or why didn't I even mention Craig Ferguson!?! That's what comments are for...

(Full disclosure : Lee Stranahan works at NBC as a graphic artist, which means nobody there is particularly interested in his opinion on much of anything. The opinions expressed are solely his and not that of his employer, their parent company, the megacorporation that owns the parent company or Marianna at the commissary.)

Craig Ferguson Knocks Ben Silverman: The Mugabe Of NBC (VIDEO)

2008-12-10T14:20:47Z

All of the late night hosts made reference to Jay Leno's move to 10PM on their shows Tuesday night (watch a video compilation here), but "Late Late Show" host Craig Ferguson had a special segment on NBC Universal Entertainment co-chair Ben Silverman.

Ferguson compared Silverman — the wunderkind producer behind shows like "The Office" and "Ugly Betty" before being tapped to run NBC's programming — to an African dictator, saying, "He is to NBC what Robert Mugabe is to Zimbabwe."

Ferguson then said, "Not only has Silverman run the network into the ground, he also has the creepiest and most annoying laugh in show business," before showing video from Tuesday's press conference.

Watch:

Shelly Palmer: Leno to Take Over 10PM: MediaBytes with Shelly Palmer December 9, 2008

2008-12-09T10:02:33Z

After Conan O'Brien takes over the Tonight Show in May, Jay Leno will begin hosting a show at 10pm on NBC. The move coincides with Jeff Zucker's plan to cut the amount of programming hours with entertainment division fare. Keeping Leno on, even at a new time slot, would help the struggling NBC, currently in 4th place, leverage one of its most recognizable stars.

Sony's Bravia Internet Video Link service has doubled its subscriber base. Bravia Internet Video Link is the best way to watch online video through your Sony Television Set. In fact, you can watch MediaBytes on your Bravia every weekday. Although Sony, like every major corporation, is making hard choices about cost-cutting, their online television initiative is truly industry-leading.

Yahoo, which planned to cut roughly 10% of its workforce, will increase the number of layoffs from 1,400 to 2,000, according to All Things D. Analysts believe the increase stems from the uncertain economy, as well as Yahoo's lack of a leadership. Meanwhile, Yahoo's board, in search of a new director, has made a few recommendations, including former Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin.

MySpace is teaming with Google to help fight to login fatigue. MySpace announced that its MySpaceID will be made available to any third party site who wants to allow users interoperability with MySpace, in addition to bringing Google's Open Social to the MySpace world. The deal would help Google roll its ad network out to a social networking site, which it had failed to do with Orkut, its own social network.

Plus, today's consulting question, "I work for Tribune, what's going to happen to my ESOP?" Shelly has the answer on today's MediaBytes.

Shelly Palmer is a consultant and the host of MediaBytes a daily show featuring news you can use about technology, media & entertainment. He is Managing Director of Advanced Media Ventures Group LLC and the author of Television Disrupted: The Transition from Network to Networked TV (2008, York House Press). Shelly is also President of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, NY (the organization that bestows the coveted Emmy® Awards). You can join the MediaBytes mailing list here. Shelly can be reached at shelly@palmer.net

Television Casting May Feel Obama Effect

2008-11-29T08:43:25Z

It may say something about the state of American television that there is one more black president-elect of the United States than there are black actors with individual lead roles in a network television drama.

But after years of ensemble dramas sprinkled with nonwhite supporting actors, the excitement surrounding the election of Barack Obama could help to open doors for more minorities in leading dramatic roles, executives from television production studios said.

Ben Silverman, the co-chairman of NBC Entertainment who oversees the network's television studio, said that he and the head of the diversity initiative for NBC Universal, Paula Madison, have been pushing for projects starring minorities.

Ben Silverman Contract Renewal Looking Likely Despite NBC Rating Woes

2008-11-24T10:05:54Z

If Ben Silverman is getting ready to leave the peacock flock, neither he nor NBC is acting like it. In fact, the signals suggest he's not about to fly the coop.

