Jeff Zucker news stories on Newser

Keith Olbermann Dishes About MSNBC Feud

Kevin Spak — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 10:15:46 CDT

Keith Olbermann isn’t talking to Rachel Maddow, he’s pulling down a fortune at Current TV, and he’s plucked suspended MSNBC anchor David Shuster to be his fill-in host there. Those are just some of the revelations in a characteristically candid interview Olbermann gave the Hollywood Reporter . Some highlights:

Jeff Zucker Will Leave NBC

Evann Gastaldo — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 11:14:00 CDT

Oft-criticized NBC Universal president and CEO Jeff Zucker will leave the company when its acquisition by Comcast becomes official. Zucker made his decision public this morning in an email to NBC employees acquired by the Wall Street Journal . Though he says it wasn’t his choice to leave, he calls it...

Obama Must Avenge Conan, Fire NBC's CEO

Kevin Spak — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 12:57:36 CST

If President Obama can fire GM’s CEO, why not Jeff Zucker, the bonehead who ousted Conan O’Brien? The Tonight Show fiasco was just the latest masterstroke of the “blindingly incompetent” NBC boss, but it looks as though he’s safe until Comcast finishes acquiring the floundering broadcaster, writes Simon Dumenco for...

NBC's Next Challenge: Fixing Prime Time

Nick McMaster — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 14:55:00 CST

Now that NBC is nearly past the Jay Leno-Conan O'Brien fiasco, the network is refocusing on the job at hand: correcting a 5-year slide in ratings. The Leno gambit, which CEO Jeff Zucker described as an experiment in the "economics" of network television, represented the network's hope that Leno could...

'Anarchic' Conan Perfect for Treasury Secretary

Will McCahill — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:31:00 CST

The idiot circus that is NBC’s late-night merry-go-round resembles nothing so much as the US financial crisis, so what better next stop for Conan O’Brien than the Treasury? That’s what Leslie Savan would like to see, given that Secretary Tim Geithner completely lacks the O’Brien-like “cojones to be admirably, even...

Late-Night Mess Is Our Fault

Harry Kimball — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 10:38:40 CST

It’s fun to point fingers, but the “late-night fratricide” at NBC isn't Jeff Zucker's fault, Leno's, or Conan's: It's ours. The real culprit is our own disaffection with traditional TV, writes David Carr, who's been following the fracas closely—on his computer. We're so bombarded by news that The Tonight...

NBC Threatens to 'Ice' Conan O'Brien

Kevin Spak — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 13:20:26 CST

NBC honcho Jeff Zucker is now threatening to take Conan O’Brien off the air entirely and “ice” him for the remaining three-plus years of his contract, preventing him from appearing on NBC or any other network, O’Brien’s reps tell Nikki Finke . Jay Leno would then get the Tonight Show back,...

Zucker's On His Way to Killing NBC

John Johnson — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 10:59:06 CST

He used to be network television's wunderkind, but now Jeff Zucker might go down as the man whose misguided moves dealt a death blow to NBC. The flip-flop over Jay Leno—"shaping up to be one of the biggest debacles in television history"—is just the latest of "several costly...

To Save NBC, Rethink Leno Strategy

Sarah Quinn — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:30:55 CST

Cable giant Comcast wants to buy a controlling interest in NBC Universal. Sure, the company's movie business and cable channels are appealing, but what about the broadcast network? NBC is floundering, and CEO Jeff Zucker is to blame, Mark Harris writes in New York . One big problem is The Jay...