> They need Leno to work at 10PM and feed viewers to Conan after late local news.
What NBC execs are doing is using the Palin approach to marketing, figuring if they keep calling themselves mavericks and risk-takers enough, someone else might actually see them as something other than desperate fools. I would guess that NBC doesn't have the bankroll to keep funding the 10pm M-F timeslot with scripted dramas. I would also guess that NBC execs are aware that low-budget reality fare doesn't sell well in reruns, off-net, or DVD. They've already hacked their news and sports budgets to bits, so a newsmagazine wasn't in the cards. All that was left to them was some form of variety program, and it was better/easier to include Leno (who is at least a known quantity) than try and fail with five new shows/hosts. They aren't building Leno a new studio, and they aren't giving his show as big a staff as the Tonight Show... if the show were any cheaper, Dick Clark would be producing it. Silverman left the same way Warren Littlefield did a few years ago, and Brandon Tartikoff several years ago. He picked up a development deal where he'll sell programing back to NBC and make more money than he did when he worked for them directly. I doubt he was pushed out, because his job is/was among the worst in the industry. The old standards of success are unattainable given the modern media climate. Silverman is getting out before the new standards are defined, at which point NBC will really look bad. -- Kevin M. (RPCV) --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
