NBC: From 'Must-See TV' to 'There's Nothing Watchable'

Nikki Finke on the last voyage of the RMS NBC:

NBC has axed Southland ... I hear Trauma is next because of its ridiculously excessive $3 million pricetag an episode. (When I screened the show, I was rooting for the helicopter to kill off every character ...) My NBC insiders are letting Angela Bromstad off the hook, saying 'she picked the best of s---' from Ben Silverman's failed development. 'This is the last gift that keeps on giving from Ben Silverman.' The insiders are even going so far as to give up on the rest of the primetime schedule for their network. 'There's nothing watchable the rest of the year.' Even midseason and spring of 2010? 'Nothing watchable the rest of the season,' I'm told. 'Maybe Jerry Seinfeld's The Marriage Ref will work, but he's not even in it. This is not a fun place to be right now. And we committed to Jay Leno on the air for 2 years because he was worried we'd have an itchy trigger finger. It's an embarrassment for all of us. Maybe he'll get fed up -- he's not right now -- and then we can re-negotiate.' This is beyond sad. It's the destruction of a brand.

Can you really blame Ben Silverman if the entire year contains nothing watchable?

Television · 2009/10/09 · 0 COMMENTS · Link