NBC's Tarnished Silverman

The last name might be the same but the new Silverman doesn't have the Midas touch like Fred.

Perhaps it's something in the NBC Kool-Aid. After a phenomenally successful career developing TV hits like "Charlie's Angels" Fred Silverman went to NBC in 1978 and fell flat on his golden ass. It was prime-time bomb after bomb. Silverman as NBC president was Jeff Zucker before Jeff Zucker was Jeff Zucker. And Silverman took the hit when the ratings shit hit the fan.

It appears that the NYT's Bill Carter is in league with Zucker to protect Zucker's job by distancing him from NBC's colossal failures.
So fast-forward thirty years and let's review the NBC programming record of Silverman the Younger - smokin' until he landed at NBC.

Bill Carter NYT: 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.

Two years in, his dream job is significantly different. So is Mr. Silverman.

His assignment of reviving NBC’s long-troubled fortunes in prime time has proved heavier lifting than Mr. Silverman anticipated, thanks to a combination of external factors — like a writers’ strike and a battered economy — and internal factors, including some gossip-stoking incidents in his personal life and a few comments about others that he now acknowledges were ill-advised.

And as always, there is the issue of ratings.

While it has been a meager year everywhere for hits in the network business, NBC has for several years been all but desperate for a new breakout show — or two or three. Mr. Silverman’s first full cycle of programs has not yet produced anything fitting that description. The fall lineup was fallow; two spring entries have generated some great reviews but only hints of future ratings gold.

When the hits did not flow in the fall, it enflamed critics who were already disposed to find fault with Mr. Silverman over what they labeled as arrogance and a self-involved management style.

Some detractors, rooting for his exit, have suggested that he and NBC can’t wait to part company. But Mr. Silverman, who is 38, says he is staying put. “I am a happy worker at NBC,” he said in a recent interview in Manhattan. “I plan to stay at NBC as part of the NBC family. I’m there. I’m committed.”

[Translation: he's so GONE...]

Jeff Zucker, Mr. Silverman’s boss and the chief executive of NBC Universal, says he continues to value Mr. Silverman’s work. “Ben has a skill set that is incredibly appropriate for these times,” he said. “If we weren’t supportive of Ben, he wouldn’t be here.”

[If rolling joints is a "skill set"...]

Still, the fact that there has been no formal deal announced to renew Mr. Silverman’s contract will probably set off speculation among Mr. Silverman’s critics that Mr. Zucker does not want to make a public endorsement of him.

As for his personal life, Mr. Silverman said he had taken steps to temper his social profile, which made him a frequent target in the Hollywood blogosphere. (He famously held a party populated by models in bikinis and white tigers in cages.) “I am more conscious of how I’m being presented,” he said.

[He was issued an ultimatum to stop presenting himself as an asshole.]

Not that he doesn’t acknowledge some missteps. He was quoted dismissing two network competitors as “D-girls” — or low-level development executives. “I should never have called them that,” Mr. Silverman said.

[They think he's gay.]

“Ben made some mistakes in his first year,” Mr. Zucker said. “The first year was a learning experience. He had to learn how to work inside a corporation.”

[In Zucker's fiefdom there are no bathroom breaks for snorting coke.]

THE ratings — and Mr. Zucker’s expectations — have ratcheted up the pressure on Mr. Silverman to make something positive happen quickly, certainly within the next year. The programming team under him has been revamped and given wider responsibilities. And Mr. Silverman and NBC seem to have agreed informally that he will continue on a year-to-year basis after his initial contract expires in June.

[He's gone.]

So, to pick up that slack, it will require something (or several somethings) shiny and successful out of Mr. Silverman’s shop. “We need better shows,” Mr Zucker said. “That is priority No. 1 right now.” Ever confident, Mr. Silverman believes that he has the goods coming next fall.

[Shipment from Colombia.]

Mr. Zucker said he expected better shows to begin to emerge more easily, mainly thanks to the realignment of duties he put in place at NBC Entertainment early this year.

The principal change involved the replacement of Mr. Silverman’s hand-picked top lieutenant, Teri Weinberg, with a veteran NBC program development executive, Angela Bromstad.

[Silverman is now operating out of Jay Leno's closet.]

Silverman: “At the end of the day if we’re still going to make the best programming in the world, we’ve got to find the funding for it.”

[Blame the advertisers.]

“I am resilient,” he said.

A Survivor. Resilient like Elizabeth Edwards. And like the adulterous former presidential candidate's wife, Silverman will claim he was The Last To Know...