On Thursday, NBC parent company General Electric Co. added Silverman to the board of the Peacock Equity Fund, a $250-million media investment vehicle owned by NBC Universal and GE Commercial Finance. Earlier in the week, Silverman sat across the table from interviewer-of-the-moguls Charlie Rose to hold forth on the future of digital entertainment, television and advertising.

And then there was a curious item on the New York Post's Page Six last week that all but left bus tire treads on Katherine Pope, who runs NBC's in-house TV studio, which produced the network's failed series "My Own Worst Enemy."

The item, which many in Hollywood speculated was spin to take the heat off Silverman, blamed Pope for NBC's struggles in prime time.

Silverman has been engaged in negotiations for a new contract that would extend his tenure as co-chairman of NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios beyond June, when his current contract expires. A person close to the situation says a deal could be reached by the end of the year.

"Lipstick Jungle" Not Canceled Yet After All

2008-11-17T17:46:30Z

Reports last week that NBC's "Lipstick Jungle" was canceled may have been premature. After NBC shuffled its lineup and moved the show to Friday several weeks ago, few were surprised to hear that "Jungle" was canceled along with "My Own Worst Enemy." Now NBC Entertainment co-chair Ben Silverman says the show may have new life — if its ratings growth continues.

The New York Times' Bill Carter reports:

But as of this week, the show is breathing again. The reason: it showed signs of life this past Friday, and it picked up 50 percent more viewers when delayed viewing (from DVRs and other devices) was included in the episode a week earlier.

The show also received an outpouring of support from fans.

Ben Silverman, the co-chairman of NBC Entertainment, said Monday that NBC will now definitely finish the 13 episodes that the network originally ordered -- it has 4 more episodes to run -- and may order more if the show "grows more."

Over the weekend, Brooke Shields assured reporters that the show had not been canceled:

"They thought that because My Own Worst Enemy has been shut down that the same thing had happened to us, and it's not true. They're not breaking down the sets. We're still working. We still have more to do, so it's erroneously presented that we've been canceled, thank God.

"Our bosses are saying, 'You're not canceled, don't worry. We're just trying to figure out how to make this make sense.'

"I mean, we're basically No. 1 if you look at DVR. And you look at all that. So the public is watching it."

Jack Myers: News Corp's James Murdoch, Publicis' Maurice Levy and NBCU's Ben Silverman Share 2009 Strategies

2008-11-17T06:53:06Z

NBC Entertainment co-chairman Ben Silverman predicts the economic downturn will cause a "rush to premium content by advertisers." He believes "the NBC Universal model of leveraging specific pieces of content with specific advertisers to reach specific audiences and creating platforms for worldwide exploitation" is the best strategy for growth as marketers reduce and refocus their ad budgets.

"In TV today," Silverman commented at last week's Monaco Media Forum in Monte Carlo, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCZ8ogweGpM) "it's difficult to manage an advertising downturn, but we're developing other businesses." He warned that advertising sales teams must adjust and bring the "siloed" nature of different businesses together by developing "bespoke ideas" and embracing the resources required to push them forward.

News Corp. Europe and Asia CEO James Murdoch, also speaking at the Publicis, Google and Monacosponsored forum, argued for organizational transformation and long-term commitment to strategic investments. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4tI2rFdf64) "People underestimate the importance organizational transformation can have," he commented. "The sharpness of the [economic] experience today causes you to get a handle on your base. It's an urgent priority to get the organization fit."

In considering future acquisitions, Murdoch suggested a go-slow strategy. "We cannot predict today the opportunities that will emerge. There will be real pressure and consolidation. Opportunities will come up in the next two years that might not be available today. Things will be possible we never thought would be possible." Murdoch's short-term strategy is to "push for share… move faster than the competitors… and push our advantages organically where we have them. But we want to be flexible and prepared to respond. Companies that have thrived are those that accelerate the pace of change."

