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Following NBC’s abysmal February sweeps performance, Jay Leno skewered his network in The Tonight Show monologues. According to a post tonight on the New York Times website, NBC’s Bob Greenblatt took issue with Leno over his televised jabs that followed the network’s fifth-place showing behind Spanish-language network Univision. NBC tonight had no comment on the report that said Greenblatt emailed Leno to complain and the disagreement escalated. Unidentified execs cited in the NYT report said Leno was surprised and pointed to the long-standing tradition of late-night hosts going back as far as Johnny Carson taking jabs at their network masters. Leno’s jokes were pointed. “For the first time in history NBC is going to finish fifth in the ratings period,” Leno said. “We are behind the Spanish-language network Univision — or as we call it here in Los Angeles: Cinco de Ratings.” And later he added, “It’s so bad, ‘The Biggest Loser’ isn’t just a TV show anymore; it’s our new motto.”
Greenblatt’s purported disagreement with Leno was followed by published speculation — vigorously denied by NBC — that the network was planning to replace Leno with Jimmy Fallon.
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Even sadder, Greenblatt’s complaining about LAME jokes!
Maybe Gleenblatt should be fired and Leno left alone to deliver jokes, which he does much better than Greenblatt does running NBC! Keep the heat on, NBC can’t take it. Worthless executive leadership.
No wonder Greenblatt can’t find develop any comedies worth watching, he hasn’t got a sense of humour.
Now that’s funny!
I think we all know what’s going on here. NBC, once the most dominant force in television, has exactly ONE primetime show to keep it afloat– and there is really only one person responsible for that. Someone who has no understanding of what entertains American public.
Greenblatt does have talent but NBC will be his Waterloo. Do high-level network managers think anything can be accomplished by trying to diss the talent — in this case a comedian — in their own employ?
They only stand to become the brunt of the joke.
Mr Greenblatt — splat !!! — you’ve got egg on your damn face. And, I’m sure, your walking papers will be arriving in three….two…
Well Put, Mr. Saint.
Salke needs her walking papers, too. What a bust she’e been @ the network.
Let’s hope somebody pulls the plug on Greensplatt.
Christ, Leno is so damn unfunny my eyes are bleeding after reading that “joke.”
Greenblatt, live by the joke, die by the joke. NBC’s in fifth place; that’s the reality. Muzzling Leno won’t change that. Put on better shows. Effectively market the ones you do have. Schedule better. But don’t call out Jay for drawing attention to the lack of clothing for the Emperor, if you get my drift.
And see that you do.
“It’s so bad, ‘The Biggest Loser’ isn’t just a TV show anymore; it’s our new motto.”
The above “joke” goes too far. Any other late night host would know better. Greenblatt has a right to be upset. Me thinks this was the always vengeful, sociopathic Leno striking back for his forced pay cut last year.
Too far? He’s working in a mention for another NBC property, and one in which “the biggest losers” are in fact the protagonists who the audience is hoping will be able to turn it around. Its not a mean spirited show and its not a mean spirited joke, let alone a vengeful or sociopathic one.
Have you even watched The Biggest Loser? Do you even know what the show is abut? I sincerely doubt that you do. Like Bruce said, Jay has effectively worked in a promo for another NBC show into his routine.
Carson, in his day, said way worse about NBC. If Greenblatt wants respectful treatment, he needs to look someplace else besides a late night comedian.
Well Said!
Anything that expedites the removal of Jay Leno from television is a-okay with me!
Wrong. Jay is the best nighttime host on air at this time.
The real issue here is associating Jay Leno with the act of making a joke.
A hypersensitive executive complains to his late night star about the topic of his horrible jokes, but not about their quality. Meanwhile, Americans continue to watch Jay over everyone else. Everyone loses.
How about keeping Leno in place and having Fallon replace Greenblatt?
No Way. Fallon is no Exec. He’s a f-in comic genious. Can’t let him give up JT!! What a team. Love that History of Rap!
Great Idea! Fallon for Greenblatt! Isn;t Baldwin looking for work now with 30 Rock going off air. He can run a network!
Well if he’s being that much of a pain then you can always just fire hi–oooooooooooooooh wait.
Instead of worrying about improving Nbc so that their ratings & public standing would improve-he’s worried about Leno’s jabs at Nbc? I don’t understand wtf this Greenblatt guy has on his mind! This fuckin’ network is a joke right now & you’re complaining about jokes-unfunny jokes,but,jokes. What about doing something,ANYTHING to improve this sorry excuse for a network. As much as I dislike Leno (immensely actually),his so-called humor is not the reason Nbc is in the toilet at this time. Bad decision after bad decision followed by bad decision is the reason Nbc is a fuckin’ disaster right now. It’s quite telling that this whole “Greenblatt complains to Leno about network jokes” thing is actually more interesting than most of Nbc’s current programs. I mean,I truly can’t even fuckin’ believe that this is the same network which was number one & dominant so many years ago. Truly fucked up & sad what Nbc brass & Greenblatt have turned this so-called network into•••truly sad…
And, Leno fires the first dirty, underhanded shot to try and keep Fallon out of his chair. Bill Carter and Jay Leno have had a relationship for some time. How do you think Carter got wind of this and saw these personal, private emails? I’d bet anything he was “tipped” by a certain large-jawed comic. Say what you will about the quality of the jokes or whether Greenblat should have weighed in, the fact is this was a private correspondence that someone made public. And that someone is likely Jay.
Greenblatt doesn’t need to do anything. Things are fine and improving. 1600 Penn jumped from a 0.9 to 1.0 in a week and only lost 50% of the Office audience. Next week could be a 1.1. He knows what he’s doing and Leno is just being a Jerk.
