Looks like Kevin Reilly is out as NBC's head of Entertainment and we can expect an announcement as early as tomorrow according to Variety. Since Reilly took the position NBC went from #1 to #4 in the ratings. While some could say it is because of the loss of shows like Friends, Frasier and Seinfeld, but let's be real NBC survived the loss of other highly rated shows like The Cosby Show, Family Ties and LA Law. You can also say that shows are going on way past their shelve lives on the net like the Law & Orders and ER, but those are the shows that people are still watching on NBC. So what is the problem? (I know my blogger buddies GMMR and The TV Addict are not going to like what I am going to say, but…) Well the problem is that they are keeping shows that people are not watching just because they Zucker and him liked them, ie The Office, My Name is Earl, Scrubs, 30 Rock and Friday Night Lights. Their shows are too specific and not really for a broad audience like Friends and The Cosby Show was. Yes I watch FNL, but NBC shows are critically acclaimed, but do not well in the ratings. In fact NBC highest rated show for the season, that was not Football, was #15 and that is Monday night's Deal or No Deal according to The Hollywood Reporter. Yes, you will notice that Heroes is the number one new show of the season, but that is not saying much because this was a weak season. NBC also made a lot of scheduling mistakes and moving shows all over the place and not putting them with shows that were compatible together, for example Heroes and Studio 60, The Black Donnelys and Wedding Crashers when they would have been better off keeping Medium there.
While I am happy that NBC is finally making a much needed change, I am perplexed why they waited until after the new season was announced. Granted that worked quite well for ABC when they gave Stephen McPherson the job shortly after upfronts, that was the year that Desperate Housewives and Lost premiered. Back to NBC sadly Reilly isn't taking Zucker with him, now that would be ideal!
Variety is saying that Ben Silverman will be joining the network, but he will not be replacing Reilly. His position will be higher than Reilly's…ouch. I am sure more details will be announced when it is all official.
So what made me turn on Reilly? It is not like I really lost any shows under him, in fact most everything I watch on NBC was picked up. What makes me celebrate his firing is that now maybe NBC won't cancel Days of our Lives when their contract is up next year! And that is all I care about! Long live Days of our Live!!! Bye bye Kevin Reilly!!!
