Jeff Zucker
Encyclopedia
Jeffrey "Jeff" Zucker is an American
television
executive and former President and CEO of NBCUniversal.
, near Miami. His father was a cardiologist, and his mother, Arlene, was a school teacher. He has a younger sister, Pam.
He was captain of the North Miami Senior High School tennis team, editor of the school paper, and a teenage freelance reporter ("stringer
") for The Miami Herald
. The 5 in 6 in (1.68 m) Zucker also served as president of his senior class, running on the slogan: "The little man with the big ideas." Before college, he took part in Northwestern University
's National High School Institute program for journalism
.
Zucker went on to Harvard University
, serving as President of the school newspaper, The Harvard Crimson
, during his senior year. As President of the Crimson, Zucker encouraged the decades-old prank rivalry with the Harvard Lampoon
, headed by future NBC colleague Conan O'Brien
. Zucker recounts how O'Brien lived in the same dormitory and ran the Lampoon, which, he said, made them "natural rivals." Zucker studied abroad in Madrid in 1983 through IES Abroad. He graduated Harvard in 1986 with a Bachelor of Arts
in American history.
In 1996, Zucker married Caryn Stephanie Nathanson, then a supervisor for Saturday Night Live
, with whom he has four children.
, he was hired by NBC
in 1986 to research information for its coverage of the 1988 Summer Olympics
.
for Today, and at 26 he became its executive producer
in 1992. He introduced the program's trademark outdoor rock concert
series and was in charge as Today moved to the "window on the world" Studio 1A in Rockefeller Plaza in 1994. Under his leadership, Today was the nation’s most-watched morning news program, with viewership during the 2000-01 season reaching the highest point in the show’s history.
show Fear Factor
, negotiating for the cast of the hit series Friends to take the series up to a tenth season, and signing Donald Trump
for the reality show The Apprentice
. The Zucker era produced a spike in operating earnings for NBC, from $532 million the year he took over to $870 million in 2003.
Under Zucker's leadership, NBC was the top-rated network among the key adults 18-49 demographic for four consecutive seasons, during three of which NBC led key demographics in every major daypart, a feat no other network has ever achieved. Zucker also put his mark on the network with Las Vegas
, Law & Order: Criminal Intent
, and Scrubs
. He originated the idea of airing "Supersized" (longer than the standard 30 minute slot) episodes of NBC's comedies and aggressively programming in the summer months as cable networks began to draw away viewers with original programming from the network's rerun-filled summer slate. Also on Zucker's watch, Bravo changed its programming direction towards reality television, seeing much growth with that strategy, while the newly acquired Spanish network Telemundo
was positioned to be more competitive with leading network Univision
."
and the Friends
spinoff Joey
were considered failures.
, vice chairman of General Electric
and chairman & CEO of NBC Universal. Zucker was responsible for all programming across the company’s television properties, including network, news, cable, and Sports and Olympics. His responsibilities also included the company’s studio operations and global distribution efforts. Zucker reported to Bob Wright until 2007.
In 2010, in response to a public controversy over the network's reported rescheduling of late-night hosts Jay Leno
and Conan O'Brien
,
Los Angeles Times
reporters Meg James and Matea Gold declared that Zucker's tenure had led to "a spectacular fall by the country's premier television network" and dubbed the intra-network feud and subsequent public relations fallout "one of the biggest debacles in television history". Under Zucker NBC fell from being the number one rated network to the lowest rated of the four broadcast networks and was occasionally being beaten in the ratings by programming on some of the more popular cable channels.
Days later, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd wrote that in Hollywood “there has been a single topic of discussion: How does Jeff Zucker keep rising and rising while the fortunes of NBC keep falling and falling? ...many in the Hollywood community have always regarded him as ...a network Napoleon who never bothered to learn about developing shows and managing talent." She explained that Zucker "is a master at managing up with bosses and calculating cost-per-hour benefits, but even though he made money on cable shows, he could not program the network to save his life."
Dowd also reported that an unnamed "honcho at another network" stated that "Zucker is a case study in the most destructive media executive ever to exist... You’d have to tell me who else has taken a once-great network and literally destroyed it."