To NBC,
One of the problems with TV today is the casting of bland actors. We need more interesting faces. Look at the character actors on the old black and white TV shows. Look at “House’s” Hugh Laurie–interesting to watch.
I am sick of seeing the same old 25-to-35-dark-haired-not-too-masculine-white-guys… like the guy from “Do No Harm”. That type appeals to gay men, which is a very small demographic but not the average American TV watcher.
Amen, Larry. You hit the nail on the head. NBC programming is so bland, diversity-wise, and the shows they choose to champion — yeah, I’m speaking to you “Whitney” !!! — are eye-roll inducing. If I see another Peacock sitcom, or any big network fare, featuring some doe-eyed white girl with her ambiguously sexual (translation: GAY) male friend/roommate/co-worker as she hopelessly (um, haplessly?) negotiates the treacherous shoals of love and life in a big urban U.S. city curiously bleached of — pick one — Asian or Black or Latino people I’m going to leap from a bridge and scream bloody Geronimo!
So you make a dig about gay men while complaining about the lack of other minorities. Huh. How about that all minorities, including gay people should be represented and represented beyond the stereotypes that are presented on TV and in film. You don’t need to insult one minority group to prove your point about other ones.
SO TRUE! Thank you for pointing this out. I was a big fan of Fringe and one of the things I loved was that most of the actors had very little enhancement done – John Noble has a beautifully lined and expressive face, full of emotion and character. Same thing with Blair Brown (although not as lined!). It was great to watch a series that showcased actors with a lot of talent and real faces – and great writing.
The bland, homogenized, interchangeable actors in a lot of other series just don’t appeal. Stop with all the plastic surgery and botox, please. We want to see real emotion and expressions, not blank, vapid emptiness.
Greenblatt may be a lousy creative exec whose network is mired in last place but at least he’s a control freak with no sense of humor or respect for tradition.
LOVE!
Well, if he’s that sensitive, it’s a good thing he cancelled 30 Rock then.
Pathetic. Leno should send all of the emails to Bill Carter so he can post them all on his blog to let the whole world see how petty and small Greenblatt is. He’s a small man with a giant ego. Any network exec who can’t take a joke at his own expense doesn’t deserve to have a cushy job like Bob does. Jay should keep telling jokes about NBC they deserve to be made fun of relentlessly. Greenblatt will be fired sooner rather than later. I will be amazed if they let him announce the new fall schedule at the up-fronts if they do it means Comcast deserves to be stuck with NBC in last place.
if you are know anything about Jay’s history, you know she did send all the emails to Carter.
Greenblatt’s a great guy with great taste. He inherited a mess and, like the rest of us, has made mistakes. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. SO easy to sit in judgement. SO easy to shoot someone when their down. Not so easy to turn a ship around.
grow up all of you.
Nobody forced him to keep Smash on. Nobody forced him to give shows to his broadway gal pals or actors like andrew rannells and josh gad because they were awesome in a musical. Nobody forced him to keep up all night on or renew the office. he happens to be a great guy, but he made plenty of his own creative missteps as he helped guide nbc further into the ground.
Greenblatt is an elitist executive that is completely out of touch. As are his friends like you.
NBC is circling the drain, with bad idea after bad idea. If this is how Greenblatt handles the truth–well, what the hell is he good for? The Today Show fiasco, the incredibly horrific programing, SMASH, the INCREDIBLY horrific programing, (yes, it bears repeating) and the only thing Greenblatt can do is whine about his hurt feelings? Repeat after me–MAJOR CLUSTERFUCK. And this was the guy that was suppose to fix the mess at NBC? Yeah, right…
If you can’t laugh and joke about your self then who?
And the slow-motion car crash known as NBC continues. And I cannot look away.
I wonder what Greenblatt will be getting for a severance package?
It is funny that NBC is fifth behind Univision. Leno should do his monologue in Spanish, then Greenblatt would not understand.
Head up his ass, indeed
I thought the jokes were funny. Leno’s third joke that isn’t printed her (but the NY Times reported):
“It’s so bad, NBC called Manti Te’o and asked him to bring in some imaginary viewers.”
Eh.
But I’ll admit it, I laughed at the Cinco de Ratings joke.
He should be angry his network is bleeding veiwers, the good news is that most of the dimwits that damaged the network are gone or leaving. They can fix things sooner rather then latter if stop making shows just for the 18-49 crowd, the 50+ plus crowd buy cars and spray cheese also. CBS is doing great because they have crossover appeal. EVERYONE black, white, male, female, young, old, liberal and conservative feel comfortable watching shows like “NCIS” and “Person of Interest”. Most NBC shows are preachy hip liberal horse shit targeting the preahy hip liberal 18-49 crowd.
NBC should also start cultivating new talent and stop recycling SNL has-beens and vets from hit shows from the 90′s.
The truth hurts. It’s that simple. What does Grennblatt think he’s hiding from the public? The dismal performance was news even in smaller local papers. It’s news because it is a network in ruins, the first of the venerable to fall. He had predessors who began the tumble, but Greenblatt’s programming decisions have been piss poor, at best, and his lieutenants’ have been equally awful, and now it’s a wildly out of control spiral downward. For Smash alone he should be drubbed out of the job. NBC needs a programming leader who has tastes, sensitivities and understanding of middle and upper middle class Americans, not a small niche. Brandon Tartikoff was successful because he understood his audience and knew what good stories were and how to nurture those storytellers, plain and simple. This regime has no clue.
Greenblatt threatened to move Leno back to 10 pm
I could single-handedly save the network, if only NBC would greenlight my spec comedy pilots.
You and me both! Mine is Daytime though.