TVSquad

So they are getting rid of pilots Zucker is a cheapass who won't give 2% to the writers and wants 50 million more dollars for what? More game shows most likely!

Is there anyone in the world who thinks it's a good idea to have Zucker the fucker be in charge of a network? Hell he shouldn't have been in charge on The Today Show.

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Why have pilots? Just let the people pick which briefcase has the money. Or give over-steroided freaks shiny outfits and big Q-tips to hit each other with.

Really, when will Zucker just bring back "Fear Factor" and complete the transformation of NBC into a cheap, ugly cable channel?

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Good thing we still have basic cable for new scripted shows.

Wait, what the hell did I just say?

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Listen close. That sound you hear is NBC Entertainment circling the drain.

When are they going to fire that band of idiots?

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They've got the whole concept of a pilot wrong. They shouldn't spend a huge amount of money on it and make it broadcast quality. It should be done on the cheap. Just the actors, not in full make up or costume, not with a full studio team (i.e. 50 credits coming up at the end of the episode).

Get the actors, give them some rehearsal time, and then film it with a couple of $1k handheld cameras from the rehearsal room. If you're an executive and want to know whether a show should be picked up for a first season, do you care about costume, makeup and sets? You shouldn't! It should be about the script, the chemistry between the actors, the word play, and how it feels. You can pick up all of that from a production costing $10k.

If you like what your $10k pilot gives you, then you give the go-ahead for a first half-dozen episodes. That's how Seinfeld started out. Start airing it on TV as they're filming episodes 4 and 5. By the time they're filming episode 6, you should know if it's being received well.

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That's the way that it should be: FOCUS on the basics (story, writing, chemistry acting) and then polish the other aspects IF it's worthy.

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I just wish the writers strike would end. There has to be a compromise that both sides could live with.

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If it were any other network planning to do this, I'd say it would be practical. My experience with tv has been that only a few of the best series' pilots hit it out of the park on the first swing. Most shows build off of solid but unspectacular debuts. And I've seen shows with really good pilots, but didn't follow up with episodes of equal quality. The networks would probably have equal luck ordering series based on scripts and show bibles rather than pilots.

However....THIS IS COMING FROM JEFF ZUCKER! Possibly THE idiot in charge of all the idiots in charge. He isn't interested in quality tv, he just wants to make a buck-preferably through his own production company. This is just a matter of not wanting any shows on NBC that aren't "in-house". Zucker doesn't make as much off of non-Universal shows, why should he even put them on his schedule?

Of course, the biggest joke with NBC/Universal Studios right now is that their biggest hit, House, isn't even ON NBC. It's on Fox.

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I remember the pilot for HERMAN'S HEAD being a videotaped presentation - shot on a theatrical stage. It really, really worked - sold the idea very well.

As for NBC.....Fire Zucker. Save the network.

http://its-over-tv.blogspot.com/

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It doesn't matter what Jeff Zucker does. I barely watch his channel now, how is this news going to get me to watch more? NBC sucks. You only got real ratings from NFL games.

How classy were the public fights Zucker had with ABC's president?

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Guess I'll be the first to declare it, but they're foregoing pilots because they'll pick what amateurs generate via Netvision, or Webisodes, etc. "Quarterlife" anyone ?! Start a series on the web, if it works, a network picks it up. This is the new "pilot" model. And it's brilliant. Let the productions themselves foot the upfront startup costs and all the networks have to do is to pick em up.

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Folks, don't forget NBC also has some of the best scripted shows on television. They may have a lot of reality, too, but I love me some Chuck, Heroes, 30 Rock, etc.

But yeah, I totally agree about the cheap pilot thing. That's where it's at. Anyone who doesn't agree is required to go pick up the DVD set of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia immediately.

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We should start a campaign to give me Jeff Zucker's job :) I'm pretty sure I'd get the Pilot budget down from a crazy figure like $20 million to below $1 million, and would cut production costs per show by half (and then find a horses head in my bed from the unions no doubt).

I'd pull the late night talk shows earlier in the schedule so the first show is 10-11 and the second 11-12. I'd fire all but two of the writers on each talk show. We watch these shows half for the guests that are on, and half because we like the host and his own natural comedic talent. If he's just a mouthpiece for the jokes of a team of a dozen writers, then what's the point. I've been enjoying The Daily Show and The Colbert Report much more since they've lost the writers. It's also clear that Craig Ferguson would manage just fine without the writers behind him. It's obvious that there's a lot of him in his monologues and "bits". I don't know why American TV chooses a host based on their personality and comedy skill, and then drowns it out with the output of other writers. Don't get me wrong, I don't want the writers to be put out of work. I'd like them to group together and write their own shows.

I'm sure it wouldn't be popular, and might break the channel, but I'd also drop all reality shows in an attempt at preventing the future predicted by Mike Judge's film "Idiocracy". There isn't a single show that includes the word celebrity or reality in the title that's worth saving in my opinion. If the theme of the show is singing, dancing, skating, cooking, surviving, cleaning, making-over, love-matching or big-brother spying-on, then it's not going on my channel. Oh the power. I'm sure it'd go to my head and I'd end up like Jeff Zucker (an idiot that doesn't belong in television because I'd be out of touch with how to make the TV that people want to watch).

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