"Where's Jeff?" That's a good question, in regard to the late-show wars at NBC. As we have seen, Jeff Zucker seems to have disappeared from the stage. But "Which Jeff?" might be an even better question, since it seems that another Jeff, Jeff Gaspin, nominally a subordinate of Zucker's, seems to have taken charge.
Indeed, the Cable Gamer thinks we might have just met the successor to Zucker at NBC-U. For all practical purposes, the succession seems to have already happened.
TheWrap.com, a superb new site from ex-Timeswoman Sharon Waxman--who personally broke the story of Comcast's hoped-for acquisition of NBC-Universal, continues to dig deep into the doings--or is it the doo-doo--at NBC. TheWrap's Josef Adalian takes us behind the scenes of the decision to shuffle Jay Leno back to 11:35 pm, with Conan O'Brien to go... well, nobody quite knows.
In past posts, The Cable Gamer has wondered aloud why Zucker, the chairman of NBC-U, never seemed to get mentioned--after all, giving Leno's "Tonight Show" to O'Brien was Zucker's idea, six years ago. But now, thanks to Adalian's reporting, we get a better sense of how things are working; and in particular, we see how Gaspin, the chairman of NBC-U Television Entertainment, seems to have eclipsed his boss, Zucker. Here are the relevant passages from Adalian's story:
By making the "tough call" on the failed experiment known as Jay Leno at 10 p.m., NBC's Jeff Gaspin said he's trying to make the best of a bad situation. But while granting Leno his old 11:35 slot perhaps solved one problem, it just creates another: the strong possibility that Conan O'Brien could leave.
Gaspin took full ownership of the decision to pull Leno from primetime during a remarkably candid session with reporters Sunday at the TV Critics Assn. press tour in Pasadena.
"I just made the tough call," he said.
So Jeff G. made the tough call? Not Jeff Z.? How does that work? Later in the story, we get some more detail as to how Gaspin handled Zucker, as he maneuvered to send Leno back to late-night:
So Gaspin called Zucker to push the button.
"We'd be having conversations," he said, noting Zucker had heard of the affiliate rebellion. "I said, 'I think it's time ... we have to make the call.' He understood and he didn't disagree. He challenged me every step of the way ... In the end, he realized this was our best choice and perhaps our only choice."
Some of those words are worth dwelling on. According to Gaspin, Zucker "challenged me every step of the way," but, Gaspin continues, "In the end, he realized this was our best choice and perhaps our only choice."
But of course, Gaspin must look pretty good to both present owner General Electric and future owner Comcast, since he was not involved in the original stupid decision to swap out Leno for O'Brien. A look at Gaspin's bio shows that he was still at Bravo back then, and so had nothing to do with the decision. That decision bore the signature of Zucker. And now, that signature is like a confession: "I don't know what I am doing."
So now it is up to Gaspin, to make the best of a bad situation.
Thus Zucker is, in effect, the man who is no longer there--see the illustration above. He might be on the job, still, collecting millions, for years to come, but Gaspin is now the go-to guy. And so in corporate-power terms, it's not just Zucker's face that is now missing.