On June 2, 2010, the New York Post
reported that Zucker would be paid between $30 million and $40 million to leave NBC Universal shortly after Comcast
completes its 51 percent acquisition in the company.
in Lausanne, Switzerland; and is reported to be reuniting with former Today host Katie Couric
to produce her daytime talk show for Disney-ABC Domestic Television that would debut in 2012.
removed, and then had more than a year of chemotherapy
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
executive and former President and CEO of NBCUniversal.
Personal life
Zucker was born to Jewish-American parents in Homestead, FloridaHomestead, Florida
Homestead is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States nestled between Biscayne National Park to the east and Everglades National Park to the west. Homestead is primarily a Miami suburb and a major agricultural area....
, near Miami. His father was a cardiologist, and his mother, Arlene, was a school teacher. He has a younger sister, Pam.
He was captain of the North Miami Senior High School tennis team, editor of the school paper, and a teenage freelance reporter ("stringer
Stringer (journalism)
In journalism, a stringer is a type of freelance journalist or photographer who contributes reports or photos to a news organization on an ongoing basis but is paid individually for each piece of published or broadcast work....
") for The Miami Herald
The Miami Herald
The Miami Herald is a daily newspaper owned by The McClatchy Company headquartered on Biscayne Bay in the Omni district of Downtown Miami, Florida, United States...
. The 5 in 6 in (1.68 m) Zucker also served as president of his senior class, running on the slogan: "The little man with the big ideas." Before college, he took part in Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
's National High School Institute program for journalism
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
.
Zucker went on to Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, serving as President of the school newspaper, The Harvard Crimson
The Harvard Crimson
The Harvard Crimson, the daily student newspaper of Harvard University, was founded in 1873. It is the only daily newspaper in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and is run entirely by Harvard College undergraduates...
, during his senior year. As President of the Crimson, Zucker encouraged the decades-old prank rivalry with the Harvard Lampoon
Harvard Lampoon
The Harvard Lampoon is an undergraduate humor publication founded in 1876 at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.-Overview:Published since 1876, The Harvard Lampoon is the world's longest continually published humor magazine. It is also the second longest-running English-language humor...
, headed by future NBC colleague Conan O'Brien
Conan O'Brien
Conan Christopher O'Brien is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer and performer. Since November 2010 he has hosted Conan, a late-night talk show that airs on the American cable television station TBS....
. Zucker recounts how O'Brien lived in the same dormitory and ran the Lampoon, which, he said, made them "natural rivals." Zucker studied abroad in Madrid in 1983 through IES Abroad. He graduated Harvard in 1986 with a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in American history.
In 1996, Zucker married Caryn Stephanie Nathanson, then a supervisor for Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
, with whom he has four children.
Researcher
When he was not admitted to Harvard Law SchoolHarvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
, he was hired by NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
in 1986 to research information for its coverage of the 1988 Summer Olympics
1988 Summer Olympics
The 1988 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad, were an all international multi-sport events celebrated from September 17 to October 2, 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. They were the second summer Olympic Games to be held in Asia and the first since the 1964 Summer Olympics...
.
Producer of Today Show
In 1989, he was a field producerTelevision producer
The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...
for Today, and at 26 he became its executive producer
Executive producer
An executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the film making or music process, but who is still responsible for the overall production...
in 1992. He introduced the program's trademark outdoor rock concert
Rock concert
The term rock concert refers to a musical performance in the style of any one of many genres inspired by "rock and roll" music. While a variety of vocal and instrumental styles can constitute a rock concert, this phenomenon is typically characterized by bands playing at least one electric guitar,...
series and was in charge as Today moved to the "window on the world" Studio 1A in Rockefeller Plaza in 1994. Under his leadership, Today was the nation’s most-watched morning news program, with viewership during the 2000-01 season reaching the highest point in the show’s history.
President of NBC Entertainment
In 2000, he was named NBC Entertainment's president. A 2004 Businessweek Profile stated that "During that time he oversaw NBC's entire entertainment schedule. He kept the network ahead of the pack by airing the gross outGross out
Gross out describes a movement in art , which aims to shock the audience with controversial material such as toilet humour or nudity.-Features:...
show Fear Factor
Fear Factor
Fear Factor is an American stunt/dare reality game show. The original Dutch version was called Now or Neverland. When Endemol USA and NBC adapted it to the American market in 2001, they changed the name to Fear Factor. The show pits contestants against each other in a variety of stunts for a...
