In merciless detail, Bloomberg's Ronald Grover reports on NBC's new plan to completely undo all the "accomplishments"--definitely note the sneer quotes--of outgoing NBC-U chief Jeff Zucker. Zucker, it will be recalled, had the bright idea of replacing Jay Leno with Conan O'Brien, and had to undo that booboo, at a cost to the NBC-U and parent GE, of about $200 million. Even more profoundly, Zucker thought that he could replace scripted shows with cheapie reality shows. That decision helped NBC to fourth place.
But now, under new programming chief Jeff Gaspin, a poorer-but-wiser NBC is going back to traditional television. As Grover quotes Gaspin, “It was time to reinvest. We had spent the last several years shrinking our business by looking at the economics and maybe we went too far.”
That's a nice way of saying, "Sayonara, Jeff." Or as The Cable Gamer would say, "Jeff, don't let the trash can lid hit you on your way out to the dump."
Zucker hasn't announced that he's leaving, but if he has any pride, he will resign. And even if he doesn't have any pride--after all, he's lasted this long, even as his work is undone--Zucker will be gone soon.
