Comments (19)

• Nikki — why do you hate this guy so much? He tried to bring change to a potentially dying business. The broadcast TV business is in serious straits for a multitude of reasons.

  I’m not saying he’s a saint. A few jabs are all fun and good. And frankly, anyone who makes that much money can deal with an obsessive blogger. But the question remains…why are you so damn mean to the guy? He’s not satan. Apparently, he’s a bad network executive. So what? It happens all the time.

  Comment by Why? — Monday July 27, 2009 @ 3:42pm PST  Reply to this post

• OK, you reported the news. Enough, already. This intense hatred you have for Ben Silverman that colors everything you do is not particularly appealing.

  Comment by Dan in NYC — Monday July 27, 2009 @ 4:36pm PST  Reply to this post

• Jesus Nikki – did Ben fuck you up the ass and fail to call you the next day. Enough already – we get it, you don’t like Ben Silverman – move on.

  Comment by Enough Already — Monday July 27, 2009 @ 4:40pm PST  Reply to this post

• Will Silverman’s departure from NBC mean that you’ll stop giving him so much space? No offense, but it comes across as a bit stalkerish. Here’s hoping that your newly invigorated empire soon finds some fresh new characters.

  Comment by charlie — Monday July 27, 2009 @ 4:58pm PST  Reply to this post

• Isn’t this overkill? You had already picked his carcass apart. Move on already.

  Comment by Thomas — Monday July 27, 2009 @ 5:23pm PST  Reply to this post

• Nikki,

  I told you time and time again and predicted that they were going to remove this turd and jackhole from his position and if I were Jeff Zucker, I’d really start shitting my pants right about now as GE is going to keep a close eye on his job and efforts and if the Leno show does fail, which I am thinking it will unless they give him proper marketing and promotion, he willbe the next to go by year’s end. I am so, so happy about this news and he also screwed over GST on Las Vegas and maybe now we can get that series finale we all wanted and or NBC selling the rights to the show to another network. Ben Silverman was an ego-maniac and Zucker’s little bitch! He took a once-promising network and flushed it down the toilet to possibly finish in 5th place in the 2+ years he was there. Zucker is THE most hated man in this business and isn’t respected by anybody and I hope it bites him in the ass, the little bald-headed prick! Good riddance Silverman. I feel so sorry for Diller and IAC!

  Comment by Richard — Monday July 27, 2009 @ 5:26pm PST  Reply to this post

• All this reporting and you slept through the final big get.

  Comment by Hwah — Monday July 27, 2009 @ 5:52pm PST  Reply to this post

• Great work, great reporting. Even if it was a vendetta, as some here seem to claim, it was a righteous, just, and hilarious cause. Nikki, when will we get your book on the upward stumble and inevitable collapse of Zucker’s golden boy?

  Also, I just hope that someone else steps in to fill Ben’s village idiot shoes. He livened up the news, that’s for sure. Sweeps week? Nah, we got coke-fueled binges over here.

  Comment by Peter — Monday July 27, 2009 @ 6:29pm PST  Reply to this post

• Bad management is truly the root of all evil in this economy – across all sectors. A mistake or two is human, but when a clearly *bad* manager gets left in his position for *two* years, in *any* business, to make mistake after mistake, it should be underscored. And, the people on top who let it happen should be taken to task. I think it’s great Nikki isn’t letting this guy off easy. I’d like to see more on TV like Jim Cramer’s Wall of Shame (although Jim himself should be on it).

  Bad management leads to ruined companies which has contributed greatly, greatly to this economic whatever-it-is-you-wanna-call-it that we’re going through right now.

  Comment by MildApplause — Monday July 27, 2009 @ 8:27pm PST  Reply to this post

• good work and reporting. i think we are all glad he is finally gone!! about time.

  Comment by Jilly — Monday July 27, 2009 @ 10:40pm PST  Reply to this post

• I work at NBCU. GE is the devil and the behavior of management is despicable.

  Comment by stuck in hell — Monday July 27, 2009 @ 11:08pm PST  Reply to this post

• seriously, how relieved are they at nbc that silverman is gone?