, negotiating for the cast of the hit series Friends to take the series up to a tenth season, and signing Donald Trump
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump, Sr. is an American business magnate, television personality and author. He is the chairman and president of The Trump Organization and the founder of Trump Entertainment Resorts. Trump's extravagant lifestyle, outspoken manner and role on the NBC reality show The Apprentice have...
for the reality show The Apprentice
The Apprentice (U.S. TV series)
The Apprentice is an American reality television show hosted by real estate magnate, businessman and television personality Donald Trump, created by Mark Burnett and broadcast on NBC...
. The Zucker era produced a spike in operating earnings for NBC, from $532 million the year he took over to $870 million in 2003.
Under Zucker's leadership, NBC was the top-rated network among the key adults 18-49 demographic for four consecutive seasons, during three of which NBC led key demographics in every major daypart, a feat no other network has ever achieved. Zucker also put his mark on the network with Las Vegas
Las Vegas (TV series)
Las Vegas was an American television series broadcast by NBC from September 22, 2003 to February 15, 2008. The show focuses on a team of people working at the ficticional Montecito Resort & Casino dealing with issues that arise within the working environment, ranging from valet parking and...
, Law & Order: Criminal Intent
Law & Order: Criminal Intent
Law & Order: Criminal Intent is an American police procedural television drama series set in New York City, where it was also primarily produced. Created and produced by Dick Wolf and René Balcer, the series premiered on September 30, 2001, as the second spin-off of Wolf's successful crime drama...
, and Scrubs
Scrubs (TV series)
Scrubs is an American medical comedy-drama television series created in 2001 by Bill Lawrence and produced by ABC Studios. The show follows the lives of several employees of the fictional Sacred Heart, a teaching hospital. It features fast-paced screenplay, slapstick, and surreal vignettes...
. He originated the idea of airing "Supersized" (longer than the standard 30 minute slot) episodes of NBC's comedies and aggressively programming in the summer months as cable networks began to draw away viewers with original programming from the network's rerun-filled summer slate. Also on Zucker's watch, Bravo changed its programming direction towards reality television, seeing much growth with that strategy, while the newly acquired Spanish network Telemundo
Telemundo
Telemundo is an American television network that broadcasts in Spanish. The network is the second-largest Spanish-language content producer in the world, and the second-largest Spanish-language network in the United States, behind Univision....
was positioned to be more competitive with leading network Univision
Univision
Univision is a Spanish-language television network in the United States. It has the largest audience of Spanish language television viewers according to Nielsen ratings. Randy Falco, COO, has been in charge of the company since the departure of Univision Communications president and CEO Joe Uva...
."
President of NBC Entertainment's News & Cable Group
In December 2003, he was promoted to president of NBC's Entertainment, News & Cable Group as well.President of NBC Television Group
Following the merger with French media empire Vivendi Universal, he was promoted to president of its Television Group in May 2004. Zucker's responsibilities, which already included NBC's cable channels, were expanded to include TV production as well as the USA Network, Sci-Fi, and Trio cable channels. During Zucker's tenure, NBC slid from first place to fourth place in the ratings. Shows that Zucker championed such as Father of the PrideFather of the Pride
Father of the Pride is an American animated television series that began broadcasting on NBC on August 31, 2004 and was part of a short-lived trend of CGI series in prime-time network TV .-Overview:...
and the Friends
Friends
Friends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004. The series revolves around a group of friends in Manhattan. The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
spinoff Joey
Joey (TV series)
Joey is an American sitcom, which stars Matt LeBlanc reprising his role as Joey Tribbiani from the sitcom Friends. It premiered on the NBC television network, on September 9, 2004, in the former time slot of its parent series, Thursday nights at 8:00 p.m...
were considered failures.
Chief Executive Officer of NBC
On December 15, 2005, Zucker was again promoted by NBC, to Chief Executive Officer of NBC Universal Television Group behind Robert Charles WrightRobert Charles Wright
Robert Charles "Bob" Wright was a U.S. television businessman, having served as Chairman of NBC Universal. He graduated from Chaminade High School, the College of the Holy Cross and earned an LLB from the University of Virginia Law School....
