If Zucker’s success does repeat itself, his bosses at NBC will soon be sporting broader smiles than Matt and Katie. After all, Zucker has a remarkable track record, making “Today” the undisputed leader of morning TV and a profit powerhouse. Certainly, he faces a challenge. NBC missed out on the craze of reality programming like “Survivor’’ and “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.’’ And a lot of new fall shows, including “Titans,’’ “The Michael Richards Show’’ and “Deadline,’’ have died quick deaths. NBC is feeling impatient–it gave Garth Ancier, the former WB and Fox programmer, only 18 months in the job Zucker is getting as president of NBC’s entertainment division. The network needs somebody who has 10 fingers and 10 toes on the country’s pulse. Says Scott Sassa, head of NBC’s West Coast division: “Jeff is making hundreds of calls on popular culture every day.''
Although many were surprised by Zucker’s leap, NBC staffers say he has signaled his interest for a bigger challenge. And two years ago, Zucker mused in a Washington Post profile that one day he would like to run something that was “big and broken.’’ (Memo to NBC bosses: Zucker says that while NBC Entertainment is certainly big, he considers it “not broken by any stretch.’’) A promotion seemed inevitable for someone with Zucker’s career trajectory. He joined NBC Sports as a researcher for the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, then moved to the “Today” show in 1989 as a writer. Three years later he became its executive producer, infusing the show with a newsier and more freewheeling edge. “He loves to upset the apple cart,’’ says Katie Couric. Indeed, the “Today’’ show offered up some unusual fare last March when it showed a segment of Couric undergoing a colonoscopy (Zucker himself has overcome colon cancer; Couric’s husband died of it). Dick Ebersol, president of NBC Sports, says he has always been struck by Zucker’s fearlessness in the producer’s chair, deciding, for example, to air segments about “Survivor’’ week in and out, even though it was CBS’s show. “I think the people in our West Coast programming department are in for a bumpy ride,’’ says Ebersol.
Zucker is in for some changes himself when he moves to L.A. He’ll certainly be spending more time in his car (a BMW 740). He’ll have to start power-lunching, rather than wolfing down a bite at his desk. And he’ll no doubt be watching more TV (he’s a “Law & Order’’ junkie, and a regular watcher of “West Wing,” “ER” and “Frasier”). Zucker says he’ll approach his new job as an “outsider from the inside.’’ He adds: “I’m going to Los Angeles as somebody who has not been immersed out there, and who hopefully brings a fresh set of eyes, without any allegiances or commitments.’’ Gee, Jeff, doesn’t that sound an awful lot like the pitch that President-elect George W. Bush makes? “I hadn’t thought of that, but that seems to be the theme of the week, so we’ll go with it.’’ Spoken like a true producer.
