Ben Silverman Out At NBC

Quite a surprise to wake up to this morning: co-chairman of NBC Entertainment Studios and Universal Media Studios Ben Silverman is leaving. The surprise is due to the fact that, not only are we quickly approaching the fall season, but just two weeks ago his employment contract had been extended.

When I first heard about Silverman's departure, I have to admit that a smile came to my face. Since a young age, I've always felt like NBC was my channel. Like your mom or grandma who refers to her favorite soap opera as "my story", throughout my life I felt like I had become invested in the network. That's loyalty only a true TV junkie could possibly understand, of course, but hey, that's why I'm writing a TV blog for absolutely no money and you are not.

Anyway, the majority of my favorite shows were on the network and many of the shows shaped my hopes and aspirations as I grew up. My life long fascination with New York City was constantly egged on watching shows like Law & Order, Mad About You and Seinfeld. The dazzling skyline after the evening news and shots of Rockefeller Center didn't hurt, either.

When Silverman first took position at the network, I was pretty hesitant. NBC was pretty down at the time, already in final place, and losing big time. What I knew of Silverman didn't give me much hope. He had produced one of my favorite shows, The Office, but also complete crap like Date My Mom and The Biggest Loser.

I also thought it odd that they would hire someone with so much potential for conflict of interest, considering he would still profit from both his current Reveille shows already on the network and even new ones sold after his move. Trumping even that: not long after taking his place at the company, stories circulated about frat-boy behavior, caged tigers, and lot's of party-hopping.

Here we are at the end of his reign now and I am a bit conflicted. Should I celebrate? He was the guy that made the ridiculous decision to cancel both Medium and My Name Is Earl and then make it publicly known that he did so because, according to The LA Times "neither the fans nor the advertisers had waged a campaign to save them the way viewers and the Subway restaurant chain did for Chuck."

Well, yeah, you know, people didn't wage a campaign to save the shows because no one knew they were on the verge of being canceled. I mean, you know, most networks don't cancel a highly rated show like Medium for no reason, therefore the fans, even devoted TV geeks who try to stay "in the know" such as myself, would never have imagined that we would be obligated to campaign around every single show they want to return, especially if it is one of the highest rated and most consistent shows on a dying network.

But then there's also the fact that, without Silverman, Friday Night Lights, easily one of the most brilliant shows to ever grace network television, probably wouldn't not have made it past it's first season. Because of the deal Silverman worked out with DirecTV, we are guaranteed new Friday Night Lights up through it's fifth season.

So there ya go. It's hard to know what to feel. He made some terrible decisions, acted like an ass, but also created some quality TV. His tenure was not all good or all bad. Not sure if it was even more bad than good or vice versa.

Anyway, we're not gonna go into all the politics and power shifts involved in his departure. If you're interested in that side of things, I would suggest reading the Hitfix article about the situation - they lay it all out in an easy to understand way.

Update: While rinsing and shampooing this very morning, I thought of another point I wanted to bring up about Silverman's reign: the majority of "new" scripted programming on NBC hasn't actually been "new". In his time at the network we've been treated to really terrible remakes (Bionic Woman, Knight Rider), imports (Merlin, The Listener), or remakes of imports (Kath & Kim). There's even been a remake of an import remake (Parks & Recreation).

Just kidding about that last one. While the whole mock documentary thing was over long before it debuted, Parks & Recreation definately got better towards the end of the season. At first we kinda passed it off as The Office (US Version) part two, but it kinda grew into it's own eventually.

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Make It Or Break It

Caught last night's premiere of ABC Family's newest scripted series Make It Or Break It. Last time I watched the premiere of a scripted series on the network I was pretty much horrified by the blatant born again preaching and swore off the network and it's shows (the series was The Secret Life of the American Teenager, if you were wondering). Then I started hearing about Greek and how awesome it is and kind of regretting my decision not to watch it (and don't want to start now without catching up), so I thought I'd at least give the Make It Or Break It pilot a chance before just saying no.

The fact that Slate.com compared it to Friday Night Lights didn't hurt either.

The series revolves around a group of Olympic hopefuls at a well-to-do, well known training center, Rocky Mountain Gymnastics Center. Things at the center pretty much revolve around three young girls, Payson, Kaylie, and Lauren, who are all a lock to make it to the national competition and, hopefully, continuing to the worldwide games.

But then Emily shows. Emily isn't as rich as the other girls and she hasn't been coached all her life. She's a scholarship case, discovered at a park. She's wearing leotards off the rack and shows some fear when approaching the vault. Her little brother is in a wheelchair and her mother is unreliable when it comes to keeping a job or picking her up on time.

Despite the cold front from the mean girls, a small case of sabotage, and a job at local the pizza joint featuring stoned customers and a meth head manager, Emily's got heart and she don't quit, two ingredients all good family dramas have.

The writing is consistently the highlight of the series. There's a few good quips here and there, and even some language I was a bit surprised to hear on ABC Family. The acting is acceptable, nothing to praise nor disapprove of, though Cassie Scerbo, acting as Lauren, manages to inflict the perfect rich girl sneer of disapproval. The spoiled brat squeal when things don't go her way is also pitch perfect. Scerbo also delivered my favorite line of the evening when she describes her teamate Kaylie's floor excercise routine as "flipping your hair and pulling it out of your ass."

As for the production, I'm sorry Slate but you are WAY off base with the FNL reference. Perhaps with the story telling aspect, but the acting is very rehearsed, unlike FNL and it's famous freedom the actors are given. There's also none of the breath taking camera work or awe-inspiring soundtrack we've come to know and expect from this shows' football-tossing brethren.

The production does have the usual modest budget, filmed in Vancouver or Toronto sort of feel to it. Not that Canadian shows have low quality: check out Being Erica or Flashpoint to dispel that myth. It's just that U.S. productions that don't have the highest of budgets tend to move production up north and TV nerds can usually tell. That's nothing to be ashamed of - many great TV shows rely on this to get renewed come budget-cut time at networks.

Oddly, though, the pilot was reportedly filmed in Los Angeles, Ca., so go figure. Beyond the young girls, the series has also made regular cast members of some recognizable faces, including Peri Gilpin of Frasier, Strong Medicine's Rosa Blasi, and, believe it or not, Candace Cameron (now known as Candace Cameron Bure), little sis to 80's teen hearthrob cum born again christian Kirk Cameron and big sis on Full House.

I'm looking forward to more Make It Or Break It, but I don't see myself missing the characters like I do the first three or four weeks after the latest season of Friday Night Lights ends, nor do I see myself ever gasping in anticipation or marvelling at the images before me. What I do see is chuckling with delight everytime Lauren releases her inner Bitch (much like I do when Blair on Gossip Girl let's it fly) or flashing back to crappy food service jobs or cracking a smile when Emily lands that perfect dismount, pissing off the rich kids and wowing the coaches.

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