Pity Conan, NBC execs

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. — Not once but twice during NBC's portion of the Television Critics Association press tour, I felt sorry for the people taking questions.

Because network executives Angela Bromstad and Paul Telegdy and "Late Night" host Conan O'Brien were getting the short end of the stick from NBC itself.

Bromstad, president of prime time entertainment, and Telegdy, the executive vice president alternative programming, were essentially put up in front of critics because their bosses were too afraid to face us. They were human shields absorbing the arrows intended for others.

NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker and NBC Entertainment co-chairmen Ben Silverman and Marc Graboff have led the network to the brink of disaster. It's gotten so bad that NBC will give Jay Leno five hours of prime time in the fall, in no small part because Zucker, Silverman and Graboff have proved almost entirely incapable of developing anything other than prime-time bombs.

Silverman and Graboff clearly knew that the questioning would prove uncomfortable, so they simply ducked. Worse than that, they offered up underlings as sacrificial lambs.

Maybe it was good strategy. Critics were kinder to Bromstad and Telegdy than we would have been to their bosses.

"With all due respect to you, NBC has done (made) some pretty historic moves in the last few weeks and we don't get to talk to the top executives?" one critic asked.

(Even though everyone in the room knew the strategy.)

"Well, I think Ben and Marc are here, and they'll be here for your questions," Bromstad said. Telegdy added, "Marc and Ben are around the place if you want to catch them."

That was easier said than done and, as it turned out, remarkably amusing. Silverman and Graboff weren't taking many questions. Silverman was actually seen sprinting down a hallway to avoid reporters.

Bromstad handled herself as well as possible. Telegdy lost points for being the latest in a long line of condescending NBC execs by offering to "jump in" with the information that, "Actually, we're here to talk about TV shows rather than corporate changes."

Um, once you agree to appear at a press conference you pretty much have to talk about what the questioners want to ask you.

One of the big corporate changes that no one from the corporation was there to address was, of course, the Leno announcement. And, no matter how you look at it, giving him a "Tonight Show"-like program Monday-Friday at 9 p.m. cannot help but affect the actual "Tonight Show," which O'Brien will be hosting at 10:35 p.m.

"Will it really feel like you're getting 'The Tonight Show,' " one critic asked.