Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Jeff Zucker


For those of you who don’t know who he is, he is now the President and CEO of NBC Universal. Zucker has a job that I would love to ascend to.

In 1989, he was a field producer for The Today Show, and at 26 he became its executive producer in 1992.He introduced outdoor rock concerts on the show, and incorporated a mass live audience, most prominently through a window on the city. Under his leadership, Today was the nation’s most-watched morning news program, with viewership during the 2000-01 season reaching the highest point in the show’s history. (from wikipedia)

Zucker has basically failed his way up the chain of command at NBC. True, he created the mega show that is The Today Show but, when he took over NBC Entertainment he lost Friends and has not really found a BIG hit for the network. The only scripted show in the Top 20 is Heros which is #13 with 13.6 million viewers. There are other shows on NBC that I watch and like (on DVR) Studio 60, 30 Rock, The Office, and that’s about it.

Zucker is someone that made the transition working in News to working on the entertainment side of television. It’s a transition that I am currently trying to make. A year and a half into my career in television, I know where I want to go. The challenge is getting the opportunity to set myself up to go there. Television is a hard business to work in. I love it. But when you are “young” you have to take your lumps while you work your way up

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