He didn’t say “ratings are obsolete” or “our viewers don’t watch TV”.
I have to give Silverman credit for fully admitting the good fortune of the Sarah Palin/Fey timing. Rose asked if shows will ever have the impact that they have had in the past. Silverman said he thought about it in terms of “Will you ever have that same next day water cooler conversation?” due to DVR, Internet, etc. Which I think is a reasonable way to think about it.
At least in this interview, I thought he came off extremely well-reasoned and as much as we have bashed him, I pretty much agreed with him down the line.
Unfortunately Charlie Rose didn’t ask him “Why are Heroes ratings down so much?” so he was able to truthfully say the total ratings (live+7) are better than live and kind of gloss over it. He said he was most proud of what’s happened with 30 Rock, and I can’t say I blame him. Charlie didn’t ask him what he was most ashamed of, damn the luck.
He didn’t really say anything that could be knocked down, and It’s obvious Silverman loves what he does. The interview runs about 20 minutes, and unfortunately I can’t embed it, but give it a look.
They edited those parts out. Along with “TVbythenumbers.com really pisses me off, they have my number.”
Maybe someone will put the edited parts on youtube.
I’ll have to watch the interview later, when I have time. Did Silverman mention whose idea it was to give Rosie O’Donnell a variety special
? I can’t say I think that was smart move. I could be wrong of course.
Did they really say that Nick C?
Fin, we wish!
Update: I just finished watching the clip and I agree with Robert that Silverman comes off very well. However, could the questions Rose asked have been any bigger, slower softballs? It was like he was being questioned by the NBC PR staff. Not that I expected any different, but I *wanted* something different.
Like for example, after showing the clip of Brandon Tartikoff, instead of implying that Silverman was his long lost buddy, saying something like “Brandon brought NBC from the cellar to the pinnacle of TV ratings, and while you claim him as your inspiration, ratings at NBC seem to have gone in the other direction under your watch, what are your plans to turn them around?”