  Comment by Really — Monday July 27, 2009 @ 11:17pm PST  Reply to this post

• Honestly, Nikki? Your obsession with Ben is getting embarrassing. We get it: You have no respect for Silverman, and you have contempt for Zucker. You’re making yourself look bad going to to the lengths you are to prove to the world that You were Right and They were Wrong.

  Just sayin’.

  Comment by Loyal Reader — Tuesday July 28, 2009 @ 8:19am PST  Reply to this post

• have to say nikki, that your ‘reporting’ makes me sick. Not because you are so bias you look sound like a scorned school girl, but because your site is so addictive that I can’t stop reading everything, everyday. I like Ben a lot, I support him, and I think your overblown attack of him makes you look pathetic… which is still one step better than me for coming back and supporting you. I’m nauseous, but I’ll refresh my screen.

  I pray I never see you on my phone sheet.

  Comment by beepo — Tuesday July 28, 2009 @ 8:57am PST  Reply to this post

• No complaints here, Nikki, with you treating this jerk like a pinata at a seven year old’s birthday party. All the hating is because

  a) the guy is universally acknowledged as a sleazeball congenital liar, devoid of any discernible talent, with a track record of treating legions of people as disposable commodities (granted, he’s far from alone in that category in Hollywood)

  b) in a business full of people who work awfully hard, few successful types phoned it in and exerted less effort than this “too-cool-for-school” asshat who more or less boasted of this fact as well as his mastery of the art of failing up.

  Although he’s been richly compensated for repackaging other people’s ideas, he’s still a joke, and now he’s a joke with no power, esp since it’s inevitable this much ballyhooed new venture with Diller ain’t going anywhere, ergo he’ll be forgotten roadkill in 36 to 48 months time.

  Something tells me this cat is gonna be haunted in the years ahead by how he squandered some pretty amazing opportunities and really has no one but his own out-sized ego to blame. Karma’s a bitch, Benny.

  Comment by A former WMA colleague — Tuesday July 28, 2009 @ 10:53am PST  Reply to this post

• Great reporting Niki – ignore the baby fools. Silverman and Zuker are the worst net execs -ever.

  You had it right all along.

  Comment by dinla — Tuesday July 28, 2009 @ 1:02pm PST  Reply to this post

• I think you people telling Nikki to “move on” and the like are missing the point.

  This is a big deal and Silverman will go down in history as the man who sank the first network.

  More to the point, this is a tragedy of the deepening creative and moral bankruptcy in Hollywood.

  For the first time, we should all be worried that our antiquated and biased system of discovery and promotion is crumblng the infrastructure of our business.

  Money was always important here but now it has become the only thing that means anything. From the mean-spirited train-wreck of the week reality shows to Tyler Perry’s new millennium Step N’ Fetchit, everyone is selling out for a buck.

  Silverman is the poster child efor the coming creative apocalypse.

  Nikki is the guardian.

  God help us all.

  Comment by CineFileX — Tuesday July 28, 2009 @ 9:08pm PST  Reply to this post

• Who gives a FUCK ? about two knuckle heads acting like kids, while the business is in a full meltdown.

  Fact: They both are Over-Paid period.

  Comment by Gary Watts — Tuesday July 28, 2009 @ 10:38pm PST  Reply to this post

• it’s the same with TV everywhere. In australia we’ve just had a show cancelled after one episode. This little masterwork was titled “Dance Your Ass Off”. Without a word of a lie, some cocaine addled TV Boob/Executive looked at the ratings schedule by accident one morning over a cup of Chai and said “Look! Here are two shows doing well for another network. So how about we mash up “So You Think You Can Dance” with “The Biggest Loser” and we’ll end up with a bunch of fatties jiggling their love handles to disco and ballroom hits for fame, fortune, cash and a gossip magazine makeover. hilarious!” I mean who in their right mind comes up with that shit and thinks it’s going to fly. given that Master Chef just had a ratings finale of 4 million plus viewers, I guess we’re lucky we didn’t get “Dance Your Ass Off To Cooking School”. What an idea. I’m gonna make a million!!!!!

  Comment by phil — Saturday August 1, 2009 @ 4:54pm PST  Reply to this post