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Every few hours, I receive updates on “Where Is Ben Silverman?” Lunching with John Feltheimer at Katsuya in Brentwood. Sitting with Harry Sloan and Ernie Dell at the Dodgers ballgame. And always smiling, smiling, smiling. But Silverman was snarling when Elle magazine phoned him to talk about Katherine Pope whom Ben threw under the bus during their NBC/Universal TV days. Silverman at work functions used to refer to Pope and another female executive as “my fembots,” meaning, “hot women who would go out and kill for him” — a Neanderthal compliment. When asked about this by the mag, Silverman sent back various vituperative e-mails saying, among other things not appropriate for that genteel publication, “Do u work for some executive online lie factory or elle?” He denied having made the “fembot” remark, and told Elle he and Pope were on great terms. Sure, that’s why back in the day he was suspected of leaking to the New York Post what a “black widow” Katherine allegedly was –claiming all the NBC shows she touched died, while offering only praise for himself.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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The Stepford Peacock. Pitch that to MGM.
Ben Silverman is a douche. Plain and simple.
But he’s an amazingly entertaining douche.
negative comments about ben are typical of the lemmings in the business. he is truly a genius. i dont think there is anyone i have seen who can navigate so many worlds so well (hollywood, london, NY, finance, advertising, programming, creating shows, casting, etc). he built up reveille and sold it for millions in a perfectly timed move. he is very creative and its real not the way many execs try to take credit for others. example: when i complemented greg daniels on his casting of steve carrell in the office…he told me it was all ben’s idea..ben had the vision and foresight to cast carrell BEFORE 40 year old virgin came out…i have 10 examples of brilliant moves he’s made. as much as i am a competitor of his i really respect what he has done. there are so many execs in town who just safely protect their jobs and never get anything accomplished…ben makes great things happen…
(1) He successfully built Reveille. (2) He successfully sold Reveille. (3) He failed spectacularly at NBC. Neither Numbers 1 nor 2 makes him a “genius,” especially in light of Number 3. Other than that, thanks for playing.
remember that line in “Unforgiven”, when the young gunslinger says to old-timer Clint about killing a guy who cut up a woman: “Well I guess he had it coming”; and what was Clint’s response?
“We all got it comin’, kid.” That about just sums up Ben Silverman…
You can’t fix stupid. It seems to be the motto on Ben’s family crest.
Just saw Ben today, lunching at Coral Tree Cafe in Brentwood
Was he laughing like the way he was during the Leno/primetime strip announcement? Did he have powder under his nose?
Ben is a child playing television executive. He does not have the next big idea, the first being recycling foreign formats until creativity is dead and networks are afraid of untested ideas. He is careless and callous, and has made more money that any of us will likely ever see by being a hip douche with connections. Forget about Ben – look to your dim future, Hollywood, and figure out how to fix it.
Ben should go run MGM.
If you hate him so much, you should stop writing about him. There’s no such thing as bad publicity to a jerk like this. Invisibility is the worst punishment for a narcissist.
True.
I don’t know if he threw K. Pope under the bus. She personally promised — in the NY Times even! — to fix Heroes at the start of Season 3 and that didn’t happen, and she was a big force behind mega flops Kings (where she bragged in the Hollywood reporter about wanting Michael Green’s “craziest idea”) and My Own Worst Enemy.
What hit shows was she responsible for, exactly, that this was an unjustified firing? Someone enlighten me. Meanwhile at least Ben could claim a degree of responsibility for some of the networks biggest hits. Biggest Loser was all him and so was the office, which never would have made it across the pond w/o his salesmanship.
And given the fact that she’s running Chernin’s TV company she can be accused of failing upward just as much as Ben can, if not more. She’s one of these TV execs who people talk about how pretty or nice she is before they mention anything she’s actually done.
yes i agree with “interested observer”..biggest loser was all ben…so was ugly betty, the office. and when tina fey won the emmy for 30 rock..in the first sentence out of her mouth she remembered ben…
OOps!:
When will 30 Rock add an executive with a mullet to the cast?
I thought the Devon Banks character was based on Silverman.
Ahhh I love all the poor unemployed idiots on here!
Lets sit in our apartment in north hollywood and bash a successful guy.
Oh yeah, Tony J Florida…Ben is SUCH a successful guy. He had such brilliant ideas. I guess you are another successful guy just like him. Maybe you can save whatever is left of NBC.