NBC’s announced miniseries about the life of Johnny Carson will only go forward if the Carson’s family is on board with the series, according to the Hollywood Reporter. NBC purchased the rights to the yet-to-be-published Carson biography Carson the Magnificent by Bill Zehme. The book was announced shortly after Carson’s death in 2005, but after several postponements, no release date has even been set. Carson’s nephew Jeff Sotzing, who runs the Johnny Carson Entertainment Group, says he won’t give approval for the miniseries until he sees Zehme’s book. And NBC, where Carson served as Tonight Show host from 1962 to 1992, is waiting for the family’s blessing.
“We’re not going to do this without the family, so hopefully we’ll all figure it out together,” NBC Entertainment chairman Bob Greenblatt tells THR. “It’s another one of those things that is far off because the book isn’t even finished yet. I don’t want to do anything that the family isn’t on board for.”
