NBC: Everybody under the hood

Entertainment Weekly got under the hood of "Heroes," suggesting how to tune it. NBC was reportedly alarmed by this story and started swapping out parts, which is funny. Shouldn't they have been alarmed by the falling ratings? Or TV critics and fans making the same creative complaints for weeks?

Defamer weighed in, snarking, hey, "Heroes" was never great to begin with. And talented "Pushing Daisies" creator Bryan Fuller is reportedly waiting in the wings to return to re-join the convoluted show's writing staff if ABC cancels "Daisies" (Okay guys, how about a hero who can bring dead people back to life by touching them? What do you mean you already have three of those?)

Meanwhile NBC is also under the hood of “Knight Rider." The network gave the show a full-season order, then watched in horror as the car drove itself off a cliff. The format changes will make "Rider" more of a weekly crisis-of-the-week procedural -- traveling around, helping people, solving mysteries. But if somebody is killed on the top floor of a high-rise building, how will a car solve the crime? 

Nobody, it seems, is going under the hood of NBC's "Crusoe" or "My Own Worst Enemy." No word on renewals. No word on script orders. Right now they look like cars abandoned near an airport.

The biggest under-the-hood rumors have been about NBC shaking up its executive ranks -- replacing the engine, if you will. But co-chair Ben Silverman, the industry chatter now says, is on the verge of re-signing with the network (that’s re-signing, not resigning). An announcement of his re-up will likely coincide with announcing Paul Telegdy taking over reality (and, possibly, more than just reality).

Employees at NBC have Monday off, which some are finding funny since Veterans Day is tomorrow. They couldn’t even get the holiday right! But, c’mon. You are just bitter because you didn’t get a three-day weekend.

Comments

[Joe Bua]

You know, you really have to wonder if Ben Silverman has pictures of both Jeffs Immelt and Zucker doing something, uh ... untoward.

Maybe something that happened on Elisabeth Murdoch's yacht?

I haven't watched Heroes from last night yet. Should I?

[ron]

why would silverman need incriminating photos, the man is a genius. even with low numbers for shows like crusoe and my own worst enemy, i'm sure that they cannot be costing the network too much, and they may even be profitable still. the ratings hardly matter anymore. the costs of producing crusoe are shared with producers in england and another country, while my own worst enemy gets paid a lot by gm. as long as the shows pull in money and continue to be inexpensive they are successful and so is silverman, no matter what the ratings are

[matt]

sadly this is true.

although even with the money being brought in by GM, you gotta imagine NBC's brass is NOT happy with My Own Worst Enemy's numbers. Factor in the money they spent on promotion (which was a lot--i mean ads for it were everywhere) and i gotta think its not cooking for them.

Me thinks Mr. Silverman had to choose between it and Knight Ridder for renewal and chose Knight Rider since that was his baby from development onwards. Hopefully what this means is that Medium will be given back that Monday at 10 spot soon enough. Whoo Hoo for reliable Medium! why does NBC keep squandering it? it decently performs for the net season after season and yet they keep suppressing it.

I never thought Carusoe had a shot of being continued after its 13 parts were done...i always imagined it was a big mini-series...and yes a large chunk of it...prob 99.999 percent was already paid for so all nbc had to do was market it (which they didn't really compared to their other shows)

Between that and the seeming abandon of Lipstick Jungle--you gotta wonder what the heck NBC is planning on doing with Friday nights come January. If I were a betting man-- 2 hour Dateline mysteries followed by the direct tv season of Friday Night Lights. It really is too bad they refused to greenlight even a half season of Las Vegas at this point....I wasn't even all that saddened by its cancellation last May...but the numbers they posted were solid as a rock compared to what their doing now.

[Frodo]

Fact is NBC is done this season, "Heroes" gets routinely beat by CBS' comedy lineup, they have nothing, CBS owns all!!!

[roy]

If there's a sure sign NBC is about to fire a top programming guy, it's when they announce they've "re-signed" him. Ask Kevin Reilly.

[Mikey M]

Heroes does need fixing. Hopefully Daisies won't get the boot but Bryan Fuller should could help them out.
Ashame I only saw one episode of My Own Worst Enemy. The rest are sitting on my tivo box.
Glad Lipstick Jungle is gone. It should have never made it past the first season.Nowhere near as good as Sex in the city.
NBC's schedule has been a mess. When they have more faith in Deal or No Deal and the Biggest Loser over shows like Scrubs which they let get away and Journeyman which they canceled last year, it's no wonder they are a joke with viewers.

[Mikey M]

Oh, and Knight Rider. A waste of time to reboot it. It's a horrible show.