, vice chairman of General Electric
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
and chairman & CEO of NBC Universal. Zucker was responsible for all programming across the company’s television properties, including network, news, cable, and Sports and Olympics. His responsibilities also included the company’s studio operations and global distribution efforts. Zucker reported to Bob Wright until 2007.
President & CEO of NBC Universal
Zucker was promoted on February 6, 2007, to the position of president & CEO of NBC Universal, replacing Bob Wright, who held the position at NBC Universal, and before that, at NBC, for 21 years.In 2010, in response to a public controversy over the network's reported rescheduling of late-night hosts Jay Leno
Jay Leno
James Douglas Muir "Jay" Leno is an American stand-up comedian and television host.From 1992 to 2009, Leno was the host of NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Beginning in September 2009, Leno started a primetime talk show, titled The Jay Leno Show, which aired weeknights at 10:00 p.m. ,...
and Conan O'Brien
Conan O'Brien
Conan Christopher O'Brien is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer and performer. Since November 2010 he has hosted Conan, a late-night talk show that airs on the American cable television station TBS....
,
Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
reporters Meg James and Matea Gold declared that Zucker's tenure had led to "a spectacular fall by the country's premier television network" and dubbed the intra-network feud and subsequent public relations fallout "one of the biggest debacles in television history". Under Zucker NBC fell from being the number one rated network to the lowest rated of the four broadcast networks and was occasionally being beaten in the ratings by programming on some of the more popular cable channels.
Days later, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd wrote that in Hollywood “there has been a single topic of discussion: How does Jeff Zucker keep rising and rising while the fortunes of NBC keep falling and falling? ...many in the Hollywood community have always regarded him as ...a network Napoleon who never bothered to learn about developing shows and managing talent." She explained that Zucker "is a master at managing up with bosses and calculating cost-per-hour benefits, but even though he made money on cable shows, he could not program the network to save his life."
Dowd also reported that an unnamed "honcho at another network" stated that "Zucker is a case study in the most destructive media executive ever to exist... You’d have to tell me who else has taken a once-great network and literally destroyed it."
On June 2, 2010, the New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
reported that Zucker would be paid between $30 million and $40 million to leave NBC Universal shortly after Comcast
Comcast
Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...
completes its 51 percent acquisition in the company.
Future plans
He plans to work for the International Olympic CommitteeInternational Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee is an international corporation based in Lausanne, Switzerland, created by Pierre de Coubertin on 23 June 1894 with Demetrios Vikelas as its first president...
in Lausanne, Switzerland; and is reported to be reuniting with former Today host Katie Couric
Katie Couric
Katherine Anne "Katie" Couric is an American journalist and author. She serves as Special Correspondent for ABC News, contributing to ABC World News, Nightline, 20/20, Good Morning America, This Week and primetime news specials...
to produce her daytime talk show for Disney-ABC Domestic Television that would debut in 2012.
Health
Zucker was diagnosed at age 31 with colon cancer. He worked through two bouts of it, had a large part of his colonColon (anatomy)
The colon is the last part of the digestive system in most vertebrates; it extracts water and salt from solid wastes before they are eliminated from the body, and is the site in which flora-aided fermentation of unabsorbed material occurs. Unlike the small intestine, the colon does not play a...
removed, and then had more than a year of chemotherapy
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is the treatment of cancer with an antineoplastic drug or with a combination of such drugs into a standardized treatment regimen....
.
Further reading
- "Jeff Zucker — NBC's Superstar Entertainment Chief," by Kaya Morgan, 2003
- "Jeff Zucker appointed chief of NBC Universal," 2/6/07
- "Dialogue: Zucker on Silverman, Murdoch, movies," 7/31/07
- Zucker can't program a network, but he's an expert in super-sizing
- NBC's Jeff Zucker has given up
- Will Somebody Please Save NBC?
- NBCU Boss Zucker Immune to Woes of Conan and Jay
- Op-Ed Columnist - The Biggest Loser - NYTimes.com
External links
- Bio of Jeff Zucker from NBC Universal
- Bio of Jeff Zucker from the GE website
- Bio and photo of Jeff Zucker — Crain's New York Business 40 under 40 — 1992