Fascinating article in the September issue of Portfolio on Jeff Zucker, CEO and President of Universal. Definitely worth the read. He has had some hits as well as taken some hits, but he clearly has a plan. From the acquisition of Oxygen and Weather Channel to the creation of Hulu, he has a definite vision of where he thinks NBC needs to be. And he certainly works hard at it. And the TV industry is so different today than it was just 10 years ago. Still, some would argue that while his cable strategy is sound, his broadcast strategy for NBC is not.
Can producing less pilots per year achieve better results. Financially yes, creatively hard to say. In this new world of on-demand, networks don't allow shows the time to develop as they once did. Seinfeld, Cheers and many other shows were not the ratings hits in their first years. But someone had the vision to keep them on. 30 Rock fits into that category today; luckily, a show that continues to get critical praise despite less than stellar ratings so far. Hopefully more people will find this very funny show. I feel that other shows though have been let go before their time and were not given the same time to grow and prosper. It is these tough decisions that Jeff and his team have to make to construct a successful schedule. The writers strike didn't help them, but every TV season provides the chance to have a do-over. So stay tuned for this Fall to see if the NBC magic is coming back.
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