The War for Late Night_ When Leno Went Early and Television Went Crazy - Bill Carter [227]
As he worked through it, breaking it all down, he believed he had a grasp of exactly what had transpired, and why. But then a piece wouldn’t quite fit. Where did that piece come from? Did it make sense? For a time, Lorne thought he really had it, but then he realized he clearly didn’t. Finally, he decided, it was probably time to shrug it off and just walk away.
“It’s Chinatown,” he said.
On September 24, 2010, just as the fall television season got under way, Jeff Zucker announced that he was stepping down; the new corporate owners at Comcast were inclined, after all, to install their own boss. No one should have been surprised, Zucker said; yet he knew that many inside NBC would be. Comcast offered no specific reason, and Zucker resigned himself to the fact that “ninety-nine times out of a hundred, when a company spends billions to buy another company, they want to put their own team in place.” He certainly didn’t believe that the late-night crisis of 2010 had played a hand. “That was just a risk that didn’t work out,” he concluded. Whatever the rationale, the departure removed Zucker from the only employer he had ever worked for, the only building he had ever worked in. “It’s all I’ve ever known,” Jeff said. “I met my wife here. My four kids were born while I was here. I endured colon cancer twice here.” The pain of separation from an institution he had devoted his professional life to stirred “gut-wrenching” emotions in Jeff Zucker; it was something he suddenly had in common with a late-night host of his previous acquaintance. That, and Harvard.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book is almost exclusively the product of firsthand reporting. I gained information from several other sources, especially in-depth interviews in Rolling Stone magazine. I also relied on some of my own reporting for The New York Times. But I was most fortunate to have the encouragement of some extraordinary editors there. I want especially to thank Bruce Headlam and Steve Reddicliffe.
At Viking, thanks to the president, Clare Ferraro, and the executive editor, Rick Kot, as well as Laura Tisdel, who rode herd on the copy. And of course I must once again thank my stalwart agent, Kathy Robbins, a supplier of great advice and confidence.
My fondest appreciation goes to Rich and Nikki Carter, Catherine and Dan O’Neill, Alexandra Carter and Greg Lembrich, Rich and Brittany Carter, John Carter, Bridget and Danny O’Neill, Tom and Regina Lembrich, Phil and Denise Andrews, Frank and Diane Guercio, Lori and Thom Peters, Aine and Paul McCambridge, Kathy and Eric Davidson, Leslie and Paul Marchese, Gerry Uehlinger, and Dr. Tom Ziering.
Thanks to Pat Berry, and a shout-out to the “cool kids” table on the 14th floor. I also benefited immeasurably from having an early reader, and always friend, Eric Mink.
From Fox, my great thanks to Kevin Reilly and Peter Rice. From ABC, Anne Sweeney. From TBS, Steve Koonin. From the E Channel, Ted Harbert.
I am grateful to two complete professionals from NBC, Allison Gollust and Rebecca Marks, as well as Cory Shields, Jeff DeRome, and Tracy St. Pierre. Others I am indebted to at NBC include Marc Graboff, Rick Ludwin, Nick Bernstein, Alan Wurtzel, Ron Meyer, Michael Bass, and Michael Fiorile. Jeff Gaspin supplied his recollections with impressive frankness. Dick Ebersol has always related his experiences with color and candor—never more so than this time. Lorne Michaels, as he has often in the past, found remarkable ways to express the essence of what was really going on.
I want to express special appreciation to Jeff Zucker. He was, as he has always been, open, thoughtful, and giving with his time and his perspectives.
Thanks also to Gail Berman, Lloyd Braun, Alan Berger, Andrea Wong, Robert Morton, Jeff Garlin, Bob Thompson, Don Ohlmeyer, Marc Liepis, Brian Williams—and for great laughs and observations, Jerry