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If Ben Silverman Gets Fired, the Terrorists Will Have Won
Oh dear Lord in heaven, please don’t let it be true! According to “Page Six,” NBC Entertainment co-chairman and Vulture hero Ben Silverman could lose his job if his network’s fall lineup doesn’t deliver better ratings. “If the fall is as bad as the summer, someone will have to take the blame, and it won’t be Jeff Zucker,” said one “network insider,” who’s probably just upset he didn’t receive an invitation to Silverman’s upcoming August 15 birthday party (we bet it’ll be awesome).
Who cares if viewers haven’t taken to Celebrity Circus, Baby Borrowers, Nashville Star, and American Gladiators this summer — the guy’s just getting warmed up! This fall sees the debut of Silverman’s Knight Rider remake, plus My Own Worst Enemy (a show on which Christian Slater plays a suburban dad and an CIA agent living in the same body) and Kath and Kim (a U.S. version of an Australian sitcom, starring Molly Shannon and Selma Blair), any of which could easily turn into the next Seinfeld!
“Silverman was an agent,” says a “honcho at a rival network” who is almost certainly Steve McPherson from ABC. “He has an eye for programming. He’s good at spotting a hit and buying it, but that’s different from being a producer and creating a hit.” Lest he need reminding, though, Silverman is still hard at work on his upcoming megahit soap opera Without Breasts There Is No Paradise, which is probably why, as the Post notes, he’s been canceling meetings and not returning phone calls.
NBC BOSS’ ‘FALL’ FROM GRACE [NYP]
If Ben Silverman Gets Fired, the Terrorists Will Have Won
