NBC is in denial

NEW YORK — At its best, a TV network looks even greater than the sum of its programs.

Look at NBC from the 1980s into the '90s, resonating with "The Cosby Show," "Cheers," "Seinfeld" and "Friends"; with "Hill Street Blues," "St. Elsewhere," "L.A. Law" and a still vibrant "ER." NBC was scoring big with great stuff, and the aura of such programs was more than sufficient to outshine its less glowing fare.

This was a golden era set in motion by Grant Tinker, whose arrival in 1981 as NBC chairman signaled the rebirth of a broken network.

But now that era is a distant memory. Present-day NBC mocks that glorious past.

For the season just ended, NBC fell 17 percent among 18-to-49-year-old viewers in an unprecedented plunge from first to fourth place. But the problem is more than ratings.

In recent years, NBC has shown little evidence of vision or taste. It scores, when it scores, with stunts more than solid entertainment. It relies on repackaging old successes in the hope they pay off one more time, while clinging to aging hits for dear life.

Even the programs touted as innovative (like last fall's animated "Father of the Pride") are timid and derivative.

There's lots of sizzle, but where are the steaks? Not on NBC in prime time under Jeff Zucker's rule.

At age 40, he has outgrown his image as a whiz kid. But at 26, Zucker earned it by becoming executive producer of "Today." Then, as if that weren't enough to clinch the Boy Wonder title, at 27 he briefly served as executive producer of "Today" and "NBC Nightly News" simultaneously.

In December 2000, Zucker left "Today" to take over NBC's entertainment division. A year ago he was crowned president of the NBC Universal Television Group, in charge of that conglomerate's entertainment, news and cable channels.

Good for Zucker. But for NBC's audience on any given night, the Zucker legacy after 4 1/2 years could be summed up in these not-so-great terms: "Fear Factor," "The Apprentice," artificially inflated sitcom episodes, and, of course, "Law & Order" all over the place.

Nothing if not a salesman, Zucker last summer was hyping NBC's five new fall shows as "better than we've had in a long time." Then four of them bombed with viewers and critics alike, while the fifth, "Joey," won a reprieve even with Zucker's acknowledgment that this "Friends" spinoff had been a disappointment.