Hollywood blogger Nikki Finke--a thorn to pompous bigshots, a rose to the rest of us--nails NBC-Universal for shamelessly (but also pathetic) self-congratulation. Under the headline, "Another Opportunity To Mock NBC Uni," Finke wrote this mocking graf about the #4 broadcast network:
Seriously, these guys make it much too easy. Especially when NBC will end these sweeps mired in 4th place among networks. Nevertheless, NBC Universal thinks it has reason to celebrate the company's 5th anniversary. So today it will launch a new :30 promotional spot "designed to showcase all of the diverse assets within the company's portfolio to business and consumer audiences". The on-air spot will debut as a special "roadblock" premiere on Tuesday, May 12 in the 8 p.m. ET/PT hour on all of the channels of NBC Universal and their accompanying websites, on NBC Universal's video billboard in Times Square (at 42nd and 7th), at the Universal Studios theme parks in Orlando and Los Angeles as well as in taxicabs in New York City. This is the first of a series of brand awareness spots that will air across the platforms of NBCU during the course of the year.
Finke nails it, as she always does.
But it's actually worse than that. The Cable Gamer took the time to click through the "Milestones" of this corporate puff-package, and found this dubious-achievement gem of a milestone: the 20th anniversary of Bob Wright. (Note: This is an unretouched screen-grab--no PhotoShopping here!)
Of course, no ordinary American cares about Bob Wright, or even knows who he is, so casual websurfer will care that Wright celebrated 20 years of NBC mismanagement on September 1, 2006. On the other hand, GE shareholders might know who he is, mostly because he is the fellow whose personal desire to go Hollywood was translated into GE deciding to become a media conglomerate--at horrendous loss of shareholder value. Instead of sticking to its knitting in industrial things, GE all of a sudden became an entertainment company. Wright loved it, of course, even if he didn't know what he was doing. And yet even now, Wright gets paid $13 million or so a year to do nothing. Word has it that he is not allowed anywhere near GE HQ, but for reasons unknown--a juicy dossier on Jeff Immelt or Jeff Zucker, perhaps?--he is kept on the payroll to do nothing worthwhile. And on top of his salary, he still has the muscle to use up resources for his own further aggrandizement.
