The War for Late Night_ When Leno Went Early and Television Went Crazy - Bill Carter [53]
Zucker, confident of his abilities in most areas of management, was especially convinced of his skill in talent relations. Throughout his history at Today, he exhibited a deft hand at massaging the egos of big players like Gumbel and Katie Couric (who didn’t much like each other) and later Matt Lauer. All of the stars of Today grew close to him, trusted him, relied on his counsel and advice. In Hollywood Jeff believed he had connected equally successfully with important NBC stars, like the cast of Friends.
But as he climbed he seemed to tip toward talent himself, at least as some saw it. One NBC executive heard Zucker complain about how his contract situation had been handled, compared to what the network had done for Lorne Michaels in his latest Saturday Night Live deal. “I don’t think Jeff got it,” the executive said, “that Lorne is talent.”
The executive, who liked Zucker generally, suggested that Jeff and other top leaders across the entertainment industry shared a common genetic trait: “They have narcissistic personalities. Almost every conversation will eventually be about them. But maybe that’s what it takes to be in jobs like that.”
The personal quality most often cited by Zucker supporters and detractors alike was his high intelligence. But as much as that impressed many, it gave others more reason to question how effective he had actually been as CEO. The knock was that he didn’t delegate well, mainly because he always seemed certain he could do the job as well or better himself.
“Sometimes it’s a curse to be too smart and think you can do too much,” said an NBC executive who worked closely with Zucker for a time.
The area that clearly needed the most attention at NBC was its crumbling entertainment division in LA. When Zucker left Hollywood in 2003 to return to New York and his new corporate assignment, he had hired Kevin Reilly to rebuild the foundation of the prime-time lineup. But it wasn’t as though Reilly had free rein. “Jeff ran every scheduling meeting,” said one of the lower-level development executives. “Kevin didn’t handle Jeff well, and Jeff didn’t handle Kevin well.”
Reilly and others in the entertainment division felt ping-ponged at times by Zucker’s rapidly changing assessments of shows, trends, the business in general. His strongest leadership quality, his total sense of confidence, had a downside in what staff members came to identify as “Zucklamations.” As one longtime NBC executive—and Zucker backer—acknowledged, “Jeff does have a thing for proclamations and pronouncements.”
These could deal with smallish details, like the breakdown of a show’s format “It was like with the show Las Vegas,ʺ said the development executive, citing an NBC drama of this era that starred James Caan. “According to Jeff, that could be 85 percent self-contained and 15 percent serialized.” At other times the proclamations could affect weightier issues. At one point, several NBC executives recalled, Zucker decided that no single-camera comedy—shows like Scrubs or 30 Rock, which were shot on film like little movies with no laugh track—could ever be a hit. NBC should therefore lean toward three-camera comedies—shows like Two and a Half Men and Friends, shot on tape like little plays in front of studio audiences whose laughter accompanies the jokes.
That decision almost cost NBC the one new breakout comedy of Zucker’s tenure, The Office, which Jeff did not initially embrace. After its first six episodes aired to minimal impact in the ratings, Zucker pushed for the show to be canceled, announcing during an NBC program strategy meeting, according to an executive who was there, “The audience has spoken—it’s outright rejection.” But Kevin Reilly liked the series a lot—as did Bob Wright (and even Jeff Immelt). The show hung on, and then took off, at which point Zucker, too, finally came around.
In private conversations with colleagues and friends, Zucker would occasionally open up about the economic squeeze