(One reason I was glad to hear that Comcast was buying NBC was that suddenly we could watch episodes of The Office On Demand for free—in another mercenary move that seemed to backfire, NBC had been charging a buck a pop for each episode On Demand. So the Comcast purchase was instantly better for our bottom line. [I now hereby forswear using the phrase "bottom line" for the rest of my comment; sorry.])

I’m starting to wonder if AMC is becoming the New Old NBC in terms of expectations of quality—sometimes in an upside-down kind of way; an attitude I saw here and there in early recaps and reviews of Rubicon seemed to be “Oh, AMC, you think just because you’re getting this reputation for being the home of quality television I have to watch and love every damn show you put on?! Well, I don’t! So screw you and screw this weird, slow-moving show!” Bizarre.

The truth for me is that yes, absolutely, AMC’s imprimatur on a show will mean I give it more of a chance than I might have otherwise, but at the same time (and here I’m putting aside the fact that if—God forbid!—AMC does not renew Rubicon, I will suffer a Mo Ryan–esque aneurysm of grief), if AMC were to put on a show that wasn’t that good, my reaction would probably be “Well, not my cup o’ tea” or “Huh, AMC’s magic didn’t seem to work this time, oh well,” but I wouldn’t be moved to rain scorn upon their heads unto the seventh generation. It’s not their moral obligation to supply me with good TV, you know? …Even when a network is well and thoughtfully run, I’m sure putting artistically and popularly successful shows on the air is like catching lightning in a bottle. I can’t think of one broadcast or cable network that hasn’t had some barking creative dogs.

And the funny thing is, as bad as Zucker was with programming the handful of broadcast shows I even care about now–still largely NBC (The Thursday comedies, FNL). Not that I disagree with any of Mo’s points re Zucker as a programmer.

@James: Interesting to read your more-charitable post versus Mo Ryan’s scorched-earth one.

Yeesh—If I were Jeff Zucker, I’d be cowering in a corner protecting my genitals the second Ryan’s post hit the Intertubes.

Heck, after reading Ryan’s post, I want to cower in a corner, and I didn’t greenlight “Joey.”

We learned that after the abolition of the fin/syn rules, it lead to more vertical integration. Taken to the extreme with Zucker it lead to managing for margins. For example, putting Leno on primetime because even though it might get as high ratings as other shows, it will still make a better profit margin because it’s cheaper to produce.

Well, at least NBC still has a few good shows: The Office, 30 Rock, Parks and Rec and Community. Not too many other though.