NBC Universal CEO and president Jeff Zucker might be funny... or just a prick. He appears in a new promotional video to air on April 3rd before a new episode of My Name is Earl.Zucker plugs NBC.com, where people can catch up on their favorite shows that are about to return after being on a long hiatus because of the strike. He includes what could be considered as digs toward writers, including asking viewers to watch the videos within the first 17 days of posting. The new WGA contract allows studios to stream content for 17 days before they have to pay writers royalties. Plus, there's a little dig at the writers when he's talking about My Name Is Earl-- how Earl gets hit by a car again in the cliffhanger. "Writers refer to it as a 'callback'. I call it getting paid twice for writing the same thing."
Okay, I have to admit that I chuckled. I don't think he's mocking the writers. I think he's mocking himself-- by acting as if he wants to keep as much money as possible from the writers. Unfortunately, Zucker's not the best guy on-camera, so his sarcasm could be lost on some.
What do you think?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-28-2008 @ 7:13PM
Dave said...
I'm pretty sure this was actually written by the writers for My Name is Earl. At least according to Nikki Finke.
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3-28-2008 @ 7:20PM
Doug Nelson said...
No
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3-28-2008 @ 7:27PM
Jake said...
Nothing funny about NBC's ratings. Maybe if they didnt cancel a show after five years with no notice, or developed good comedies like they used to, they'd be a good network.
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3-28-2008 @ 7:33PM
MPC said...
Funny
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3-28-2008 @ 7:42PM
Frank said...
I want to say "not funny" just because its Jeff Zucker and he has always struck me as a bit of a douche.
But honestly, it was pretty funny.
I could see some writers being pissed after an acrimonious strike, but the "inside" jokes about the "callback" and the 17 days truly seem good natured.
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3-28-2008 @ 10:57PM
sitruc said...
I'm used to seeing Zucker bashing on this site and was ready to hate myself, but as I read the post before watching the video I realized this was going to be good-natured. I watched the video. He's not a good actor, but the writing was pretty good and he got his part across. It was fun. It definitely wasn't meant to hurt writers and was more likely self-deprecating humor written by - writers.
3-28-2008 @ 7:51PM
Eileen said...
Not. Funny.
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3-28-2008 @ 8:32PM
kickit said...
It really doesn't seem like he's mocking the writers or taking shots at them at all. I kind of doubt he even wrote that himself. It's just supposed to be funny, as well as bringing up the issue of the strike, showing that there are no hard feelings anymore. I doubt the network would want to piss anyone off again anyway. BTW I really liked the reference to Seinfeld -- "yada yada yada... remember that?". Haha.
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3-29-2008 @ 10:10AM
Karen said...
I don't think he intended to be a prick, but he kinda comes across as one.
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3-29-2008 @ 3:39PM
Adam P said...
That WAS funny. Funny things were said, though not said in a funny way. If he were an actor, he'd be on a show, not running the company. I thought it was funny. What may be better in the future is to post the video ahead of your commentary, so as not to increase bias.
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3-30-2008 @ 7:21AM
Jimmy said...
Zucker is a douchebag.
The irony is that he didn't write the bit.
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3-31-2008 @ 4:10PM
Yaron said...
Definitely funny.
And it's incredibly obvious that this is intentional, written, and is supposed to be humor. I can't understand how anyone who watched this could have thought it was Jeff Zucker being honest and saying what he really thinks...
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