Internet expansion could be a risk because of the explosion of inventory, Murdoch believes. The solution is to develop more assets around "communities of interest -- the core audiences you want to engage with -- and ramp up customer engagement in a big way. If we don't understand how to reach out to customers and be more data driven, we cede the ground to others," he said.

"I hope we never reach the day when emotions can be put through an algorithm," argued Publicis Groupe Chairman Maurice Levy, who delivered the event's closing keynote. "Data is good for reassuring advertisers that people are receiving and relating to messages, but you cannot use "mathematics and clicks to measure the emotional aspects of communications." (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cxaLaMPK4E0)

Paris-based Publicis, the second largest advertising and marketing agency holding company in the world, is moving from a "communications services" company dependent on hourly fees to a business model that emphasizes value creation beyond communications, said Levy. "We're changing our business model to get more value for services we are providing and to share in our clients' success." He pointed to the Denuo unit of Starcom Mediavest Group as an example of the company's embrace of a new strategy for generating growth by providing intellectual capital in exchange for equity in emerging companies.

In its third year, the Monaco Media Forum was considerably more subdued this year as attendees focused more on monetization and strategies for a recessionary economy than on the euphoric enthusiasm that accompanied the rise of the Internet economy. Since last year's Forum, media and agency valuations have declined precipitously and several attendees and speakers warned of continued ad-spending declines and industry consolidation in 2009. While several entrepreneurs touted their innovative VC-funded efforts, a few of which were very well received (most notably news aggregation service DayLife -- www.daylife.com ) the focus was less on deal-making and more on survival strategies. Several registered attendees failed to show up, using cutbacks in travel allowances and the need to stay "close to the office" as their excuse.

Arguably, those who attended gained advantages, intelligence and potential business opportunities. While the MMF could do more to attract senior media, agency and marketing executives and hold them throughout the two-and-a-half day conference, the content was generally thoughtful and relevant. Jack Myers led a panel (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7h4wCvCmes) focused on projected streaming video economics for 2009, featuring Henrique de Castro, Managing Director European Sales for Google; Nancy Cruickshank, CEO, VideoJug; Dina Kaplan, COO, blip.tv; Mike Volpi, CEO, Joost, and Dan Scheinman, General Manager, Cisco Media Solution. Cisco announced plans to launch an online video platform in 2009. His Serene Highness Prince Albert of Monaco hosted the event and presented his annual MMF Media Prize to Stanford Professor Lawrence Lessig, who developed Creative Commons as an alternative to restrictive copyright protection laws. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcJtkCkik1Q)

Peer-to-peer file sharing of content has increased since the Supreme Court declared it illegal, Lessig pointed out. Prohibition of alcohol failed in the 1920s because it made otherwise law abiding citizens into criminals. Similarly, file sharing now renders a whole generation criminals. "A new architecture of business is required," Lessig recommended.

Jack Myers publishes Jack Myers Media Business Report and www.jackmyers.com, and provides market strategy advisory services. He can be contacted at jm@jackmyers.com

To communicate with or to be contacted by the executives and/or companies mentioned in this column, link to the JackMyers Connection Hotline.

This post originally appeared at JackMyers.com.

Katherine Pope, Not Ben Silverman, To Blame For NBC's Canceled Series

2008-11-14T09:06:44Z

NBC Entertainment co-chair Ben Silverman isn't going to get all the blame for the network's lackluster fall schedule.

With yesterday's cancellation of two NBC shows produced by sister company Universal - "Lipstick Jungle," which starred Brooke Shields, and "My Own Worst Enemy," which featured Christian Slater -culpability falls on Universal Media Studio President Katherine Pope, who oversaw both doomed series.

Pope, an original producer on "Heroes," was promoted to the top studio job because of the success of that NBC show.

Almost one year later, with ratings for "Heroes" slipping, she isn't working out the way NBC planned. Top network brass is now overseeing production of the series in an attempt to save it.